Proposal to rename Senate building for McCain a quandary for Ga. lawmakers

WASHINGTON -- Georgia's two Republican U.S. senators face a difficult decision in the weeks ahead as colleagues seek to rename Richard Russell's namesake Capitol Hill office building in honor of the late John McCain.

Johnny Isakson, David Perdue and their staffs work out of the elegant Russell Senate Office Building on Constitution Avenue, named in honor of the towering Peach State senator. But they will likely be under immense pressure to back the name change given McCain's international stature and Russell's past as a staunch segregationist.

Within hours of McCain's death on Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he planned to introduce a resolution renaming the building in tribute to the Arizona Republican.

"Nothing will overcome the loss of Senator McCain, but so that generations remember him I will be introducing a resolution to rename the Russell building after him," he said.

Proposals seeking to rename the edifice have floated around Capitol Hill for years, but Schumer's suggestion quickly picked up steam on Sunday, with U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., both offering their support.

Russell, a political legend who served in the Senate for almost 40 years, has long been a divisive figure.

The Winder native quickly rose to the highest ranks of Georgia's then-dominant Democratic Party. He was speaker of the state House of Representatives in the 1920s and went on to become Georgia's youngest governor at 33.

In Washington, he held a powerful perch as chairman of the Armed Services Committee during two wars in the 1950s and '60s, and he became known as the "senator's senator" due to his mastery of the chamber's byzantine rules and procedures.

He used that expertise to filibuster the Civil Rights Act in 1964 as leader of the Senate's Southern bloc, as well as to oppose other legislation banning lynching and abolishing the poll tax. In 1956 he co-authored the "Southern Manifesto," which sought to oppose desegregation.

Russell's name has marked the 109-year-old Beaux Arts-style office building since 1972, with a 7-foot-tall marble statue of him holding court in its rotunda.

At the time, then-Sen. Sam Nunn said honoring Russell was a "fitting tribute to one of the great personalities in U.S. Senate history."

But the politics have changed immensely in recent years as statues and monuments honoring Confederate and pro-segregationist figures have sparked intense debate across the country.

Neither Isakson nor Perdue's offices weighed in on the building renaming over the weekend. Both issued statements honoring McCain, with Isakson touting his former colleague's "willingness to reach out to all to do what is right" and Perdue his "wit, wisdom and leadership." But both had their share of policy disagreements with McCain over the years, from immigration to health care.

Also silent on Schumer's resolution was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose blessing would be necessary to move the resolution to the floor for a vote.

Story Filed By Cox Newspapers

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