Charles Edward Russell (September 25, 1860 – April 23, 1941) was an American journalist, opinion columnist, newspaper editor, and political activist.

The Russell family was staunchly religious Christian Evangelicals, with Charles' grandfather a Baptist minister and his father a Sunday school superintendent and a leader of the Iowa YMCA.

Shortly after his hiatus from writing because of the death of his first wife, Russell wrote one of his best books, "The Greatest Trust in the World," exposing the horrific ways of the meatpacking industry.

[5] Russell's reports on the corrupt practices and inhuman conditions at Chicago stock yards were the inspiration for Upton Sinclair's powerful novel The Jungle, which caused a national uproar that led to inspection reforms.

That accusation resulted in the church taking swift action to the report by cleaning up or selling the worst of their properties.

Russell's belief that Germany was an undeniable threat to the US in 1915 made him unexpectedly come out in support of President Woodrow Wilson's war "preparedness campaign."

That decision painted Russell into a tight corner politically as the majority of the party's rank and file remained strongly antiwar.

[8] After the February Revolution, Russell was named by Wilson to join a mission led by Elihu Root that was intended to keep the Russian Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky in the war.

The mission report recommended for George Creel's Committee on Public Information to conduct pro-war propaganda efforts in Russia.

[11] Participation in the Root Mission was effectively a burning of bridges with the Socialist Party, which remained solidly opposed to the war.