Clifton Rodes Breckinridge (November 22, 1846 – December 3, 1932) was a Democratic alderman, U.S. representative, diplomat, businessman and veteran of the Confederate Army and Navy.

[2] After the war, he attended Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, for three years where the school's president, Confederate General Robert E. Lee, encouraged his desire for a career of public service.

[3] Breckinridge started his political career when he was elected an alderman in the Pine Bluff City Council.

John G. Carlisle, the new Speaker of the House and friend of the Breckinridges, saw to it that the new congressman got a place on the Committee on Ways and Means.

However, on the evening of January 29, 1889, an unknown assailant shot through the window to the room he was staying in at a local boardinghouse and killed him instantly.

Breckinridge resigned from the House of Representatives in 1894 before his final term's expiration to accept President Cleveland's nomination as Minister to Russia where he served until 1897.

As Minister, he proved capable of sending reports on Russian aims back to Washington, D.C. His warnings about the end of friendly relations between Russia and China due to Russia's expansion into China did not affect any change in the United States' foreign policy due to its then-prevailing isolationism.

He was less successful in handling the ceremonial and social aspects of diplomacy in Saint Petersburg as the expense of entertaining amidst the splendor of the aristocratic Russian capital was beyond his means.

This was particularly true during the rich festivities that marked the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna in 1896.