Prior to his political career, Russell served as an Assistant Secretary of State in the 1940s, and was president of the University of South Carolina in the 1950s.

Russell was in the United States Army as a major in 1944 and became deputy director of the Office of War Mobilization Reconversion in 1945.

During that time, he became involved in the case of "Mr. Blank" and nine other State Department officials, dismissed for unspecified charges related to loyalty.

[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] In 1958, he ran unsuccessfully for Governor of South Carolina,[2] losing the Democratic primary to Ernest F."Fritz" Hollings.

[2][3][4][5][6] On January 28, 1963, Clemson University enrolled its first-ever African-American student, Harvey Gantt, who would later become Mayor of Charlotte.

[14] On November 3, 1964, a majority of South Carolina voters supported Barry Goldwater, the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the state since Reconstruction.

He was confirmed to this office by his fellow members of the United States Senate on October 20, 1966, and received his commission on November 3, 1966.

[3][4][6] Russell was nominated by President Richard Nixon on April 7, 1971, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated by Judge Simon Sobeloff.

In early 1945, Russell served as Deputy Director of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, then as Assistant Secretary of State for Administration, under Byrnes, from August 1945 to January 1947.

Byrnes and Russell left the administration shortly after the war ended and joined Hogan & Hartson, a Washington, D.C., law firm.