Feingold, Russ, 1953-

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Russell Dana Feingold (born March 2, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin between 1993 and 2011.

Born in Janesville, Wisconsin, he graduated from Craig High School there before earning a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a B.A. from Magdalen College at the University of Oxford, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Feingold worked as an attorney at the private law firms of Foley & Lardner and La Follette & Sinykin from 1979 until 1985. In 1982, Feingold was elected to the Wisconsin Senate, where he served for ten years until his election to the United States Senate. He worked as a visiting professor at Beloit College in 1985.

Feingold's senatorial career began in 1992 with a victory over incumbent Republican Senator Bob Kasten. Overcoming better known opponents in the Democratic primary, Feingold narrowly defeated Kasten. During his 18 years in the United States Senate, Russ was ranked 6th in the Senate for bipartisan voting. He cosponsored the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold Act), the only major piece of campaign finance reform legislation passed into law in decades. Russ was the only Senator to vote against the initial enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act during the first vote on the legislation and was well-known for his opposition to the Iraq War and as the Senate's leading opponent of the death penalty. He served on the Judiciary, Foreign Relations, Budget, and Intelligence Committees. Russ was Chairman or Ranking Member of the Constitution Subcommittee. With John McCain, Feingold received the 1999 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

In 2010, Feingold lost his campaign for reelection to the U.S. Senate to Republican nominee Ron Johnson. In June 2013, he was selected by Secretary of State John Kerry to replace R. Barrie Walkley as a special envoy to the Great Lakes region of Africa, serving in that role through March 2015. In 2016, Feingold lost to Johnson in his attempt to regain his Senate seat. In 2020, Feingold became president of the American Constitution Society.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Papers of Julian Bond 1897-2006 University of Virginia. Small Special Collections Library
creatorOf Feingold, Russell D., 1953-. Russell D. Feingold : commercials , 1992. University of Oklahoma, Political Community Archives
creatorOf Viterbo University. Pope John XXIII Awards : Joseph Durst ; Reverend Timothy O'Brien ; Walther J. Vallejo, 1997. Viterbo University, Todd Wehr Memorial Library
creatorOf Viterbo University. Pope John XXIII Awards : Sister Cecelia Corcoran, F.S.P.A. ; Sister Marie Des Jarlais, F.S.P.A. ; Paul T. Granlund ; Arthur Holmes, 1998. Viterbo University, Todd Wehr Memorial Library
referencedIn Fighting Bob Fest. Videorecordings, 2003. Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
referencedIn [Collection of correspondence with and about Norman Mann, and with Sivia Mann], 1963-1999. San Diego State University Library, SDSU Library and Information Access
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Bond, Julian, 1940- person
associatedWith Fighting Bob Fest. corporateBody
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Harvard Law School corporateBody
employeeOf LaFollette, Sinykin & Doyle (law firm). corporateBody
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Magdalen College (University of Oxford) corporateBody
employeeOf Marquette University. Law school corporateBody
employeeOf Stanford university. School of law corporateBody
memberOf United States. Congress. Senate corporateBody
employeeOf United States. Department of State corporateBody
associatedWith University of Oklahoma. Political Commercial Archive. corporateBody
alumnusOrAlumnaOf University of Wisconsin--Madison corporateBody
associatedWith Viterbo University. corporateBody
memberOf Wisconsin. Legislature. Senate corporateBody
employeeOf Yale Law School corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Janesville WI US
Madison WI US
Oxford ENG GB
Cambridge MA US
Middleton WI US
Subject
Advertising, political
Television advertising
Occupation
Lawyers
Professors (teacher)
Senators, U.S. Congress
State Senator
Activity

Person

Birth 1953-03-02

Male

Americans

English

Information

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