Mack, Russell V. (Russell Vernon), 1891-1960

Russell V. Mack (1891-1960), who was involved with the worlds of journalism and politics in Washington State, served as a Representative from Washington's Third District from 1947-1960. Born in Hillman, Michigan on June 13, 1891, Mack moved to Aberdeen, Washington in 1895 with his parents. He attended Stanford University from 1913-1914; the University of Washington from 1914-1915. During the First World War, Mack served as a corporal in the Thirty-ninth Field Artillery, Thirteenth Division. He started as a cub reporter at the Aberdeen Daily World in 1913 and was the paper's business manager from 1920 to 1934. In 1934, he became the owner and publisher of the Hoquiam Daily Washingtonian, a position he held until 1950. Mack ran unsuccessfully for United States Congress in 1934 and 1940. He was elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives in 1947, to fill the vacancy left by the death of the previous incumbent. He married Laura E. Prohaska the same year. While in Congress, he advocated reducing the size of Olympic National Park, cutting taxes and foreign aid, universal military training, special training for diplomats, funds for highway construction, and tariffs on timber and fisheries; he opposed the Korean War and Communists holding office; and he got involved in trade disputes and wrangles about the location of an Indian Bureau office and a Voice of America station (maintaining that both ought to be located in his home district). He continued to hold office until his death on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on March 28, 1960.