J. Russell Tuten

Who was J. Russell Tuten?

James Russell Tuten was a U.S. Representative from Georgia.

Tuten was born on a farm in Appling County, Georgia. He was educated in county public schools, South Georgia College at Douglas, and Georgia Southern College at Statesboro. Tuten engaged in farming, teaching, bricklaying, and business as a building contractor. He was active in the government of Brunswick, Georgia, serving as a city commissioner from 1956 to 1962, and then mayor from 1958 and 1962. Tuten served as chairman of the board of trustees, Brewton Parker College at Mount Vernon, Georgia.

He was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-eighth and Eighty-ninth Congresses. However, he was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1966. Tuten was appointed as cochairman of the Coastal Plains Regional Commission in 1967. He died in Falls Church, Virginia, August 16, 1968. Tuten was interred in Palmetto Cemetery, Brunswick, Georgia.