Biography: Dick Russell

[Dick Russell]

Dick Russell graduated from the University of Kansas in 1969. He was a staff writer in the Hollywood Bureau of TV Guide Magazine (1977-79) and a staff reporter for Sports Illustrated (1969-70) in New York. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, ranging from Family Health to the Village Voice.

Russell took a keen interest in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. After seventeen years of research and over an hundred interviews (including James Angleton and other Central Intelligence Agency officials) he published The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1992.

The book took a detailed look at the case of Richard Case Nagell. Nagell implied to Russell that the initial plan to assassinate Kennedy had been financed by Haroldson L. Hunt and other individuals. Nagell claimed that the operation was to be performed by a anti-Castro group. According to Nagell the conspirators believed that if they set-up Lee Harvey Oswald, a well-known supporter of Fidel Castro with links to the Soviet Union, the assassination would result in a full-scale war against Cuba.

In recent years Russell has written written about environmental issues. In 1986 Russell became Contributing Editor for the Amicus Journal, the award-winning quarterly publication of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He has also been a recipient of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation's Golden Swordfish Award (1984) and the Chevron Conservation Award (1988). Russell is also an active member of the Society of Environmental Journalists.

Russell, who lives in Los Angeles, is also the author of Black Genius: And the American Experience (1998), Eye of the Whale (2001) and Striper Wars: An American Fish Story (2005).