Mendel Rivers was born in Gumville, South Carolina to Lucius Hampton Rivers and Henrietta Marion McCay. The family moved to St. Stephen in 1907 and lived comfortably until 1915 when Lucious Hampton Rivers died from pneumonia. Mendel's older brother Earle was put in charge of running the farm, but was not interested in agriculture and as a result the family's assets declined. Eventually they were compelled to move to North Charleston where they opened up a boarding house on O'Hear Avenue.

Rivers went to the local schools and it took him six years to graduate from Charleston High School in 1926. He then attended the College of Charleston for three years and the University of South Carolina School of Law for two years, graduating from neither. The law school dean at the University of South Carolina advised Rivers to take up another profession because although he knew the assignments, he suffered from stage fright. Rivers was determined to become a lawyer so he returned to College of Charleston and took classes to prepare himself for the bar examination. He passed the exam in 1932, but was unable to find employment in Charleston law firms so he started his own practice.

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