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Home Town Charleston, Kanawha County, WV
Last Address Strauss died in Brandy Station, Culpeper County Virginia, USA
Burial: Hebrew Cemetery Richmond/Richmond City Virginia
Date of Passing Jan 21, 1974
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Rear Admiral Lewis L. Strauss
Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Eisenhower in 1958 The Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, French Legion of Honor
and the Belgian Order of Leopold.
Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss (January 31, 1896 – January 21, 1974) (pronounced "straws") was an American Jewish businessman, public official, and naval officer. He was a major figure in the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear power in the U.S.
"Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss, Jr. was born on January 31, 1896 in Charleston, West Virginia, to Lewis and Rosa (Lichtenstein) Strauss. He grew up in Richmond, and became a traveling salesman for his family's wholesale shoe business. In 1917, he presented himself to Herbert C. Hoover. At the time, Hoover was organizing volunteers in the cause of Belgian relief. Later, when Hoover became head of the Food Administration, Lewis L. Strauss became his personal secretary and accompanied him on several European missions. He worked for Hoover's election to the presidency in 1928, and maintained a life-long friendship with President Hoover until the latter's death in 1964.
"In 1958, President Eisenhower appointed Lewis L. Strauss to be Acting Secretary of Commerce, and in 1959 he nominated him for the position. After a protracted public debate concerning ethical considerations, and one in which the specter of anti-Semitism was also raised, the Senate refused to confirm Lewis L. Strauss' nomination. Following this episode, Lewis L. Strauss returned to private life. On January 21,1974, Lewis L. Strauss died at the age of 78 at his home in Brandy Station, West Virginia."
In 1925 Strauss was commissioned in the naval reserve as an intelligence officer; in 1941 he was called up for active duty. He soon wound up working for Secretary of the Navy Frank Know. [Knox, formerly of the Chicago Daily News, was an old friend of Albert Lasker; Lasker's son Edward also served in his office -cast.] "Soon after Knox's death in May 1944, Forrestal created a special position in the Navy Department for Strauss as his personal 'trouble shooter'. Strauss also came to the attention of President Truman as a result of his tenure on an inter-service committee on the future role of atomic energy. [Mary Lasker's close connections to Truman perhaps also helped -cast.] A few months later, in July 1946, Truman appointed Strauss as one of the commissioners of the new and highly controversial Atomic Energy Commission," where he served from 1946-50 and 1953-58.
Other Comments:
Strauss' mother had also encouraged him to perform some kind of public or humanitarian service. It was 1917. World War I was raging in Europe, and Herbert Hoover was head of the Committee for Relief in Belgium (CRB). Strauss volunteered to serve without pay as Hoover's assistant. Strauss worked hard and well, and soon was promoted to Hoover's private secretary, a post in which he made powerful contacts that would serve him later on. His service with the CRB lasted till 1919.
Despite his disqualification for regular military duty --he was valedictorian of his high school class, though due to typhoid fever in his senior year, he was unable to graduate with his class --Strauss applied to join the Navy Reserve in 1925, and received an officer's commission. In 1939 and 1940, as World War II began, he volunteered for active duty, and in 1941, he was called up. He was assigned to the Bureau of Ordance, where he helped organize and manage Navy munitions work. His contributions were recognized by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, and he served on the Army-Navy Munitions Board and the Naval Reserve Policy Board.
When James V. Forrestal succeeded Knox in 1944, he employed Strauss as his personal trouble-shooter. and he became adviser to Navy Undersecretary Forrestal. He directed the development of the radar proximity fuse, conceived of the Big "E" war production incentive program, and in November 1945, after the war, he was promoted to Rear Admiral by President Truman. In 1946, Truman appointed Lewis L. Strauss to serve on the Atomic Energy Commission, on which he served through 1950. In 1953, President Eisenhower reappointed Lewis L. Strauss to the commission, this time as its chairman.
Secretary of Commerce (1958 - 1959)
Date
Not Specified
Last Updated: Jun 23, 2010
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Lewis Strauss (1958 - 1959): Secretary of Commerce
Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss was secretary of commerce under President Eisenhower from November 13, 1958, to June 19, 1959. Strauss was valedictorian of his high school class and was supposed to attend the University of Virginia, but he contracted typhoid and did not graduate in time. After he recovered from his illness, he joined his father's shoe business as a traveling salesman in 1913, rising to become the company's best salesman and, by 1917, earning enough money to go to college.
Instead, Strauss volunteered as an unpaid assistant to Herbert Hoover, then an engineer conducting relief efforts during the First World War. He impressed Hoover, who took him on as his personal secretary (1917-1919). Strauss also worked with the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to distribute food parcels to Jewish people affected by the war.
Strauss turned down an offer to be comptroller for the League of Nations in 1919 and returned to the United States to join the New York banking firm Kuhn, Loeb and Company, becoming a partner in 1929. At the same time, he pursued his private interest in physics and in nuclear physics in particular. Strauss became a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve and worked as an intelligence officer; he was activated in February 1941 and became staff assistant to the chief of ordinance until 1943.
He was made special assistant to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal in May 1944 and promoted to rear admiral by President Truman in November 1945. He next became a member of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), sitting on that board from 1946 to 1950. Strauss returned to government as Eisenhower's special assistant on atomic energy matters in February 1953 and chaired the AEC from July 2, 1953, until June 30, 1958. He aroused controversy because of his role as AEC chair in removing the security clearance of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the prominent physicist who had worked on the atomic bomb project.
At the same time, he served as presidential assistant for the Atoms for Peace program before receiving a recess appointment to the Commerce Department. His nomination aroused controversy, in part because of his involvement in the Oppenheimer matter. On June 19, 1958, Strauss became only the eighth cabinet nominee to be rejected by the Senate, which was heavily Democratic at the time.
After his defeat, he returned to private life, although he helped organize support for Senator Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964. Strauss remained active in various causes and charities until his death in 1974.
