Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman, philanthropist, public official, and naval officer
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. He was a major figure in the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear power in the U.S.
Strauss was the driving force in the hearings, held in April 1954 before a United States Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
Personnel Security Board, in which J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance was revoked.
Early life
Strauss was born in Charleston, West VirginiaCharleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...
. His father (also named Lewis Strauss) was a successful shoe wholesale
Wholesale
Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...
r. At the age of 10, he permanently lost the vision in his right eye in a rock fight. This injury later disqualified him from
military service. His family relocated to Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. He was valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
of his high school class, though due to typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
in his senior year, he was unable to graduate with his class.
Strauss had planned to study physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
. But when he finally graduated, his family's business had had a downturn, and they could not afford to send him. For the next three years Strauss worked as a traveling shoe salesman for his father's company. He was the company's top salesman, and saved enough money for college tuition.
However, Strauss' mother had also encouraged him to perform some kind of public or humanitarian service. It was 1917. World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
was raging in Europe, and Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
was head of the Committee for Relief in Belgium
Committee for Relief in Belgium
The Commission for Relief in Belgium or C.R.B. − known also as just Belgian Relief − was an international organization that arranged for the supply of food to German-occupied Belgium and northern France during the First World War.Its leading figure was chairman Herbert Hoover .- Origins :When the...
(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.
Strauss himself became a man of influence: acting on behalf of a representative of Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, he persuaded Hoover to urge President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
to recognize Finland's independence from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
Besides the CRB and its successor, the American Relief Administration
American Relief Administration
American Relief Administration was an American relief mission to Europe and later Soviet Russia after World War I. Herbert Hoover, future president of the United States, was the program director....
, Strauss worked with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is a worldwide Jewish relief organization headquartered in New York. It was established in 1914 and is active in more than 70 countries....
(JJDC) to relieve the suffering of Jewish refugees, who were often neglected by other bodies. The poor treatment of Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Russian Jews that Strauss witnessed instilled in him a powerful anti-Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
sentiment. At the JJDC, Strauss came to the attention of Felix M. Warburg
Felix M. Warburg
Felix Moritz Warburg was a member of the Warburg banking family of Hamburg, Germany.- Biography :He was a grandson of Moses Marcus Warburg, one of the founders of the bank, M. M. Warburg . Felix Warburg was a partner in Kuhn, Loeb & Co.. He is known as a leading advocate of a Federal Reserve...
, a partner in the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
Kuhn, Loeb & Co. was a bulge bracket, investment bank founded in 1867 by Abraham Kuhn and Solomon Loeb. Under the leadership of Jacob H. Schiff, it grew to be one of the most influential investment banks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, financing America's expanding railways and growth...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Warburg brought Strauss to Kuhn Loeb, where he became a full partner in 1929 and was active in the firm until 1941. During this period Strauss became wealthy.
Strauss also became a leader in Jewish causes and organizations. For instance, in 1933 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
. However, he was not a Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
and opposed the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. He instead supported assimilation of Jews as equal citizens of the nations where they lived. He recognized the brutality of governments like Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
; in 1938 he joined with Hoover and Bernard Baruch
Bernard Baruch
Bernard Mannes Baruch was an American financier, stock-market speculator, statesman, and political consultant. After his success in business, he devoted his time toward advising U.S. Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt on economic matters and became a philanthropist.-Early life...
in supporting the establishment of a refugee state in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
as a safe haven for all persecuted people, not just Jews.
World War II
Despite his disqualification for regular military duty, Strauss applied to join the Navy ReserveUnited States Navy Reserve
The United States Navy Reserve, until 2005 known as the United States Naval Reserve, is the Reserve Component of the United States Navy...
in 1925, and received an officer's commission. In 1939 and 1940, as World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
began, he volunteered for active duty, and in 1941, he was called up. He was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance
Bureau of Ordnance
The Bureau of Ordnance was the U.S. Navy's organization responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval ordnance, between the years 1862 and 1959.-History:...
, where he helped organize and manage Navy munitions work. His contributions were recognized by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox
Frank Knox
-External links:...
, 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. In November 1945, after the war, he was promoted to Rear Admiral by President Truman.
Strauss and the atomic bomb
Strauss' mother died of cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in 1935; his father in 1937. Because of this, and his early interest in physics, Strauss established a fund for physics research that could lead to better radiation treatment for cancer patients. The fund supported Arno Brasch, who was working on producing artificial radioactive material with bursts of X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
s. Brasch's work was based on previous work with Leo Szilard
Leó Szilárd
Leó Szilárd was an Austro-Hungarian physicist and inventor who conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb...
, who saw in this work a possible means to developing an atomic chain reaction
Chain reaction
A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events....
. Szilard had already foreseen that this could lead to an atomic bomb. Szilard persuaded Strauss to support him and Brasch in building a "surge generator"; he ultimately provided $20,000.
Through Szilard, Strauss met other nuclear physicists
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
such as Ernest Lawrence
Ernest Lawrence
Ernest Orlando Lawrence was an American physicist and Nobel Laureate, known for his invention, utilization, and improvement of the cyclotron atom-smasher beginning in 1929, based on his studies of the works of Rolf Widerøe, and his later work in uranium-isotope separation for the Manhattan Project...
. Szilard kept him up to date on developments in the area, such as the discovery of nuclear fission
Nuclear fission
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts , often producing free neutrons and photons , and releasing a tremendous amount of energy...
and the use of neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
s. In February 1940 Szilard asked him to fund the acquisition of some radium
Radium
Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
, but Strauss refused, having already spent a large sum.
Strauss had no further direct involvement with atomic-bomb development during the war. At the end of the war, when the first atomic bombs were ready for use, he advocated dropping one on a symbolic target, such as a cedar forest held in reverence by the Japanese, as a warning shot. He also recommended a test of the atomic bomb against a number of modern warships, which he thought would refute the idea that the atomic bomb made the Navy obsolete. This led to Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...
, the first atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....
.
The Atomic Energy Commission
In 1947, the U.S. transferred control of atomic research from the ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
to civilian authority under the newly created Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
(AEC). Strauss was appointed by President Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
as one of the first five Commissioners. He served on the AEC until 1950. As a Commissioner, Strauss was very disturbed by the security breaches that were revealed in the postwar years, including the presence of Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
spies in the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
. He supported draconian measures to improve security, including the removal of scientists with "questionable" backgrounds, including many who had played major roles in the wartime research. He opposed the broad cooperation with Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
that had been informally promised by Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. He was increasingly unhappy in his position, but President Truman asked him to stay on. Strauss also urged that the U.S. move immediately to develop the hydrogen bomb. When Truman signed the directive for hydrogen bomb development in 1950, Strauss, considering that he had accomplished as much as he could, resigned the same day.
Strauss became a financial adviser to the Rockefeller
Rockefeller family
The Rockefeller family , the Cleveland family of John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller , is an American industrial, banking, and political family of German origin that made one of the world's largest private fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th...
brothers, but continued to take an interest in atomic affairs.
In 1953, President Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
appointed Strauss as chairman of the AEC. Strauss was by this time one of the best known advocates of atomic energy for many purposes. At Eisenhower's request, Strauss had the AEC develop the "Atoms for Peace
Atoms for Peace
"Atoms for Peace" was the title of a speech delivered by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in New York City on December 8, 1953....
" program which Eisenhower announced in December 1953.
In 1954, Strauss predicted that atomic power would make electricity "too cheap to meter
Too cheap to meter
Too cheap to meter describes a concept in which a commodity is so inexpensive that it is more cost-effective and less bureaucratic to simply provide it for a flat fee or even free and make a profit from associated services....
." He was referring to Project Sherwood
Project Sherwood
Project Sherwood was the codename for a United States program in controlled nuclear fusion. It was funded under the Atoms for Peace initiative during the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower...
, a secret program to develop power from hydrogen fusion, not uranium fission reactors as is commonly believed.
Strauss and Oppenheimer
During his term as an AEC commissioner, Strauss became hostile to J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who had been scientific director of the Manhattan Project.In 1947, Strauss, then a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
who presented Oppenheimer with the Institute's offer to be its director. (Strauss himself had also been considered for the job.) But Strauss, a conservative Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, had little in common with Oppenheimer, a liberal who had had Communist associations. Oppenheimer opposed H-bomb research and proposed a national security strategy based on nuclear weapons and continental defense; Strauss favored the development of thermonuclear weapons and a doctrine of deterrence. Oppenheimer favored a policy of "candor" regarding the numbers and capabilities of the atomic weapons in America's arsenal; Strauss believed such unilateral frankness would benefit no one but Soviet military planners.
When Eisenhower offered Strauss the AEC chairmanship, Strauss named one condition: that Oppenheimer would be excluded from all classified atomic work. Oppenheimer then sat on the General Advisory Committee (GAC) of senior atomic scientists which reported to the AEC, and held a Q clearance
Q clearance
Q clearance is a United States Department of Energy security clearance equivalent to a United States Department of Defense Top Secret clearance and Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information . DOE clearances apply for access specifically relating to atomic or nuclear related materials...
. He was one of the most respected figures in atomic science, even briefing the President and National Security Council
National Security Council
A National Security Council is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security...
in 1953.
Strauss, however, deeply distrusted Oppenheimer. He had become aware of Oppenheimer's former Communist affiliations (before World War II), and questionable behavior during the war, and began to think that Oppenheimer might even be a Soviet spy. Strauss was also suspicious of Oppenheimer's tendency to downplay Soviet capabilities. In 1953 Oppenheimer stated in the July edition of Foreign Affairs that he believed the Soviets were "about four years behind" in atomic weapons development. The US had exploded the first thermonuclear device the previous year, although it required a two-story building filled with refrigeration equipment to chill the liquid hydrogen. Yet only a month after Oppenheimer made his proclamation, in August 1953, the Soviet Union declared, and US sensors confirmed, that it had tested its own hydrogen bomb. (It was not, however, a staged thermonuclear weapon of the Teller-Ulam design
Teller-Ulam design
The Teller–Ulam design is the nuclear weapon design concept used in most of the world's nuclear weapons. It is colloquially referred to as "the secret of the hydrogen bomb" because it employs hydrogen fusion, though in most applications the bulk of its destructive energy comes from uranium fission,...
. Scholars have debated for some time whether the Soviet Joe 4
Joe 4
Joe 4 was an American nickname for the first Soviet test of a thermonuclear weapon on August 12, 1953. It utilized a scheme in which fission and fusion fuel were "layered", a design known as the Sloika model in the Soviet Union...
device should be considered a true hydrogen bomb. The first Soviet test of an undisputedly "true" hydrogen bomb was not until 1955.) Moreover, the Soviet device relied on solid lithium-6 deuteride rather than liquid hydrogen to boost the yield, making the Soviet device the first truly deliverable thermonuclear weapon and exposing the Americans as the country trailing technologically.
In September 1953, Strauss, hoping to uncover evidence of Oppenheimer's disloyalty, asked FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
to initiate surveillance to track Oppenheimer's movements. Hoover agreed enthusiastically. The tracking uncovered no evidence of disloyalty but did reveal Oppenheimer had lied to Strauss about his reason for taking a trip to Washington (Oppenheimer met a journalist rather than visit the White House as he had told Strauss). Strauss' suspicions increased further with the discovery that Oppenheimer had tried to stop America's long-range detection system in 1948 and 1949, which was the time frame when the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic weapon. In December 1953, the FBI notified Strauss that it would not watch Oppenheimer more closely without a specific request, which Strauss provided. Hoover then ordered full surveillance on Oppenheimer, including illegally tapping his phones.
At first Strauss moved cautiously - even heading off an attack on Oppenheimer by Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
. He had the AEC staff compile a list of charges, and surprised Oppenheimer with them in December 1953.
Strauss is perhaps most remembered as the driving force in the month-long hearings
Oppenheimer security hearing
The Oppenheimer security hearing was a 1954 inquiry by the United States Atomic Energy Commission into the background, actions and associations of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American scientist who had headed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb for the United States during World War...
, held in April and May 1954, before an AEC Personnel Security Board which resulted in Oppenheimer's security clearance being revoked. Strauss had access to the FBI's information on Oppenheimer, including his conversations with his lawyers , which was used to prepare counterarguments in advance. In the end, despite the support of numerous leading scientists and other prominent figures, Oppenheimer was stripped of his clearance as Strauss had wanted. Strauss was painted as a witch-hunter, pursuing a vendetta fueled equally by personal dislike and paranoid suspicions.
After the AEC
Strauss' term as AEC chair ended in 1958. Eisenhower wanted to reappoint him, but Strauss feared the Senate would reject him, and would in any case subject him to ferocious questioning. Besides the Oppenheimer affair, he had clashed with Senate Democrats on several major issues (including the Dixon-Yates contractDixon-Yates contract
The Dixon-Yates contract was a 1954 contract between the AEC and two private energy companies, Middle South Utilities and the Southern Company to supply 600,000 kilowatts of power to the AEC for their Tennessee plant...
).
Eisenhower offered him the post of White House Chief of Staff
White House Chief of Staff
The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
, but Strauss did not think it would suit him. Eisenhower also asked if Strauss would consider succeeding John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world...
(who was ill) as Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
, but Strauss did not want to pre-empt Undersecretary Christian Herter
Christian Herter
Christian Archibald Herter was an American politician and statesman; 59th governor of Massachusetts from 1953 to 1957, and United States Secretary of State from 1959 to 1961.-Early life:...
, who was a good friend.
Finally Eisenhower proposed that Strauss become Secretary of Commerce, and this Strauss accepted. He took office as an interim appointee in November 1958. However, Senate opposition to this appointment was as strong as to a renewed AEC term. At the time, the 13 previous nominees for this Cabinet position won Senate confirmation in an average of eight days. Because of both personal and professional disagreements, Senator Clinton Presba Anderson
Clinton Presba Anderson
Clinton Presba Anderson was an American Democratic Party politician who served as a U.S. Congressman from New Mexico , as the United States Secretary of Agriculture , and as a U.S. Senator from New Mexico .-Early life and career:Anderson was born in Centerville, South Dakota, on October 23, 1895...
took up the cause to make sure that Strauss would not be confirmed by the Senate. Senator Anderson found an ally in Senator Gale W. McGee
Gale W. McGee
Gale William McGee was a United States Senator of the Democratic Party, and United States Ambassador to the Organization of American States...
on the Senate Commerce Committee, which had jurisdiction over Mr. Strauss' confirmation. During and after the Senate hearings, Senator McGee had charged that Mr. Strauss with "a brazen attempt to hoodwink" the committee.
After 16 days of hearings the Committee recommended Strauss' confirmation to the full Senate by a vote of 9-8. In preparation for the floor debate on the nomination, the Democratic majority's main argument against the nomination was that Strauss' statements before the Committee were "sprinkled with half truths and even lies...and that under rough and hostile questioning, [he] can be evasive and quibblesome."
Despite an overwhelming Democratic majority, the 86th United States Congress
86th United States Congress
The Eighty-sixth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1959 to January 3, 1961, during the last two years...
was not able to accomplish much of their agenda since the President had immense popularity and a veto pen. With the 1960 elections nearing, congressional Democrats sought issues on which they could conspicuously oppose the Republican administration. The Strauss nomination proved tailor made.
On June 19, 1959 just after midnight, the Strauss nomination failed by a vote 46-49. At the time, It marked only the eighth time in U.S. history that a Cabinet appointee had failed to be confirmed.
This effectively ended his government career. Reportedly, Strauss never recovered from this.
On July 14, 1958, Strauss was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
by President Eisenhower.
Strauss died in Brandy Station, Virginia
Brandy Station, Virginia
Brandy Station is an unincorporated community in Culpeper County, Virginia, United States. Its original name was Brandy. The name Brandy Station comes from the Orange and Alexandria Railroad station that was constructed in the 19th century....
in 1974.