Lewis Strauss Time Magazine Cover

Lewis Strauss was an American government official and businessman best known for his work on the Atomic Energy Commission. Born on January 31, 1896, in Charleston, WV, Stauss came from a Jewish family who had emigrated to the United States in the early 19th century. Strauss was raised in Charleston, VA, and had plans to attend the University of Virginia for physics, where he was awarded a scholarship. Before he was able to take his exams, though, Strauss contracted typhoid as was ultimately unable to attend the university. Strauss would later work as a traveling shoe salesman to raise the money required to receive his degree, though he never attended.

Strauss became acquainted with Herbert Hoover, first working for him without pay and eventually moving his way up to Hoover’s personal secretary while he was serving as the Chief of the United States Food Administration. Strauss worked with Hoover on food relief programs, such as the American Relief Administration and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. While working for the latter, Strauss became acquaintances with partners of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. He became a partner in 1919 and stayed with the company until 1941.

Strauss became interested in atomic energy after the deaths of both of his parents due to cancer. After two decades in the Navy Reserves, he entered active duty during World War II, where he worked on weapons production. After the war, President Truman appointed Strauss as a board member of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). While on the board, he pushed for atmospheric tests that would lead to the detection of the first Soviet atomic test. Strauss was also a proponent for the development and testing of the hydrogen bomb. Other members of the AEC, such as J. Robert Oppenheimer, opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb. Strauss and Oppenheimer clashed on many issues, and when Strauss became head of the AEC in 1953, Oppenheimer faced security risk charges. Oppenheimer was later stripped of his security clearance, a decision that the AEC upheld.

After working as the chairman of the AEC, Strauss was appointed as the Secretary of Commerce by then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower. His appointment was called into question, primarily Democratic Senators and Congressmen who had clashed with Strauss while he was chairman of the AEC. His appointment was rejected by Senate in 1959. Strauss continued with his charity work until his death on January 21, 1974.