Strauss, Lewis Lichtenstein

Strauss, Lewis Lichtenstein (strôz), 1896–1974, American financier, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (1953–58), b. Charleston, W.Va. In World War I he served under Herbert Hoover on the Belgian Relief Commission and the Allied Supreme Economic Council. He was a special assistant to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal in World War II, rising to the rank of rear admiral. Associated with Kuhn, Loeb & Company from 1919, as a partner after 1929, he resigned in 1946. Strauss was a member of the Atomic Energy Commission from 1946 to 1950 and returned as its chairman in 1953. His service on the AEC was marked by several controversies, including one with the atomic physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who had opposed development of the hydrogen bomb, a project Strauss strongly advocated. His term as AEC chairman ended in June, 1958, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him (Nov., 1958) Secretary of Commerce. Strauss held this office until June, 1959, when the Senate, in a close vote, refused to confirm the appointment.

Bibliography

See his memoirs, Men and Decisions (ed. by C. C. Rogers, 1962).