Oscar Straus (politician)

This article is about the United States ambassador and politician. For the music composer, see Oscar Straus (composer).

Oscar Solomon Straus
3rd US Secretary of Commerce and Labor
In office December 17, 1906 – March 5, 1909
Preceded by	Victor H. Metcalf
Succeeded by	Charles Nagel
Personal details
Born	December 23, 1850(1850-12-23) Germany
Died	May 3, 1926(1926-05-03) (aged 75) U.S.
Political party	Republican
Profession	Lawyer, Politician
Religion	Jewish

Oscar Solomon Straus (December 23, 1850 – May 3, 1926) was United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Theodore Roosevelt from 1906 to 1909. Straus was the first Jewish United States Cabinet Secretary. ^[1]

Biography

He was born in Otterberg, Germany. He emigrated with his parents to the United States, and settled in Talbotton, Georgia. At the close of the Civil War he moved to New York City where he graduated from Columbia College in 1871 and Columbia Law School in 1873. He practised law until 1881, and then became a merchant, retaining his interest in literature.^[2] He first served as United States Minister to the Ottoman Empire from 1887 to 1889 and again from 1898 to 1899.

In December 1906, Straus became the United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Theodore Roosevelt. This position also placed him in charge of the United States Bureau of Immigration. During his tenure, Straus ordered immigration inspectors to work closely with local police and the United States Secret Service to find, arrest and deport immigrants with Anarchist political beliefs under the terms of the Anarchist Exclusion Act.^[3]

Straus left the Commerce Department in 1909 when William Howard Taft became president and became U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire until 1910. In 1912, he ran unsuccessfully for Governor of New York on the Progressive and Independence League tickets.

His memoirs, Under Four Administrations, were published in 1922.

The Straus family had several influential members including Straus's grandson Roger W. Straus, Jr., who started the publishing company of Farrar, Straus and Giroux; his brother, Isidor Straus, who perished aboard the RMS Titanic in 1912, served as a representative from New York City's 15th District, and was co-owner of the department store R. H. Macy & Co. along with another brother Nathan; and nephew Jesse Isidor Straus, confidant of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ambassador to France from 1933 to 1936.

Washington, D.C., commemorates the achievements of this famous Jewish-German-American statesman in the Oscar Straus Memorial. He is buried at Beth El Cemetery in Ridgewood, New York.

References

1. ^ "Oscar S. Straus (1906–1909): Secretary of Commerce and Labor", Miller Center, University of Virginia
2. ^  "Straus, Oscar Solomon". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. 
3. ^ "To Drive Anarchists Out of the Country," New York Times, March 4, 1908, pp. 1-2.

External links

• Media related to Oscar Solomon Straus at Wikimedia Commons
• Oscar S. Straus at Find A Grave

Political offices
Preceded by Victor H. Metcalf	United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor Served under: Theodore Roosevelt December 17, 1906 – March 5, 1909	Succeeded by Charles Nagel
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Samuel S. Cox	Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire 1887–1889	Succeeded by Solomon Hirsch
Preceded by James Burrill Angell	Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire 1898–1899	Succeeded by John G. A. Leishman
Preceded by John G. A. Leishman	Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire 1909–1910	Succeeded by William Woodville Rockhill

Persondata
Name	Straus, Oscar
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 23, 1850
Place of birth	Germany
Date of death	May 3, 1926
Place of death	U.S.