Oscar Straus (politician)
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- This article is about the United States ambassador and politician. For the music composer, see Oscar Straus (composer).
| Oscar Solomon Straus | |
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| In office December 17, 1906 – March 5, 1909 |
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| Preceded by | Victor H. Metcalf |
| Succeeded by | Charles Nagel |
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| Born | December 23, 1850 Germany |
| Died | May 3, 1926 (aged 75) U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Profession | 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 Jew to serve as a Presidential Cabinet Secretary.
He was born in Otterberg, Germany and first served as United States Minister to the Ottoman Empire from 1887 to 1889 and again from 1898 to 1899. He 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.
The Straus family had several influential members including Straus' 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, 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.
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| Preceded by Victor H. Metcalf |
United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor December 17, 1906 – March 5, 1909 |
Succeeded by Charles Nagel |
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