Lewis Strauss’s Senate confirmation battle was far more complicated and historically significant than depicted in the film “Oppenheimer.”
Chairman Lewis L. Strauss of the Atomic Energy Commission testifies on June 2, 1954, before the Senate-House Atomic Energy Committee. Strauss's later confirmation hearings for commerce secretary would be among the most contentious in Senate history. Lewis L. Strauss was once a very important man in Washington. An admiral who helped run the Navy’s weapons efforts in the 1940s. The chairman of America’s atomic energy commission in the 1950s. Confidant and friend of President Dwight D.
Strauss’s prickly stewardship of America’s atomic efforts had also left him with many Washington enemies, who strategized on how to defeat his nomination. Among them were political columnist Drew Pearson, who struck a secret deal with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson for favorable press coverage if he hindered Strauss’s confirmation. Sen.
Strauss also rapidly secured a personal fortune. He joined the investment banking firm Kuhn, Loeb & Company in 1919, becoming a partner within a decade and marrying the daughter of one of the firm’s leaders. Later, he pivoted to physics: After his parents died in the 1930s from cancer, Strauss poured his time and financial resources into the work of radioactive cancer treatments, becoming immersed in the emerging world of atomic energy.
Eisenhower in June 1958 awarded him the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Four days later, according to Pfau’s biography, the president approached Strauss with an offer: Would he serve in his Cabinet?Strauss turned down the president’s invitations to serve as secretary of state or as Eisenhower’s top assistant, a position equivalent to today’s White House chief of staff, saying he felt unqualified for those roles.
The Oppenheimer affair was repeatedly raised — most notably by David Inglis, the head of the Federation of American Scientists, who criticized Strauss’s treatment of scientists and testified that his organization’s delegates had voted 25-1 against supporting his confirmation — but unlike in the film, the matter occupied a fraction of the Senate committee’s time. Some lawmakers still felt the panel was dwelling too much on it.
The commerce committee on May 19 voted to advance Strauss’s nomination to the Senate floor by a single vote, 9-8. The process of scrutinizing him then began anew. “Senators who participated in this dramatic showdown still recall it as one of the great political bloodlettings of the Senate’s modern history,” Baker, the Senate historian, wrote in 1987.The bruising battle over Strauss’s nomination was an aberration in the genial Senate. Other confirmation hearings were scheduled and resolved promptly.
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