Oscar Straus (politician)
Oscar Straus | |
|---|---|
Portrait by Harris & Ewing c. 1910s | |
| 3rd United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor | |
| In office December 17, 1906 – March 5, 1909 | |
| President | Theodore Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Victor H. Metcalf |
| Succeeded by | Charles Nagel |
| United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire | |
| In office October 4, 1909 – September 3, 1910 | |
| President | William Howard Taft |
| Preceded by | John Leishman |
| Succeeded by | William Rockhill |
| In office October 15, 1898 – December 20, 1899 Minister | |
| President | William McKinley |
| Preceded by | James Angell |
| Succeeded by | John Leishman |
| In office July 1, 1887 – June 16, 1889 Envoy | |
| President | Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison |
| Preceded by | Samuel S. Cox |
| Succeeded by | Solomon Hirsch |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Oscar Solomon Straus December 23, 1850 Otterberg, Bavaria, Germany |
| Died | May 3, 1926 (aged 75) New York City, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Other political affiliations | Progressive "Bull Moose" (1912) |
| Spouse | Sarah Lavanburg |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Straus family Isidor Straus (brother) Nathan Straus (brother) Roger Williams Straus Jr. (grandson) Oscar Schafer (grandson) |
| Education | Columbia University (BA, LLB) |
Oscar Solomon Straus (December 23, 1850 – May 3, 1926) was an American politician and diplomat. He served as United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Theodore Roosevelt from 1906 to 1909. He was the first Jewish United States Cabinet Secretary.
Straus also served in four presidential administrations as America's representative to the Ottoman Empire and ran for Governor of New York in 1912 as the candidate of then-former president Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive "Bull Moose" Party, in tandem with Roosevelt's own unsuccessful run for a nonconsecutive third term as president that same year.