Robert Schwarz Strauss (October 19, 1918 – March 19, 2014) was an influential figure in American politics, diplomacy, and law whose service dated back to future President Lyndon Johnson's first congressional campaign in 1937. By the 1950s, he was associated in Texas politics with the faction of the Democratic Party that was led by Johnson and John Connally. He served as the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee between 1972 and 1977 and served under President Jimmy Carter as the U.S. Trade Representative and special envoy to the Middle East. He later served as the Ambassador to Russia under President George H. W. Bush. Strauss also served as the last United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union.
An accomplished lawyer, Strauss founded the law firm now known as Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in 1945, which had grown to be one of the largest in the world with offices in 15 cities and employing over 900 lawyers and professionals worldwide. His business activities included serving on the Texas Banking Commission and as Chairman of the U.S.-Russia Business Council.
Strauss was inducted into the Academy of Achievement in 2003 and was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian award, on January 16, 1981.
He was a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and The Forum for International Policy and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.
Strauss occupied academic chairs and lecture positions, including one as the Lloyd Bentsen Chair at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. He was also the namesake of The Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at The University of Texas. He was interested in biomedical issues and endowed two chairs at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas: the Helen and Robert S. Strauss Professorship in Pediatric Neurology and the Helen and Robert S. Strauss Professorship in Urology.
Strauss was born in Lockhart, Texas, south of Austin. He was the son of Edith Violet (née Schwarz) and Charles H. Strauss. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Germany and his mother was born into a Jewish merchant family in Hempstead and Lockhart Texas. When he was one year old, his family moved to the small town of Hamlin, north of Abilene, and later to the slightly larger nearby town of Stamford. Strauss's father opened a small general store in Stamford.
In his sophomore year at the University of Texas at Austin, he campaigned for a state legislature candidate. He was given a part-time job as a Committee Clerk in the Texas State Legislature. In 1937, while still an undergraduate, he volunteered for Johnson's first congressional campaign. Strauss was also a member of the Texas Cowboys, an honorary service organization at the University of Texas. At the University of Texas Law School, he met Connally, another student who would significantly impact his career. After completing his law degree, Strauss was hired as a special agent by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and served in the FBI throughout World War II.
After the war, he settled in Dallas, where he and a fellow FBI agent, Richard A. Gump, founded their own law firm. This firm, known initially as Gump and Strauss, would eventually grow into the international law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. The many partners over the years included a high-profile defense attorney, William G. Hundley.
Still interested in a political career, Strauss and his wife, Helen Jacobs, found a more comfortable niche participating in numerous charities and community activities. Strauss became a prodigious fundraiser for the Democratic Party. By the 1950s, Strauss's law school friend, John Connally, was serving on the staff of Lyndon Johnson, who soon became Senate Majority Leader.
When John F. Kennedy and Johnson were respectively elected President and Vice President in 1960, Connally, a former naval officer, was appointed Secretary of the Navy. Within a year, at Strauss's urging, Connally returned to Texas to run for governor. At the time, the Republican Party had little presence in Texas. However, Connally nevertheless faced stiff opposition in the Democratic primary.
Strauss's skill as a campaign adviser and fundraiser was crucial in Connally's narrow victory. Having secured the Democratic nomination, Connally easily won the general election. Connally's election finally brought Strauss the access to the Dallas business establishment that he had long sought. Governor Connally appointed Strauss to the Texas Banking Commission, and Strauss's law firm grew and prospered.
The world of Texas politics was turned upside down by the events of November 1963. Connally and his wife Nellie were riding in the limousine with Kennedy in Dallas when the latter was fatally shot. Connally was severely wounded by the assassin's bullets but soon recovered. Connally and Strauss's mentor and patron, Johnson, was now President of the United States. Although Strauss did not regard himself as part of the President's inner circle of political advisers, Connally certainly was, and Strauss's connection to Connally brought him closer to the President.
In Texas, Connally was finding himself at odds with the more liberal wing of his party. Democrats were becoming divided over the Vietnam War on the national stage. Johnson solicited Strauss's advice on the issue.
Strauss feared that continued involvement in the war was a mistake endangering Johnson's presidency. However, he felt too intimidated by the imposing Johnson to share his true feelings. Strauss immediately regretted withholding his genuine opinion from Johnson. He resolved that if any president ever sought his advice again, Strauss would tell him the truth regardless of what he wanted to hear.
The 1968 presidential election brought the Republican Richard Nixon to power and left the Democratic Party deeply divided. Strauss had long expected that his friend, Connally, would run for president and hoped that he would seek the Democratic nomination in the next election. Strauss opened a Washington, D.C. office for his law firm and became Treasurer of the Democratic Party in 1970. However, less than a year later, Connally accepted an invitation from Nixon to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. Strauss resigned from his treasurer position in 1972 after the Democrats nominated George McGovern.
McGovern and the Democrats suffered a crushing defeat, losing in 49 of the 50 states. Democratic governors from the South and West, seeking to reverse the party's liberal shift, forced out McGovern ally Jean Westwood as chair of the Democratic National Committee and replaced her with Strauss, who was favored by the leader of the effort, Kentucky Gov. Wendell Ford.
Although emboldened by its success in 1974, the party had no obvious frontrunner for the presidential nomination in 1976. While remaining studiously neutral in the struggle for the nomination, Strauss carefully rebuilt the party's finances and planned a tightly disciplined national convention in New York City to erase memories of the chaotic gatherings of 1968 and 1972.
By the time the Democrats met at Madison Square Garden, the nomination had been secured by an unexpected candidate, former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter.