Robert Schwarz Strauss

Robert Schwarz Strauss ( * October 19, 1918 in Stamford, Jones County, Texas, † March 19, 2014 in Washington, DC) was an American diplomat and politician of the Democratic Party, who as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee the election campaigns of Jimmy Carter initiated and both commercial agent of the United States as well as ambassador to the Soviet Union and in Russia was in 1981 which received Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Life

After schooling Strauss studied law at the Law School of the University of Texas and graduated in 1941 from. In 1945 he co-founded the Dallas-based law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and active in the following years as a lawyer. In addition, he was temporarily employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The early 1970s he began to increasingly politically in the Democratic Party to get involved and was 1972-1977 Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. In this role, he also organized the successful campaign of the Democrats in the 1976 presidential election After the election, President Jimmy Carter appointed him in March 1977 Representatives of the United States.; he retained this position until August 1979. In this role, he was instrumental in the negotiations during the so-called Tokyo Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which ultimately in 1979 were completed and adopted in the U.S. Trade Agreements Act of 1979.

In the 1980 presidential election was Strauss 's campaign manager Carter, however, who suffered a severe defeat against his Republican challenger Ronald Reagan and received only 49 of the 538 electors. Shortly before the end of the Presidency Carter awarded him on 16 January 1981, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In the following years he worked in the private sector and member of the Boards of Directors of Archer Daniels Midland and Xerox.

In August 1991 he was appointed ambassador to the Soviet Union or from December 1991 to November 1992 in Russia. During his tenure there he hosted on 2 March 1992 despite the existence of food shortages in Moscow the then President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, in his residence Spaso House with homemade nachos.

At times, he was also chairman of the American-Russian enterprise Council. In addition, he was involved in numerous other institutions and organizations and, among other things, a Trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies ( CSIS) and George Bush Presidential Library. In addition, he was both an advisor to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget ( CRFB ) and the Washington Legal Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors of the Cordell Hull Institute and was one of the White House Fellows. In addition, Strauss, who in 2003 was a member of the Academy of Achievement, worked for the Council of American Ambassadors, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.

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