Nathan Straus Jr.
Nathan Straus Jr. American politician, editor and journalist.
Nathan Straus Jr. (May 27, 1889 – September 13, 1961) was an American journalist, editor and politician from New York State.
Nathan had an outstanding career in civic organizations and public office, including service as a State Senator, Chairman of the State Housing Board, and chairman of the Federal Housing Authority.[1]
Nathan Straus, Jr. was born in New York City , New York , in 1889. He was the son of Nathan Straus and his wife Nina, and the grandson of Lazarus Straus . He attended Princeton University and the University of Heidelberg .
From 1909 to 1910 he worked as a reporter for The New York Globe and was editor of Puck magazine from 1913 to 1917. During World War I he served as an ensign in the United States Navy .
After the war, he became assistant editor of the New York Globe , but left the paper in 1920 because the paper supported Republican presidential candidate Warren G. Harding . Instead, he entered politics as a Democrat and was a member of the New York State Senate for the 15th district from 1921 to 1926, serving in the 144th, 145th, 146th, 147th, 148th and 149th New York State Legislatures . From 1923 to 1924, he was chairman of the Committee on Agriculture.
His candidacy for reelection in 1922 was endorsed by all sides, Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals. He introduced an array of bills.[2]
He was, along with Julian Mack and Stephen Samuel Wise, a founding trustee of the Palestine Endowment Fund, Inc. (1922). [3]
He served as New York State Administrator of the National Recovery Administration in 1934 , a member of the New York City Housing Authority in 1936, and Administrator of the United States Housing Authority from 1937 to 1942. He published two books on housing issues: Seven Myths of Housing (1944) and Two-Thirds of a Nation – A Housing Program (1952).
He then served as chairman of WMCA radio until his death.
In June 1933 Nathan said:
| “ | "We are not building Zion merely because of the German emergency. Hitler's men will come and go as other tyrants have. Governments rise and fall, nations clime to dizzy heights and then crumble to Ihe dust — but the Jewish people go on. We are an eternal people, building a home of our own for the troubled spirits of every land who feel as strangers in the world and who long for freedom to find for themselves a better way of life. We Jews believe that Palestine, reclaimed and re-inspired, yet may bring ancient dreams and hopes to ultimate fulfilment," Mr. Straus continued.[4] | ” |
On September 13, 1961, he was found dead in a motel room in Massapequa. He was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Hawthorne , New York.
Private life
He was married to Helen Sachs, daughter of Bernard Sachs, a prominent neurologist for whom Tay–Sachs syndrome is named, and a member of the Goldman-Sachs family. They had four sons: Nathan Straus III, Barnard Sachs Straus (married Joan Paley), Irving Lehman Straus, and R. Peter Straus (1917–2012).[5][6][1]
In 1928, his wife Helen was elected President of the New York Section of the National Council of Jewish Women.[7] She was active for Mount Sinai hospital.[8]
His son R. Peter Straus served as director of Voice of America under President Jimmy Carter and owner of radio station WMCA in New York City.[9][10]
Congressman Isidor Straus (1845–1912) and U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Labor Oscar Straus (1850–1926) were Nathan's uncles. New York Chief Justice Irving Lehman (1876–1945) was his brother-in-law and Ambassador Jesse I. Straus (1872–1936) was his first cousin.
Connection to Anne Frank
When Straus was visiting the University of Heidelberg in 1908, he met the young art historian Otto Frank . The 20-year-old Frank took a job at Macy's , where he fell in love with New York and its unvarnished style. But in 1909 his father died and he returned to Germany for a short time.
Frank, who was Jewish, later fled to the Netherlands with his family in the face of strong anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany . They moved to Amsterdam, where Frank enlisted the help of Nathan Straus to help his family obtain visas to move to the United States.[11]
Despite help from Straus and other connections, the Franks were unable to gather all the necessary documentation before Nazi Germany ordered the closure of U.S. consulates in German-occupied territories (including the Netherlands). Ultimately, the entire Frank family was interned in Nazi concentration camps, with Otto being the only member to survive until the end of World War II.
In the following years, Otto Frank published the diary of his daughter Anne Frank , which described the family's life in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam. The work is one of the most famous books about the Holocaust , it has been translated into dozens of languages and adapted into plays and films.[12]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dullea, H. N. (1997). Charter revision in the Empire State : the politics of New York's 1967 Constitutional Convention. United States: Rockefeller Institute Press. p.49.
“ Ronald Peter Straus was the grandson of Nathan Straus , one of New York City's most illustrious philanthropists and a founder of R. H. Macy and Co. His father Nathan Straus, Jr., had an outstanding career in civic organizations and public office, including service as a State Senator, Chairman of the State Housing Board , and chairman of the Federal Housing Authority. ” - ↑ The Jewish Forum. (1922). United States: The Jewish Forum Publishing Co., p.402
- ↑ Goodman, Philip (1989). 66 Years of Benevolence: The Story of PEF Israel Endowment Funds. PEF Israel Endowment Funds, Incorporated.
- ↑ The Montreal Gazette, Jun 5, 1933. (p.7) [1]. "Definite Plot by Hitler Visualized. Extermination of German Jews is Aim, Says Nathan Strauss Jr. Sounds Warning Note."
- ↑ "Helen Sachs Straus, 95, Radio Station Official". New York Times. December 24, 1990
- ↑ "Anna M. Perper Is Wed to Irving L. Straus". New York Times. January 28, 1977
- ↑ The American Hebrew. (1928). United States: American Hebrew Publishing Company. p.14
- ↑ Annual Report of the Directors of the Mount Sinai Hospital. (1921). United States: (n.p.). p.103
- ↑ Hinckley, David (2012-08-09). "R. Peter Straus, populist WMCA radio host and NYC fixture, dead at 89: Liberal Democrat radio icon made rock n' roll fun, too". The New York Daily News.
- ↑ Straus family at Jewish Virtual Library.
- ↑ Adler, J. (2013). For the Sake of the Children: The Letters Between Otto Frank and Nathan Straus Jr. United States: Straus Historical Society.
“ In 2007 a file of letters between University of Heidelberg roommates and lifelong friends, Otto Frank and Nathan Straus Jr., was found in the archives of YIVO: The Institute for Jewish Research. The letters revealed for the first time that Otto Frank, diarist Anne's father, tried desperately to get his family out of war torn Holland in 1941, fifteen months before they went into hiding in the now famous attic at Prinsengracht 263, Amsterdam. The letters also show the lengths Nathan Straus Jr., then Housing Administrator under FDR, and many others, went to to help. But the tightening restrictions of the U.S. State Department, along with the deteriorating conditions in Europe, prevented even those with powerful connections and money, from securing the necessary documents that would allow the Frank family to immigrate. We have long known of the relationship between these two men. The story of the letters, however, is being published in a book for the first time. It enriches our understanding of the relationship between Otto Frank and Nathan Straus Jr., about the history of the Frank family and gives us greater insight into this tragic era. ” - Morgan PhD, D. E. (2013). A Time for Healing: Dysfunctional Families: How They Mismanage to Get That Way, and What We Can Do to Break the Cycle of Abuse. United Kingdom: AuthorHouse. p.473
- ↑ "German Bombs and US Bureaucrats: How Escape Lines from Europe Were Cut Off". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.