Newspaper Page Text
Straus cannot he trapped into divulging plans or
statistics other than those whose publication is abso
lutely unavoidable.
Perfectly equipped to assume the delicate and
arduous task of Ambassador to France, Jesse I.
Straus, one of the closest friends of the President
of the United States, can be fully trusted with the
conscientious execution of the Roosevelt policies in
foreign affairs. His affability, his social tact, his
Harvard background and his
keen mind, able to grasp the
essentials of any given situation,
will facilitate his tremendous
task. He is by temperament
ideally suited for a diplomatic
career. Rarely does he lose his
patience and never does he in
dulge in personalities. An in
born dignity inherited from the
Straus family tradition never
leaves him. His father, Isidor
Straus, who with Mrs. Straus
went down with the ill-fated
“Titanic,” imbued him from
early childhood with a high
sense of the responsibility of his
u. s. Lint*. social position. There are few
people in public life who are more devoted to their
immediate family than Jesse Straus. He is an en
thusiastic father and a still more demonstrative
grandfather. He finds joy in the knowledge that
the history of the Straus family, which has already
given to this country an Ambassador in the person
of his uncle, Oscar Straus, appointed American
Plenipotentiary Minister to Turkey by President
Theodore Roosevelt, is maintaining the high pres
tige that the names Oscar, Isidor and Nathan
Straus stand for.
When, last December, Jesse I. Straus addressed
the American Club in Paris he said, among other
things: “Nations are like individuals. They frame
their policies on the national and not international
benefits to result therefrom. The international
aspect is considered mainly as it affects the national
good. Thus all international conferences, whether
they be on disarmament, reparations or debts, are
battlegrounds. In the long run, morality must pre
vail, and in national as well as individual effort,
good w ill and reputation for square dealing are the
greatest assets.”
Here you have Jesse I. Straus the man, who is
not apt to change because he donned the diplomatic
stovepipe. He considers square dealing as the
greatest asset of all, whether he be the head of a
New York department store or the United States
representative at Paris. In this respect he per
sonifies a type of diplomat who will tackle all ques
tions on the premise of giving a square deal to his
country and to his vis-a-vis at the green table.
Straus’ policy of a square deal fits in with the
program of a new deal for all enunciated by Presi
dent Roosevelt, who chose him to play an im
portant role in the reshuffling of the cards of our
international relations.
Copyrighted 1932 lor Tne Soctmckm Imaii.it*
American history of Jew ish dip
lomats and that all of these men
have given a gtnul account of
themselves, often under most
trying circumstances, as during
Arc Jr Triomphe de VEtoile, the
world’s largest triumphal arch, be-
gun in 1806 by Napoleon to com
memorate his victories.
T HE first soiree that Jesse I.
Straus, newly-appointed United
States Ambassador to France gave
in the impressive American Embassy
'•ilon at Paris, was a startling revelation
to many of the French guests who have precon
ceived notions about American businessmen. Those
that have never met the head of R. H. Macy &
Company, the world’s largest department store,
expected to meet one of those self-made American
millionaires that French novels and comedies love
to caricature. Y ou know that heavy, square-jawed
individual with a derby at a rakish angle and a
^ip black cigar dangling from the corner of his
mouth, talking in a loud voice about everything
he doesn’t know' anything about. When the tall,
'veire, impeccably dressed Mr. Straus stepped into
’hr salon to discuss with his guests the latest cur-
rrm " in French literature and discourse on his in-
^rpretation of the economic situation in China or
Japan in fluent French with a slight Harvard ac-
xrnt. I ranee realized that President Roosevelt had
Pointed a new’ type of American diplomat, one of
’hr tf>w remaining examples of the fast vanishing
?F fC,cs °f the cultured American businessman. For
’ »vr had to characterize Jesse I. Straus in a single
phr.is<*. we w’ould label him the perfect diplomat.
PSn c I. Straus is the thirteenth American Jewish
t > T'on named to represent his country in a foreign
country. Exactly sixty-six years ago President An-
■ ‘ u Johnson named Marcus Otterbourg Ameri-
an inister to Mexico. Otterbourg was the first
-* PV ' ° be appointed a United States minister to
•reign country. The Senate, how’ever, failed
" jjjnf rm him and so his honor w r as short-lived,
v >ng only a few’ months. The other eleven
"ers or Ambassadors are Solomon Hirsch
<e >)» Oscar S. Straus (Turkey), Rabbi
Kornfeld (Persia), Abram I. Elkus (Tur-
Henry Morgenthau (Turkey), Lewis Ein-
Costa Rica), David E. Kaufman (Bolivia),
F. Guggenheim (Cuba), Abraham Rat-
V (Czechoslovakia), Ira Nelson Morris
ien), Herman Bernstein (Albania). It is
^aggerated to say that we *already have an
On the banks of the Seine,
where every third artist over
whom you stumble is likely
to be a Jewish expatriate.
he
Mir
(Tu
Josr
key
steir
Ha
*hef
the war. Straus’ appointment, however, opens a
new chapter in this history. Although, technically
speaking, a Minister to Persia holds the same rank
as the Ambassador to the Court of St. James, the
posts of Ambassador to France and England are
considered the most important of the entire diplo
matic field, with the exception of the Secretaryship
of State.
Jesse I. Straus is a businessman who for the last
fifteen years, as president of R. H. Macy & Com
pany, has given evidence of the abilities of a real
builder. In the intense metropolitan competition
R. H. Macy & Company, under his leadership, has
conquered for itself a unique place in the business
w’orld of this country. It is said that in 1929 the
Straus store did a business of over ninety-eight
million dollars. This is mentioned here to em
phasize that Straus, a Harvard graduate with a
genuine interest in international affairs, is primarily
a merchant prince, w r ell tried in the ruthless war
of business competition and w’ell equipped to direct
an intricate and delicate business. He is, above all,
an organizer w’ith an uncanny faculty for differ
entiating between the important and the secondary.
He is a keen judge of values and one of the most
redoubtable of buyers. In advertising circles Straus
is recognized as an authority on public reaction
and an expert on pungent and appropriate copy.
His outstanding talent is that of an executive able
to inspire and to give an example of untiring work
and tactful modesty. Although very much inter
ested in foreign affairs and domestic politics, Straus
has showm a consistent reluctance to let himself be
dragged into the spotlight. Newspaper men, as
signed to cover his activities as Chairman of the
Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (a
post to w’hich Franklin Roosevelt, then Governor,
drafted him), know only too well that he is the
most difficult subject for an interview. Always
polite, extremely suave and accessible, Jesse I.
Another Straus Makes History
Jesse I. Straus, United States Ambassador to France
By Robert Stone
The appointment of Jesse Isidor Straus, New York merchant prince, to the United
States Ambassadorshtp to hrance is an event of world-wide significance. Mr. Stone
introduces us to Mr. Straus, the man, selected by President Roosevelt to help him
re-shuffle the cards of our foreign policies.
SOUTHERN ISRAELITE *