Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss was an American government official, businessman, philanthropist and naval officer. He was one of the original members of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in 1946 and he served as the commission's chair in the 1950s. Strauss was a major figure in the development of nuclear weapons after World War II, nuclear energy policy and nuclear power in the United States.
Strauss in 1962
American food administrators in 1918: Hoover is on the far left, Strauss third from left
Strauss and his wife Alice, c. 1923–1926
The five original commissioners of the AEC in 1947; Strauss is rightmost
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by the U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S. Truman signed the McMahon/Atomic Energy Act on August 1, 1946, transferring the control of atomic energy from military to civilian hands, effective on January 1, 1947. This shift gave the members of the AEC complete control of the plants, laboratories, equipment, and personnel assembled during the war to produce the atomic bomb.
President Harry S. Truman signs the Atomic Energy Act of 1946
David E. Lilienthal, who chaired the AEC from its creation until 1950
President Dwight D. Eisenhower with AEC chair Lewis Strauss in 1954
AEC chair John A. McCone presents the Enrico Fermi Award to Glenn T. Seaborg in 1959. Seaborg succeeded McCone as AEC chair in 1961.