Editing Lewis Strauss (section)

==Early life==
Strauss was born in [[Charleston, West Virginia]],<ref name="upi-obit"/> the son of Rosa (née Lichtenstein) and Lewis Strauss, a successful shoe [[wholesale]]r.<ref name="wvjh">{{cite web | url=http://westvirginiajewishhistory.com/well-known_WV_Jews.htm | title=Well-known West Virginia Jews: Politicians & Elected Officials | publisher=West Virginia Jewish History & Genealogy | access-date=December 3, 2005 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060414214232/http://westvirginiajewishhistory.com/well-known_WV_Jews.htm | archive-date=April 14, 2006}}</ref> Their parents were [[Jew]]ish emigrants from Germany and Austria who came to the United States in the 1830s and 1840s and settled in Virginia.<ref name="memoirs-1">Strauss, ''Men and Decisions'', p. 1.</ref> His family moved to [[Richmond, Virginia]], and he grew up and attended public schools there.<ref name="nyt-obit"/><ref name="ap-obit"/> At the age of ten, he lost much of the vision in his right eye in a rock fight,<ref>Pfau, ''No Sacrifice Too Great'', p. 5.</ref> which later disqualified him from normal
military service.<ref name="Time"/>

Having developed an amateur's knowledge from reading textbooks, Strauss planned to study [[physics]].<ref name="nyt-obit"/>  He was on track to be [[valedictorian]] of his class at [[John Marshall High School (Richmond, Virginia)|John Marshall High School]], which would have entitled him to a scholarship to the [[University of Virginia]], but [[typhoid fever]] in his senior year made him unable to take final exams or graduate with his classmates.<ref name="pfau-7">Pfau, ''No Sacrifice Too Great'', p. 7.</ref>

By the time he finally graduated from high school, his family's business had experienced a downturn during the [[List of recessions in the United States|Recession of 1913–1914]].<ref name="pfau-7-9">Pfau, ''No Sacrifice Too Great'', pp. 7–9.</ref> In order to help out,<ref name="pfau-7-9"/> Strauss decided to work as a traveling shoe salesman for his father's company.<ref name="b-s-361"/><ref name="nyt-obit"/> In his spare time, Strauss studied his Jewish heritage.<ref name="baker-3">Baker, "A Slap at the 'Hidden-Hand Presidency'", p. 3.</ref> He was quite successful in his sales efforts;<ref name="bernstein-109"/> over the next three years, he saved $20,000 ({{Inflation|US|20000|1917|fmt=eq|r=-3}}): enough money to cover college tuition now that the scholarship offer was no longer in effect.<ref name="pfau-7-9"/><ref>Strauss, ''Men and Decisions'', p. 3.</ref>