Editing Franz Josef Strauss (section)

==Political life 1945–1961==

After the war, in 1945, he was appointed deputy ''Landrat'' (chief executive and representative of the district) of Schongau by the [[Office of Military Government, United States|American military government]] and was involved in founding the local party organization of the [[Christian Social Union in Bavaria]] (CSU).<ref name="CIA">{{cite web|title=Strauss, Franz Josef – Federal Republic of Germany – Minister of Defense|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA)|date=July 1961|url=http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_0001230150/0001230150_0001.gif|access-date=29 August 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120517085123/http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_0001230150/0001230150_0001.gif|archive-date=17 May 2012}}</ref> Strauss became a member of the first ''[[Bundestag]]'' (Federal Parliament) in 1949.

In 1953 Strauss became Federal Minister for Special Affairs in the second cabinet of [[Chancellor of Germany (1949–present)|Chancellor]] [[Konrad Adenauer]], in 1955 Federal Minister of Nuclear Energy, and in 1956 Defence Minister, charged with the build-up of the new West German defence forces, the ''[[Bundeswehr]]''{{spaced ndash}}the youngest man to hold this office at the time. He became chairman of the CSU in 1961.

Strauss stated in a letter to [[HIAG]] in March 1957: "I think you know how I personally think about the front line units of the ''[[Waffen-SS]]''. They are included in my admiration for the German soldiers of the last world war."<ref>{{cite news |date=25 March 1964 |title=Waffen-SS |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-46173314.html |language=de |work=[[Der Spiegel]] }}</ref>