born Sept. 6, 1915, Munich, Ger.
died Oct. 3, 1988, Regensburg, W.Ger.
German politician.
Strauss studied at the University of Munich and was an active member of a Roman Catholic youth organization that clashed with the Nazis. Called up for military service in 1939, he was captured by U.S. forces near the end of World War II. After his release in 1945, he served as councillor to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior and in 1946 was appointed deputy county director in the Schongau district by the U.S. occupation authorities. He helped found the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) in 1945 and was elected to the Bundestag in 1949. He served as minister of defense (195662) and minister of finance (196669). Head of the CSU from 1961, he was the party's unsuccessful candidate for chancellor in 1980. As premier of Bavaria (197888), he pursued economic policies that made it one of Germany's most prosperous states.