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Oscar Straus Memorial
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Oscar S. Straus Memorial in Washington, DC commemorates the accomplishments of the first Jew to serve in the Cabinet of a U.S. president. Oscar Solomon Straus served as Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Theodore Roosevelt from 1906 to 1909. The memorial is a marble fountain located in the Federal Triangle on 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, Northwest. It is located in front of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
The fountain was designed by German-American artist Adolph Alexander Weinman and erected in 1947. In the center of the memorial is the massive fountain with the inscription "Statesman, Author, Diplomat" and to each side are two groups of statues, one called "Justice" (to symbolize the religious freedom which allowed a Jew to serve in such a position of authority) and the other "Reason" (to symbolize the capitalism and labor efforts put forth by Straus).