Charles Moses Strauss
From left to right: Charles Moses Strauss, Julia Kaufmann Strauss, Charles and Levi Strauss posing as cowboys for a photo
Charles Moses Strauss, Tucson’s first Jewish mayor, led a life of dedication to public service in the Old Pueblo.
Strauss was born in New York City on April 15, 1840, to Nathan and Rachel Strauss. In 1851 his father moved the family to Boston, where the young Charles started his education, studying Hebrew alongside his public schooling. At the age of sixteen, he started to travel between New York and Boston, where he worked for Converse & Harding Company, and would sometimes work for his uncle. He found relative financial success while working for the Poughkeepsie Bridge Company, which enabled him to move to Memphis during the end of the Civil War. There he started to work for a dry goods company and met Julia Kauffman. They married on May 10, 1868, and had their first daughter Rosalie a year later. Julia and Charles were an entertaining couple, Julia being a pianist and Charles being an actor; the two would sometimes collaborate during theater productions or other spectacles. Strauss’ involvement in politics may have had its source in an experience from his time in Memphis: as secretary for a group of Jewish citizens, Strauss once campaigned against Ulysses S. Grant’s bid for the presidency; while serving as a general in the Union army, he supported an order which aimed to expel all Jews from his military district, driven by suspicion that they were engaged in illicit trade in coton. Unlike Strauss’ later political endeavors, this attempt was fruitless
The family’s time in Memphis came to an end in 1870 when they moved to Hingham, Massachusetts, where Strauss had found work there. Even in this new location, Strauss’ political zeal did not falter, and he became chairman for the Democratic committee and even had a bid for Secretary of State. Three children were born into the family throughout the 1870s:Gertrude, Mabel, and Charles Moses Junior, but tragically, young Rosalie died at the age of six.
After a decade of life and work in Massachusetts and forty years spent in New England, Charles Strauss decided, partially due to the death of Rosalie and partly due to his own respiratory issues, that it was time that he and his family opt for a drastic change of scenery. In 1880, the Strauss family moved to Tucson. Charles’ father Nathan was an acquaintance of the Zeckendorf family, who were already well-established merchants in Tucson, so settling into the Old Pueblo was a relatively smooth transition for the newcomers. Strauss was a shoe-in to become the manager of the L. Zeckendorf Mercantile Store, where he worked for three years. During this early period in Tucson, he also started to get involved in mining and even became a local leader of the Masonic Lodge. On December 19, 1882, Strauss proclaimed his candidacy for mayor, marking the beginning of an important political career in Tucson. His opponent in the race was Hiram S. Stevens, who hoped to advance his own chances in the race by preying upon potential latent anti-semitism amongst Tucsonans. He induced the Arizona Daily Star, the newspaper backing Strauss’ campaign, to reprint a quote from then prominent Jewish politician Judah Benjamin, in which he vaunted his own Jewishness and disparaged Scandinavians, all in response to an anti-semitic comment that had been leveled against. This attempt to associate Strauss’ Jewish identity with his co-religionist’s cherry-picked moment of haughtiness was parried by the Arizona Daily Star, the newspaper that supported Strauss, in a publication which expressed staunch, unflinching support for its candidate. The vote took place on January 2, 1883, with a tally of 444 votes for Strauss to Stevens’ 419.
Strauss wasted no time upon taking office, and he quickly worked to improve the city of Tucson. His successes were many: he enjoined the city council to build a city hall, a public library, a hospital, and to create a street grading program. All of these plans were eventually achieved. Surprisingly, Strauss’ career as mayor lasted only a little over a year and a half. He resigned on August 4, 1884, following a scandal caused by an $11,350 budget deficit brought about by the heavy spending that the city had undertaken. Despite this, it was generally agreed upon that Charles Strauss had a stellar, if short, mayoral career, and received praise from most of the important press in Arizona at the time. This brief stint as mayor of Tucson did not prevent Strauss from attaining other prestigious posts. He served as the Arizona Territory’s Superintendent of Public Education from 1886 to 1890 and advocated for education in rural areas. Strauss was also a member of the Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, an institution whose founding he ardently supported and worked towards with other pioneering Jews such as Jacob Mansfeld and Selim Franklin. Strauss founded the Territorial Teachers’ Association, dedicated to the overseeing of quality in public schools, and served until 1899 as the organization’s first president. Outside his academic wheelhouse, Strauss was a clerk in the Sixteenth Territorial Legislature and also volunteered as a firefighter.
The Strauss home was known to be an important gathering place for literary and musical pursuits, and Julia oversaw the first meeting of Tucson’s Lotus Club, a prominent social club that included many Jewish women, in their home. In 1891, a fifth child, Ruth, was born, further enlarging the Strauss family. Charles’ health started to decline the year of his daughter’s birth and he passed away on March 13 of the following year, at the age of fifty-two. Tucsonans across the city grieved his passing and flags were flown at half mast.
Cholent and Chorizo, by Abraham Chanin
Jewish Settlers in the Arizona Territory, by Blaine Lamb
Photo credits: Arizona Historical Society