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STRATTON, Samuel Studdiford, a Representative from New York; born in Yonkers, Westchester County,
N.Y., September 27, 1916; at age of three months moved with parents to
Schenectady, N.Y.; attended the public schools of Schenectady and Rochester,
N.Y., and Blair Academy, Blairstown, N.J.; graduated from University of
Rochester in 1937, Haverford (Pa.) College in 1938, and Harvard University in
1940; executive secretary to Representative Thomas H. Eliot of Massachusetts,
1940-1942; commissioned an ensign in the United States Naval Reserve on June
26, 1942; served in the Southwest Pacific Theater as naval combat intelligence
officer on the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur; separated from the service as a
lieutenant in 1946; twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal with combat V; at the
close of the war interrogated Japanese supreme commander in the Philippines,
Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, who was later hanged as a war criminal; deputy
secretary-general of the Far Eastern Commission, Washington, D.C., 1946-1948;
elected city councilman of Schenectady, N.Y., in 1949, reelected in 1953 and
served until 1956; recalled to active naval duty as a lieutenant commander and
served as instructor at the Naval Intelligence School, Washington, D.C.,
1951-1953; held rank of captain in United States Naval Reserve; member of
Schenectady Municipal Housing Authority 1950-1955, serving as chairman in 1951;
mayor of Schenectady 1956-1959; member of board of trustees, University of
Rochester; registered representative with First Albany Corporation, 1957-1958;
elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-sixth and to the fourteen succeeding
Congresses (January 3, 1959-January 3, 1989); was not a candidate for
renomination in 1988 to the One Hundred First Congress; was a resident of
Potomac, Md., until his death in Rockville, Md., on September 13, 1990;
interment in Arlington National Cemetery.
BibliographyCross, Wilber.
Samuel S. Stratton: A Story of Political Gumption. New York:
James H. Heineman, 1964; Ralph Nader Congress Project.
Citizens Look at Congress: Samuel S. Stratton, Democratic
Representative from New York. Washington, D. C.: Grossman Publishers,
1972.
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