the University of Texas at Austin, he campaigned for a state legislature candidate. He was given a part-time job as a Committee Clerk in the Texas State Legislature. In 1937, while still an undergraduate, he volunteered for Johnson's first congressional campaign. Strauss was also a member of the Texas Cowboys, an honorary service organization at the University of Texas. At the University of Texas Law School, he met Connally, another student who would significantly impact his career. After completing his law degree, Strauss was hired as a special agent by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and served in the FBI throughout World War II. After the war, he settled in Dallas, where he and a fellow FBI agent, Richard A. Gump, founded their own law firm. This firm, known initially as Gump and Strauss, would eventually grow into the international law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. The many partners over the years included a high-profile defense attorney, William G. Hundley. Texas political activity Still interested in a political career, Strauss and his wife, Helen Jacobs, found a more comfortable niche participating in numerous charities and community activities. Strauss became a prodigious fundraiser for the Democratic Party. By the 1950s, Strauss's law school friend, John Connally, was serving on the staff of Lyndon Johnson, who soon became Senate Majority Leader. When John F. Kennedy and Johnson were respectively elected President and Vice President in 1960, Connally, a former naval officer, was appointed Secretary of the Navy. Within a year, at Strauss's urging, Connally returned to Texas to run for governor. At the time, the Republican Party had little presence in Texas. However, Connally nevertheless faced stiff opposition in the Democratic primary. Strauss's skill as a campaign adviser and fundraiser was crucial in Connally's narrow victory. Having secured the Democratic nomination, Connally easily won the general election. Connally's election finally brought Strauss the access to the Dallas business establishment that he had long sought. Governor Connally appointed Strauss to the Texas Banking Commission, and Strauss's law firm grew and prospered. The world of Texas politics was turned upside down by the events of November 1963. Connally and his wife Nellie were riding in the limousine with Kennedy in Dallas when the latter was fatally shot. Connally was severely wounded by the assassin's bullets but soon recovered. Connally and Strauss's mentor and patron, Johnson, was now President of the United