 After serving in the State Department and the Department of the Interior between 1937 and 1942, Straight became "The New Republic"'s Washington correspondent in 1940, and editor in 1941.After serving in the US Air Force from 1942–1945, he returned to "The New Republic" as its publisher, and hired Henry A. Wallace, the former 33rd Vice President of the United States from 1941–1945 and the Secretary of Commerce from 1945–1946, as the magazine's editor.Straight resumed the editorship when Wallace departed in 1947 to launch his 1948 Progressive Party presidential campaign, Straight left the helm of "The New Republic" in 1956.