Samuel Studdiford Stratton

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.