A one-year Congressional Fellowship with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) brought Leonard Weiss to Capitol Hill in 1976 and set in motion a career on Senate staff that lasted for more than two decades and shaped major legislation in areas ranging from nuclear nonproliferation to civil service reform. At the conclusion of Weiss's IEEE fellowship, Senator John Glenn hired him as staff director of the Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Federal Services, a position he held from 1977 to 1980. He served as minority staff director from 1981 to 1986. Weiss became staff director of the Governmental Affairs Committee, under John Glenn’s chairmanship, from 1987 to 1994 and minority staff director of the committee from 1995 until Glenn retired from the Senate in 1999.
Scholarly citation: "Leonard Weiss: Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Federal Services and the Committee on Governmental Affairs, 1976–1999," Oral History Interviews, October 15, 2004, to December 21, 2005, Senate Historical Office, Washington, D.C.
Disclaimer: The Senate Historical Office has a strong commitment to oral history as an important part of its efforts to document institutional change over time. Oral histories are a natural component to historical research and enhance the archival holdings of the Senate and its members. Oral histories represent the personal recollections and opinions of the interviewees, however, and should not be considered as the official views or opinions of the U.S. Senate, of the Senate Historical Office, or of other senators and/or staff members. The transcripts of these oral histories are made available by the Senate Historical Office as a public service.
