Smuts instilled him to leadership values, that a public figure had no right to place personal happiness before duty and responsibility, or to indulge in self-pity.

[2] Strauss was responsible for the coloured vote constitutional crisis, when he had the United Party resolutely oppose the full disenfranchisement of blacks.

Out of patience, J. G. Strijdom introduced a bill to simply enlarge the upper house, so it could be packed with National Party members.

Outraged, Strauss condemned the law as a "monstrosity", an "inherently evil measure", and "far-reaching strides to a one-party, to a police state."

A compromise was reached when Strauss declared that after returning to power, the UP would correct the injustice done to blacks, but in a way that'd serve national interests.

Without Strauss to reign in the conservatives and protect the progressives, however, the United Party lurched to the right, stopped actively resisting apartheid, and eventually fractured.

However, in an interview with The Star in 1976, he professed his support for political reform and accepted majority rule in South Africa as inevitable.

Nevertheless, his actions did contribute to the verligte split in the National Party, which had culminated in F. W. de Klerk's speech at the Opening of the Parliament of South Africa just one month earlier.