[2] Inspired by the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre to search for gold in Mexico in the 1950s, Weiss became a successful entrepreneur in the mining industry before turning to politics as co-founder of the Citizen's Party and founder of BENS, and anti-nuclear advocacy group that successfully campaigned for the closure of unnecessary U.S. military bases, reforming Pentagon procurement, passing the Chemical Weapons Convention, and catalyzing President Bill Clinton's 2000 visit to India.
[citation needed] He joined the U.S. Army in January 1944, shortly after his seventeenth birthday, and was discharged with the rank of Sergeant in August, 1946.
Weiss credited President Harry Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb with probably saving his life because he was training for the U.S. invasion of Japan when the war ended.
[citation needed] During his time as a Georgetown student in 1951, Weiss was inspired by the John Huston film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre to search for gold in Mexico.
In a February 2, 1983, interview on the Today show, host Jane Pauley asked Weiss why senior business leaders were becoming vocal about issues pertaining to nuclear war.
In a series of op-eds, Weiss drew attention to the dangers of nuclear proliferation and said The Pentagon was operating on outdated assessments of national security needs in justifying inefficient acquisitions and unnecessary bases.
[20] Weiss was a co-founder of the Citizen's Party, which was dissatisfied with the Carter administration and focused on economic democracy and solving the 1970s energy crisis.
[24] He had written as broadly and consistently on issues related to southeastern Asia and the Asian subcontinent the past 20 years – including Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, India – as any other American writer.
[28] Key themes in Weiss's writings include the US leadership, economics, global business, and national borders.
[28] Weiss had described Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a "brilliant fraud" whose actions run counter to Turkey's secular and democratic tradition, called on the US to reconsider its relationships with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and argued for a change in the US's approach to Myanmar.
[citation needed] Weiss was the executive producer for The Hired Hand, a 1971 film starring Peter Fonda, and also appeared in it.
Writers Barnaby Conrad and Herb Gold, advertising pioneers Walter Landor and Howard Gossage, as well as proctologist-turned-ventriloquist Gerry Feigen were among a group of friends who met regularly with Weiss at Trader Vic's.
[citation needed] Weiss spent part of each year in Gstaad, Switzerland, where he befriended Galbraith, conservative National Review founder William F. Buckley, and The Spectator columnist Taki Theodoracopulos.
[citation needed] Weiss also developed close friendships in Gstaad with actors Sean Connery and Roger Moore.
[39] He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Ditchley Foundation,[40] and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.