Bill Strauss, 60; Political Insider Who Stepped Over Into Comedy

The couple moved to Washington in 1973, and Mr. Strauss took a position as a policy aide for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now Health and Human Services). He moved the next year to the Presidential Clemency Board, where he directed a research team writing a report on the impact of the Vietnam War on the draft-eligible generation.

A year later, he and Larry Baskir co-wrote "Chance and Circumstance" (1978), a book about the Vietnam-era draft. Their second book, "Reconciliation After Vietnam" (1987), was said to have influenced President Jimmy Carter to issue a blanket pardon to draft resisters.

Mr. Strauss worked at the Department of Energy from 1977 to 1979 and then was offered the position of general counsel of the Selective Service System. Political objections derailed the offer: Someone pointed out that in the preface to "Chance and Circumstance," he had admitted helping a classmate eat enough to be too heavy for the draft.

The day Mr. Strauss heard about his rejection, he learned of an opening as a committee staffer with Percy. When Republicans took control of the Senate a year later, in 1980, Mr. Strauss became chief counsel and staff director of the Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation and Government Processes.

He had grown up listening to political satirists Tom Lehrer and Stan Freberg and had written a few political poems in college, but making a living with Capitol Steps was, in Mr. Strauss's words, "a big entrepreneurial leap."

He would never lack for material, however -- from Sen. Gary Hart and "Monkey Business" to Vice President Dick Cheney ("The Angina Monologues"). In the late 1980s, he perfected his backwards talk routine, "Lirty Dies," just in time for President Bill Clinton ("Clinton's Libido Loco") and Monica Lewinsky ("My Mama Told Me: You'd Better Sleep Around").

Made up mostly of Republicans, with a few Democrats and independents -- "to spread the blame a bit," Newport said -- the troupe, at Mr. Strauss's insistence, has always tried to be equal-opportunity satirists. "Generally people wanted to be in the show," he said, even when they were the ones being spoofed.

As Capitol Steps was taking up more of his time, Mr. Strauss was exploring American history through the cycle of generations. With co-author Neil Howe, he wrote "Generations" (1991), "13th Gen" (1993), "The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy" (1998), "Millennials Rising" (1999), "Millennials Go to College" (2003) and "Millennials and the Pop Culture" (2005).

In 1999, Mr. Strauss received a diagnosis of an aggressive strain of pancreatic cancer. The diagnosis prompted him to form the high school Critics and Awards Program, known as Cappies. "I decided this would be my calling, performing less and concentrating on starting this program," he said.

Cappies arranges for high school students to attend and review each other's shows, with top reviews published in local newspapers. Sixty Washington-area schools are involved with the program, as well as 17 additional schools in the United States and Canada. Top Cappies winners perform shows at the Kennedy Center, and student creative teams, under Mr. Strauss's oversight, have written two musicals. The most recent, "Senioritis," has been made into a movie that is to be released in March.

"He had so many different projects in the air," said Judy Bowns, his Cappies colleague for nine years, "and the amazing thing is that they were completed with a standard of excellence that was mind-boggling."

Survivors include his wife of 34 years, Janie Strauss of McLean; four children, Melanie Yee and Rebecca Strauss of McLean, Victoria Hays of Fairfax County and Eric Strauss of Reston; and one granddaughter.