 Gauss was a career Foreign Service Officer for the United States Foreign Service.He was posted as U.S. Vice Consul in Shanghai, 1912–15; U.S. Consul in Shanghai, 1916; Amoy, 1916–20; Tsinan, 1920–23; U.S. Consul General in Mukden, 1923–24; Tsinan, 1924–26; Shanghai, 1926–27 (acting), 1935–38; Tientsin, 1927–31; Paris, 1935; Shanghai, 1935-1940.From 1940-41 he served as U.S. Minister to Australia, and was the United States ambassador to the Republic of China during the Second World War.