Keyserling, Leon H. (Leon Hirsch), 1908-1987

Leon Hirsch Keyserling was born on January 22, 1908 in Charleston, South Carolina. He received his A.B. degree from Columbia University in 1928 and in 1931 he received his LL.B. from Harvard University. From 1931 to 1933 he was a graduate student in the Department of Economics at Columbia University. In 1933 he began work as an attorney for the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. From 1933 to 1946 he was a consultant economist to Senate committees on issues relating to banking and currency, industrial recovery and public works, housing, social security, labor relations and employment. From 1933 to 1937 he was a Legislative Assistant to Senator Robert F. Wagner. From 1937 to 1946 he was General Counsel, and worked in other positions at the U.S. Housing Authority, the Federal Public Housing Authority, and the National Housing Agency. From 1946 to 1953 he served as Vice Chairman (1946-1949), Acting Chairman (1949-1950), and Chairman (1950-1953) of the Council of Economic Advisers. From 1953 to 1987 he was a consulting economist and practicing attorney, and especially, consultant to members and committees of the Congress on issues relating to banking and currency, industrial recovery and public works, housing, social security, labor relations and employment, taxation and monetary policy. In 1954 he founded the Conference on Economic Progress, and served as the Conference's president until 1987. In 1969 Keyserling was elected president of the National Committee for Labor in Israel. He died in Washington, D.C., on August 9, 1987.

Lawyer, economist, government official.