Keyserling, Leon Hirsch

Leon Keyserling was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1908. He grew up on the coastal island of St. Helena (SC) and later moved to Beaufort. Keyserling graduated from Beaufort High School at age 16 and attended Columbia University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. After receiving a degree from Harvard Law School, he taught economics at Columbia University and conducted research for the Rockefeller Foundation. At age twenty five, Keyserling was appointed Senator Robert F. Wagner's chief legislative aide and assisted in drafting the National Industry Recovery Act, National Housing Act, Wagner National Labor Relations Act, portions of the Social Security Act and the US Housing Act.

Keyserling next worked for the United States Housing Agency and helped draft the executive order reorganizing federal housing into one central agency. From 1946-1953, he served on President Truman's Council of Economic Advisors and became a private consulting economist in 1953. He retired from private practice in 1971 and devoted his time to working for the Conference on Economic Progress, a research organization he founded in 1954; he also worked on the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 with Senator Hubert Humphrey and Representative Augustus Hawkins.

Keyserling married Mary Dublin, (Director of the Labor Department's Women's Bureau, 1964-1969) in 1940.

From the description of Leon Keyserling papers, 1930-1987 (bulk, 1976-1987). (College of Charleston). WorldCat record id: 50498901