Alfred Bernstein
Alfred Bernstein | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alfred David Bernstein April 9, 1911 New York City,U.S. |
| Died | February 28, 2003(aged 91) Washington, D.C.,U.S. |
| Education | Columbia University |
| Occupation | Civil rights activist |
| Known for | Role inUFWAandUPWAunions |
| Spouse | Sylvia Walker |
| Children | 3 (includingCarl Bernstein) |
Alfred David Bernstein(April 9, 1911 – February 28, 2003) was an American civil rights and union activist.[1][2][3][4]
Background[edit]
Alfred David Bernstein was born on April 9, 1911, inNew York City.He obtained two degrees fromColumbia University,including a degree fromColumbia University Law School.[1][2]
Career[edit]
In 1937, he moved toWashington, D.C.where he worked as an investigator for inquiry by theSenate Commerce Committee(AKA Senate Railroad Investigating Committee AKAWheelerCommittee) into the railroad industry then under scrutiny.[1]( "I wasn't always on the payroll of the committee itself, but I always was attached to it," he later said.[2]) While conducting investigations, he observed how poorly government workers, especially blacks, were treated.[1]In 1941, he took a six-week leave of absence to help prepare a wage case for theBrotherhood of Railroad Trainmen.[2]In 1942, he joined theOffice of Price Administration(OPA) based inSan Franciscoas investigator.[1][2]In 1943, he served two years in the United States Army Air Forces in the Pacific theater of World War II.[1][2]
Around November 1945, Bernstein became director of negotiations for theUnited Public Workers of America(UPWA) until July 1951, shortly before he appeared under subpoena before Congress.[2]He was an active opponent ofHarry S. Truman'sExecutive Order No. 9835which required a loyalty oath "designed to root out communist influence in the U.S. federal government" and testified against it before theUnited States House Committee on Education and Laborand was subsequently called by a Senate subcommittee to defend his own loyalty.[1][2]
Later, Bernstein served as a fundraiser for theEleanor RooseveltInstitute for Cancer Research and the Union of Hebrew Congregations before joining theNational Conference of Christians and Jewsin 1960 where he served until 1985 as vice president for development.[1]
Union and civil rights activism[edit]
From 1937 to 1950, Bernstein served as an official in theUnited Federal Workers of America[1](after its 1946 merger, known as theUnited Public Workers of America).[1]
In the 1940s, he and his wife were members of theCommunist partyand, according to his son,Carl Bernstein,were persecuted by the US federal government.[3][4]
In 1947, Bernstein testified about a strike against the GSI.[2](On January 26–28 and February 2, 1948, a hearing of the House Education and Labor Subcommittee, chaired by U.S. RepresentativeClare E. Hoffman,occurred on the topic of a strike by United Cafeteria and Restaurant Workers (Local 471) and its parent, theUnited Public Workers of America(UPWA), CIO, againstGovernment Services, Inc.(GSI), which had already lasted nearly a month. Hoffman refused to let UPWA headAbram Flaxerread a statement and asked questions including whether Flaxer was a communist. One of his UAW attorneys,Nathan R. Witt,objected to "abuse of congressional power." When Forer rose to follow on from Witt, Hoffman asked him, "Are you the same Forer who defended Gerhard Eisler?" When Witt objected to Hoffman's question, it led Hoffman to eject Witt from the hearing.[5][6][7]On January 26, 1948, Bernstein charged that House committee agents had raided the union's offices. During January, William S. Tyson, solicitor for theLabor Department,andRobert N. Denham,general counsel for theNational Labor Relations Board,both agreed that nothing in the Taft-Hartley Act prohibited GSI from bargaining with a non-complying union. However, Denham added, the Act intended to "eliminate Communist influence from unions by denying to such unions the services of NLRB."[8])
On October 11, 1951, during testimony before theSenate Subcommittee on Internal Security(SSIS), Bernstein refused to answer many questions regarding the UPWA, the Communist Party, and people includingAbram Flaxer,Louise Bransten, andGrigory Kheifets.[2]
Personal life and death[edit]
Bernstein married toSylvia Walker,a civil rights activist.[1][4]They had three children: journalistCarl Bernstein,Mary Bernstein, and Laura Bernstein.[1][4]
Alfred David Bernstein died age 91 on February 28, 2003, of astrokeat his home in Washington, D.C.[4]
See also[edit]
- Sylvia Bernstein (activist)(wife)
- Carl Bernstein(child)
- Loyalties,a memoir by Carl Bernstein on his parents' life during the McCarthy era
- Abraham Flaxer
- United Federal Workers of America
References[edit]
- ^abcdefghijkl"Alfred Bernstein Dies".The Washington Post.March 2, 2003.
- ^abcdefghijSubversive Control of the UPWA.US GPO. 1951. pp. 100 (full name), 105–114 (testimony).RetrievedNovember 30,2019.
- ^abBernstein, Carl(1989).Loyalties: A Son's Memoir.Simon & Schuster.ISBN978-0-671-64942-5.RetrievedNovember 30,2019.
- ^abcde"Activist Sylvia Bernstein Dies at 88".The Washington Post.November 25, 2003.
- ^Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates.US GPO. 1948. pp. D65.RetrievedNovember 9,2019.
- ^Simpson, Craig (January 2, 2018)."Against the cold wind: The 1948 cafeteria workers strike".Washington Spark.RetrievedMarch 20,2017.
- ^Marder, Murray (January 2, 2018). "Flaxer Refuses To Answer on Communism".Washington Post.p. 1.
- ^Wilder, Frank (January 27, 1948). "Union Asserts Office Raided in GSI Strike".Washington Post.pp. 1, 6.