Leiserson, William Morris (1883-1957)

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Mentioned in (3)
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John Bertram Andrews to Jane Addams to January 6, 1912

John Bertram Andrews to Jane Addams, November 21, 1912

General Committee on the Limitation of Armament Declaration and Membership, November 1921

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Birth Date

1883-04-15

Death Date

1957-02-12

Birthplace

Reval, Russia (Estonia)

Biographical Text

William Leiserson immigrated to the United States with his family from Tsarist Russia, and when he was seven years old. He worked in a shirtwaist factory while studying at the Cooper Union. Hoping to attend college, Leiserson passed the entrance exam of the University of Wisconsin, despite not having a formal high school education. He then studied economics and labor relations at the University of Wisconsin and went on to receive his Ph.D. in 1911 from Columbia University. He also received a junior fellowship from the New York School of Philanthropy. While studying in college, he worked with John R. Commons and studied labor conditions in Pittsburgh. After graduating, Leiserson served as an investigator for the New York State legislature's Commission on Unemployment and Workmen's Compensation and worked for the New York Commission on Employers’ Liability and Unemployment. In 1910 he represented the commission in Paris as a delegate to the International Congress on Unemployment, where he delivered a paper titled "The Struggle Against Unemployment in the United States." In 1911 he became deputy industrial commissioner for Wisconsin. During this time he also founded the National Association of Public and Private Employment Agencies. Leiserson also worked as a professor at the University of Toledo, Antioch College, and Johns Hopkins University. He was a member of a committee of the American Association for Labor Legislation which would form the American Section of the International Association on Unemployment, and later became very involved in the federal government, serving as Chief of the Labor Administration Division of the United States Department of Labor, Secretary of the National Labor Board of the National Recovery Administration, and Chairman of the National Mediation Board. He was also a member of the National Labor Relations Board and the first impartial chairman of the Rochester (N.Y.) Labor Adjustment Board for the men's clothing industry. In addition, Leiserson was involved in labor legislation, including drafting of the Ohio Plan for unemployment insurance (while serving as chairman of the Ohio Commission on Unemployment Insurance) and drafting the U.S. Social Security Act of 1934.

Leiserson married Emily N. Bodmanin 1912. They had seven children together. Leiserson died in 1957.

Occupation

Labor activist

Professor

Collection

People

Map

Edited By

DeLora, Renee

Lichon, Sara Catherine

Rights

Rightsholder being researched

Gender

Male

First appears

1912

Bibliography and Links

Cook County, Illinois, Marriages Index, 1871-1920

International Association of Workforce Professionals

Jewish Virtual Library

SNAC

Wikipedia

William M Leiserson, 1930 United States Federal Census

Citation

“Leiserson, William Morris (1883-1957),” Jane Addams Digital Edition, accessed July 27, 2024, https://digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu/items/show/3754.