Oral History Interviews with Leon H. Keyserling
	Member of legal staff, Agricultural Adjustment Admin., 1933. Secretary and legislative assistant to Sen. Robert F. Wagner (New York), 1933-37. Gen. counsel, U.S. Housing Authority, 1937-38; deputy administrator and gen. counsel, 1938-42; acting administrator, 1941-42. Acting commissioner, Federal Public Housing Authority, 1942. Gen. counsel, National Housing Agency, 1942-46. Vice chairman President's Council of Economic Advisers, 1946-50; chairman, 1950-53.
	Interview Transcripts May 3, 1971 | May 10, 1971 | May 19, 1971 by Jerry N. Hess

See also Leon H. Keyserling Papers finding aid

NOTICE
These are transcripts of tape-recorded interviews conducted for the Harry S. Truman Library. A draft of each transcript was edited by the interviewee but only minor emendations were made; therefore, the reader should remember that these are essentially transcripts of the spoken, rather than the written word.

Numbers appearing in square brackets (ex. [45]) within the transcript indicate the pagination in the original, hardcopy version of the oral history interview.

RESTRICTIONS
These oral history transcripts may be read, quoted from, cited, and reproduced for purposes of research. They may not be published in full except by permission of the Harry S. Truman Library.

Appendix I: Unsigned memorandum, dated June 29, 1948, entitled "Should the President call Congress back?" (Truman Library Personal Papers Collection, Papers of Samuel I. Rosenman, 1944-1966: Box 9; Subject File; 1948; Campaign 1948; HST Acceptance Speech).

Appendix II: Copy of June 25, 1946 letter from Senator Robert Taft to Wilson Wyatt, Administrator of the National Housing Agency, recommending Leon Keyserling for the position of Commissioner of the Federal Public Housing Authority (Truman Library Papers of Harry S. Truman Collection, Staff Member and Office Files, Clark M. Clifford Files: Box 7; Housing Administration [Folder 2 of 2]).

Acheson, Dean, 80
Adams, Sherman, 125
Agricultural Adjustment Administration, 5, 6
Altmeyer, Arthur, 16
American Economic Committee, 30, 31

Baruch, Bernard, 88
Beaufort County (S.C.) Welfare Board, 2
Beaufort, South Carolina, 1, 2
Bell, David E., 99, 103, 104
Biffle, Leslie L., 177
Black, Hugo L., 34, 176
Blough, Roy, 108, 167
Brandeis, Louis, 18
Brannan, Charles F., 53, 58, 67, 78
Budget, U.S. Bureau of the, 163-164, 166-170
Burns, Arthur, 42, 125, 140, 150-151, 164, 190
Burton, Harold H., 73
Byrnes, James F., 6, 73

Caplan, Benjamin, 182-183
Cardozo, Benjamin N., 13, 14
Chapman, Oscar L., 77, 78
Charleston, South Carolina, 1
Civil rights, 81-82
Clark, John D., 37, 41-42, 54, 108, 112-113, 115, 122, 130
Clifford, Clark M., 51, 56, 58, 64, 67-70, 72, 73, 76, 99, 100, 103, 110, 111, 187
Cohen, Benjamin, 36
Colm, Gerhard, 126, 179-182
Collett, J. Caskie, 74
Columbia University, 4
Corcoran, Thomas G., 36
Council of Economic Advisers, 29-32, 37, 40-55
Council of Economic Advisers:
appointments to, 40-43, 106-109, 111-112, 129-130, 148
budget for, 123-125
Congressional liaison, and, 173-177
economic policies during Korean War, 133-139, 156-158
economic policy of the Truman administration, impact on, 192-194
function of, 44-46, 49-53
membership, background and qualifications, 130-132, 145-147
policies, general economic, 84-86, 88-92
political activities by members of, 189-191
problems of administration/policy, 140-147, 149-155, 165-167
Recession of 1949, and the, 184-188
staffing of, 126-129, 180-184
staff meetings of, 178-180

Davidson, C. Girard, 58, 67, 78, 79
Davis, John C., 183
Davis, William H., 29
Defense budget, U.S. (Korean War), 113-120
Defense Production Act of 1950, 156-158
Democratic National Convention, 1936, 35
Democratic National Convention, 1940, 35-36
Democratic National Contention, 1944, 36-37
Democratic National Convention, 1948, 36
Dickinson, John, 7
Douglas, Paul H., 48
Dykstra, Clarence, 25

Eisenhower, Dwight D., 124, 125
Ellender, Allen J., 19, 20
Elsey, George, 102
Employment, legislation on, 25-30
Ewing, Oscar R., 57, 64, 78

Fair Deal, 160-161
Federal Reserve System, 47-49
Fisher, Joseph, 128
Frank, Jerome, 6, 7, 8
Fulton, Hugh, 40

Galbraith, Kenneth, 87, 152
Green, William, 11, 29
Gross, Bertram, 27, 28, 127, 183
Gruenther, Alfred, 90

Harriman, Averell, 53, 140
Harrison, Pat, 13
Hatch, Carl, 73
Heller, Walter, 42, 152
Homans, Paul, 126
Housing legislation, 19-23, 34, 40

Ickes, Harold L., 9
Inflation, 194-197
Israel, 3

James, Frances, 184
Johnson, Hugh, 10
Johnson, Louis A., 113, 117
Joint Economic Committee, 120-123, 151, 174

Kennedy, John F., 62-63, 92-95, 116, 117, 153
Kingsley, Donald, 57, 80
Kirstein, Louis, 11
Kissinger, Henry A., 51
Korean War, economic policies during, 88-92, 118-120, 133-139, 156-158

LaFollette, Robert M., Jr., 34
Lawton, Frederick J., 168, 169
Lewis, Daniel J., 15
Lewis, John L., 11
Lewis, John P., 128
Lovett, Robert A., 91, 137

McCabe, Thomas B., 48
McCormack, John W., 36, 37
McGrath, J. Howard, 58, 78
Marshall, George C., 91-92, 137
Martin, William M., Jr., 48, 94, 142
Maybank, Burnet R., 124
Mellett, Lowell, 36
Minton, Sherman, 34, 73
Mitchell, Wesley C., 25
Montague, Gilbert H., 7
Morse, David, 58, 78
Moulton, Harold G., 7
Murphy, Charles S., 32, 33, 58, 67, 72, 73, 98
Murray, James E., 27
Murray, Philip, 29

National Industrial Recovery Act, 7-10, 13, 34
National Labor Relations Act, 12-13
Nitze, Paul, 138
Nixon, Richard M., 186
Norris, George W., 24
Nourse, Edwin G., 37, 41, 49-55, 71, 108, 109, 111-115, 122, 126, 142, 172, 190

O'Brien, Lawrence, 174
O'Donnell, Kenneth, 63
Okun, Arthur M., 42
O'Mahoney, Joseph C., 27, 74, 124

Pabst Postwar Employment Contest (1944), 25-26
Pace, Frank, 168-169
Patman, Wright, 27
Patton, James G., 29
Perkins, Frances, 12, 16
Phillips, Cabell, 61, 80, 83-84
Phillips, Dayton E., 123
Podell, David, 8
Porter, Paul, 53
Presidential election (1952), 198-199
Pritchard, Edward, 28
Public works, 9

Recession of 1949, 184-187
Richberg, Donald, 10
Riefler, Winfield, 8
Rifkind, Simon H., 7, 8
Robinson, Joseph T., 13
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 10, 11, 13, 16, 22, 35, 85, 175, 176
Rosenberg, Anna, 29
Rosenman, Samuel I., 22
Ruml, Beardsley, 25, 26
Rusk, Dean, 62, 63
Russell, Richard D., 74

St. Helena Island, 1
Salant, Walter, 126, 183
Saltonstall, Leverett, 124
Saulnier, Raymond J., 42
Sawyer, Charles, 75, 155
Schlesinger, Arthur, 62
Senate, U.S., 38, 39
Smith, Alfred E., 24
Smith, Ellison D., 6
Smith, Harold, 168
Snyder, John W., 48, 74, 75, 142, 145, 155, 156
Social Security Act, 15-19
South Carolina Produce Association, 2
Speeches, Presidential, drafting of, 97-100
State of the Union Messages, 170-172
Steelman, John R., 74, 105-111
Stowe, David H., 99, 103
Supreme Court, U.S., 13-14, 176-177
Swope, Gerard, 7, 11
Swope Plan, 7

Taft, Robert A., 19-22, 120-125
Teagle, Walter, 11
Thomas, Elmer, 27
Truman Committee, 40
Truman, Harry S.:
abilities as President, 74-75
Budget, U.S., knowledge of, 169-170
civil rights, and, 81-82
Council of Economic Advisers, appointments to, 40-42, 106-109, 129, 130, 148
Council of Economic Advisers, knowledge of functions, 49-51, 53, 87, 92
Federal Reserve system, and the, 47-48
Keyserling, Leon, relationship with, 76, 145
mentioned, 28, 29
monetary policy, U.S., and, 142-143
Nourse, Edwin G., relationship with, 54-55
political philosophy, 73-74, 80-81
President, evolution of as, 199-204
Senate, U.S., service in, 37-40
Wardman Park group, influence on, 64-68, 71, 80
The Truman Presidency, 80, 83
Tugwell, Rexford G., 3, 4, 6, 8

Unemployment, 194-197
Unemployment insurance, 15-17, 19

Vinson, Fred M., 29

Wagner, Robert F., 3, 8-17, 19, 20, 23-25, 27, 33-38, 75
Wallace, Henry A., 8
Wardman Park group, 57-61, 63-72, 77-80, 83, 96-98, 101
Waugh, Frederick, 126, 179, 183
Webb, James E., 114, 117, 168, 169
Whitney, A.F. 25
Wilson, Charles E., 48, 91, 137, 142-143
Wilson, Woodrow, 18
Wolman, Leo, 11

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