Leon H. Keyserling: A Progressive Economist is the insightful biography of the life and thought of the influential liberal reformer Leon H. Keyserling. By examining Keyserling's life in the context of integrative liberalism, the biography aims to explore the origins of the concept of integrative liberalism and Keyserling's profound and provocative contribution to it. The book follows the political reformer's life from the beginning of his career as a member of Democratic Senator Robert Wagner's staff, at the same time showing how the Progressive Movement, before World War I, was the ideological and institutional origin for integrative liberalism. The Great Depression and subsequent New Deal, to which Keyserling was a significant contributor, allowed integrative liberalism to develop until the movement started losing vitality in the 1960's and came to an end during the Reagan Presidency. In the meantime, the book presents Keyserling as a major sculptor of Truman's economic policies, after which he left the government and began effectively debating public policy on his own. Tracing Keyserling's interactions with each presidency, the biography shows that Keyserling's policies and politics were expressive of integrated liberalism, an often-overlooked philosophy of reform in the second half of the twentieth century. The ideological cornerstone of integrative liberalism was a full employment public policy, expressed as economic growth and developed directly from United States history. The fear driving the policy was that there would be wide swings in the business cycle, resulting in underemployment and economic stagnation. This sentiment and fear has an impact even now in the twenty-first century, making Leon H. Keyserling a timely and profitable study for graduate and undergraduate students of history, economics, political science, and public administration.

In Designing US Economic Policy , W. Robert Brazelton analyzes the development of US economic policy in the aftermath of the Second World War. As the world struggled to recover from the massive wartime expenditure, it was essential that economic policy not repeat the mistakes of the prewar era which sparked the 1930s Depression. These policies included Truman's New Deal, which helped shape both the economic and social climate of the USA today.

Parents; Columbia University, BA 1928; legislative assistant, 1933-37, advisor, 1938-46 to Senator Robert F. Wagner; New Deal legislation including drafting of National Industrial Recovery Act, housing acts, Wagner Act, 1935; member Wardman Park Group, 1946-52; Vice Chairman and Chairman, Council of Economic Advisors: comparison of Council of Edonomic Advisors, 1946-52 to Council of Economic Advisors of the 1970s; passage of Humphrey-Hawkins Bill; evaluation and comparison of Presidents Roosevelt and Truman and their Cabinets and advisors; views of federal economic policy through the Carter administration: function and policies of Federal Reserve Board, wage and price controls, relationship of unemployment and interest rates to inflation, taxation; impressions of Robert F. Wagner, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman.

"A memorial service for Leon H. Keyserling who died on August 9, 1987 at the age of 79 was held at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. on September 10, 1987. The service was chaired by Robert E. Asher, a retired Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution and a friend of Leon's for over fifty years. Six other close friends also paid tribute to Leon. The statements of these seven individuals follow. Also included are two additional eulogies, one presented over the radio by Michael Harrington and the other written in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post by Robert R. Nathan. These are followed by selected excerpts drawn from the nearly four hundred letters of condolence received by Mary Dublin Keyserling in the several weeks following Leon's death. The printed obituaries appearing in the New York Times and the Washington Post are appended."--P. [2].