Childhood and Education
Bernstein was born in 1916 in Ellensville, New York. His parents were Jewish immigrants, and his father was a baker.
While in high school, Bernstein became deeply interested in history and the needs of working-class people. "I could see the Depression all around me," he once recalled. "I became enormously interested in the development of the labor movement, and I was tremendously impressed by Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal."
Bernstein enrolled at the University of Rochester. He worked at a variety of jobs—janitor, lifeguard, dishwasher in a sorority—and received support from his older brother to pay for his education. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1937.
He obtained a master's degree in 1940 from Harvard University.
In 1941, Bernstein became a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. The same year, he married his wife, Fredrika. They had two daughters and a son.
After the outbreak of World War II, Bernstein took a variety of positions with the federal government. He was an industrial economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1941 to 1942 and a hearing officer at the National War Labor Board from 1942 to 1943.
When he became aware of Sweden's involvement in assisting Jews to flee Nazi-occupied Europe, he learned Swedish and became a Swedish language specialist for the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services.
After the war, Bernstein returned to Harvard and earned a doctorate in 1948. His dissertation advisor was Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. While writing his dissertation, Bernstein was chief of the Materials Section of the U.S. Conciliation Service from 1946 to 1947.
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