Bertram Gross

Bertram Gross (1912–1997) was a social scientist, federal bureaucrat, and professor of public policy and political science. During the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, he served as an advisor in the areas of public housing, wartime price controls, small business, and post-war planning. He was the major architect of the original full-employment bills of 1944 and 1945, and of the Employment Act of 1946. The Campaign to Abolish Poverty/Full Employment Coalition now presents the annual Bertram Gross Award in his honor. While working on legislation in Congress and the president’s office, he wrote The Legislative Struggle: A Study of Social Combat, which won the American Political Science Association’s Woodrow Wilson Prize. Gross contributed to a variety of publications, including the New York Times and Social Policy, where his first piece on Friendly Fascism appeared.