Hillman, Sidney 1887-1946

LABOR LEADER AND GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRAT

Politician.

Unlike most labor leaders, Sidney Hillman assumed a place in the Roosevelt administration, both through a series of official appointments and as a confidant of the president, that allowed him to operate at the highest levels of government. Hillman became a power in the Democratic Party and was a participant in the shaping of domestic economic and social policy throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

Immigrant.

In 1887 Hillman was born to a Russian-Jewish family living in Zagare. His family had a strong rabbinical tradition and intended for him to follow a religious calling. Against his father's wishes he began to read books on Western social thought, and he soon became politically active. In 1905 he was arrested for participating in a public protest in support of the Russian revolution of 1905. In 1907 he immigrated to the United States, where he became involved in...

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