Irving Bernstein (November 15, 1916 – September 25, 2001) was an American professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles and a noted labor historian.
"I became enormously interested in the development of the labor movement, and I was tremendously impressed by Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal.
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.
In 1951, he was appointed director of the Case Analysis Division and chairman of the San Francisco Regional Wage Stabilization Board.
The third book in his historical trilogy, A Caring Society: The New Deal, the Worker, and the Great Depression was less well received.
The book was called "neither fresh nor complete," although critics said it captured well the emotional tenor of the Great Depression and Roosevelt' impact on the American people.
"[4] Bernstein was an officer of the National Academy of Arbitrators, and a member of the Federal Services Impasses Panel from 1979 to 1980.
Three times the UCLA Political Science Honor Society proclaimed him "Professor of the Year" for his teaching skills.