Henry Rosner was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 policy researcher, journalist, and fiscal administrator for public welfare programs in New York City and New York State. He consulted for and helped set up welfare programs and departments in a number of U.S. cities and states, including Vermont, and foreign countries, including Israel.

Family life

Rosner was the oldest of seven children, along with his twin sister Sally Miller. He married Sophie Kimels in December 1929. The couple, who had met at a Young People's Socialist League

Young People's Socialist League

The Young People's Socialist League , founded in 1989, is the official youth arm of the Socialist Party USA. The group's membership consists of those democratic socialists under the age of 30, and its political activities tend to concentrate on increasing the voter turnout of young democratic...

 picnic, honeymooned in Russia, which they found to be a totalitarian dictatorship rather than the socialist utpopia they had hoped to see. They later wrote a report to Norman Thomas about their experience of Russia. (see Barbara Seaman

Barbara Seaman

Barbara Seaman was an American author, activist, and journalist, and a principal founder of the women's health feminism movement.-Early years:Seaman, whose parents, Henry J...

)

Rosner and Kimels and had three children: Barbara Seaman

Barbara Seaman

Barbara Seaman was an American author, activist, and journalist, and a principal founder of the women's health feminism movement.-Early years:Seaman, whose parents, Henry J...

, Jeri Drucker, and Elaine Rosner-Jeria. After Kimels' death he married journalist Ruth Gruber

Ruth Gruber

Ruth Gruber is an American journalist, photographer, writer, humanitarian and a former United States government official.-Early life:...

 in 1974.

Career

As Norman Thomas's policy researcher, Rosner helped write the socialist platform for the 1932 presidential race. Rosner contributed "The Myth of a Progressive Governor," a statistic-filled six page tract blasting Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

's failure to honor his promise to "remember the forgotten man at the bottom." On Roosevelt's position (or lack thereof) regarding the seven day work week, Rosner wrote:

While distinguished economists urge the five-day week as a solution for the unemployment problem, Roosevelt has done nothing to abolish the seven-day work week among New York transit employees, hotel and cafeteria workers, and elevator operators in apartment houses. The records of the N.Y.Ç. Transit Commission reveal that there are 25,000 subway guards, platform men, street car conductors, motormen and bus drivers in New York City alone who work ten hours a day or more seven days a week. There are 25,000 hotel workers in New York City who never get a day off. Thousands of cafeteria works and elevator operators are in the same predicament. The same conditions exist on the state payroll. Guards and attendants in state hospitals and state prisons work ten and twelve hours a day seven days a week. Watchmen, lock tenders, and bridge workers in the state department of public works are also denied one day of rest in seven.


It would be a simple matter to amend that section of the N.Y. labor law so as to give all workers in New York this protection. At the request of the City Affairs Committee such an amendment was introduced at the 1932 session of the Legislature. The bill was never reported out of committee or given a public hearing. Communications were sent to the Governor, acquainting him with the facts and requesting his support, but he did not make any effort to compel action from he legislature. In his gubernatorial messages to the legislature, he never mentioned the abolition of the seven-day week."

The following year, Rosner was co-editor of the 1933 handbook of the New York Socialist Party.

After trouncing the Socialists and the Republicans in the 1932 election, Roosevelt met with Norman Thomas, Henry Rosner, and other members of the Socialist Party. As president, Roosevelt took on many of the social issues Rosner had criticized him for ignoring during his years as governor of New York.

In this respect, Rosner played an important, though low key, role as an early proponent for New Deal

New Deal

The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...

 programs.

As Fiscal officer for welfare for New York City, serving under all New York City Mayors from Fiorello laguardia through Abraham Beame

Abraham Beame

Abraham David "Abe" Beame was mayor of New York City from 1974 to 1977. As such, he presided over the city during the fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s, during which the city was almost forced to declare bankruptcy....

.

Rosner contributed controversial and influential articles to the Nation magazine and other political periodicals.