Boris Basil Shishkin (October 28, 1906 – June 12, 1984) served many different roles in his 38 years at

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...

, including as the head of the AFL–CIO Department of Civil Rights following the merger of the American Federation of Labor and

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...

in 1955.

Biography

Shishkin was born in

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, Russian Empire. In 1919, his family relocated to Turkey before the family immigrated to the United States. Living in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Shishkin worked a truck driver for the

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. He began school at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1927, and he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in economics in 1930 and his master's degree in 1931. Shishkin moved to Washington D.C. for a fellowship at the

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in 1932. In 1933, Shishkin joined the AFL as a researcher of economic data. He also drafted articles and speeches for William Green, president of the AFL. From 1939 until 1955, Shishkin was the secretary of the AFL Housing Committee. The AFL and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged in 1955 to form the AFL–CIO; Shishkin became the secretary of the AFL–CIO Housing Committee. During his time with the AFL also held several positions, including as secretary on the social security committee (1951–1953), as one of the 15 members of the President's Committee on Civil Rights (1946–1947), as Special Assistant to

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

head Averell Harriman at the European Headquarters in Paris (1948–1952), and as a board member of the

League for Industrial Democracy The League for Industrial Democracy (LID) was founded as a successor to the Intercollegiate Socialist Society in 1921. Members decided to change its name to reflect a more inclusive and more organizational perspective. Background Intercollegiate So ...

.Boris Shishkin Dies
Obituary, ''

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'', June 14, 1984, He was the vice president and later chairman of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Shishkin married Julia L. Kitendaugh on April 24, 1931; they divorced in 1949. Shishkin remarried to Hildegard M. Blanken on October 18, 1955. Shishkin died with

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at age 77.

Written works

* Shishkin, Boris (September 8, 2016). "Organized Labor and the Veteran:". ''The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science''. doi:10.1177/000271624523800120. * Shishkin, Boris (April 1, 1947). "The Settlement of Contract Negotiation Disputes: A Labor Viewpoint". ''Law and Contemporary Problems''. 12 (2): 357–366.

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs ...

0023-9186. * Shishkin, Boris (April 1, 1944). "Problems Affecting Labor". ''Law and Contemporary Problems''. 10(4): 613–632.

0023-9186.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shishkin, Boris 1906 births 1984 deaths AFL–CIO people Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Columbia College (New York) alumni National Bureau of Economic Research