Sylvia Bernstein (activist)

Sylvia Walker was born on November 6, 1915, to Jewish immigrants from Russia. She attended Central High School and George Washington University.^[1]

In the 1930s, she worked as secretary for the War Department.^[1] In the 1940s, she and her husband were members of the Communist party; as a result, according to their son, Carl Bernstein, they were persecuted by the government.^[1] When asked by congressional panels about her party involvement, Bernstein invoked her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.^[1] In 1962, she worked as a statistician with Resources for the Future, an economic think tank.^[1] From 1964 to 1989, she worked in the gift department at Garfinckel's.^[1] She then worked for the Bill Clinton administration where she answered the correspondence of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.^[1] She was an active Democratic party member and was a member of Women Strike for Peace protesting nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War.^[1] She helped to desegregate District eateries, the Glen Echo amusement park and public swimming pools and playgrounds.^[1] She also campaigned on behalf of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in 1953 for espionage.^[1]

Walker was married to Alfred Bernstein, a union activist. They had three children: journalist Carl Bernstein, Mary Bernstein, and Laura Bernstein.^[1][3]

Sylvia Bernstein died aged 88 on November 23, 2003, in Washington, D.C.^[1]

• Loyalties, a memoir by Carl Bernstein on his parents' life during the McCarthy era