THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Eric Hirschhorn

“I never had a boss from whom I learned more, than Bella.”

Attorney, Author, Advocate. Bella Abzug’s legislative assistant, 1971. Assisted in drafting the bill Bella Abzug introduced in January 1973 to create a federal right to abortion. Member of President Jimmy Carter’s staff, 1977-1980. Served as deputy assistant secretary for export administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce and oversaw U.S. export controls for items having commercial and military applications; anti-boycott compliance; restraints on imports for national security reasons; and the department’s participation in the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), 1980-1981. Undersecretary of commerce for industry and security until 2017, heading the Bureau of Industry and Security under President Barack Obama. B.A. degree from the University of Chicago and J.D. degree from Columbia University.

Interviewed by Judy Waxman, Oral Historian, February 2024

Photo. Congresswoman Bella Abzug and Eric Hirschhorn, 1975.