In a 2006 interview, Gershman said, "I have to confess that in my early youth I was a kind of a social democrat of sorts; I'm now really a democrat. I'm non-partisan; I try to bring Democrats and Republicans together in the United States." Carl Gershman was the Executive Director of the Social Democrats, USA (SDUSA) from 1975 to 1980, having previously been an officer of the Young People's Socialist League (YPSL). From 1965–1967, he served in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), which was a domestic version of the Peace Corps. He graduated from Horace Mann Preparatory School, from Yale University, and from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.