fbpx
Wikipedia

Walter Reuther

August 22, 2023

Walter Philip Reuther (/ˈruːθər/; September 1, 1907 – May 9, 1970) was an American leader of organized labor and civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history.[1] He saw labor movements not as narrow special interest groups but as instruments to advance social justice and human rights in democratic societies.[1] He leveraged the UAW's resources and influence to advocate for workers' rights, civil rights, women's rights, universal health care, public education, affordable housing, environmental stewardship and nuclear nonproliferation around the world.[1] He believed in Swedish-style social democracy and societal change through nonviolent civil disobedience.[2][3] He cofounded the AFL-CIO in 1955 with George Meany.[4] He survived two attempted assassinations, including one at home where he was struck by a 12-gauge shotgun blast fired through his kitchen window.[5] He was the fourth and longest serving president of the UAW, serving from 1946 until his death in 1970.[6]

Walter Reuther
Official portrait, 1955
4th President of the United Automobile Workers
In office
1946–1970
Preceded byR.J. Thomas
Succeeded byLeonard F. Woodcock
3rd President of the Congress of Industrial Organizations
In office
1952–1955
Preceded byPhilip Murray
Succeeded byGeorge Meany
Personal details
Born
Walter Philip Reuther

September 1, 1907
Wheeling, West Virginia, U.S.
DiedMay 9, 1970(1970-05-09) (aged 62)
Pellston, Michigan, U.S.
Cause of deathPlane crash
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
May Wolf
​
(m. 1936)​
Children
  • Linda
  • Elisabeth
Parents
  • Valentine Reuther
  • Anna Stocker
Relatives
EducationWayne State University (withdrew)
Occupation
  • Labor leader
  • activist
Known forlabor movement, civil rights movement
Awards
Signature

As the leader of five million autoworkers including retirees and their families,[7] Reuther was influential inside the Democratic Party.[8] Following the Bay of Pigs in 1961, JFK sent Reuther to Cuba to negotiate a prisoner exchange with Fidel Castro.[9] He was instrumental in spearheading the creation of the Peace Corps[10][11][12] and in marshaling support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964,[13][14] the Voting Rights Act of 1965,[15] Medicare and Medicaid,[16] and the Fair Housing Act.[14] He met weekly in 1964 and 1965 with President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House to discuss policies and legislation for the Great Society and War on Poverty.[17] The Republican Party was wary of Reuther, leading presidential candidate Richard Nixon to say about John F. Kennedy during the 1960 election, "I can think of nothing so detrimental to this nation than for any President to owe his election to, and therefore be a captive of, a political boss like Walter Reuther."[18] Conservative politician Barry Goldwater declared that Reuther "was more dangerous to our country than Sputnik or anything Soviet Russia might do."[19]

A powerful ally of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement,[20] Reuther marched with King in Detroit, Selma,[21] Birmingham,[22] Montgomery,[23] and Jackson.[24][25] When King and others including children were jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, and King authored his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, Reuther arranged $160,000 for the protestors' release.[26] He also helped organize and finance the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, delivering remarks from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial shortly before King gave his historic "I Have a Dream" speech on the National Mall.[22][27] An early supporter of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, he asked Robert F. Kennedy to visit and support Chavez.[28] He served on the board of directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)[29] and was one of the founders of Americans for Democratic Action.[30] A lifetime environmentalist, Reuther played a critical role in funding and organizing the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970.[31] According to Denis Hayes, the principal national organizer of the first Earth Day, "Without the UAW, the first Earth Day would have likely flopped!"[31]

Reuther was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.[32] He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 by President Bill Clinton, who remarked at the ceremony, "Walter Reuther was an American visionary so far ahead of his times that although he died a quarter of a century ago, our Nation has yet to catch up to his dreams."[33]

Early life and education

 
Sign in Reuther's hometown of Wheeling, West Virginia

Reuther was born on September 1, 1907, in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Anna (née Stocker) and Valentine Reuther, who were German-Americans.[34] His father Valentine was a horse-drawn beer wagon driver and Socialist union organizer who at age 11 had emigrated from Germany.[35] Walter was one of five children, oldest to youngest: Ted, Walter, Roy, Victor, Christine. Valentine would facilitate debates every Sunday for his sons, training them to think on their feet about social issues of the day such as yellow journalism, child labor, women's suffrage, and civil rights.[36] Reuther later recalled, "At my father's knee we learned the philosophy of trade unionism. We got the struggles, the hopes and the aspirations of working people every day."[37] As a child, he and Victor accompanied their father on a visit to a jail to meet Eugene V. Debs, who was being incarcerated for his pacifism during World War I.[38]

The Reuthers were frugal and learned not to waste. To save money, Walter's mother Anna would make underwear for her sons out of used flour sacks.[39] When Valentine was partially blinded by an exploding bottle, Walter began doing odd jobs to bring in family income at the age of nine. He later dropped out of high school during his junior year and worked in a local factory to help support the family.[39] He learned firsthand about inadequate worker safety when a 400 pound die that he and three other men were lifting fell and severed his big toe.[40]

From an early age, the Reuther boys received lessons on racism. One day they saw local boys throwing rocks at black people being transported north through their hometown in open railways cars. Their father gave them a stern warning to never treat another human being like that. The Reuther boys never forgot that lesson, spending the rest of their lives fighting for racial and economic equality for all people.[41]

Left home for Detroit

In 1927, at the age of 19, Reuther left Wheeling for Detroit and argued himself into an expert tool and die maker job at Ford Motor Company that required 25 years experience. The foreman was baffled that at his young age he could read blueprints and dies, becoming one of the highest paid mechanics in the factory.[42] He finished high school while working at Ford and enrolled at Detroit City College, which is today known as Wayne State University. In 1932, he was fired for organizing a rally for Norman Thomas who was running for President of the United States as the nominee for the Socialist Party of America. His official Ford employment record states that he quit voluntarily, but Reuther himself maintained that he was fired for his increasingly visible socialist activities.[43] Regardless, Walter and Victor decided it was the perfect time to fulfill their childhood dream and travel the world.[44]

World tour

When Henry Ford retired the Model T in 1927, he sold the production mechanisms to the Soviet Union, and American workers who knew how to operate the equipment were needed. Walter and Victor were promised work teaching Soviet workers how to run the machines and assembly line. With that employment assurance, the brothers embarked on a three-year adventure, first bicycling through Europe, then working in the auto plant in Gorky,in the Soviet Union where the unheated factories were often 30–40 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. He frequently wrote letters to the Moscow Daily News criticizing the many inefficiencies associated with how the communists operated the plants.[45]

After almost two years in the Soviet Union, the brothers travelled through Turkey, Iran, British India, and China. After crossing the East China Sea, they finished their Far East tour by bicycling throughout Japan. Finally, after being gone from home for almost three years, they found work for passage on the steamship SS President Harding to San Francisco and hurried back to Detroit where their brother Roy was already deeply involved with organizing autoworkers. Walter later stated the world tour taught him that "all people long for the same basic human goals of a job with some degree of security, greater opportunity for their children, and of course, freedom. We felt we could make a contribution by helping American workers build strong and democratic labor unions. That's why we went into the labor movement."[46]

Political affiliation

 
The Reuther brothers' busts at the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center in northern Michigan. From left to right, Roy Reuther, Walter Reuther, and Victor Reuther.

Before joining the Democratic Party, Reuther was a member of the Socialist Party of America. Although Reuther always denied it, some, including J. Edgar Hoover, have suspected that at one time he was a member of the Communist Party.[47] On this subject, Reuther said in 1938, "I am not and never have been a member of the Communist Party nor a supporter of its policies nor subject to its control or influence in any way."[48] Nevertheless, people have suspected that he may have paid dues to the Communist Party for some months in 1935–36 and one source listed him as attending a Communist Party planning meeting as late as February 1939.[49] Reuther did cooperate with the Communists in the mid 1930s; this was the period of the Popular Front, and the Communist Party agreed with him on internal issues of the UAW; but his associations were with anti-Stalinist Socialists.[50][51] Reuther remained active in the Socialist Party and in 1937 failed in his attempt to be elected to the Detroit City Council when the AFL and blacks opposed his CIO ticket.[52] (Historian Martin Glaberman found proof of Reuther's less-than-one-year CPUSA membership in the papers of UAW activist Nat Ganley.[53]) However, impressed by the efforts by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to tackle inequality, he eventually joined the Democratic Party.

United Automobile Workers

First victory against automobile companies

 
Sound car for West Side Local 174 used by Walter Reuther to organize UAW members

Upon returning from Europe to Detroit, Reuther hitchhiked to South Bend, Indiana, to attend the second annual convention as a delegate of the fledgling UAW. Upon his return he became president of newly formed Local 174 on Detroit's west side and with brother Victor, led the first successful strike against the automotive giants at Kelsey Hayes, which supplied brake drums and wheels to Ford Motor Company. The main complaint was the speed-up of the assembly line was intolerable. Workers were losing limbs and even their own lives trying in vain to keep up with the ever-increasing speed of the assembly line. It was December 1936 when the workers pulled a surprise strike and sat down in the plant refusing to leave until management negotiated with their representative, Walter Reuther.[54]

When management tried to enter the plant to remove the machinery, thousands of sympathizers swarmed the sidewalks and blocked the doorways. Ford needed those brake drums and wheels badly and after 10 days of striking the sides settled. The first major UAW victory to unionize the auto factories was won. Upon Reuther's insistence, women won equal pay for equal work: 75 cents an hour. The speed-up of the assembly line was slowed down and the company could not fire a worker for joining the union. UAW Local 174's membership expanded from 200 before the strike to 35,000 within the next year.[55]

General Motors

Main article: Flint sit-down strike
 
Interstate 696 in Detroit was named the Walter P. Reuther Freeway following the plane crash in 1970

In 1936, General Motors (GM) was the largest corporation in the world and held many plants in Flint, Michigan, about 60 miles north of Detroit. Reuther's brother, Roy, was already in Flint drawing up strategy plans and organizing workers to shut down the automaker until it would recognize the rights of the workers to unionize. The strike began on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1936, when the workers sat down in the plants and refused to leave. General Motors retaliated by turning off the heat in the plant.

In solidarity with the Flint strikers, Reuther led a strike at Detroit's Fleetwood Plant, where bodies were made for GM's luxury vehicle, the Cadillac. Support strikes were also called in Oakland, California; Pontiac, Michigan; and St. Louis, Missouri. Autoworkers around the nation engaged in action in support of the Flint sit-down strikers.[56]

Back in Flint, the police tried to force the workers out of the plant in what became known as the "Battle of Bulls Run." Over a hundred policemen attacked the pickets with tear gas and bullets, sending thirteen workers to the hospital with gunshot wounds. Victor manned the sound car and encouraged the workers to fight back, which they did by sling-shotting door hinges from the factory roof and turning fire hoses on the police in the 16-degree Fahrenheit winter night. Victor and Genora Johnson, a leader of the Women's Brigade, took turns in the sound car exhorting the workers to stand their ground.

Michigan Governor Frank Murphy called in 2,000 members of the National Guard, not to force the workers out of the plants, but to keep the peace. After a brilliant move, the workers were able to gain control of the only plant in the country that made Chevrolet engines. Finally, 44 days later, General Motors was forced to recognize the worker's right to unionize and signed its first collective bargaining agreement with the fledgling UAW.[57]

The Flint sit-down strike has become known as the Lexington and Valley Forge of American industrial unionism. Roy recalled, "When the boys came out of the plants, I never saw a night like that and perhaps will never see it again. I liken it to a country experiencing independence, families reunited for the first time since the strike began, kids hanging onto daddy with tears of joy and happiness. It was a sea of humanity in which fears were no longer on the minds of the workers."[58]

In 1950, Reuther negotiated and signed with Charlie Wilson, chief executive officer of General Motors, the Treaty of Detroit, an historic five-year labor contract that, in exchange for a commitment not to strike, gave rank-and-file workers better wages, health care, and pensions.[59] At the time, Fortune Magazine wrote that the Treaty of Detroit “made the worker to an amazing degree a middle class member of a middle class society.”[60]

Chrysler

Chrysler was next on the list of the young UAW. In March 1937, 60,000 Chrysler workers went on strike. When police started roughing up pickets and strikers, over 150,000 citizens gathered at Detroit's downtown Cadillac Square where Reuther and others led them in protest. After a four-week strike, Chrysler followed General Motors’ lead and negotiated its first collective bargaining agreement with the UAW.[61]

Ford Motor Company

Henry Ford had stated that he would never allow his workers to unionize. His main enforcer was Harry Bennett, who led a 3,000 man Security Department for Ford Motor Company, whose mandate was to intimidate, beat, and fire any worker who showed signs of favoring unionization. In 1932, when workers marched out of the giant Ford River Rouge Complex in protest to the speed-up of the assembly lines, they were attacked by Bennett's armed men and 5 workers were shot dead and hundreds suffered injuries.[62]

 
Battle of the Overpass, May 26, 1937, Walter Reuther fifth from left, Richard Frankensteen sixth from left

Barely a month after the Chrysler signing, Reuther got permission from the City of Dearborn to pass out handbills titled, "Unionism, not Fordism" on public property at Gate Four of the giant Ford River Rouge Complex. As he and three other UAW leaders climbed the stairs to the bridge, they were attacked by Bennett's "enforcers" who severely beat them.[63]

Reuther was instantly surrounded by at least a dozen men, knocked to the ground, kicked and punched in the head and body, picked up 4 feet parallel to the ground then slammed to the concrete repeatedly, then thrown and kicked down 3 flights of stairs. The pummeling continued as 4 or 5 men beat him in and out of parked cars, until a streetcar arrived with union women to pass out leaflets and the thugs turned their attention to viciously attack them.[64]

Press photographers were attacked as well and their cameras confiscated but one camera was inconspicuously thrown into a convertible and the next day, the "Battle of the Overpass," was national news.

The beatings taken by the union organizers in the long run hurt Henry Ford more, as national sentiment turned against him. Time magazine published the photographs with descriptions of how the union men and women were mercilessly beaten by Henry Ford's paid thugs. Ford retaliated against Time, Life, and Fortune magazines by withdrawing all advertising.[65]

It took four more years, but finally, in 1941, Henry Ford signed his first agreement with the UAW. Shortly after, Henry Ford told Walter Reuther: "It was one of the most sensible things Harry Bennett ever did when he got the UAW into this plant." Reuther inquired, "What do you mean?" Ford replied, "Well, you've been fighting General Motors and the Wall Street crowd. Now you're in here and we've given you a union shop and more than you got out of them. That puts you on our side, doesn't it? We can fight General Motors and Wall Street together, eh?"[66]

In the 1950s, Reuther and Henry Ford II, CEO of Ford, toured a state-of-the-art engine plant in Cleveland. As they walked about the plant, Ford gestured to the cutting-edge, automated machines, saying, "Walter, how are you going to get these robots to pay union dues?" Without missing a beat, Reuther famously replied: "Henry, how are you going to get them to buy your cars?"[67]

"500 Planes a Day"

In 1940, in the midst of World War II, the United States was producing fighter planes to help the allies in their war against Hitler's aggression. The production was slow, inadequate, and threatening the security of the Allies. The US planned to construct new manufacturing plants specifically to produce more planes. That plan would have taken two years to begin production. The Allies did not have that time to spare. In response, Reuther proposed "to transform the entire unused capacity of the auto industry into one huge plane production unit capable of turning out 500 Planes a Day." After getting the support of workers, he publicly announced the "Reuther Plan: 500 Planes a Day," shortly before Christmas, 1940.[68] He said, during a national radio address on December 28, 1940:

In London they are huddled in the subways praying for aid from America. In America we are huddled over blueprints praying that Hitler will be obliging enough to postpone an "all out" attack on England for another two years until new plants finally begin to turn out engines and aircraft. We believe that without disturbing present aircraft plant production schedules we can supplement them by turning out 500 planes a day of a single standard fighting model by the use of idle automotive capacity. . . . England's battles, it used to be said, were won on the playing fields of Eton. America's can be won on the assembly lines of Detroit. Give England planes and there will be no need to give her men.[69]

A week after receiving the plan, on December 30, 1940, President Roosevelt wrote William S. Knudsen, chairman of the War Production Board, "It is well worthwhile to give a good deal of attention to this (Reuther) program."[70] Three days later on January 2, 1941, Reuther met with President Roosevelt at the White House to discuss the possibility of implementing his plan for 500 Planes a Day.[71]

 
Reuther with President Dwight Eisenhower and other labor leaders at AFL-CIO building dedication, June 4, 1956

General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler all opposed the Reuther Plan because they wanted the government to build new plane and tank factories that could be sold to them at giveaway prices after the war.[72] They also disliked that labor had the audacity to stick their nose into production, which they felt was management's exclusive domain. Alfred P. Sloan, chairman of General Motors, scoffed at the idea, stating, "only about 10 to 15% of the machinery and equipment in an automobile factory can be utilized for the production of special defense material."[73]

After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, many of Reuther's proposals were implemented. Detroit's automobile plants produced planes and tanks in mass volume and became known as the center of the Arsenal of Democracy, which gave the Allies a decisive advantage to win the war. By 1943, Chrysler President, K. T. Keller, reported that his company had converted 89% of its machine tools to wartime production, leading Washington Post publisher, Phil Graham, to state that meant Reuther was 89% right.[74] At the war's end, Fortune magazine wrote: "Reuther was right on track. Compared with many industrialists that sat back and hugged profits and the aimless agencies of Washington, the red-headed labor leader exhibited atomic spirit of action. He never let up."[75] In 1953, President Eisenhower wrote in a letter to Reuther, "When I last addressed a CIO Convention, I came to thank you for your magnificent performance in World War II in supplying the planes and tanks and ships and arms. You did your job, and you did it well."[76]

Elected UAW president

After the war ended in 1945, Reuther proved he would be a different type of labor leader when he led a strike challenging GM to increase workers wages by 30% without increasing the price of their new cars. Worker pay had been restricted during World War II and Reuther sought to get them a raise but not at the cost of increased inflation. Historically, when workers won a pay increase, the company would pass on the expense to their consumers. GM refused the pay increase and after a 113-day strike, the sides settled on an eighteen and a half cent hourly raise. Reuther's bold collective bargaining leadership in this strike catapulted him into the union's top position.[77][78]

 
Walter Reuther meeting with Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, in October 1949

On March 27, 1946, Reuther won the election and became the president of the UAW in a very close race, defeating incumbent UAW president R. J. Thomas by a mere 124 votes, out of almost 9,000 cast. The new UAW president pledged his vision of "a labor movement whose philosophy is to fight for the welfare of the public at large."[79] One of his first acts as president was to fight to integrate the American Bowling League, which had previously excluded black bowlers. He was a new kind of leader who viewed the labor movement as "an instrument for social change."[80]

Salary

Although presidents of much smaller unions were making 3 or 4 times his salary, Reuther purposely kept his salary low to stay in touch, and show solidarity, with UAW members he represented. He never made an annual salary of more than $31,000. Author David Halberstam writes: "His life was not about material things. The constant success of the union was reward enough."[39]

Expelling Communists from organized labor

 
Eleanor Roosevelt, Walter Reuther, Milton Eisenhower and the Cuban prisoner exchange delegation in Washington, D.C.

The following 18 months after Reuther's election win, bitter battles erupted inside the UAW as Communist-backers of R. J. Thomas had a two-thirds majority on the UAW's Executive Board. One observer noted, "The Commies threw everything but their hammer and sickle at Walter."[81] In November 1947, at the next UAW national convention, this time Reuther won the election overwhelmingly, severely weakening the Communist's hold on the union's leadership. Life magazine reported that Reuther's victory was "the biggest setback of all time for the Communists in the American Labor Movement."[82]

President of Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

Reuther became president of the CIO in 1952 until its merger with the AFL in 1955, and continued as head of the UAW until his death in 1970. As president of the CIO, Reuther sought to remove officers from Communist-dominated unions within the CIO, leading Hubert Humphrey to write, "Communist infiltration of the CIO was a direct threat to the survival of all of our country's democratic institutions. The CIO's victory over the Communist party was a significant victory for our nation." In response, Trud, a Soviet newspaper, called Reuther a "traitor and strikebreaker" and a favorite of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Republican Party called Reuther "the most dangerous man in America and a Communist."[83] Despite removing Communists from the labor movement, J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, never stopped suspecting Reuther to be a Communist for working in Russia and having early associations with Communists.[84]

In 1959, at the request of the Department of State, Reuther met with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who was visiting the U.S. They discussed, among other things, capitalism versus communism, organized labor, and US-Russia relations. The meeting happened in San Francisco and was front-page international news.[85]

Collective bargaining

 
Walter Reuther with President Truman in the Oval Office, 1952

As president of the UAW, Reuther negotiated contracts that included unprecedented standard-of-living increases for automobile workers. Such increases include annual raises based on productivity advances, cost-of-living increases, supplementary unemployment benefits, early-retirement options, and health and welfare benefits.[86]

He employed a strategy called "pattern bargaining" against the Big Three automobile manufacturers, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler.[87] He would first target a company that seemed most likely to accept his bargaining objective. If that target company refused to offer concessions, Reuther would threaten a strike to halt production at its plants only while allowing production operations at its competitors' plants to go uninterrupted. As a result, the target company would accept Reuther's demands to prevent its competitors from absorbing its sales and market share. Once he secured the initial agreement, he would use it as a pattern against the other automobile companies, threatening to strike if they too did not match the same terms to which the initial target company agreed. Reuther employed pattern bargaining to leverage competition among automobile manufacturers, maximize the influence of labor, and reduce the frequency of costly strikes.[87]

Ideas, activism, and political stances

Peace Corps

In 1950, Reuther proposed, in an article titled, "A Proposal for a Total Peace Offensive," that the United States establish a voluntary agency for young Americans to be sent around the world to fulfill humanitarian and development objectives.[88] Subsequently, throughout the 1950s, Reuther gave speeches to the following effect:

I have been saying for a long time that I believe the more young Americans who are trained to join with other young people in the world to be sent abroad with slide rule, textbook, and medical kit to help people help themselves with the tools of peace, the fewer young people will need to be sent with guns and weapons of war.[89][90]

In August 1960, following the 1960 Democratic National Convention, Walter Reuther visited John F. Kennedy at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport to discuss Kennedy's platform and staffing of a future administration.[91] It was there that Reuther got Kennedy to commit to creating the executive agency that would become the Peace Corps.[91] Under Reuther's leadership, the United Auto Workers had earlier that summer put together a policy platform that included a "youth peace corps" to be sent to developing nations.[92] Subsequently, at the urging of Reuther,[93] John F. Kennedy announced the idea for such an organization on October 14, 1960, at a late-night campaign speech at the University of Michigan.[94]

Civil rights activism

 
Civil rights leaders with Vice President Johnson and Attorney General Robert Kennedy at the White House on June 22, 1963
 
Leaders of the March on Washington posing in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln on August 28, 1963
 
Leaders of the March on Washington on August 28, 1963

Reuther was a strong supporter of the Civil Rights Movement.[20] He marched with King in Selma,[21] Birmingham,[22] Montgomery,[23] and Jackson[24][25] and when King and others were jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, and King authored his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, Reuther arranged $160,000 for the protestors' release.[26] He also helped organize and finance the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, delivering remarks from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial shortly before King gave his historic "I Have a Dream" speech.[22][27] He served on the board of directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).[29] Under his leadership, the UAW donated $75,000 in 1954 to help underwrite the NAACP's efforts—led by Thurgood Marshall—before the Supreme Court in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education.[95] According to King, Reuther sent letters to all of his local unions in 1957, requesting members to attend and provide financial support to the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, D.C.[96] On the 25th anniversary of the UAW, King wrote a letter to Reuther, congratulating him on his successes and observing:

More than anyone else in America, you stand out as the shining symbol of democratic trade unionism. Through trials, efforts and your unswerving devotion to humanitarian causes, you have made life more meaningful for millions of working people. Through moments of difficulty and strong obstacles, you have stood firm for what you believe, knowing that in the long run 'Truth crushed to earth will rise again.' As I have heard you say, the true measure of a man is where he stands in moments of challenge and controversy, when the only consolation he gains is the quiet whisper of an inner voice saying there are things so eternally true and significant that they are worth dying for, if necessary. You have demonstrated over the years that you can stand up in moments of challenge and controversy. One day all of America will be proud of your achievements, and will record your work as one of the glowing epics of our heritage.[97]

In the early 1930s, Reuther first challenged racism as a student at what is now Wayne State University. When a local hotel, which had agreed with the college to let students use its swimming pool, refused to let blacks swim, he organized a picket line. The protest surrounded the block. As a result, the hotel closed its pool to all students.[98] In a 2013 interview with The New York Times, President Barack Obama said,

"When you think about the coalition that brought about civil rights, it wasn’t just folks who believed in racial equality; it was people who believed in working folks having a fair shot. It was Walter Reuther and the UAW coming down here because they understood that if there are some workers who are not getting a fair deal then ultimately that’s going to undercut their ability to get a fair deal."[99]

Walk to Freedom, 1963

The Walk to Freedom was a mass march during the Civil Rights Movement on June 23, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan. The purpose of the demonstration was to protest racism, segregation, and the brutality inflicted upon civil rights activists in the South as well as the discrimination facing African-Americans in the North such as inequality in hiring, wages, education, and housing.[100] In some ways, it was considered a dress rehearsal for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which was scheduled for two months later.[101] An estimated 125,000 people attended and it was the largest civil rights demonstration in the nation's history up to that date.[102] Reuther mobilized support for the protest and donated office space at the UAW's headquarters Solidarity House for Martin Luther King, Jr. to organize the event.[103] Along with others, including King, Reuther marched down Woodward Avenue and delivered remarks afterwards at Cobo Hall.[104] It was there that King delivered his first version of his "I Have a Dream," speech, having penned it, at least partially, inside his office at Solidarity House.[105][106]

External audio
  Complete radio coverage of the March on Washington, August 28, 1963, Educational Radio Network[107]
  Walter Reuther's remarks begin at 40:40, August 28, 1963, Educational Radio Network[108]

March on Washington, 1963

 
Official program of March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was held in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. The protest sought to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans. Along with the Big Six and three white religious leaders, Reuther helped organize the march.[109][27] Originally, the march was planned to take place outside of the Capitol Building. Reuther, however, persuaded the other organizers to move the march to the Lincoln Memorial. He believed the Lincoln Memorial would be less threatening to Congress and the occasion would be more appropriate underneath the gaze of Abraham Lincoln's statue. The committee, notably Rustin, agreed to move the site on the condition that Reuther pay for a $19,000 sound system so that everyone on the National Mall could hear the speakers and musicians.[110] Reuther and the UAW financed bus transportation for 5,000 of its rank-and-file members, providing the largest single contingent from any organization.[111] The UAW also paid for and brought thousands of signs for marchers to carry. Among other things, the signs read: "There Is No Halfway House on the Road to Freedom,"[112] "Equal Rights and Jobs NOW,"[113] "UAW Supports Freedom March,"[114] "in Freedom we are Born, in Freedom we must Live,"[115] and "Before we'll be a Slave, we'll be Buried in our Grave."[116]

Reuther was the most prominent white organizer scheduled to speak. In his remarks, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he urged Americans to pressure their politicians to act to address racial injustices. He said:

American democracy is on trial in the eyes of the world… We cannot successfully preach democracy in the world unless we first practice democracy at home. American democracy will lack the moral credentials and be both unequal to and unworthy of leading the forces of freedom against the forces of tyranny unless we take bold, affirmative, adequate steps to bridge the moral gap between American democracy's noble promises and its ugly practices in the field of civil rights.[117]

According to Irving Bluestone, who was standing near the platform while Reuther delivered his remarks, he overheard two black women talking. One asked, "Who is that white man?" The other replied, "Don't you know him? That's the white Martin Luther King."[118]

After the march, the civil rights leaders met with President Kennedy at the White House to discuss civil rights legislation.[119] During the meeting, Reuther described to Kennedy how he was framing the civil rights issue to business leaders in Detroit, saying, "Look, you can't escape the problem. And there are two ways of resolving it; either by reason or riots."[120] Reuther continued, "Now the civil war that this is gonna trigger is not gonna be fought at Gettysburg. It's gonna to be fought in your backyard, in your plant, where your kids are growing up."[120]

 
Kennedy and Johnson with organizers of the "March on Washington" at the White House on August 28, 1963

Selma voting rights movement and "Bloody Sunday," 1965

On March 9, 1965, two days after Bloody Sunday, where civil rights marchers were beaten by state police at the Edmond Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, Reuther sent a telegram to President Johnson, reading in part:

Americans of all religious faiths, of all political persuasions, and from every section of our Nation are deeply shocked and outraged at the tragic events in Selma Ala., and they look to the Federal Government as the only possible source to protect and guarantee the exercise of constitutional rights, which is being denied and destroyed by the Dallas County law enforcement agents and the Alabama State troops under the direction of Governor George Wallace.

Under these circumstances, Mr President, I join in urging you to take immediate and appropriate steps including the use of Federal marshals and troops if necessary, so that the full exercise of constitutional rights including free assembly and free speech be fully protected.

Sunday's spectacle of tear gas and night sticks, whips, and electric cattle prods used against defenseless citizens demonstrating to secure their constitutional right to register and vote as American citizens was an outrage against all decency. This shameful brutality by law enforcing agents makes a mockery of Americans’ concepts of justice and provides effective ammunition to Communist propaganda and our enemies around the world who would weaken and destroy us.[121]

Following the death of Unitarian Universalist minister James Reeb, a memorial service was held at the Brown's Chapel AME Church on March 15.[122] Among those who addressed the packed congregation were Reuther, King, and some clergymen.[122] A picture of King, Reuther, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Iakovos and others in Selma for Reeb's memorial service appeared on the cover of Life magazine on March 26, 1965.[123] After the memorial service, upon getting permission from the courts, the leaders and attendees marched from the church to the Dallas County Courthouse in Selma.[122]

Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, 1965

In December 1965, Reuther visited Cesar Chavez and the striking grape growers in Delano, California. Two months earlier, Reuther's brother and colleague, Roy, had visited the striking farmworkers. Upon returning from his visit, Roy urged Walter to support Chavez.[124] At that time, Chavez's struggle for workers' rights was little known to the American public, but Reuther's visit garnered national media attention, making it difficult for the growers to ignore the striking grape pickers. During the trip, Reuther marched with Chavez and his fellow strikers, carrying picket signs reading "Huelga." Reuther also spoke to packed union hall, declaring, "This is not your strike, this is our strike!" He pledged that the UAW would provide $7,500 per month to the United Farm Workers' strike fund for the duration of the strike.[125]

Upon returning to Detroit, Reuther contacted Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was on the Senate Labor Committee, requesting that Kennedy visit Chavez in Delano to learn about and support the farmworkers. Kennedy obliged, ultimately becoming the most visible supporter of the farmworkers' movement.[126] Reuther visited Chavez many times, including once during Chavez's hunger strike. During that visit, Reuther made a $50,000 donation to Chavez's struggle to which Chavez said, "Walter, you have given me great confidence." Reuther replied, "You will prevail for your cause is just."[127] In honor of the Reuther brothers' early and sustained support, the United Farm Workers named a building at their Delano headquarters the "Roy Reuther Administration Building."[128]

March Against Fear, 1966

Following the shooting of civil rights activist James Meredith, the first African-American to attend the segregated University of Mississippi, Reuther and his wife May traveled from Chicago to Jackson, Mississippi, to march with King and his wife Coretta, among other civil rights activists.[129] Reuther brought 10 buses full of union supporters.[129]

Memphis sanitation strike, 1968

On April 8, four days after King's assassination, Reuther marched with Coretta Scott King and others in Memphis, Tennessee, in support of a peaceful resolution of the city's sanitation strike.[130] In addition, Reuther donated $50,000 from the UAW to the striking sanitation workers, which was the largest financial contribution by any outside source.[130]

Environmentalism

Reuther sought to build an environmental movement made up of all classes of society to address social, ecological, aesthetic, and resource-conservation issues.[131] In 1965, the UAW organized a "United Action for Clean Water Conference" in Detroit, where Reuther called for the "beginning of a massive mobilization of citizens . . . of a popular crusade not only for clean water, but also for cleaning up the atmosphere, the highways, the junkyards and the slums and for creating a total living environment worthy of free men."[132] In 1967, three years before the first Earth Day, Reuther established the Department of Conservation and Resource Development, later headed by Olga Madar, to combat pollution, including automobile emissions.[133] In 1968, speaking at the annual conference of the Water Pollution Control Federation, Reuther stated: "If we continue to destroy our living environment by polluting our streams and poisoning our air . . . We may be the first civilization in the history of man that will have suffocated and been strangled in the waste of its material affluence—compounded by social indifference and social neglect."[134] At the annual UAW convention in 1970 in Atlantic City, Reuther said: "Because industry has for so long polluted the environment of the plants in which we work and has now created an environmental crisis of catastrophic proportions in the communities in which we live, the UAW will insist on discussing the implications of this crisis at the bargaining table."[135]

Earth Day

Reuther made the first donation to support the first Earth Day in 1970 in the amount of $2,000.[136] Under his leadership, the UAW also funded telephone capabilities for organizers to communicate and coordinate with each other from across the United States.[137] The UAW also financed, printed, and mailed all of the literature and other materials for the first Earth Day and mobilized its membership to participate in the public demonstrations across the country.[136] According to Denis Hayes, the chief national coordinator of the first Earth Day, “The UAW was by far the largest contributor to the first Earth Day" and "Without the UAW, the first Earth Day would have likely flopped!”[136] Hayes further said, “Walter’s presence at our first press conference utterly changed the dynamics of the coverage—we had instant credibility.”[138] Following Reuther's death less than one month after the first Earth Day, the organizers of Environmental Action, the key group that organized the first Earth Day, dedicated a book containing a collection of speeches from Earth Day to Reuther, saying “We would like to pay tribute to Walter Reuther, a friend and ally in the movement for peace, justice, and a livable environment. We admired his courage and his foresight, and we are deeply grateful for the help he gave us.”[139]

Redwood National Park

Reuther supported the establishment of Redwood National Park, writing President Johnson in 1966:

The preservation of a significant stand of these magnificent trees will be a truly monumental step, in the implementation of the 'Great Society.' Several months ago I asked our Recreation Department to gather the facts regarding the size and location of a Redwood National Park. After careful consideration of the results of this study, the UAW supports the creation of a Redwood National Park of some 90,000 acres .... This proposal contains virgin redwood forests of unequaled magnitude, ecological conditions most advantageous to redwood preservation, outstanding panoramic views, a long ocean-front beach, wildlife concentrations of major size, as well as a number of wilderness watersheds.[140]

President Johnson wrote Reuther back, stating that his administration would establish Redwood National Park come hell or high water.[140]

Filibuster

In 1957, during a speech before the annual convention of the NAACP, Reuther coined the United States Senate "the graveyard of civil rights legislation," and called for the abolishment of the body's filibuster.[141]

Assassination attempts

In April 1938, two masked gunmen attempted to abduct Reuther at a party he was hosting. However, one guest managed to flee and alert the authorities, leading to their arrest. At the trial, the defense argued that the Reuther staged the entire event as a publicity stunt. Links between the gunmen and Harry Bennett (a union-busting enemy of the UAW) were not disclosed to the jury.[142]

 
Bessie Hillman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacob Potofsky, and Walter Reuther in New York City, January 7, 1957

On April 20, 1948, Reuther barely survived a double-barrel shotgun blast that ripped through his kitchen window as he was preparing a late evening snack. As the gunshot went off at 9:48 pm, EST,[143] Reuther happened to turn toward his wife, and was hit in his right arm instead of the chest and heart.[144] Four slugs shattered his right arm into 150 pieces of bone. Another slug pierced his back and exited out his stomach. The assailant “fled in a bright red four-door Ford sedan, police said.”[145] Reuther, who did not lose consciousness, cursed his attacker as he was initially being treated by his next-door-neighbor, a doctor, as he lay on the kitchen floor. “‘Those dirty sons of bitches!’ Reuther cried. ‘They have to shoot a man in the back. They won’t come out in the open and fight.’”[143] As doctors fought to save his life, he became infected with malaria and hepatitis from blood transfusions. Through months of therapy, he regained partial use of his right arm, but for the rest of his life had to train himself to write and shake with his left hand.[146] When Attorney General Tom Clark requested J. Edgar Hoover to get the FBI to investigate the shooting, Hoover refused, stating, "I'm not going to send in the FBI every time some nigger woman gets raped."[38][147] The shooting was never solved.

Thirteen months after the attack, Reuther's brother Victor was almost killed by a similar shooting from a double-barrel shotgun. The blast traveled through his living room window and hit him in the face, throat, and chest. Victor's right eye had been shot out and had to be removed.[148] Victor said, "The attack on me was a way of serving notice to Walter. 'We didn't get you yet, but we're still around.'"[149] The shooting of Victor was also never solved.[150][151]

In the wake of both shootings, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote: "It seems unthinkable that the police have never been able to discover who shot Walter Reuther and because of that, in all probability, the same person perhaps has felt he could get away with shooting another brother. … [W]e have a right to protect men who are working in the interests of their fellow men."[152]

Death

 
The Walter and May Reuther Eternal Flame at the UAW Black Lake Conference Center in northern Michigan

On May 9, 1970, Walter Reuther, his wife May, architect Oscar Stonorov, Reuther's bodyguard William Wolfman, pilot George O. Evans and co-pilot Joseph U. Karaffa were killed when their chartered Learjet 23 crashed in flames at 9:33 p.m. Eastern Time. The plane, arriving from Detroit in rain and fog, was on final approach to Pellston Regional Airport in Pellston, Michigan, near the UAW's recreational and educational facility at Black Lake, Michigan.[153][154] The National Transportation Safety Board discovered that the plane's altimeter was missing parts, some incorrect parts were installed, and one of its parts had been installed upside down,[155] leading some to speculate that Reuther may have been murdered.[142] Reuther had been subjected earlier to two attempted assassinations and a similar near-crash in a small plane in 1969.[156]

Journalist Michael Parenti wrote, "Reuther's demise appears as part of a truncation of liberal and radical leadership that included the deaths of four national figures: President John Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Senator Robert Kennedy."[156]

Funeral

Reuther's funeral was held on May 15, 1970, at Ford Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan.[157] An estimated 3,400 people were in attendance.[158] Among others, Coretta Scott King eulogized:

Walter Reuther was to black people, the most widely known and respected white labor leader in the nation. He was there when the storm clouds were thick. We remember him in Montgomery. He was in Birmingham. He marched with us in Selma, and Jackson, Mississippi, and in Washington. ... Only yesterday, there he was again in Charleston, South Carolina, the leader of a million and a half workers giving personal support to a strike of only 400 black women. ... He was a big man, so of course he had enemies and detractors. He had the courage to be with the minority when it was right. He was a simple man in his personal life, a rare quality in these flamboyant times ... but if his ways were simple, his ideas were grand. He aroused the imagination of millions. ... He was fighting the fight of the whole world.[159]

Personal life

 
Portrait of Reuther, Hall of Honor, Department of Labor

Walter and May Reuther were married on March 13, 1936, after meeting on a streetcar in Detroit only six weeks earlier.[160] They had two daughters, Linda born in 1942 and Elisabeth in 1947.

Reuther led a simple, austere lifestyle. He neither smoked nor drank alcohol because he felt it sapped a person's vitality. For his daily lunch in his office he had the same menu: a sandwich and a cup of tea. He was an early riser. Author William Manchester wrote that Reuther's associates saw him as a “true ascetic.”[161]

To relax he liked to hike, fish and play tennis. His favorite music was German Lieder, Classical, Spirituals and Union Songs. Although sometimes perceived as rigid with no sense of humor, Walter’s colleague and friend Irving Bluestone said: “That wasn't true at all. He was a very easy person to work with and be with. He had a good sense of humor and could laugh at himself. And occasionally, when he was excited enough, he would use profanity just like anyone else coming out of the shop.”[162]

Reuther enjoyed being and working outdoors in nature. Whether building a fish ladder for the trout underneath their bridge or planting a Japanese Garden for May that she could view outside their bedroom window, he enjoyed and relaxed by working on outdoor projects on his Paint Creek property, located outside Rochester, Michigan. He and his daughter Lisa planted an arboretum, including over 50 types of trees, at their Paint Creek home. He was an expert woodworker and built much of the furniture for their home with his own hands. After the assassination attempt in 1948, which shattered his arm in 150 pieces, he rehabilitated his arm by squeezing a hard rubber ball and pushing out the walls to build their Paint Creek home from what had been a one-room cottage. He remarked, “I got a good house and a good hand, all for the same money.”[163]

May was Walter's sounding board and close advisor throughout his public life. May was a teacher and involved in organizing a teachers’ union. Early on she was making $60 a week of which she gave most to help organize auto workers into the fledgling UAW. She soon gave up her teaching career to become Walter's full-time secretary, earning $15 per week. She was active in many charities and programs to uplift the community.[164] May marched side-by-side with Walter in the civil rights struggles in Selma and elsewhere. She hosted Eleanor Roosevelt at their Paint Creek home.[165] She also served as president of the PTA at their daughter's school.[23] After the assassination attempt on Walter's life in 1948, May decided to spend most of her time at home trying to give their two daughters as normal a life as possible; although, the family had bodyguards and attack dogs living with them the rest of their lives.[23]

 
Walter Reuther statue located at the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center in Black Lake, Michigan

Honors and awards

Legacy

Reuther was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.[32] He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 by President Bill Clinton, who remarked at the ceremony, "Walter Reuther was an American visionary so far ahead of his times that although he died a quarter of a century ago, our Nation has yet to catch up to his dreams."[33] Murray Kempton, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, wrote, "Walter Reuther is the only man I have ever met who could reminisce about the future."[177] A. H. Raskin, labor editor of The New York Times, wrote, "If the speed of a man's mind could be measured in the same way as the speed of his legs, Walter Reuther would be an Olympic champion."[178][179] George Romney, Governor of Michigan, once said, "Walter Reuther is the most dangerous man in Detroit because no one is more skillful in bringing about the revolution without seeming to disrupt the existing forms of society."[180]

  • Reuther appears in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.[181]
  • Reuther was inducted into the Department of Labor's Hall of Honor.[182]
  • The Walter P. Reuther Humanitarian Award was created in 1999 by Wayne State University.[183]
  • The Reuther-Chavez Award was created in 2002 by Americans for Democratic Action "to recognize important activist, scholarly and journalistic contributions on behalf of workers' rights, especially the right to unionize and bargain collectively."[184]
  • The Walter P. Reuther Memorial was dedicated October 12, 2006, at Heritage Port in Wheeling, West Virginia. The seven foot bronze statue of Walter Reuther was created by sculptor Alan Cottrill of Zanesville, Ohio. Inscribed on the granite pedestal it stands upon are the words of Reuther himself: “There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow man. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well.”[185]
  • Reuther's home near Rochester, Michigan, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.[citation needed]

Walter P. Reuther Humanitarian Award

In 1999, Wayne State University, in collaboration with the UAW and the Reuther family, created the Walter P. Reuther Humanitarian Award to honor individuals who embody the spirit, vision, and values of Reuther.[186] To date, the recipients of the award include civil rights activist Rosa Parks, Congressman John Dingell, civil rights activist Joseph Lowery, UAW president Douglas Fraser, and civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis.[187]

 
Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan

Places named for Reuther

Cultural references

  • Reuther is portrayed in Robert Schenkkan's Broadway play All the Way, which won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Play. The play was subsequently adapted into a television drama by HBO in 2016 in which Reuther is portrayed by Spencer Garrett.
  • Greg Pliska and Charley Morey are presently creating a musical about Reuther's life titled "A Most Dangerous Man," the date of which it will be released is unknown.
  • Thomas Pynchon's novel V (© Thomas Pynchon 1961, 1963) alludes to Reuther as follows: "Zeitsuss the boss secretly wanted to be a union organizer. ... His job was civil service but someday he would be Walter Reuther." (p. 112 in the Vintage 2000 edition)

Archival records

The archival records of Reuther can be found mostly at the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs. Notable are the UAW President's Office: Walter P. Reuther Records, an extensive collection that documents his time as President with the UAW. The materials include Reuther's personal correspondence, writings, photographs, official memorandum, and other various record types. Researchers are encouraged to contact the Reuther library for inquiries or access to materials. A guide to Reuther's archival materials can be found here.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Hall of Honor Inductee: Walter P. Reuther". United States Department of Labor. December 9, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  2. ^ "On the Union Front : Look at Walter Reuther gives insight into the evolution and decline of American labor and liberalism : THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN DETROIT: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor, By Nelson Lichtenstein (Basic Books: $35; 592 pp.)". Los Angeles Times. December 17, 1995. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  3. ^ "Nonviolence | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  4. ^ University, © Stanford; Stanford; California 94305 (June 21, 2017). "Reuther, Walter Philip". The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  5. ^ "Walter P. Reuther". reuther100.wayne.edu. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  6. ^ "Walter Reuther | AFL-CIO". aflcio.org. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  7. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 383. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Halberstam, David (1986). The reckoning (1st ed.). New York: Morrow. p. 345. ISBN 9780688048389. OCLC 13861133.
  9. ^ Roberts, Sam (September 25, 2019). "Robert Boyd, Journalist Whose Reporting Shifted an Election, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  10. ^ 1943–, Carew, Anthony (1993). Walter Reuther. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 101. ISBN 9780719021886. OCLC 27676666.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "The Stanford Daily 7 April 1964 — The Stanford Daily". stanforddailyarchive.com. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  12. ^ 1960–, Boyle, Kevin (1995). The UAW and the heyday of American liberalism, 1945–1968. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. pp. 144. ISBN 9780801485381. OCLC 32626436.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Boyle, Kevin (May 15, 2014). "'An Idea Whose Time Has Come' and 'The Bill of the Century'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  14. ^ a b 1948–, Dreier, Peter (2012). The 100 greatest Americans of the 20th century : a social justice hall of fame. New York: Nation Books. pp. 235. ISBN 9781568586816. OCLC 701015405.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Dreier, Peter (2012). The 100 greatest Americans of the 20th century : a social justice hall of fame. New York: Nation Books. pp. 235. ISBN 9781568586816. OCLC 701015405.
  16. ^ "Social Security History". www.ssa.gov. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  17. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 248. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ Frank., Cormier (1970). Reuther. Eaton, William J. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. pp. 376. ISBN 9780137793143. OCLC 91809.
  19. ^ Krugman, Paul R. (2007). The conscience of a liberal (1st ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co. pp. 111. ISBN 9780393333138. OCLC 154706837.
  20. ^ a b "Meet the 1963 March on Washington Organizers | BillMoyers.com". BillMoyers.com. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  21. ^ a b "Region 8". www.uawregion8.net. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  22. ^ a b c d "Reuther, Walter Philip". kinginstitute.stanford.edu. June 21, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  23. ^ a b c d Dickmeyer, Reuther, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther: The Liberal Warrior. Living Force. pp. 339. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.
  24. ^ a b "Walter P. Reuther Library (225427) Civil Rights, Demonstrations, "Meredith March Against Fear," Mississippi, 1966". reuther.wayne.edu. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  25. ^ a b Dickmeyer, Reuther, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther: The Liberal Warrior. Lake Orion, Michigan: LivingForce Publishing. pp. 350. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ a b Dickmeyer, Reuther, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther: The Liberal Warrior. Lake Orion, Michigan: LivingForce Publishing. pp. 237. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ a b c "Meet the 1963 March on Washington Organizers | BillMoyers.com". BillMoyers.com. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  28. ^ Dreier, Peter (2012). The 100 Greatest Americans of 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame. New York: Bold Type Books. p. 339. ISBN 978-1568586816.
  29. ^ a b "NAACP letterhead from November 24,1964, listing board members" (PDF). Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  30. ^ "ADA's History – Americans for Democratic Action". Americans for Democratic Action. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  31. ^ a b "Labor and environmentalists have been teaming up since the first Earth Day". Grist. April 22, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  32. ^ a b "TIME 100 Persons of The Century". Time. June 6, 1999. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  33. ^ a b Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, William J. Clinton. United States Government Printing Office. 1996. pp. Book II, page 1516.
  34. ^ Loomis, Bill (September 2, 2017). "Walter Reuther was labor legend on a global scale". The Detroit News. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  35. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 14. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  36. ^ Reuther, Victor G. (1978). The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW : a memoir (UAW special ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 36–37. ISBN 9780395275153. OCLC 26295254.
  37. ^ "Walter P. Reuther". reuther100.wayne.edu. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  38. ^ a b Raskin, A. H. (June 13, 1976). "The Brothers Reuther". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  39. ^ a b c Halberstam, David (1986). The reckoning (1st ed.). New York: Morrow. p. 336. ISBN 9780688048389. OCLC 13861133.
  40. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 18. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  41. ^ JAMES., TENEYCK (2016). LIFE AND TIMES OF WALTER REUTHER. [S.l.]: PAGE PUBLISHING, INC. p. 264. ISBN 9781683482086. OCLC 975986306.
  42. ^ Reuther, Victor G (1978). The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW : a memoir (UAW special ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 46–48. ISBN 9780395275153. OCLC 26295254.
  43. ^ Nelson., Lichtenstein (1995). The most dangerous man in Detroit : Walter Reuther and the fate of American labor. New York, NY: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465090808. OCLC 32468620.
  44. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 25. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  45. ^ Reuther, Victor G. (1978). The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW : a memoir (UAW special ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 88–103. ISBN 9780395275153. OCLC 26295254.
  46. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 34. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  47. ^ Carew, Anthony (1993). Walter Reuther. Manchester University Press. p. 86. ISBN 071902188X.
  48. ^ Devinatz, Victor (2002). "Reassessing The Historical UAW: Walter Reuther's Affiliation with the Communist Party and Something of Its Meaning — A Document of Party Involvement, 1939". Labour / Le Travail. 49: 225–226.
  49. ^ Victor G. Devinatz, "Reassessing the Historical UAW: Walter Reuther's Affiliation with the Communist Party and Something of Its Meaning: A Document of Party Involvement, 1939." Labour/Le Travail 49 (2002): 223–245. online and also online at JSTOR Devinatz says that he must have left the Party later in 1939.
  50. ^ Nelson Lichtenstein (1997). Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit. University of Illinois Press. pp. 54–56. ISBN 9780252066269.
  51. ^ Nelson Lichtenstein states, " Reuther worked very closely with the Communists during this period, but he did not actually join the party." in Lichtenstein "Reuther the Red?" Labour/Le Travail 51 (2003) pp 165=69 at p 165.
  52. ^ Lichtenstein (1997). Walter Reuther. University of Illinois Press. pp. 87–91. ISBN 9780252066269.
  53. ^ Glaberman, Martin (November 1, 1999). "Walter Reuther, "Socialist Unionist"". Monthly Review. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  54. ^ Frank., Cormier (1970). Reuther. Eaton, William J. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. pp. 70–73. ISBN 9780137793143. OCLC 91809.
  55. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 39–41. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  56. ^ Reuther, Victor G. (1978). The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW : a memoir (UAW special ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 150. ISBN 9780395275153. OCLC 26295254.
  57. ^ Reuther, Victor G. (1978). The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW : a memoir (UAW special ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 9780395275153. OCLC 26295254.
  58. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 51. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  59. ^ Dionne, E.J. Jr. (September 2, 2019). "Remembering the Legacy of Labor Day". Washington Post.
  60. ^ Hodgson, Godfrey (1976). America in Our Time: From World War II to Nixon—what Happened and why. Princeton University Press. p. 82. ISBN 0691122881.
  61. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 52–53. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  62. ^ JAMES., TENEYCK (2016). LIFE AND TIMES OF WALTER REUTHER. [S.l.]: PAGE PUBLISHING, INC. p. 212. ISBN 9781683482086. OCLC 975986306.
  63. ^ JAMES., TENEYCK (2016). LIFE AND TIMES OF WALTER REUTHER. [S.l.]: PAGE PUBLISHING, INC. pp. 214–216. ISBN 9781683482086. OCLC 975986306.
  64. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 56. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  65. ^ Frank., Cormier (1970). Reuther. Eaton, William J. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. pp. 103–107. ISBN 9780137793143. OCLC 91809.
  66. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 63. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  67. ^ Thompson, Derek. "A World Without Work". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
  68. ^ 1912–1999., Davis, Kenneth S. (Kenneth Sydney) (2000). FDR, the war president, 1940–1943 : a history. Rogers D. Spotswood Collection. (1st ed.). New York: Random House. pp. 436. ISBN 9780679415428. OCLC 43694290.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  69. ^ Reuther, Walter. "More Airplanes for Defense" (PDF). Walter P. Reuther Library. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  70. ^ 1912–1999., Davis, Kenneth S. (Kenneth Sydney) (2000). FDR, the war president, 1940–1943 : a history. Rogers D. Spotswood Collection. (1st ed.). New York: Random House. pp. 437. ISBN 9780679415428. OCLC 43694290.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  71. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 65. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  72. ^ Lichtenstein, Nelson (May 13, 2009). "Time for Another Reuther Plan". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  73. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 66. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  74. ^ JAMES., TENEYCK (2016). LIFE AND TIMES OF WALTER REUTHER. [S.l.]: PAGE PUBLISHING, INC. ISBN 9781683482086. OCLC 975986306.
  75. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 69. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  76. ^ "Letter to Walter P. Reuther Extending Greetings to the 15th Constitutional Convention of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  77. ^ Barton J. Bernstein, "Walter Reuther and the General Motors Strike of 1945-1946" Michigan History (1965) 49#3 pp 260-277.
  78. ^ Frank., Cormier (1970). Reuther. Eaton, William J. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. pp. 223–230. ISBN 9780137793143. OCLC 91809.
  79. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 81. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  80. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 3. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  81. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 85. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  82. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 86. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  83. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 86–87. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  84. ^ Anthony Carew, Walter Reuther (1993) p. 36.
  85. ^ Reuther, Victor G. (1978). The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW : a memoir (UAW special ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 395. ISBN 9780395275153. OCLC 26295254.
  86. ^ "Walter Reuther | American labour leader". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
  87. ^ a b Alfred., Heitmann, John (2009). The automobile and American life. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. p. 149. ISBN 9780786440139. OCLC 298304623.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  88. ^ Boyle, Kevin (November 21, 1995). The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945–1968. Cornell University Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-5017-1327-9.
  89. ^ Reuther, Walter (1961). Walter P. Reuther: Selected Papers. Macmillan. p. 136.
  90. ^ Reuther, Walter (1961). Walter P. Reuther: Selected Papers. Macmillan. p. 126.
  91. ^ a b Carew, Anthony (1993). Walter Reuther. Manchester University Press. p. 101.
  92. ^ Boyle, Kevin (November 21, 1995). The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945–1968. Cornell University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-5017-1327-9.
  93. ^ Barnard, John (June 2005). American Vanguard: The United Auto Workers During the Reuther Years, 1935–1970. Wayne State University Press. p. 381. ISBN 978-0-8143-3297-9.
  94. ^ "The Founding Moment". www.peacecorps.gov. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  95. ^ Boyle, Kevin (November 21, 1995). The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945–1968. Cornell University Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-5017-1327-9.
  96. ^ King, Martin Luther; Carson, Clayborne; Luker, Ralph E.; Holloran, Peter; Russell, Penny A. (1992). The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume IV: Symbol of the Movement, January 1957 – December 1958. University of California Press. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-520-22231-1.
  97. ^ Reuther, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther, The Liberal Warrior. Living Force Publishing. pp. 190. ISBN 0975379216.
  98. ^ 1943–, Carew, Anthony (1993). Walter Reuther. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 264. ISBN 9780719021886. OCLC 27676666.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  99. ^ "Interview with President Obama". The New York Times. July 27, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  100. ^ "Walter P. Reuther Library". reuther.wayne.edu. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  101. ^ 1962–, Sugrue, Thomas J. (2008). Sweet land of liberty : the forgotten struggle for civil rights in the North (First ed.). New York. pp. 298–301. ISBN 9780679643036. OCLC 191732290.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  102. ^ "Walter Reuther was labor legend on a global scale". Detroit News. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  103. ^ "Region 8". www.uawregion8.net. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  104. ^ Maraniss, David (June 20, 2013). "Detroit's forgotten 'Dream'". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  105. ^ "50th Anniversary Freedom Walk Detroit Press Conference". Detroit NAACP. June 10, 2013. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  106. ^ Rummel, John (June 11, 2013). "Detroit remembers 50 years after King's "I Have a Dream" speech". Peoples World. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  107. ^ "Special Collections, March on Washington, Parts 1–17". Open Vault. at WGBH. August 28, 1963. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  108. ^ "Special Collections, March on Washington, Part 17". Open Vault. at WGBH. August 28, 1963. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  109. ^ "Reuther, Walter Philip (1907–1970)". kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  110. ^ David., Maraniss (2015). Once in a great city : a Detroit story (First Simon & Schuster hardcover ed.). New York. pp. 236. ISBN 9781476748399. OCLC 894936463.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  111. ^ 1932–, Barnard, John (2004). American vanguard : the United Auto Workers during the Reuther years, 1935–1970. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p. 388. ISBN 9780814332979. OCLC 52819692.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  112. ^ cl_admin (August 23, 2013). "The 1963 March on Washington in Photos". Colorlines. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  113. ^ "The White Man Whose 'March on Washington' Speech You Should Remember Too". The New Republic. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  114. ^ "March on Washington". National Museum of American History. December 17, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  115. ^ "How women's voices were excluded from the March". MSNBC. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  116. ^ Jones, William. "The Move to Unity, labor's role in the March on Washington" (PDF). Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  117. ^ "Meet the 1963 March on Washington Organizers | BillMoyers.com". BillMoyers.com. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  118. ^ Jones, William (Fall 2013). "The Move to Unity, Labor's Role in the March on Washington" (PDF). American Educator: 35.
  119. ^ "President Kennedy with leaders of the March on Washington – John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum". www.jfklibrary.org. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  120. ^ a b Hill, Lance (February 1, 2006). The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-8078-5702-1.
  121. ^ Congress, United States (1965). Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 4454.
  122. ^ a b c "Selma and Sharpeville | Stereotypes of Brutal Power | Commonweal Magazine". www.commonwealmagazine.org. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  123. ^ Leaders, Hellenic (January 16, 2017). "The images every Greek American should see on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day". Medium. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  124. ^ E., Levy, Jacques (2007). Cesar Chavez : autobiography of La Causa. Chavez, Cesar, 1927–1993., Ross, Fred, Jr., Levy, Jacqueline M. (1st University of Minnesota Press ed.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 202. ISBN 9780816650491. OCLC 227339180.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  125. ^ Hal., Marcovitz (2003). Cesar Chavez. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 53–54. ISBN 9780791072530. OCLC 50913476.
  126. ^ 1948–, Dreier, Peter (2012). The 100 greatest Americans of the 20th century : a social justice hall of fame. New York: Nation Books. pp. 235, 339. ISBN 9781568586816. OCLC 701015405.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  127. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 287–88. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  128. ^ "Forty Acres, Roy Reuther Administration Building, 30168 Garces Highway (Northwest Corner of Garces Highway and Mettler Avenue), Delano, Kern County, CA". The Library of Congress. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  129. ^ a b Bausum, Ann (2017). The March Against Fear: The Last Great Walk of the Civil Rights Movement and the Emergence of Black Power. National Geographic Books. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-4263-2665-3.
  130. ^ a b University, © Stanford; Stanford; California 94305 (June 21, 2017). "Reuther, Walter Philip". The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  131. ^ Dewey, Scott (1998). "Working for the Environment: Organized Labor and the Origins of Environmentalism in the United States, 1948–1970". Environmental History. 3 (1): 58. doi:10.2307/3985426. ISSN 1084-5453. JSTOR 3985426. S2CID 144342816.
  132. ^ Dewey, Scott (January 1988). "Working for the Environment: Organized Labor and the Origins of Environmentalism in the United States, 1948–1970". Environmental History. 3 (1): 52. doi:10.2307/3985426. JSTOR 3985426. S2CID 144342816.
  133. ^ "Environmentalism and the Great Society · Exhibit · Give Earth a Chance: Environmental Activism in Michigan". michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  134. ^ Dewey, Scott (1998). "Working for the Environment: Organized Labor and the Origins of Environmentalism in the United States, 1948–1970". Environmental History. 3 (1): 53. doi:10.2307/3985426. ISSN 1084-5453. JSTOR 3985426. S2CID 144342816.
  135. ^ "The UAW steps up for Earth Day". www.nelsonearthday.net. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  136. ^ a b c "Labor and environmentalists have been teaming up since the first Earth Day". Grist. April 22, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  137. ^ "Meet 'Mr. Earth Day,' the Man Who Helped Organize the Annual Observance". Time. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  138. ^ "The Rumpus Interview with Earth Day Organizer Denis Hayes". The Rumpus.net. April 22, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  139. ^ Environmental Action (1970). Earth Day – The Beginning: A Guide for Survival. Bantam Books. pp. iv. ISBN 0-405-02712-5.
  140. ^ a b Brinkley, Douglas (2022). Silent spring revolution : John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the great environmental awakening (First ed.). New York, NY. pp. 402–403. ISBN 978-0-06-321291-6. OCLC 1350156286.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  141. ^ Reuther, Walter (1961). Walter P. Reuther: Selected Papers. Macmillan. pp. 203, 205.
  142. ^ a b See Michael Parenti, "The Wonderful Life and Strange Death of Walter Reuther", Dirty Truths (City Lights Books, 1996), page 201.
  143. ^ a b United Press, “Reuther Shot in Detroit Home – Auto Union Official Victim of Ambush,” The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Wednesday April 21, 1948, Volume LIV, Number 201, p. 2.
  144. ^ Pietrusza, David, 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America, Union Square Press, 2011, p. 153
  145. ^ United Press, “Unknown Assailant Wounds Reuther, Auto Union Head – Labor Leader Hit in Arm, Shoulder by Shotgun Blast Through Kitchen Window,” The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, April 21, 1948, Volume LIV, Number 201, p. 1.
  146. ^ Frank, Cormier (1970). Reuther. Eaton, William J. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall. pp. 155–156. ISBN 9780137793143. OCLC 91809.
  147. ^ Reuther, Victor G. (1978). The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW : a memoir (UAW special ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 281. ISBN 9780395275153. OCLC 26295254.
  148. ^ Reuther, Victor G. (1978). The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW : a memoir (UAW special ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 484–486. ISBN 9780395275153. OCLC 26295254.
  149. ^ Reuther, Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 10. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  150. ^ Reuther, Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 11–13. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  151. ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (June 5, 2004). "Victor Reuther, Influential Labor Leader, Dies at 92". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  152. ^ Brigid, O'Farrell (2010). She was one of us : Eleanor Roosevelt and the American worker. Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press. p. 144. ISBN 9780801448805. OCLC 732957167.
  153. ^ "Reuther Dies in Jet Crash With Wife and 4 Others". The New York Times. May 11, 1970. Retrieved October 17, 2014.
  154. ^ planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1970s
  155. ^ "Tie Faulty Altimeter to Reuther's Death". Chicago Tribune. February 19, 1971. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  156. ^ a b Parenti, Michael (June 1996). Dirty Truths. City Lights Books. pp. 206. ISBN 978-0-87286-317-0.
  157. ^ "Walter Reuther was labor legend on a global scale". Detroit News. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  158. ^ "Walter Reuther was labor legend on a global scale". Detroit News. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  159. ^ Reuther, Elisabeth Dickmeyer (2004). Putting the world together: my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 350–51, 355. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.
  160. ^ Dickmeyer, Reuther, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther, the Liberal Warrior. Living Force. pp. 36-37. ISBN 9780975379219.
  161. ^ Dickmeyer, Reuther, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther, the Liberal Warrior. Living Force Publishing. pp. 141. ISBN 9780975379219.
  162. ^ Dickmeyer, Reuther, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther, the Liberal Warrior. Living Force. pp. 340. ISBN 9780975379219.
  163. ^ Dickmeyer, Reuther, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther, the Liberal Warrior. Living Force Publishing. pp. 115-117. ISBN 9780975379219.
  164. ^ Reuther, Victor G. (1978). The Brothers Reuther and the Story of the UAW. Houghton Mifflin. p. 127. ISBN 9780395275153.
  165. ^ Reuther Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther, the Liberal Warrior. Living Force. pp. 195. ISBN 9780975379219.
  166. ^ "My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, December 19, 1955". www2.gwu.edu. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  167. ^ "Eugene V. Debs Award". Eugene V. Debs Foundation Website. Eugene V. Debs Foundation. September 18, 2017.
  168. ^ "President of United Automobile Workers Union Gets Histadrut Award | Jewish Telegraphic Agency". www.jta.org. June 18, 1958. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  169. ^ "Weizmann Award in the Sciences and Humanities – News, Features and Discoveries from the Weizmann Institute of Science". Weizmann Wonder Wander. November 1, 1999. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  170. ^ "Scientific Activities: Weizmann Professorial Chairs, CDC's and Fellowships". www.weizmann.ac.il. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  171. ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients, June 12, 1969". Harvard University. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  172. ^ "Honorary Degrees Awarded 1836–Present" (PDF). University of Michigan. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  173. ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients 1963–Present" (PDF). Oakland University. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  174. ^ "The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska on June 1, 1965 · Page 24". Newspapers.com. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  175. ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients". web.uri.edu. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  176. ^ "Portrait Search". Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  177. ^ Bonier, David (February 20, 2018). Whip: Leading the Progressive Battle During the Rise of the Right. p. 562. ISBN 9781947951037. Retrieved February 26, 2018. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  178. ^ Reuther., Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the world together : my father Walter Reuther, the liberal warrior. Lake Orion, Mich.: LivingForce Pub. pp. 88. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  179. ^ "Congressional Record, House of Representatives, Statement by Irving Bluestone" (PDF). U.S. Government Publishing Office. June 29, 1970. p. 21886. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  180. ^ 1948–, Dreier, Peter (2012). The 100 greatest Americans of the 20th century : a social justice hall of fame. New York: Nation Books. pp. 234. ISBN 9781568586816. OCLC 701015405.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  181. ^ "TIME 100 Persons of The Century". Time. June 6, 1999. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  182. ^ "Hall of Honor Inductee: Walter P. Reuther". United States Department of Labor. December 9, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  183. ^ University, Wayne State. "Civil rights leader Lowery to receive Reuther Award from Wayne State University – Newsroom – Wayne State University". Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  184. ^ Compa, Lance. "Labor's New Opening to International Human Rights Standards". Digital Commons. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  185. ^ "Biography: Walter Reuther > Research | Ohio County Public Library | Ohio County Public Library | Wheeling West Virginia | Ohio County WV | Wheeling WV History |". www.ohiocountylibrary.org. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  186. ^ University, Wayne State (November 30, 1999). "Civil rights leader Lowery to receive Reuther Award from Wayne State University – Newsroom – Wayne State University". Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  187. ^ "Wayne State, UAW honor civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis". Wayne State University. February 5, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

Bibliography

Secondary sources

  • Barnard, John. American Vanguard: The United Auto Workers during the Reuther Years, 1935–1970. (Wayne State U. Press, 2004). 607 pp. major scholarly history
  • Barnard, John. Walter Reuther and the rise of the auto workers (1983); short scholarly biography online
  • Bernstein, Barton J. "Walter Reuther and the General Motors Strike of 1945-1946" Michigan History (1965) 49#3 pp 260–277.
  • Boyle, Kevin. The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945–1968 (1995)online
  • Brattain, Michelle. "Reuther, Walter Philip"; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000 Access March 21, 2015
  • Buffa, Dudley W. Union power and American democracy: the UAW and the Democratic Party, 1972-83 (1984) online
  • Carew, Anthony. Walter Reuther (Manchester University Press, 1993), short scholarly biography online
  • Carew, Anthony. American Labour's Cold War Abroad: From Deep Freeze to Détente, 1945-1970 (2018) traces Reuther versus Meany on foreign policy.
  • Goode, Bill. Infighting in the UAW: The 1946 Election and the Ascendancy of Walter Reuther (Greenwood, 1994) online also see online review
  • Halpern, Martin. UAW Politics in the Cold War Era (SUNY Press, 1988) online
  • Howe, Irving. The UAW and Walter Reuther (1949) online
  • Kempton, Murray. "The Reuther Brothers" in Part of Our Time: Some Ruins and Monuments of the Thirties (1955, repr. 1998, repr. 2004)
  • Kornhauser, Arthur et al. When Labor Votes: A Study of Auto Workers (1956)
  • Lichtenstein, Nelson. "Walter Reuther and the Rise of Labor-Liberalism" in Labor Leaders in America (1987): 280-302. online.
  • Lichtenstein, Nelson. Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit (1995). a major scholarly biography; online
  • Parrish, Michael E. Citizen Rauh: An American Liberal's Life in Law and Politics (U of Michigan Press, 2010), "Chapter 10: Reuther and Randolph" (pp. 121–132) https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.1189267 on civil rights work of Joseph L. Rauh Jr., Reuther and A. Philip Randolph
  • Parenti, Michael and Peggy Norton. The Wonderful Life and Strange Death of Walter Reuther (1996)
  • Steigerwald, David. "Walter Reuther, the UAW, and the dilemmas of automation," Labor History (2010) 51#3 pp 429–453.
  • Zieger, Robert H. The CIO, 1935–1955 (1995) online

Documentaries

  • Reuther, Sasha, "Brothers on the Line", Documentary (2012)
  • Zwerin, Charlotte. "Sit Down and Fight - Walter Reuther and the Rise of the Auto Workers' Union" (Charlotte Zwerin Films, 1993) aired in February 1993 on the PBS series, The American Experience.

Primary sources

  • Christman, Henry M. ed. Walter P. Reuther: Selected Papers (1961)
  • Reuther, Victor. The Brothers Reuther and The Story of the UAW: A Memoir (1976)
  • The Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs on the campus of Wayne State University contains numerous collections related to Walter Reuther, most notably the UAW President's Office: Walter P. Reuther Files, which "reflect all phases of his career as president, UAW West Side Local 174 (1936); UAW Executive Board member (1936); director, UAW General Motors Department (1939–48); UAW vice-president (1942–46); UAW president (1946–70); president, ClO (1952–55); vice-president, AFL-CIO (1955–67); and president, AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department (1955–67)."

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Walter Reuther.
  • The Reuther 100: A Web site on the life of Walter P. Reuther; lesson plans for secondary schools
  • Obituary, The New York Times, May 11, 1970
  • , Time magazine
  • ; the plane crash that killed Reuther.
Trade union offices
Preceded by President of the United Auto Workers
1946–1970 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Congress of Industrial Organizations
1952–1955 		Succeeded by
Office abolished
(The merged AFL-CIO was led by George Meany.)
Preceded by
Department founded
 President of the Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO
1955–1967 		Succeeded by
Preceded by AFL-CIO delegate to the Trades Union Congress
1957
With: Joseph D. Keenan 		Succeeded by

August 22, 2023
walter, reuther, this, article, contains, many, overly, lengthy, quotations, encyclopedic, entry, please, help, improve, article, presenting, facts, neutrally, worded, summary, with, appropriate, citations, consider, transferring, direct, quotations, wikiquote. This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations for an encyclopedic entry Please help improve the article by presenting facts as a neutrally worded summary with appropriate citations Consider transferring direct quotations to Wikiquote or for entire works to Wikisource August 2023 Walter Philip Reuther ˈ r uː 8 er September 1 1907 May 9 1970 was an American leader of organized labor and civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers UAW into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history 1 He saw labor movements not as narrow special interest groups but as instruments to advance social justice and human rights in democratic societies 1 He leveraged the UAW s resources and influence to advocate for workers rights civil rights women s rights universal health care public education affordable housing environmental stewardship and nuclear nonproliferation around the world 1 He believed in Swedish style social democracy and societal change through nonviolent civil disobedience 2 3 He cofounded the AFL CIO in 1955 with George Meany 4 He survived two attempted assassinations including one at home where he was struck by a 12 gauge shotgun blast fired through his kitchen window 5 He was the fourth and longest serving president of the UAW serving from 1946 until his death in 1970 6 Walter ReutherOfficial portrait 19554th President of the United Automobile WorkersIn office 1946 1970Preceded byR J ThomasSucceeded byLeonard F Woodcock3rd President of the Congress of Industrial OrganizationsIn office 1952 1955Preceded byPhilip MurraySucceeded byGeorge MeanyPersonal detailsBornWalter Philip ReutherSeptember 1 1907Wheeling West Virginia U S DiedMay 9 1970 1970 05 09 aged 62 Pellston Michigan U S Cause of deathPlane crashPolitical partyDemocraticSpouseMay Wolf m 1936 wbr ChildrenLindaElisabethParentsValentine ReutherAnna StockerRelativesVictor G ReutherRoy ReutherTed ReutherChristine ReutherEducationWayne State University withdrew OccupationLabor leader activistKnown forlabor movement civil rights movementAwardsPresidential Medal of Freedom Posthumous 1995 Weizmann AwardEugene V Debs AwardLabor Hall of HonorAutomotive Hall of FameSignatureAs the leader of five million autoworkers including retirees and their families 7 Reuther was influential inside the Democratic Party 8 Following the Bay of Pigs in 1961 JFK sent Reuther to Cuba to negotiate a prisoner exchange with Fidel Castro 9 He was instrumental in spearheading the creation of the Peace Corps 10 11 12 and in marshaling support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 13 14 the Voting Rights Act of 1965 15 Medicare and Medicaid 16 and the Fair Housing Act 14 He met weekly in 1964 and 1965 with President Lyndon B Johnson at the White House to discuss policies and legislation for the Great Society and War on Poverty 17 The Republican Party was wary of Reuther leading presidential candidate Richard Nixon to say about John F Kennedy during the 1960 election I can think of nothing so detrimental to this nation than for any President to owe his election to and therefore be a captive of a political boss like Walter Reuther 18 Conservative politician Barry Goldwater declared that Reuther was more dangerous to our country than Sputnik or anything Soviet Russia might do 19 A powerful ally of Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights movement 20 Reuther marched with King in Detroit Selma 21 Birmingham 22 Montgomery 23 and Jackson 24 25 When King and others including children were jailed in Birmingham Alabama and King authored his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail Reuther arranged 160 000 for the protestors release 26 He also helped organize and finance the March on Washington on August 28 1963 delivering remarks from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial shortly before King gave his historic I Have a Dream speech on the National Mall 22 27 An early supporter of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers he asked Robert F Kennedy to visit and support Chavez 28 He served on the board of directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP 29 and was one of the founders of Americans for Democratic Action 30 A lifetime environmentalist Reuther played a critical role in funding and organizing the first Earth Day on April 22 1970 31 According to Denis Hayes the principal national organizer of the first Earth Day Without the UAW the first Earth Day would have likely flopped 31 Reuther was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century 32 He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 by President Bill Clinton who remarked at the ceremony Walter Reuther was an American visionary so far ahead of his times that although he died a quarter of a century ago our Nation has yet to catch up to his dreams 33 Contents 1 Early life and education 1 1 Left home for Detroit 1 2 World tour 1 3 Political affiliation 2 United Automobile Workers 2 1 First victory against automobile companies 2 2 General Motors 2 3 Chrysler 2 4 Ford Motor Company 2 5 500 Planes a Day 2 6 Elected UAW president 2 6 1 Salary 2 7 Expelling Communists from organized labor 2 8 President of Congress of Industrial Organizations CIO 2 9 Collective bargaining 3 Ideas activism and political stances 3 1 Peace Corps 3 2 Civil rights activism 3 2 1 Walk to Freedom 1963 3 2 2 March on Washington 1963 3 2 3 Selma voting rights movement and Bloody Sunday 1965 3 2 4 Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers 1965 3 2 5 March Against Fear 1966 3 2 6 Memphis sanitation strike 1968 3 3 Environmentalism 3 3 1 Earth Day 3 3 2 Redwood National Park 3 4 Filibuster 4 Assassination attempts 5 Death 5 1 Funeral 6 Personal life 7 Honors and awards 8 Legacy 8 1 Walter P Reuther Humanitarian Award 8 2 Places named for Reuther 8 3 Cultural references 9 Archival records 10 See also 11 References 12 Bibliography 12 1 Secondary sources 12 2 Documentaries 12 3 Primary sources 13 External linksEarly life and education Edit Sign in Reuther s hometown of Wheeling West VirginiaReuther was born on September 1 1907 in Wheeling West Virginia to Anna nee Stocker and Valentine Reuther who were German Americans 34 His father Valentine was a horse drawn beer wagon driver and Socialist union organizer who at age 11 had emigrated from Germany 35 Walter was one of five children oldest to youngest Ted Walter Roy Victor Christine Valentine would facilitate debates every Sunday for his sons training them to think on their feet about social issues of the day such as yellow journalism child labor women s suffrage and civil rights 36 Reuther later recalled At my father s knee we learned the philosophy of trade unionism We got the struggles the hopes and the aspirations of working people every day 37 As a child he and Victor accompanied their father on a visit to a jail to meet Eugene V Debs who was being incarcerated for his pacifism during World War I 38 The Reuthers were frugal and learned not to waste To save money Walter s mother Anna would make underwear for her sons out of used flour sacks 39 When Valentine was partially blinded by an exploding bottle Walter began doing odd jobs to bring in family income at the age of nine He later dropped out of high school during his junior year and worked in a local factory to help support the family 39 He learned firsthand about inadequate worker safety when a 400 pound die that he and three other men were lifting fell and severed his big toe 40 From an early age the Reuther boys received lessons on racism One day they saw local boys throwing rocks at black people being transported north through their hometown in open railways cars Their father gave them a stern warning to never treat another human being like that The Reuther boys never forgot that lesson spending the rest of their lives fighting for racial and economic equality for all people 41 Left home for Detroit Edit In 1927 at the age of 19 Reuther left Wheeling for Detroit and argued himself into an expert tool and die maker job at Ford Motor Company that required 25 years experience The foreman was baffled that at his young age he could read blueprints and dies becoming one of the highest paid mechanics in the factory 42 He finished high school while working at Ford and enrolled at Detroit City College which is today known as Wayne State University In 1932 he was fired for organizing a rally for Norman Thomas who was running for President of the United States as the nominee for the Socialist Party of America His official Ford employment record states that he quit voluntarily but Reuther himself maintained that he was fired for his increasingly visible socialist activities 43 Regardless Walter and Victor decided it was the perfect time to fulfill their childhood dream and travel the world 44 World tour Edit When Henry Ford retired the Model T in 1927 he sold the production mechanisms to the Soviet Union and American workers who knew how to operate the equipment were needed Walter and Victor were promised work teaching Soviet workers how to run the machines and assembly line With that employment assurance the brothers embarked on a three year adventure first bicycling through Europe then working in the auto plant in Gorky in the Soviet Union where the unheated factories were often 30 40 degrees Fahrenheit below zero He frequently wrote letters to the Moscow Daily News criticizing the many inefficiencies associated with how the communists operated the plants 45 After almost two years in the Soviet Union the brothers travelled through Turkey Iran British India and China After crossing the East China Sea they finished their Far East tour by bicycling throughout Japan Finally after being gone from home for almost three years they found work for passage on the steamship SS President Harding to San Francisco and hurried back to Detroit where their brother Roy was already deeply involved with organizing autoworkers Walter later stated the world tour taught him that all people long for the same basic human goals of a job with some degree of security greater opportunity for their children and of course freedom We felt we could make a contribution by helping American workers build strong and democratic labor unions That s why we went into the labor movement 46 Political affiliation Edit The Reuther brothers busts at the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center in northern Michigan From left to right Roy Reuther Walter Reuther and Victor Reuther Before joining the Democratic Party Reuther was a member of the Socialist Party of America Although Reuther always denied it some including J Edgar Hoover have suspected that at one time he was a member of the Communist Party 47 On this subject Reuther said in 1938 I am not and never have been a member of the Communist Party nor a supporter of its policies nor subject to its control or influence in any way 48 Nevertheless people have suspected that he may have paid dues to the Communist Party for some months in 1935 36 and one source listed him as attending a Communist Party planning meeting as late as February 1939 49 Reuther did cooperate with the Communists in the mid 1930s this was the period of the Popular Front and the Communist Party agreed with him on internal issues of the UAW but his associations were with anti Stalinist Socialists 50 51 Reuther remained active in the Socialist Party and in 1937 failed in his attempt to be elected to the Detroit City Council when the AFL and blacks opposed his CIO ticket 52 Historian Martin Glaberman found proof of Reuther s less than one year CPUSA membership in the papers of UAW activist Nat Ganley 53 However impressed by the efforts by President Franklin D Roosevelt to tackle inequality he eventually joined the Democratic Party United Automobile Workers EditFirst victory against automobile companies Edit Sound car for West Side Local 174 used by Walter Reuther to organize UAW membersUpon returning from Europe to Detroit Reuther hitchhiked to South Bend Indiana to attend the second annual convention as a delegate of the fledgling UAW Upon his return he became president of newly formed Local 174 on Detroit s west side and with brother Victor led the first successful strike against the automotive giants at Kelsey Hayes which supplied brake drums and wheels to Ford Motor Company The main complaint was the speed up of the assembly line was intolerable Workers were losing limbs and even their own lives trying in vain to keep up with the ever increasing speed of the assembly line It was December 1936 when the workers pulled a surprise strike and sat down in the plant refusing to leave until management negotiated with their representative Walter Reuther 54 When management tried to enter the plant to remove the machinery thousands of sympathizers swarmed the sidewalks and blocked the doorways Ford needed those brake drums and wheels badly and after 10 days of striking the sides settled The first major UAW victory to unionize the auto factories was won Upon Reuther s insistence women won equal pay for equal work 75 cents an hour The speed up of the assembly line was slowed down and the company could not fire a worker for joining the union UAW Local 174 s membership expanded from 200 before the strike to 35 000 within the next year 55 General Motors Edit Main article Flint sit down strike Interstate 696 in Detroit was named the Walter P Reuther Freeway following the plane crash in 1970In 1936 General Motors GM was the largest corporation in the world and held many plants in Flint Michigan about 60 miles north of Detroit Reuther s brother Roy was already in Flint drawing up strategy plans and organizing workers to shut down the automaker until it would recognize the rights of the workers to unionize The strike began on New Year s Eve December 31 1936 when the workers sat down in the plants and refused to leave General Motors retaliated by turning off the heat in the plant In solidarity with the Flint strikers Reuther led a strike at Detroit s Fleetwood Plant where bodies were made for GM s luxury vehicle the Cadillac Support strikes were also called in Oakland California Pontiac Michigan and St Louis Missouri Autoworkers around the nation engaged in action in support of the Flint sit down strikers 56 Back in Flint the police tried to force the workers out of the plant in what became known as the Battle of Bulls Run Over a hundred policemen attacked the pickets with tear gas and bullets sending thirteen workers to the hospital with gunshot wounds Victor manned the sound car and encouraged the workers to fight back which they did by sling shotting door hinges from the factory roof and turning fire hoses on the police in the 16 degree Fahrenheit winter night Victor and Genora Johnson a leader of the Women s Brigade took turns in the sound car exhorting the workers to stand their ground Michigan Governor Frank Murphy called in 2 000 members of the National Guard not to force the workers out of the plants but to keep the peace After a brilliant move the workers were able to gain control of the only plant in the country that made Chevrolet engines Finally 44 days later General Motors was forced to recognize the worker s right to unionize and signed its first collective bargaining agreement with the fledgling UAW 57 The Flint sit down strike has become known as the Lexington and Valley Forge of American industrial unionism Roy recalled When the boys came out of the plants I never saw a night like that and perhaps will never see it again I liken it to a country experiencing independence families reunited for the first time since the strike began kids hanging onto daddy with tears of joy and happiness It was a sea of humanity in which fears were no longer on the minds of the workers 58 In 1950 Reuther negotiated and signed with Charlie Wilson chief executive officer of General Motors the Treaty of Detroit an historic five year labor contract that in exchange for a commitment not to strike gave rank and file workers better wages health care and pensions 59 At the time Fortune Magazine wrote that the Treaty of Detroit made the worker to an amazing degree a middle class member of a middle class society 60 Chrysler Edit Chrysler was next on the list of the young UAW In March 1937 60 000 Chrysler workers went on strike When police started roughing up pickets and strikers over 150 000 citizens gathered at Detroit s downtown Cadillac Square where Reuther and others led them in protest After a four week strike Chrysler followed General Motors lead and negotiated its first collective bargaining agreement with the UAW 61 Ford Motor Company Edit Henry Ford had stated that he would never allow his workers to unionize His main enforcer was Harry Bennett who led a 3 000 man Security Department for Ford Motor Company whose mandate was to intimidate beat and fire any worker who showed signs of favoring unionization In 1932 when workers marched out of the giant Ford River Rouge Complex in protest to the speed up of the assembly lines they were attacked by Bennett s armed men and 5 workers were shot dead and hundreds suffered injuries 62 Battle of the Overpass May 26 1937 Walter Reuther fifth from left Richard Frankensteen sixth from leftBarely a month after the Chrysler signing Reuther got permission from the City of Dearborn to pass out handbills titled Unionism not Fordism on public property at Gate Four of the giant Ford River Rouge Complex As he and three other UAW leaders climbed the stairs to the bridge they were attacked by Bennett s enforcers who severely beat them 63 Reuther was instantly surrounded by at least a dozen men knocked to the ground kicked and punched in the head and body picked up 4 feet parallel to the ground then slammed to the concrete repeatedly then thrown and kicked down 3 flights of stairs The pummeling continued as 4 or 5 men beat him in and out of parked cars until a streetcar arrived with union women to pass out leaflets and the thugs turned their attention to viciously attack them 64 Press photographers were attacked as well and their cameras confiscated but one camera was inconspicuously thrown into a convertible and the next day the Battle of the Overpass was national news The beatings taken by the union organizers in the long run hurt Henry Ford more as national sentiment turned against him Time magazine published the photographs with descriptions of how the union men and women were mercilessly beaten by Henry Ford s paid thugs Ford retaliated against Time Life and Fortune magazines by withdrawing all advertising 65 It took four more years but finally in 1941 Henry Ford signed his first agreement with the UAW Shortly after Henry Ford told Walter Reuther It was one of the most sensible things Harry Bennett ever did when he got the UAW into this plant Reuther inquired What do you mean Ford replied Well you ve been fighting General Motors and the Wall Street crowd Now you re in here and we ve given you a union shop and more than you got out of them That puts you on our side doesn t it We can fight General Motors and Wall Street together eh 66 In the 1950s Reuther and Henry Ford II CEO of Ford toured a state of the art engine plant in Cleveland As they walked about the plant Ford gestured to the cutting edge automated machines saying Walter how are you going to get these robots to pay union dues Without missing a beat Reuther famously replied Henry how are you going to get them to buy your cars 67 500 Planes a Day Edit In 1940 in the midst of World War II the United States was producing fighter planes to help the allies in their war against Hitler s aggression The production was slow inadequate and threatening the security of the Allies The US planned to construct new manufacturing plants specifically to produce more planes That plan would have taken two years to begin production The Allies did not have that time to spare In response Reuther proposed to transform the entire unused capacity of the auto industry into one huge plane production unit capable of turning out 500 Planes a Day After getting the support of workers he publicly announced the Reuther Plan 500 Planes a Day shortly before Christmas 1940 68 He said during a national radio address on December 28 1940 In London they are huddled in the subways praying for aid from America In America we are huddled over blueprints praying that Hitler will be obliging enough to postpone an all out attack on England for another two years until new plants finally begin to turn out engines and aircraft We believe that without disturbing present aircraft plant production schedules we can supplement them by turning out 500 planes a day of a single standard fighting model by the use of idle automotive capacity England s battles it used to be said were won on the playing fields of Eton America s can be won on the assembly lines of Detroit Give England planes and there will be no need to give her men 69 A week after receiving the plan on December 30 1940 President Roosevelt wrote William S Knudsen chairman of the War Production Board It is well worthwhile to give a good deal of attention to this Reuther program 70 Three days later on January 2 1941 Reuther met with President Roosevelt at the White House to discuss the possibility of implementing his plan for 500 Planes a Day 71 Reuther with President Dwight Eisenhower and other labor leaders at AFL CIO building dedication June 4 1956General Motors Ford and Chrysler all opposed the Reuther Plan because they wanted the government to build new plane and tank factories that could be sold to them at giveaway prices after the war 72 They also disliked that labor had the audacity to stick their nose into production which they felt was management s exclusive domain Alfred P Sloan chairman of General Motors scoffed at the idea stating only about 10 to 15 of the machinery and equipment in an automobile factory can be utilized for the production of special defense material 73 After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 many of Reuther s proposals were implemented Detroit s automobile plants produced planes and tanks in mass volume and became known as the center of the Arsenal of Democracy which gave the Allies a decisive advantage to win the war By 1943 Chrysler President K T Keller reported that his company had converted 89 of its machine tools to wartime production leading Washington Post publisher Phil Graham to state that meant Reuther was 89 right 74 At the war s end Fortune magazine wrote Reuther was right on track Compared with many industrialists that sat back and hugged profits and the aimless agencies of Washington the red headed labor leader exhibited atomic spirit of action He never let up 75 In 1953 President Eisenhower wrote in a letter to Reuther When I last addressed a CIO Convention I came to thank you for your magnificent performance in World War II in supplying the planes and tanks and ships and arms You did your job and you did it well 76 Elected UAW president EditAfter the war ended in 1945 Reuther proved he would be a different type of labor leader when he led a strike challenging GM to increase workers wages by 30 without increasing the price of their new cars Worker pay had been restricted during World War II and Reuther sought to get them a raise but not at the cost of increased inflation Historically when workers won a pay increase the company would pass on the expense to their consumers GM refused the pay increase and after a 113 day strike the sides settled on an eighteen and a half cent hourly raise Reuther s bold collective bargaining leadership in this strike catapulted him into the union s top position 77 78 Walter Reuther meeting with Jawaharlal Nehru Prime Minister of India in October 1949On March 27 1946 Reuther won the election and became the president of the UAW in a very close race defeating incumbent UAW president R J Thomas by a mere 124 votes out of almost 9 000 cast The new UAW president pledged his vision of a labor movement whose philosophy is to fight for the welfare of the public at large 79 One of his first acts as president was to fight to integrate the American Bowling League which had previously excluded black bowlers He was a new kind of leader who viewed the labor movement as an instrument for social change 80 Salary Edit Although presidents of much smaller unions were making 3 or 4 times his salary Reuther purposely kept his salary low to stay in touch and show solidarity with UAW members he represented He never made an annual salary of more than 31 000 Author David Halberstam writes His life was not about material things The constant success of the union was reward enough 39 Expelling Communists from organized labor Edit Eleanor Roosevelt Walter Reuther Milton Eisenhower and the Cuban prisoner exchange delegation in Washington D C The following 18 months after Reuther s election win bitter battles erupted inside the UAW as Communist backers of R J Thomas had a two thirds majority on the UAW s Executive Board One observer noted The Commies threw everything but their hammer and sickle at Walter 81 In November 1947 at the next UAW national convention this time Reuther won the election overwhelmingly severely weakening the Communist s hold on the union s leadership Life magazine reported that Reuther s victory was the biggest setback of all time for the Communists in the American Labor Movement 82 President of Congress of Industrial Organizations CIO Edit Reuther became president of the CIO in 1952 until its merger with the AFL in 1955 and continued as head of the UAW until his death in 1970 As president of the CIO Reuther sought to remove officers from Communist dominated unions within the CIO leading Hubert Humphrey to write Communist infiltration of the CIO was a direct threat to the survival of all of our country s democratic institutions The CIO s victory over the Communist party was a significant victory for our nation In response Trud a Soviet newspaper called Reuther a traitor and strikebreaker and a favorite of the U S Chamber of Commerce The Republican Party called Reuther the most dangerous man in America and a Communist 83 Despite removing Communists from the labor movement J Edgar Hoover Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation never stopped suspecting Reuther to be a Communist for working in Russia and having early associations with Communists 84 In 1959 at the request of the Department of State Reuther met with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev who was visiting the U S They discussed among other things capitalism versus communism organized labor and US Russia relations The meeting happened in San Francisco and was front page international news 85 Collective bargaining Edit Walter Reuther with President Truman in the Oval Office 1952As president of the UAW Reuther negotiated contracts that included unprecedented standard of living increases for automobile workers Such increases include annual raises based on productivity advances cost of living increases supplementary unemployment benefits early retirement options and health and welfare benefits 86 He employed a strategy called pattern bargaining against the Big Three automobile manufacturers General Motors Ford Motor Company and Chrysler 87 He would first target a company that seemed most likely to accept his bargaining objective If that target company refused to offer concessions Reuther would threaten a strike to halt production at its plants only while allowing production operations at its competitors plants to go uninterrupted As a result the target company would accept Reuther s demands to prevent its competitors from absorbing its sales and market share Once he secured the initial agreement he would use it as a pattern against the other automobile companies threatening to strike if they too did not match the same terms to which the initial target company agreed Reuther employed pattern bargaining to leverage competition among automobile manufacturers maximize the influence of labor and reduce the frequency of costly strikes 87 Ideas activism and political stances EditPeace Corps EditIn 1950 Reuther proposed in an article titled A Proposal for a Total Peace Offensive that the United States establish a voluntary agency for young Americans to be sent around the world to fulfill humanitarian and development objectives 88 Subsequently throughout the 1950s Reuther gave speeches to the following effect I have been saying for a long time that I believe the more young Americans who are trained to join with other young people in the world to be sent abroad with slide rule textbook and medical kit to help people help themselves with the tools of peace the fewer young people will need to be sent with guns and weapons of war 89 90 In August 1960 following the 1960 Democratic National Convention Walter Reuther visited John F Kennedy at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport to discuss Kennedy s platform and staffing of a future administration 91 It was there that Reuther got Kennedy to commit to creating the executive agency that would become the Peace Corps 91 Under Reuther s leadership the United Auto Workers had earlier that summer put together a policy platform that included a youth peace corps to be sent to developing nations 92 Subsequently at the urging of Reuther 93 John F Kennedy announced the idea for such an organization on October 14 1960 at a late night campaign speech at the University of Michigan 94 Civil rights activism Edit Civil rights leaders with Vice President Johnson and Attorney General Robert Kennedy at the White House on June 22 1963 Leaders of the March on Washington posing in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln on August 28 1963 Leaders of the March on Washington on August 28 1963Reuther was a strong supporter of the Civil Rights Movement 20 He marched with King in Selma 21 Birmingham 22 Montgomery 23 and Jackson 24 25 and when King and others were jailed in Birmingham Alabama and King authored his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail Reuther arranged 160 000 for the protestors release 26 He also helped organize and finance the March on Washington on August 28 1963 delivering remarks from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial shortly before King gave his historic I Have a Dream speech 22 27 He served on the board of directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP 29 Under his leadership the UAW donated 75 000 in 1954 to help underwrite the NAACP s efforts led by Thurgood Marshall before the Supreme Court in the landmark case of Brown v Board of Education 95 According to King Reuther sent letters to all of his local unions in 1957 requesting members to attend and provide financial support to the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington D C 96 On the 25th anniversary of the UAW King wrote a letter to Reuther congratulating him on his successes and observing More than anyone else in America you stand out as the shining symbol of democratic trade unionism Through trials efforts and your unswerving devotion to humanitarian causes you have made life more meaningful for millions of working people Through moments of difficulty and strong obstacles you have stood firm for what you believe knowing that in the long run Truth crushed to earth will rise again As I have heard you say the true measure of a man is where he stands in moments of challenge and controversy when the only consolation he gains is the quiet whisper of an inner voice saying there are things so eternally true and significant that they are worth dying for if necessary You have demonstrated over the years that you can stand up in moments of challenge and controversy One day all of America will be proud of your achievements and will record your work as one of the glowing epics of our heritage 97 In the early 1930s Reuther first challenged racism as a student at what is now Wayne State University When a local hotel which had agreed with the college to let students use its swimming pool refused to let blacks swim he organized a picket line The protest surrounded the block As a result the hotel closed its pool to all students 98 In a 2013 interview with The New York Times President Barack Obama said When you think about the coalition that brought about civil rights it wasn t just folks who believed in racial equality it was people who believed in working folks having a fair shot It was Walter Reuther and the UAW coming down here because they understood that if there are some workers who are not getting a fair deal then ultimately that s going to undercut their ability to get a fair deal 99 Walk to Freedom 1963 Edit The Walk to Freedom was a mass march during the Civil Rights Movement on June 23 1963 in Detroit Michigan The purpose of the demonstration was to protest racism segregation and the brutality inflicted upon civil rights activists in the South as well as the discrimination facing African Americans in the North such as inequality in hiring wages education and housing 100 In some ways it was considered a dress rehearsal for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom which was scheduled for two months later 101 An estimated 125 000 people attended and it was the largest civil rights demonstration in the nation s history up to that date 102 Reuther mobilized support for the protest and donated office space at the UAW s headquarters Solidarity House for Martin Luther King Jr to organize the event 103 Along with others including King Reuther marched down Woodward Avenue and delivered remarks afterwards at Cobo Hall 104 It was there that King delivered his first version of his I Have a Dream speech having penned it at least partially inside his office at Solidarity House 105 106 External audio Complete radio coverage of the March on Washington August 28 1963 Educational Radio Network 107 Walter Reuther s remarks begin at 40 40 August 28 1963 Educational Radio Network 108 March on Washington 1963 Edit Official program of March on Washington for Jobs and FreedomThe March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was held in Washington D C on Wednesday August 28 1963 The protest sought to advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans Along with the Big Six and three white religious leaders Reuther helped organize the march 109 27 Originally the march was planned to take place outside of the Capitol Building Reuther however persuaded the other organizers to move the march to the Lincoln Memorial He believed the Lincoln Memorial would be less threatening to Congress and the occasion would be more appropriate underneath the gaze of Abraham Lincoln s statue The committee notably Rustin agreed to move the site on the condition that Reuther pay for a 19 000 sound system so that everyone on the National Mall could hear the speakers and musicians 110 Reuther and the UAW financed bus transportation for 5 000 of its rank and file members providing the largest single contingent from any organization 111 The UAW also paid for and brought thousands of signs for marchers to carry Among other things the signs read There Is No Halfway House on the Road to Freedom 112 Equal Rights and Jobs NOW 113 UAW Supports Freedom March 114 in Freedom we are Born in Freedom we must Live 115 and Before we ll be a Slave we ll be Buried in our Grave 116 Reuther was the most prominent white organizer scheduled to speak In his remarks on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial he urged Americans to pressure their politicians to act to address racial injustices He said American democracy is on trial in the eyes of the world We cannot successfully preach democracy in the world unless we first practice democracy at home American democracy will lack the moral credentials and be both unequal to and unworthy of leading the forces of freedom against the forces of tyranny unless we take bold affirmative adequate steps to bridge the moral gap between American democracy s noble promises and its ugly practices in the field of civil rights 117 According to Irving Bluestone who was standing near the platform while Reuther delivered his remarks he overheard two black women talking One asked Who is that white man The other replied Don t you know him That s the white Martin Luther King 118 After the march the civil rights leaders met with President Kennedy at the White House to discuss civil rights legislation 119 During the meeting Reuther described to Kennedy how he was framing the civil rights issue to business leaders in Detroit saying Look you can t escape the problem And there are two ways of resolving it either by reason or riots 120 Reuther continued Now the civil war that this is gonna trigger is not gonna be fought at Gettysburg It s gonna to be fought in your backyard in your plant where your kids are growing up 120 Kennedy and Johnson with organizers of the March on Washington at the White House on August 28 1963Selma voting rights movement and Bloody Sunday 1965 EditOn March 9 1965 two days after Bloody Sunday where civil rights marchers were beaten by state police at the Edmond Pettus Bridge in Selma Alabama Reuther sent a telegram to President Johnson reading in part Americans of all religious faiths of all political persuasions and from every section of our Nation are deeply shocked and outraged at the tragic events in Selma Ala and they look to the Federal Government as the only possible source to protect and guarantee the exercise of constitutional rights which is being denied and destroyed by the Dallas County law enforcement agents and the Alabama State troops under the direction of Governor George Wallace Under these circumstances Mr President I join in urging you to take immediate and appropriate steps including the use of Federal marshals and troops if necessary so that the full exercise of constitutional rights including free assembly and free speech be fully protected Sunday s spectacle of tear gas and night sticks whips and electric cattle prods used against defenseless citizens demonstrating to secure their constitutional right to register and vote as American citizens was an outrage against all decency This shameful brutality by law enforcing agents makes a mockery of Americans concepts of justice and provides effective ammunition to Communist propaganda and our enemies around the world who would weaken and destroy us 121 Following the death of Unitarian Universalist minister James Reeb a memorial service was held at the Brown s Chapel AME Church on March 15 122 Among those who addressed the packed congregation were Reuther King and some clergymen 122 A picture of King Reuther Greek Orthodox Archbishop Iakovos and others in Selma for Reeb s memorial service appeared on the cover of Life magazine on March 26 1965 123 After the memorial service upon getting permission from the courts the leaders and attendees marched from the church to the Dallas County Courthouse in Selma 122 Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers 1965 Edit In December 1965 Reuther visited Cesar Chavez and the striking grape growers in Delano California Two months earlier Reuther s brother and colleague Roy had visited the striking farmworkers Upon returning from his visit Roy urged Walter to support Chavez 124 At that time Chavez s struggle for workers rights was little known to the American public but Reuther s visit garnered national media attention making it difficult for the growers to ignore the striking grape pickers During the trip Reuther marched with Chavez and his fellow strikers carrying picket signs reading Huelga Reuther also spoke to packed union hall declaring This is not your strike this is our strike He pledged that the UAW would provide 7 500 per month to the United Farm Workers strike fund for the duration of the strike 125 Upon returning to Detroit Reuther contacted Senator Robert F Kennedy who was on the Senate Labor Committee requesting that Kennedy visit Chavez in Delano to learn about and support the farmworkers Kennedy obliged ultimately becoming the most visible supporter of the farmworkers movement 126 Reuther visited Chavez many times including once during Chavez s hunger strike During that visit Reuther made a 50 000 donation to Chavez s struggle to which Chavez said Walter you have given me great confidence Reuther replied You will prevail for your cause is just 127 In honor of the Reuther brothers early and sustained support the United Farm Workers named a building at their Delano headquarters the Roy Reuther Administration Building 128 March Against Fear 1966 Edit Following the shooting of civil rights activist James Meredith the first African American to attend the segregated University of Mississippi Reuther and his wife May traveled from Chicago to Jackson Mississippi to march with King and his wife Coretta among other civil rights activists 129 Reuther brought 10 buses full of union supporters 129 Memphis sanitation strike 1968 Edit On April 8 four days after King s assassination Reuther marched with Coretta Scott King and others in Memphis Tennessee in support of a peaceful resolution of the city s sanitation strike 130 In addition Reuther donated 50 000 from the UAW to the striking sanitation workers which was the largest financial contribution by any outside source 130 Environmentalism Edit Reuther sought to build an environmental movement made up of all classes of society to address social ecological aesthetic and resource conservation issues 131 In 1965 the UAW organized a United Action for Clean Water Conference in Detroit where Reuther called for the beginning of a massive mobilization of citizens of a popular crusade not only for clean water but also for cleaning up the atmosphere the highways the junkyards and the slums and for creating a total living environment worthy of free men 132 In 1967 three years before the first Earth Day Reuther established the Department of Conservation and Resource Development later headed by Olga Madar to combat pollution including automobile emissions 133 In 1968 speaking at the annual conference of the Water Pollution Control Federation Reuther stated If we continue to destroy our living environment by polluting our streams and poisoning our air We may be the first civilization in the history of man that will have suffocated and been strangled in the waste of its material affluence compounded by social indifference and social neglect 134 At the annual UAW convention in 1970 in Atlantic City Reuther said Because industry has for so long polluted the environment of the plants in which we work and has now created an environmental crisis of catastrophic proportions in the communities in which we live the UAW will insist on discussing the implications of this crisis at the bargaining table 135 Earth Day Edit Reuther made the first donation to support the first Earth Day in 1970 in the amount of 2 000 136 Under his leadership the UAW also funded telephone capabilities for organizers to communicate and coordinate with each other from across the United States 137 The UAW also financed printed and mailed all of the literature and other materials for the first Earth Day and mobilized its membership to participate in the public demonstrations across the country 136 According to Denis Hayes the chief national coordinator of the first Earth Day The UAW was by far the largest contributor to the first Earth Day and Without the UAW the first Earth Day would have likely flopped 136 Hayes further said Walter s presence at our first press conference utterly changed the dynamics of the coverage we had instant credibility 138 Following Reuther s death less than one month after the first Earth Day the organizers of Environmental Action the key group that organized the first Earth Day dedicated a book containing a collection of speeches from Earth Day to Reuther saying We would like to pay tribute to Walter Reuther a friend and ally in the movement for peace justice and a livable environment We admired his courage and his foresight and we are deeply grateful for the help he gave us 139 Redwood National Park EditReuther supported the establishment of Redwood National Park writing President Johnson in 1966 The preservation of a significant stand of these magnificent trees will be a truly monumental step in the implementation of the Great Society Several months ago I asked our Recreation Department to gather the facts regarding the size and location of a Redwood National Park After careful consideration of the results of this study the UAW supports the creation of a Redwood National Park of some 90 000 acres This proposal contains virgin redwood forests of unequaled magnitude ecological conditions most advantageous to redwood preservation outstanding panoramic views a long ocean front beach wildlife concentrations of major size as well as a number of wilderness watersheds 140 President Johnson wrote Reuther back stating that his administration would establish Redwood National Park come hell or high water 140 Filibuster Edit In 1957 during a speech before the annual convention of the NAACP Reuther coined the United States Senate the graveyard of civil rights legislation and called for the abolishment of the body s filibuster 141 Assassination attempts EditIn April 1938 two masked gunmen attempted to abduct Reuther at a party he was hosting However one guest managed to flee and alert the authorities leading to their arrest At the trial the defense argued that the Reuther staged the entire event as a publicity stunt Links between the gunmen and Harry Bennett a union busting enemy of the UAW were not disclosed to the jury 142 Bessie Hillman Eleanor Roosevelt Jacob Potofsky and Walter Reuther in New York City January 7 1957On April 20 1948 Reuther barely survived a double barrel shotgun blast that ripped through his kitchen window as he was preparing a late evening snack As the gunshot went off at 9 48 pm EST 143 Reuther happened to turn toward his wife and was hit in his right arm instead of the chest and heart 144 Four slugs shattered his right arm into 150 pieces of bone Another slug pierced his back and exited out his stomach The assailant fled in a bright red four door Ford sedan police said 145 Reuther who did not lose consciousness cursed his attacker as he was initially being treated by his next door neighbor a doctor as he lay on the kitchen floor Those dirty sons of bitches Reuther cried They have to shoot a man in the back They won t come out in the open and fight 143 As doctors fought to save his life he became infected with malaria and hepatitis from blood transfusions Through months of therapy he regained partial use of his right arm but for the rest of his life had to train himself to write and shake with his left hand 146 When Attorney General Tom Clark requested J Edgar Hoover to get the FBI to investigate the shooting Hoover refused stating I m not going to send in the FBI every time some nigger woman gets raped 38 147 The shooting was never solved Thirteen months after the attack Reuther s brother Victor was almost killed by a similar shooting from a double barrel shotgun The blast traveled through his living room window and hit him in the face throat and chest Victor s right eye had been shot out and had to be removed 148 Victor said The attack on me was a way of serving notice to Walter We didn t get you yet but we re still around 149 The shooting of Victor was also never solved 150 151 In the wake of both shootings Eleanor Roosevelt wrote It seems unthinkable that the police have never been able to discover who shot Walter Reuther and because of that in all probability the same person perhaps has felt he could get away with shooting another brother W e have a right to protect men who are working in the interests of their fellow men 152 Death Edit The Walter and May Reuther Eternal Flame at the UAW Black Lake Conference Center in northern MichiganOn May 9 1970 Walter Reuther his wife May architect Oscar Stonorov Reuther s bodyguard William Wolfman pilot George O Evans and co pilot Joseph U Karaffa were killed when their chartered Learjet 23 crashed in flames at 9 33 p m Eastern Time The plane arriving from Detroit in rain and fog was on final approach to Pellston Regional Airport in Pellston Michigan near the UAW s recreational and educational facility at Black Lake Michigan 153 154 The National Transportation Safety Board discovered that the plane s altimeter was missing parts some incorrect parts were installed and one of its parts had been installed upside down 155 leading some to speculate that Reuther may have been murdered 142 Reuther had been subjected earlier to two attempted assassinations and a similar near crash in a small plane in 1969 156 Journalist Michael Parenti wrote Reuther s demise appears as part of a truncation of liberal and radical leadership that included the deaths of four national figures President John Kennedy Malcolm X Martin Luther King and Senator Robert Kennedy 156 Funeral Edit Reuther s funeral was held on May 15 1970 at Ford Auditorium in Detroit Michigan 157 An estimated 3 400 people were in attendance 158 Among others Coretta Scott King eulogized Walter Reuther was to black people the most widely known and respected white labor leader in the nation He was there when the storm clouds were thick We remember him in Montgomery He was in Birmingham He marched with us in Selma and Jackson Mississippi and in Washington Only yesterday there he was again in Charleston South Carolina the leader of a million and a half workers giving personal support to a strike of only 400 black women He was a big man so of course he had enemies and detractors He had the courage to be with the minority when it was right He was a simple man in his personal life a rare quality in these flamboyant times but if his ways were simple his ideas were grand He aroused the imagination of millions He was fighting the fight of the whole world 159 Personal life Edit Portrait of Reuther Hall of Honor Department of LaborWalter and May Reuther were married on March 13 1936 after meeting on a streetcar in Detroit only six weeks earlier 160 They had two daughters Linda born in 1942 and Elisabeth in 1947 Reuther led a simple austere lifestyle He neither smoked nor drank alcohol because he felt it sapped a person s vitality For his daily lunch in his office he had the same menu a sandwich and a cup of tea He was an early riser Author William Manchester wrote that Reuther s associates saw him as a true ascetic 161 To relax he liked to hike fish and play tennis His favorite music was German Lieder Classical Spirituals and Union Songs Although sometimes perceived as rigid with no sense of humor Walter s colleague and friend Irving Bluestone said That wasn t true at all He was a very easy person to work with and be with He had a good sense of humor and could laugh at himself And occasionally when he was excited enough he would use profanity just like anyone else coming out of the shop 162 Reuther enjoyed being and working outdoors in nature Whether building a fish ladder for the trout underneath their bridge or planting a Japanese Garden for May that she could view outside their bedroom window he enjoyed and relaxed by working on outdoor projects on his Paint Creek property located outside Rochester Michigan He and his daughter Lisa planted an arboretum including over 50 types of trees at their Paint Creek home He was an expert woodworker and built much of the furniture for their home with his own hands After the assassination attempt in 1948 which shattered his arm in 150 pieces he rehabilitated his arm by squeezing a hard rubber ball and pushing out the walls to build their Paint Creek home from what had been a one room cottage He remarked I got a good house and a good hand all for the same money 163 May was Walter s sounding board and close advisor throughout his public life May was a teacher and involved in organizing a teachers union Early on she was making 60 a week of which she gave most to help organize auto workers into the fledgling UAW She soon gave up her teaching career to become Walter s full time secretary earning 15 per week She was active in many charities and programs to uplift the community 164 May marched side by side with Walter in the civil rights struggles in Selma and elsewhere She hosted Eleanor Roosevelt at their Paint Creek home 165 She also served as president of the PTA at their daughter s school 23 After the assassination attempt on Walter s life in 1948 May decided to spend most of her time at home trying to give their two daughters as normal a life as possible although the family had bodyguards and attack dogs living with them the rest of their lives 23 Walter Reuther statue located at the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center in Black Lake MichiganHonors and awards EditThe National Religion and Labor Foundation presented Reuther with their Social Justice Award in 1955 166 Reuther received the Eugene V Debs Award in 1968 for his work in Industrial Unionism 167 The National Committee for Israel Labor gave Reuther the Histadrut Humanitarian Award in 1958 168 The Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel gave Reuther the Weizmann Award in the Sciences and Humanities in 1968 169 and established the Walter P Reuther Chair of Research in the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy 170 Reuther received honorary degrees from among other institutions Harvard University 171 University of Michigan 172 Oakland University 173 Tuskegee University 174 and University of Rhode Island 175 There are three portraits and one sculpture of Reuther in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute s National Portrait Gallery in Washington D C 176 Reuther appeared on the covers of Time Magazine twice Newsweek three times Der Spiegel once The New York Times Magazine once and Life magazine once Legacy EditReuther was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century 32 He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 by President Bill Clinton who remarked at the ceremony Walter Reuther was an American visionary so far ahead of his times that although he died a quarter of a century ago our Nation has yet to catch up to his dreams 33 Murray Kempton a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist wrote Walter Reuther is the only man I have ever met who could reminisce about the future 177 A H Raskin labor editor of The New York Times wrote If the speed of a man s mind could be measured in the same way as the speed of his legs Walter Reuther would be an Olympic champion 178 179 George Romney Governor of Michigan once said Walter Reuther is the most dangerous man in Detroit because no one is more skillful in bringing about the revolution without seeming to disrupt the existing forms of society 180 Reuther appears in Time magazine s list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century 181 Reuther was inducted into the Department of Labor s Hall of Honor 182 The Walter P Reuther Humanitarian Award was created in 1999 by Wayne State University 183 The Reuther Chavez Award was created in 2002 by Americans for Democratic Action to recognize important activist scholarly and journalistic contributions on behalf of workers rights especially the right to unionize and bargain collectively 184 The Walter P Reuther Memorial was dedicated October 12 2006 at Heritage Port in Wheeling West Virginia The seven foot bronze statue of Walter Reuther was created by sculptor Alan Cottrill of Zanesville Ohio Inscribed on the granite pedestal it stands upon are the words of Reuther himself There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow man There is no greater contribution than to help the weak There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well 185 Reuther s home near Rochester Michigan was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 citation needed Walter P Reuther Humanitarian Award EditIn 1999 Wayne State University in collaboration with the UAW and the Reuther family created the Walter P Reuther Humanitarian Award to honor individuals who embody the spirit vision and values of Reuther 186 To date the recipients of the award include civil rights activist Rosa Parks Congressman John Dingell civil rights activist Joseph Lowery UAW president Douglas Fraser and civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis 187 Walter P Reuther Library Wayne State University Detroit MichiganPlaces named for Reuther Edit Walter P Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs the largest labor archives in North America located on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan Walter P Reuther Freeway I 696 stretching from the eastern to western suburbs of Detroit Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center Black Lake Michigan Walter Reuther Psychiatric Hospital Westland Michigan Reuther Middle School Rochester Hills Michigan Walter Reuther Central High School Kenosha Wisconsin Reuther Way street connecting GM plant to Interstate 90 39 Janesville Wisconsin The Walter Reuther Center for youngsters Holon IsraelCultural references Edit Reuther is portrayed in Robert Schenkkan s Broadway play All the Way which won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Play The play was subsequently adapted into a television drama by HBO in 2016 in which Reuther is portrayed by Spencer Garrett Greg Pliska and Charley Morey are presently creating a musical about Reuther s life titled A Most Dangerous Man the date of which it will be released is unknown Thomas Pynchon s novel V c Thomas Pynchon 1961 1963 alludes to Reuther as follows Zeitsuss the boss secretly wanted to be a union organizer His job was civil service but someday he would be Walter Reuther p 112 in the Vintage 2000 edition Archival records EditThe archival records of Reuther can be found mostly at the Walter P Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs Notable are the UAW President s Office Walter P Reuther Records an extensive collection that documents his time as President with the UAW The materials include Reuther s personal correspondence writings photographs official memorandum and other various record types Researchers are encouraged to contact the Reuther library for inquiries or access to materials A guide to Reuther s archival materials can be found here See also Edit Biography portal Organized labour portalUnited Automobile Workers American Federation of Labor Congress of Industrial Organizations Americans for Democratic Action Walter P Reuther Library List of civil rights leaders Walter P and May Wolf Reuther HouseReferences Edit a b c Hall of Honor Inductee Walter P Reuther United States Department of Labor December 9 2015 Retrieved February 22 2018 On the Union Front Look at Walter Reuther gives insight into the evolution and decline of American labor and liberalism THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN DETROIT Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor By Nelson Lichtenstein Basic Books 35 592 pp Los Angeles Times December 17 1995 Retrieved June 9 2020 Nonviolence Encyclopedia com www encyclopedia com Retrieved June 1 2020 University c Stanford Stanford California 94305 June 21 2017 Reuther Walter Philip The Martin Luther King Jr Research and Education Institute Retrieved June 11 2021 Walter P Reuther reuther100 wayne edu Retrieved February 25 2018 Walter Reuther AFL CIO aflcio org Retrieved March 1 2018 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 383 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Halberstam David 1986 The reckoning 1st ed New York Morrow p 345 ISBN 9780688048389 OCLC 13861133 Roberts Sam September 25 2019 Robert Boyd Journalist Whose Reporting Shifted an Election Dies at 91 The New York Times Retrieved November 5 2019 1943 Carew Anthony 1993 Walter Reuther Manchester Manchester University Press p 101 ISBN 9780719021886 OCLC 27676666 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link The Stanford Daily 7 April 1964 The Stanford Daily stanforddailyarchive com Retrieved March 8 2018 1960 Boyle Kevin 1995 The UAW and the heyday of American liberalism 1945 1968 Ithaca Cornell University Press pp 144 ISBN 9780801485381 OCLC 32626436 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Boyle Kevin May 15 2014 An Idea Whose Time Has Come and The Bill of the Century The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 8 2018 a b 1948 Dreier Peter 2012 The 100 greatest Americans of the 20th century a social justice hall of fame New York Nation Books pp 235 ISBN 9781568586816 OCLC 701015405 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Dreier Peter 2012 The 100 greatest Americans of the 20th century a social justice hall of fame New York Nation Books pp 235 ISBN 9781568586816 OCLC 701015405 Social Security History www ssa gov Retrieved March 8 2018 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 248 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Frank Cormier 1970 Reuther Eaton William J Englewood Cliffs N J Prentice Hall pp 376 ISBN 9780137793143 OCLC 91809 Krugman Paul R 2007 The conscience of a liberal 1st ed New York W W Norton amp Co pp 111 ISBN 9780393333138 OCLC 154706837 a b Meet the 1963 March on Washington Organizers BillMoyers com BillMoyers com Retrieved February 25 2018 a b Region 8 www uawregion8 net Retrieved March 1 2018 a b c d Reuther Walter Philip kinginstitute stanford edu June 21 2017 Retrieved December 3 2019 a b c d Dickmeyer Reuther Elisabeth 2004 Putting the World Together My Father Walter Reuther The Liberal Warrior Living Force pp 339 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a b Walter P Reuther Library 225427 Civil Rights Demonstrations Meredith March Against Fear Mississippi 1966 reuther wayne edu Retrieved March 1 2018 a b Dickmeyer Reuther Elisabeth 2004 Putting the World Together My Father Walter Reuther The Liberal Warrior Lake Orion Michigan LivingForce Publishing pp 350 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link a b Dickmeyer Reuther Elisabeth 2004 Putting the World Together My Father Walter Reuther The Liberal Warrior Lake Orion Michigan LivingForce Publishing pp 237 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link a b c Meet the 1963 March on Washington Organizers BillMoyers com BillMoyers com Retrieved February 25 2018 Dreier Peter 2012 The 100 Greatest Americans of 20th Century A Social Justice Hall of Fame New York Bold Type Books p 339 ISBN 978 1568586816 a b NAACP letterhead from November 24 1964 listing board members PDF Retrieved February 25 2018 ADA s History Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Democratic Action Retrieved March 1 2018 a b Labor and environmentalists have been teaming up since the first Earth Day Grist April 22 2010 Retrieved February 24 2018 a b TIME 100 Persons of The Century Time June 6 1999 ISSN 0040 781X Retrieved February 22 2018 a b Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States William J Clinton United States Government Printing Office 1996 pp Book II page 1516 Loomis Bill September 2 2017 Walter Reuther was labor legend on a global scale The Detroit News Retrieved May 13 2023 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 14 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Reuther Victor G 1978 The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW a memoir UAW special ed Boston Houghton Mifflin pp 36 37 ISBN 9780395275153 OCLC 26295254 Walter P Reuther reuther100 wayne edu Retrieved March 18 2018 a b Raskin A H June 13 1976 The Brothers Reuther The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 18 2018 a b c Halberstam David 1986 The reckoning 1st ed New York Morrow p 336 ISBN 9780688048389 OCLC 13861133 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 18 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link JAMES TENEYCK 2016 LIFE AND TIMES OF WALTER REUTHER S l PAGE PUBLISHING INC p 264 ISBN 9781683482086 OCLC 975986306 Reuther Victor G 1978 The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW a memoir UAW special ed Boston Houghton Mifflin pp 46 48 ISBN 9780395275153 OCLC 26295254 Nelson Lichtenstein 1995 The most dangerous man in Detroit Walter Reuther and the fate of American labor New York NY Basic Books ISBN 9780465090808 OCLC 32468620 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 25 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Reuther Victor G 1978 The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW a memoir UAW special ed Boston Houghton Mifflin pp 88 103 ISBN 9780395275153 OCLC 26295254 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 34 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Carew Anthony 1993 Walter Reuther Manchester University Press p 86 ISBN 071902188X Devinatz Victor 2002 Reassessing The Historical UAW Walter Reuther s Affiliation with the Communist Party and Something of Its Meaning A Document of Party Involvement 1939 Labour Le Travail 49 225 226 Victor G Devinatz Reassessing the Historical UAW Walter Reuther s Affiliation with the Communist Party and Something of Its Meaning A Document of Party Involvement 1939 Labour Le Travail 49 2002 223 245 online and also online at JSTOR Devinatz says that he must have left the Party later in 1939 Nelson Lichtenstein 1997 Walter Reuther The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit University of Illinois Press pp 54 56 ISBN 9780252066269 Nelson Lichtenstein states Reuther worked very closely with the Communists during this period but he did not actually join the party in Lichtenstein Reuther the Red Labour Le Travail 51 2003 pp 165 69 at p 165 Lichtenstein 1997 Walter Reuther University of Illinois Press pp 87 91 ISBN 9780252066269 Glaberman Martin November 1 1999 Walter Reuther Socialist Unionist Monthly Review Retrieved July 3 2022 Frank Cormier 1970 Reuther Eaton William J Englewood Cliffs N J Prentice Hall pp 70 73 ISBN 9780137793143 OCLC 91809 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 39 41 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Reuther Victor G 1978 The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW a memoir UAW special ed Boston Houghton Mifflin p 150 ISBN 9780395275153 OCLC 26295254 Reuther Victor G 1978 The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW a memoir UAW special ed Boston Houghton Mifflin ISBN 9780395275153 OCLC 26295254 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 51 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Dionne E J Jr September 2 2019 Remembering the Legacy of Labor Day Washington Post Hodgson Godfrey 1976 America in Our Time From World War II to Nixon what Happened and why Princeton University Press p 82 ISBN 0691122881 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 52 53 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link JAMES TENEYCK 2016 LIFE AND TIMES OF WALTER REUTHER S l PAGE PUBLISHING INC p 212 ISBN 9781683482086 OCLC 975986306 JAMES TENEYCK 2016 LIFE AND TIMES OF WALTER REUTHER S l PAGE PUBLISHING INC pp 214 216 ISBN 9781683482086 OCLC 975986306 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 56 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Frank Cormier 1970 Reuther Eaton William J Englewood Cliffs N J Prentice Hall pp 103 107 ISBN 9780137793143 OCLC 91809 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 63 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Thompson Derek A World Without Work The Atlantic Retrieved March 17 2018 1912 1999 Davis Kenneth S Kenneth Sydney 2000 FDR the war president 1940 1943 a history Rogers D Spotswood Collection 1st ed New York Random House pp 436 ISBN 9780679415428 OCLC 43694290 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Reuther Walter More Airplanes for Defense PDF Walter P Reuther Library Retrieved March 21 2018 1912 1999 Davis Kenneth S Kenneth Sydney 2000 FDR the war president 1940 1943 a history Rogers D Spotswood Collection 1st ed New York Random House pp 437 ISBN 9780679415428 OCLC 43694290 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 65 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Lichtenstein Nelson May 13 2009 Time for Another Reuther Plan The Nation ISSN 0027 8378 Retrieved March 3 2018 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 66 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link JAMES TENEYCK 2016 LIFE AND TIMES OF WALTER REUTHER S l PAGE PUBLISHING INC ISBN 9781683482086 OCLC 975986306 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 69 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Letter to Walter P Reuther Extending Greetings to the 15th Constitutional Convention of the Congress of Industrial Organizations The American Presidency Project www presidency ucsb edu Retrieved April 29 2020 Barton J Bernstein Walter Reuther and the General Motors Strike of 1945 1946 Michigan History 1965 49 3 pp 260 277 Frank Cormier 1970 Reuther Eaton William J Englewood Cliffs N J Prentice Hall pp 223 230 ISBN 9780137793143 OCLC 91809 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 81 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 3 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 85 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 86 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 86 87 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Anthony Carew Walter Reuther 1993 p 36 Reuther Victor G 1978 The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW a memoir UAW special ed Boston Houghton Mifflin p 395 ISBN 9780395275153 OCLC 26295254 Walter Reuther American labour leader Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved March 17 2018 a b Alfred Heitmann John 2009 The automobile and American life Jefferson N C McFarland amp Co p 149 ISBN 9780786440139 OCLC 298304623 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Boyle Kevin November 21 1995 The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism 1945 1968 Cornell University Press p 144 ISBN 978 1 5017 1327 9 Reuther Walter 1961 Walter P Reuther Selected Papers Macmillan p 136 Reuther Walter 1961 Walter P Reuther Selected Papers Macmillan p 126 a b Carew Anthony 1993 Walter Reuther Manchester University Press p 101 Boyle Kevin November 21 1995 The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism 1945 1968 Cornell University Press p 142 ISBN 978 1 5017 1327 9 Barnard John June 2005 American Vanguard The United Auto Workers During the Reuther Years 1935 1970 Wayne State University Press p 381 ISBN 978 0 8143 3297 9 The Founding Moment www peacecorps gov Retrieved May 13 2020 Boyle Kevin November 21 1995 The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism 1945 1968 Cornell University Press p 121 ISBN 978 1 5017 1327 9 King Martin Luther Carson Clayborne Luker Ralph E Holloran Peter Russell Penny A 1992 The Papers of Martin Luther King Jr Volume IV Symbol of the Movement January 1957 December 1958 University of California Press p 198 ISBN 978 0 520 22231 1 Reuther Elisabeth 2004 Putting the World Together My Father Walter Reuther The Liberal Warrior Living Force Publishing pp 190 ISBN 0975379216 1943 Carew Anthony 1993 Walter Reuther Manchester Manchester University Press p 264 ISBN 9780719021886 OCLC 27676666 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Interview with President Obama The New York Times July 27 2013 Retrieved October 22 2019 Walter P Reuther Library reuther wayne edu Retrieved March 18 2018 1962 Sugrue Thomas J 2008 Sweet land of liberty the forgotten struggle for civil rights in the North First ed New York pp 298 301 ISBN 9780679643036 OCLC 191732290 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Walter Reuther was labor legend on a global scale Detroit News Retrieved March 18 2018 Region 8 www uawregion8 net Retrieved March 18 2018 Maraniss David June 20 2013 Detroit s forgotten Dream Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Retrieved March 18 2018 50th Anniversary Freedom Walk Detroit Press Conference Detroit NAACP June 10 2013 Retrieved March 19 2018 Rummel John June 11 2013 Detroit remembers 50 years after King s I Have a Dream speech Peoples World Retrieved March 19 2018 Special Collections March on Washington Parts 1 17 Open Vault at WGBH August 28 1963 Retrieved March 19 2018 Special Collections March on Washington Part 17 Open Vault at WGBH August 28 1963 Retrieved March 19 2018 Reuther Walter Philip 1907 1970 kingencyclopedia stanford edu Retrieved February 25 2018 David Maraniss 2015 Once in a great city a Detroit story First Simon amp Schuster hardcover ed New York pp 236 ISBN 9781476748399 OCLC 894936463 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link 1932 Barnard John 2004 American vanguard the United Auto Workers during the Reuther years 1935 1970 Detroit Wayne State University Press p 388 ISBN 9780814332979 OCLC 52819692 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link cl admin August 23 2013 The 1963 March on Washington in Photos Colorlines Retrieved March 21 2018 The White Man Whose March on Washington Speech You Should Remember Too The New Republic Retrieved March 21 2018 March on Washington National Museum of American History December 17 2012 Retrieved March 21 2018 How women s voices were excluded from the March MSNBC Retrieved March 21 2018 Jones William The Move to Unity labor s role in the March on Washington PDF Retrieved March 21 2018 Meet the 1963 March on Washington Organizers BillMoyers com BillMoyers com Retrieved March 21 2018 Jones William Fall 2013 The Move to Unity Labor s Role in the March on Washington PDF American Educator 35 President Kennedy with leaders of the March on Washington John F Kennedy Presidential Library amp Museum www jfklibrary org Retrieved March 21 2018 a b Hill Lance February 1 2006 The Deacons for Defense Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement Univ of North Carolina Press p 262 ISBN 978 0 8078 5702 1 Congress United States 1965 Congressional Record Proceedings and Debates of the Congress U S Government Printing Office p 4454 a b c Selma and Sharpeville Stereotypes of Brutal Power Commonweal Magazine www commonwealmagazine org Retrieved May 12 2020 Leaders Hellenic January 16 2017 The images every Greek American should see on Martin Luther King Jr Day Medium Retrieved May 12 2020 E Levy Jacques 2007 Cesar Chavez autobiography of La Causa Chavez Cesar 1927 1993 Ross Fred Jr Levy Jacqueline M 1st University of Minnesota Press ed Minneapolis University of Minnesota Press p 202 ISBN 9780816650491 OCLC 227339180 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Hal Marcovitz 2003 Cesar Chavez Philadelphia Chelsea House Publishers pp 53 54 ISBN 9780791072530 OCLC 50913476 1948 Dreier Peter 2012 The 100 greatest Americans of the 20th century a social justice hall of fame New York Nation Books pp 235 339 ISBN 9781568586816 OCLC 701015405 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 287 88 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Forty Acres Roy Reuther Administration Building 30168 Garces Highway Northwest Corner of Garces Highway and Mettler Avenue Delano Kern County CA The Library of Congress Retrieved March 22 2018 a b Bausum Ann 2017 The March Against Fear The Last Great Walk of the Civil Rights Movement and the Emergence of Black Power National Geographic Books p 111 ISBN 978 1 4263 2665 3 a b University c Stanford Stanford California 94305 June 21 2017 Reuther Walter Philip The Martin Luther King Jr Research and Education Institute Retrieved May 14 2020 Dewey Scott 1998 Working for the Environment Organized Labor and the Origins of Environmentalism in the United States 1948 1970 Environmental History 3 1 58 doi 10 2307 3985426 ISSN 1084 5453 JSTOR 3985426 S2CID 144342816 Dewey Scott January 1988 Working for the Environment Organized Labor and the Origins of Environmentalism in the United States 1948 1970 Environmental History 3 1 52 doi 10 2307 3985426 JSTOR 3985426 S2CID 144342816 Environmentalism and the Great Society Exhibit Give Earth a Chance Environmental Activism in Michigan michiganintheworld history lsa umich edu Retrieved April 28 2020 Dewey Scott 1998 Working for the Environment Organized Labor and the Origins of Environmentalism in the United States 1948 1970 Environmental History 3 1 53 doi 10 2307 3985426 ISSN 1084 5453 JSTOR 3985426 S2CID 144342816 The UAW steps up for Earth Day www nelsonearthday net Retrieved April 28 2020 a b c Labor and environmentalists have been teaming up since the first Earth Day Grist April 22 2010 Retrieved April 28 2020 Meet Mr Earth Day the Man Who Helped Organize the Annual Observance Time Retrieved April 28 2020 The Rumpus Interview with Earth Day Organizer Denis Hayes The Rumpus net April 22 2009 Retrieved April 28 2020 Environmental Action 1970 Earth Day The Beginning A Guide for Survival Bantam Books pp iv ISBN 0 405 02712 5 a b Brinkley Douglas 2022 Silent spring revolution John F Kennedy Rachel Carson Lyndon Johnson Richard Nixon and the great environmental awakening First ed New York NY pp 402 403 ISBN 978 0 06 321291 6 OCLC 1350156286 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Reuther Walter 1961 Walter P Reuther Selected Papers Macmillan pp 203 205 a b See Michael Parenti The Wonderful Life and Strange Death of Walter Reuther Dirty Truths City Lights Books 1996 page 201 a b United Press Reuther Shot in Detroit Home Auto Union Official Victim of Ambush The San Bernardino Daily Sun San Bernardino California Wednesday April 21 1948 Volume LIV Number 201 p 2 Pietrusza David 1948 Harry Truman s Improbable Victory and the Year That Transformed America Union Square Press 2011 p 153 United Press Unknown Assailant Wounds Reuther Auto Union Head Labor Leader Hit in Arm Shoulder by Shotgun Blast Through Kitchen Window The San Bernardino Daily Sun San Bernardino California April 21 1948 Volume LIV Number 201 p 1 Frank Cormier 1970 Reuther Eaton William J Englewood Cliffs N J Prentice Hall pp 155 156 ISBN 9780137793143 OCLC 91809 Reuther Victor G 1978 The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW a memoir UAW special ed Boston Houghton Mifflin p 281 ISBN 9780395275153 OCLC 26295254 Reuther Victor G 1978 The brothers Reuther and the story of the UAW a memoir UAW special ed Boston Houghton Mifflin pp 484 486 ISBN 9780395275153 OCLC 26295254 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 10 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 11 13 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Saxon Wolfgang June 5 2004 Victor Reuther Influential Labor Leader Dies at 92 The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 18 2018 Brigid O Farrell 2010 She was one of us Eleanor Roosevelt and the American worker Ithaca N Y ILR Press p 144 ISBN 9780801448805 OCLC 732957167 Reuther Dies in Jet Crash With Wife and 4 Others The New York Times May 11 1970 Retrieved October 17 2014 planecrashinfo com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents 1970s Tie Faulty Altimeter to Reuther s Death Chicago Tribune February 19 1971 Retrieved July 11 2016 a b Parenti Michael June 1996 Dirty Truths City Lights Books pp 206 ISBN 978 0 87286 317 0 Walter Reuther was labor legend on a global scale Detroit News Retrieved May 17 2020 Walter Reuther was labor legend on a global scale Detroit News Retrieved May 17 2020 Reuther Elisabeth Dickmeyer 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 350 51 355 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 Dickmeyer Reuther Elisabeth 2004 Putting the World Together My Father Walter Reuther the Liberal Warrior Living Force pp 36 37 ISBN 9780975379219 Dickmeyer Reuther Elisabeth 2004 Putting the World Together My Father Walter Reuther the Liberal Warrior Living Force Publishing pp 141 ISBN 9780975379219 Dickmeyer Reuther Elisabeth 2004 Putting the World Together My Father Walter Reuther the Liberal Warrior Living Force pp 340 ISBN 9780975379219 Dickmeyer Reuther Elisabeth 2004 Putting the World Together My Father Walter Reuther the Liberal Warrior Living Force Publishing pp 115 117 ISBN 9780975379219 Reuther Victor G 1978 The Brothers Reuther and the Story of the UAW Houghton Mifflin p 127 ISBN 9780395275153 Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the World Together My Father Walter Reuther the Liberal Warrior Living Force pp 195 ISBN 9780975379219 My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt December 19 1955 www2 gwu edu Retrieved May 16 2020 Eugene V Debs Award Eugene V Debs Foundation Website Eugene V Debs Foundation September 18 2017 President of United Automobile Workers Union Gets Histadrut Award Jewish Telegraphic Agency www jta org June 18 1958 Retrieved March 5 2018 Weizmann Award in the Sciences and Humanities News Features and Discoveries from the Weizmann Institute of Science Weizmann Wonder Wander November 1 1999 Retrieved February 28 2018 Scientific Activities Weizmann Professorial Chairs CDC s and Fellowships www weizmann ac il Retrieved February 28 2018 Honorary Degree Recipients June 12 1969 Harvard University Retrieved February 25 2018 Honorary Degrees Awarded 1836 Present PDF University of Michigan Retrieved February 25 2018 Honorary Degree Recipients 1963 Present PDF Oakland University Retrieved February 25 2018 The Lincoln Star from Lincoln Nebraska on June 1 1965 Page 24 Newspapers com Retrieved March 24 2018 Honorary Degree Recipients web uri edu Retrieved February 25 2018 Portrait Search Retrieved March 20 2018 Bonier David February 20 2018 Whip Leading the Progressive Battle During the Rise of the Right p 562 ISBN 9781947951037 Retrieved February 26 2018 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a website ignored help Reuther Dickmeyer Elisabeth 2004 Putting the world together my father Walter Reuther the liberal warrior Lake Orion Mich LivingForce Pub pp 88 ISBN 9780975379219 OCLC 57172289 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Congressional Record House of Representatives Statement by Irving Bluestone PDF U S Government Publishing Office June 29 1970 p 21886 Retrieved March 4 2018 1948 Dreier Peter 2012 The 100 greatest Americans of the 20th century a social justice hall of fame New York Nation Books pp 234 ISBN 9781568586816 OCLC 701015405 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link TIME 100 Persons of The Century Time June 6 1999 ISSN 0040 781X Retrieved February 28 2018 Hall of Honor Inductee Walter P Reuther United States Department of Labor December 9 2015 Retrieved March 20 2018 University Wayne State Civil rights leader Lowery to receive Reuther Award from Wayne State University Newsroom Wayne State University Retrieved March 5 2018 Compa Lance Labor s New Opening to International Human Rights Standards Digital Commons Retrieved March 5 2018 Biography Walter Reuther gt Research Ohio County Public Library Ohio County Public Library Wheeling West Virginia Ohio County WV Wheeling WV History www ohiocountylibrary org Retrieved May 14 2020 University Wayne State November 30 1999 Civil rights leader Lowery to receive Reuther Award from Wayne State University Newsroom Wayne State University Retrieved October 27 2019 Wayne State UAW honor civil rights legend Rep John Lewis Wayne State University February 5 2020 Retrieved February 8 2020 Bibliography EditSecondary sources Edit Barnard John American Vanguard The United Auto Workers during the Reuther Years 1935 1970 Wayne State U Press 2004 607 pp major scholarly history Barnard John Walter Reuther and the rise of the auto workers 1983 short scholarly biography online Bernstein Barton J Walter Reuther and the General Motors Strike of 1945 1946 Michigan History 1965 49 3 pp 260 277 Boyle Kevin The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism 1945 1968 1995 online Brattain Michelle Reuther Walter Philip American National Biography Online Feb 2000 Access March 21 2015 Buffa Dudley W Union power and American democracy the UAW and the Democratic Party 1972 83 1984 online Carew Anthony Walter Reuther Manchester University Press 1993 short scholarly biography online Carew Anthony American Labour s Cold War Abroad From Deep Freeze to Detente 1945 1970 2018 traces Reuther versus Meany on foreign policy Goode Bill Infighting in the UAW The 1946 Election and the Ascendancy of Walter Reuther Greenwood 1994 online also see online review Halpern Martin UAW Politics in the Cold War Era SUNY Press 1988 online Howe Irving The UAW and Walter Reuther 1949 online Kempton Murray The Reuther Brothers in Part of Our Time Some Ruins and Monuments of the Thirties 1955 repr 1998 repr 2004 Kornhauser Arthur et al When Labor Votes A Study of Auto Workers 1956 Lichtenstein Nelson Walter Reuther and the Rise of Labor Liberalism in Labor Leaders in America 1987 280 302 online Lichtenstein Nelson Walter Reuther The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit 1995 a major scholarly biography online Parrish Michael E Citizen Rauh An American Liberal s Life in Law and Politics U of Michigan Press 2010 Chapter 10 Reuther and Randolph pp 121 132 https doi org 10 3998 mpub 1189267 on civil rights work of Joseph L Rauh Jr Reuther and A Philip Randolph Parenti Michael and Peggy Norton The Wonderful Life and Strange Death of Walter Reuther 1996 Steigerwald David Walter Reuther the UAW and the dilemmas of automation Labor History 2010 51 3 pp 429 453 Zieger Robert H The CIO 1935 1955 1995 onlineDocumentaries Edit Reuther Sasha Brothers on the Line Documentary 2012 Zwerin Charlotte Sit Down and Fight Walter Reuther and the Rise of the Auto Workers Union Charlotte Zwerin Films 1993 aired in February 1993 on the PBS series The American Experience Primary sources Edit Christman Henry M ed Walter P Reuther Selected Papers 1961 Reuther Victor The Brothers Reuther and The Story of the UAW A Memoir 1976 The Walter P Reuther Library Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs on the campus of Wayne State University contains numerous collections related to Walter Reuther most notably the UAW President s Office Walter P Reuther Files which reflect all phases of his career as president UAW West Side Local 174 1936 UAW Executive Board member 1936 director UAW General Motors Department 1939 48 UAW vice president 1942 46 UAW president 1946 70 president ClO 1952 55 vice president AFL CIO 1955 67 and president AFL CIO Industrial Union Department 1955 67 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Walter Reuther The Reuther 100 A Web site on the life of Walter P Reuther lesson plans for secondary schools Obituary The New York Times May 11 1970 Walter Reuther Working Class Hero Time magazine NTSB Accident Report Number NTSB AAR 71 3 the plane crash that killed Reuther Trade union officesPreceded byR J Thomas President of the United Auto Workers1946 1970 Succeeded byLeonard WoodcockPreceded byPhilip Murray President of the Congress of Industrial Organizations1952 1955 Succeeded byOffice abolished The merged AFL CIO was led by George Meany Preceded byDepartment founded President of the Industrial Union Department AFL CIO1955 1967 Succeeded byI W AbelPreceded byWilliam F SchnitzlerEmil Rieve AFL CIO delegate to the Trades Union Congress1957 With Joseph D Keenan Succeeded byGeorge McGregor HarrisonJacob Potofsky Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Walter Reuther amp oldid 1170555002, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.