Walter Reuther

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

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 considered 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]

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, President John F. Kennedy 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 lifelong 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]

  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". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  4. ^ "Reuther, Walter Philip". The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. June 21, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  5. ^ "Walter P. Reuther". reuther100.wayne.edu. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  6. ^ "Walter Reuther". 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.
  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. ^ Carew, Anthony (1993). Walter Reuther. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 101. ISBN 9780719021886. OCLC 27676666.
  11. ^ "The Stanford Daily 7 April 1964 — The Stanford Daily". stanforddailyarchive.com. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  12. ^ Boyle, Kevin (1995). The UAW and the heyday of American liberalism, 1945–1968. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. pp. 144. ISBN 9780801485381. OCLC 32626436.
  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 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.
  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.
  18. ^ Cormier, Frank (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. ^ "Meet the 1963 March on Washington Organizers | BillMoyers.com". BillMoyers.com. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  21. ^ "Region 8". www.uawregion8.net. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  22. ^ a b "Reuther, Walter Philip". kinginstitute.stanford.edu. June 21, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  23. ^ Reuther Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther: The Liberal Warrior. Living Force. pp. 339. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.
  24. ^ "Walter P. Reuther Library (225427) Civil Rights, Demonstrations, "Meredith March Against Fear," Mississippi, 1966". reuther.wayne.edu. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  25. ^ Reuther Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther: The Liberal Warrior. Lake Orion, Michigan: LivingForce Publishing. pp. 350. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.
  26. ^ Reuther Dickmeyer, Elisabeth (2004). Putting the World Together: My Father Walter Reuther: The Liberal Warrior. Lake Orion, Michigan: LivingForce Publishing. pp. 237. ISBN 9780975379219. OCLC 57172289.
  27. ^ "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. ^ "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. ^ "TIME 100 Persons of The Century". Time. June 6, 1999. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  33. ^ Cite error: The named reference United States Government Printing Office-1996 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).