Roy Louis Reuther was born on August 29, 1909, and died on January 10, 1968. He was an American worker who helped organize other workers. He was one of the leaders of the important Flint sit-down strike, which led to the creation of the United Auto Workers (UAW). With his brothers Walter and Victor, he helped create the UAW, which became the strongest industrial union in the United States. Later, as the political director for the UAW, he led efforts to help more people vote. He also worked hard to support the civil rights movement.
Early life and education
Roy Reuther was born on August 29, 1909, in Wheeling, West Virginia. He was the third of four sons of Valentine and Anna (Stocker) Reuther. His father, Valentine, was president of the Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly and a strong believer in socialism. He taught his sons to respect the labor movement and socialism.
While in high school, Reuther began training with an electrical company and joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. After losing his job in Wheeling, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1932 with his brothers Walter and Victor. There, he studied labor education at the City College of Detroit (now Wayne State University). He also worked as an organizer for the Socialist Party and became the Secretary for the Detroit branch. While helping workers on strike at the Briggs Corporation, he was hurt when police attacked the picket line.
From 1933 to 1934, Reuther studied at Brookwood Labor College in Katonah, New York, a school for people who worked to improve workers' rights. Later, he taught at the same school.
In 1934, Reuther began working as an instructor for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), starting in Detroit and later moving to Flint, Michigan. While in Flint, he organized a government investigation into the very poor working conditions in auto factories. Because of this, General Motors (GM) forced him to leave his teaching job.
Flint Sit-down Strike
Reuther was hired to work at the Chevrolet Gear and Axle plant in Detroit and joined the newly formed United Auto Workers (UAW). Because he knew many workers in Flint, Michigan, he was chosen in October 1936 to help lead the UAW’s effort to organize workers in Flint. In this role, he helped guide the 44-day Flint sit-down strike, during which workers forced General Motors to recognize the UAW, making the UAW a major industrial union. During the strike, Reuther discovered a company spy, was attacked by company managers, and led a group to a police station to demand the release of jailed coworkers. He also helped plan and carry out a bold strategy to take control of the Chevy 4 engine plant, which ended the deadlock in the strike and helped the workers achieve their goals.
Growth of the UAW
After the Flint sit-down strike ended, General Motors continued to try to stop the union by firing union members and increasing work speeds. Between February and June 1937, there were 120 small strikes in Flint. Reuther often helped settle these strikes for the company. As workers saw how the union protected them, membership in Flint Local 156 grew rapidly to 40,000, making it the largest local in the United Auto Workers (UAW). By August 1937, the UAW had 400,000 members nationwide.
At the UAW’s 1937 convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Reuther ran for a seat on the UAW’s executive board. He won the election at first. However, disagreements within the union caused problems. The UAW’s president, Homer Martin, had the credentials committee remove 8 delegates from Flint, which changed the election result in favor of Reuther’s opponent.
In early 1938, Reuther ran for president of Flint Local 156. Many of his supporters had lost their jobs during a recession that year. After Homer Martin campaigned against him, Reuther lost the election.
In 1939, Reuther became an assistant regional director in Pontiac, Michigan, where there were four General Motors plants. When his brother Walter, who led the UAW’s GM department, called a strike of skilled tool and die workers, Reuther helped organize the strike. The strike forced General Motors to recognize the UAW as the official representative for workers in 41 of its plants.
During World War II, Reuther left the UAW to work as a labor information specialist for the War Production Board (WPB) in Washington, D.C. He briefly served in the U.S. Army before returning to the WPB. Later, he worked in the Labor Morale Division of the WPB in Los Angeles, where he encouraged workers to stay at their jobs despite difficult conditions in aircraft factories.
In addition to leading the GM Tool and Die Strike, Reuther’s brother Walter became well-known in the union for his role in the Battle of the Overpass, where Ford Motor Company security guards attacked him and other union organizers.
After World War II, Walter led a 113-day strike against General Motors, demanding higher pay to match wartime inflation and refusing to let the company raise car prices. After the strike ended, Walter ran for UAW president. At a loud convention in Atlantic City, Reuther narrowly won the election. However, the next day, his opponents won most seats on the union’s executive board.
In the following year, Reuther and his brothers Walter and Victor worked hard to gain support across the union. They opposed interference by communists who supported their opponents. At the union’s 1947 convention, the Reuther group won most positions on the union’s executive board.
After the 1947 convention, Reuther was named an administrative assistant to the new director of the UAW’s GM Department, Vice President John Livingston.
In April 1948, while eating dinner at home, Reuther’s brother Walter was shot in the right arm with a shotgun. The next month, his brother Victor was also shot in the face and right shoulder. Both survived the attacks.
After Victor was shot, Reuther and his wife faced reporters outside their home. Reporters asked if Reuther would be next. He replied, “I have thought about it. The state police offered to protect me, and I accepted it. But I will not hide. After Walter was shot, Victor and I agreed to continue our work. Whoever did this is against unionism. Whether they are employers, fascists, or communists, it does not matter. This fight cannot be stopped by giving up.”
For the next decade, Reuther lived under strict security measures. His front door had bulletproof glass, and bulletproof metal blinds covered all windows. A trained German shepherd police dog patrolled three sides of his house. For many years, an armed bodyguard accompanied Reuther wherever he went.
The UAW asked the FBI to investigate the shootings, but J. Edgar Hoover refused. In January 1954, a Detroit prosecutor got a confession from Donald Ritchie, who said he shot Walter at the request of a gangster named Santos “the Shark” Perrone, a Sicilian mobster who feared the UAW would interfere with his gambling operations and scrap metal contracts. Ritchie later fled to Canada and denied his confession. No one was ever convicted of the attacks on Reuther’s brothers.
Political activities
In 1949, Reuther was named an administrative assistant to his brother Walter and became the director of the UAW Citizenship Department. In this role, he managed the Union’s political and legislative programs. He worked to create political committees in all UAW Locals and encouraged UAW members to register and vote. He stopped participating in the Socialist Party and focused on forming a partnership between the UAW and the liberal group of the Democratic Party.
In 1960, Reuther helped support Senator John F. Kennedy’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. After the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles, California, he was appointed as Vice Chairman of the National Voter Registration Committee for Kennedy’s campaign. He was responsible for the daily work of the committee and led efforts to register 500,000 new voters, including voters in minority communities. In this role, he worked closely with Bobby Kennedy, who was the campaign manager. These efforts were important in helping Kennedy win the votes of Illinois and Texas, which helped him become president.
In 1962 and 1964, Reuther was chosen by AFL-CIO president George Meany to lead voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts for the entire labor movement. He continued to work with Attorney General Bobby Kennedy during this time.
In 1963, President Kennedy appointed Reuther to serve on a National Commission on Registration and Voter Participation, which was led by Richard Scammon. The Commission later shared its report with President Lyndon Johnson. The report called for ending literacy tests and the poll tax, which had been used to prevent Black people from voting. It also suggested making voter registration easier by reducing residency requirements and extending registration periods close to election day. It recommended making voting easier by increasing voting hours and offering more absentee ballots.
Throughout the 1960s, Reuther was involved in supporting the civil rights movement. In 1959, while trying to change the filibuster rule to help pass civil rights laws, he had a public disagreement with Robert “Bobby” Baker, who was a top aide to Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson. Reuther said Johnson and Baker were pressuring Democratic Senators to oppose changing the filibuster rule.
Reuther later joined major civil rights marches, including the Walk to Freedom in Detroit, the March on Washington, the voting rights march in Selma, Alabama, and the Walk to Freedom in Jackson, Mississippi. He worked to support the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He was present when President Johnson signed these laws into law. Reuther also attended funerals for civil rights leaders who were killed, including Medgar Evers, James Reeb, and Viola Liuzzo. During the funeral procession for Medgar Evers, some angry white people spit on him and called him a “race traitor.”
Reuther was the first national labor leader to visit Delano, California, to support Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union (UFW). He convinced the UAW to give important financial help to the UFW. Later, Reuther went to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to support farmworkers who were harmed by Texas Rangers. The Supreme Court later ruled in Allee v. Medrano that the Texas Rangers had worked with growers to stop the farmworkers’ strike and ordered them not to interfere with the workers’ civil rights.
In 1969, the UFW built a new headquarters in Delano called The Forty Acres. They named their union hall after Reuther. A plaque on the hall reads, “In memory of our brother Roy Reuther who understood our struggle.”
Personal life
Reuther married Fania Sonkin in June 1944. They met at Brookwood Labor College, where she was also a student. A member of the Young People’s Socialist League (YPSLs), she later helped support the UAW during the Flint sit-down strike and joined the Women’s Emergency Brigade.
Roy and Fania had two sons, David and Alan, born in 1946 and 1949, respectively.
Reuther had a mild heart attack in December 1967. While recovering at home, he experienced chest pain on the morning of January 10, 1968. While being driven to the hospital, he suffered a severe heart attack and died. He was 58 years old.
Reuther’s memorial service was attended by 600 people, including 20 U.S. Senators and members of Congress. Bobby Kennedy also attended and cried during the service. Wade McCree, the first African American Judge on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, gave a speech about Reuther, saying: “Tough-minded honesty, compassionate humanity, unending energy, humble involvement, and great good humor were some of the qualities he showed in his community work. Others will share more details about his contributions.” Reuther’s ashes are buried at the UAW’s education center near Black Lake, Michigan.
Legacy
Roy Reuther’s actions during the Flint sit-down strike helped create the United Auto Workers (UAW). His later work for the UAW helped the union grow into the most important industrial union in the United States. As political director for the UAW, he helped the union become a major force for progressive policies in the United States. He led efforts to increase voter participation. He also worked to pass important civil rights laws in the 1960s and supported the farm workers union.
Roy Reuther’s life and work with the UAW are recorded in several collections at the Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University in Detroit. These collections include personal papers, such as letters and notes, photographs, and administrative files related to his work as political director for the UAW. Researchers can find these collections on the library’s website.