Walter Philip Reuther (born September 1, 1907; died May 9, 1970) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist who helped grow the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of the most influential labor unions in American history. He believed that labor movements should not only focus on workers but also work to improve social justice and human rights in democratic societies. He used the UAW’s power and influence to support workers’ rights, civil rights, women’s rights, universal health care, public education, affordable housing, environmental protection, profit-sharing for employees, and efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons worldwide. He supported a system similar to Sweden’s, where the government and businesses work together to create fairness, and he believed in changing society through peaceful actions. He helped start the AFL-CIO in 1955 with George Meany. He survived two attempts on his life, including one where a 12-gauge shotgun was fired through his kitchen window at his home. He was the fourth and longest-serving president of the UAW, leading the union from 1946 until his death in 1970.

As the leader of five million autoworkers, including retirees and their families, Reuther had a strong influence within the Democratic Party. After the Bay of Pigs in 1961, President John F. Kennedy sent Reuther to Cuba to negotiate a prisoner exchange with Fidel Castro. He played a key role in creating the Peace Corps and supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Medicare and Medicaid, and the Fair Housing Act. He met with President Lyndon B. Johnson weekly in 1964 and 1965 at the White House to discuss policies for the Great Society and War on Poverty. The Republican Party was cautious about Reuther, and during the 1960 election, presidential candidate Richard Nixon said, “I can think of nothing so harmful to this nation than for any President to owe his election to, and therefore be a captive of, a political boss like Walter Reuther.” Conservative politician Barry Goldwater said Reuther “was more dangerous to our country than Sputnik or anything Soviet Russia might do.”

Reuther was a strong supporter of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. He marched with King in Detroit, Selma, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Jackson. When King and others, including children, were jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, and King wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, Reuther arranged $160,000 to help release the protestors. He also helped organize and fund the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, speaking from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial shortly before King delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech on the National Mall. He supported Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, asking Robert F. Kennedy to visit and support Chavez. He served on the board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and was one of the founders of Americans for Democratic Action. A lifelong environmentalist, Reuther helped fund and organize the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. He died weeks later in a plane accident at age 62. Denis Hayes, the principal national organizer of the first Earth Day, said, “Without the UAW, the first Earth Day would have likely failed.”

Reuther was named one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by Time Magazine. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 by President Bill Clinton, who said 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.”

Early life, education, and beliefs

Walter Reuther was born on September 1, 1907, in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Valentine and Anna (née Stocker) Reuther, who were German-Americans. His father, Valentine, worked as a horse-drawn beer wagon driver and was a member of a group that fought for workers’ rights. Valentine moved to the United States from Germany when he was 11 years old. Walter was one of five children, and his siblings, from oldest to youngest, were Ted, Walter, Roy, Victor, and Christine. Every Sunday, Valentine helped his sons practice speaking about important social issues, such as unfair news reporting, child labor, women’s right to vote, and civil rights. Walter later said, “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.” As a child, Walter and his brother Victor visited a jail with their father to meet Eugene V. Debs, who was in jail for refusing to fight in World War I.

The Reuthers lived simply and avoided wasting resources. To save money, Walter’s mother, Anna, made underwear for her sons using old flour sacks. When Valentine lost sight in one eye due to an accident, Walter began doing small jobs to help support the family at age nine. He left high school during his junior year and worked in a local factory to help his family. He learned about unsafe working conditions when a heavy machine fell and injured his big toe.

From an early age, the Reuther boys were taught about racism. One day, they saw local children throwing rocks at Black people traveling through their town on trains. Their father warned them never to treat others unfairly. The Reuther boys remembered this lesson and spent their lives fighting for fairness and equal rights for all people.

In 1927, at age 19, Walter moved to Detroit and earned a job as an expert tool and die maker at Ford Motor Company, a position that usually required 25 years of experience. His boss was surprised that Walter could read technical drawings and operate complex machines, making him one of the highest-paid workers in the factory. While working at Ford, Walter completed high school and enrolled at Detroit City College, now known as Wayne State University. In 1932, Walter was fired for organizing a rally for Norman Thomas, a candidate for president from the Socialist Party of America. His employment record at Ford said he quit, but Walter claimed he was fired for his growing involvement in socialist activities. Walter and his brother Victor decided to take a trip to Europe, which they had discussed since childhood.

After Henry Ford stopped producing the Model T in 1927, he sold the machines to the Soviet Union. Workers who knew how to use the equipment were needed, and Walter and Victor were promised jobs teaching Soviet workers how to operate the machines. With this opportunity, the brothers traveled across Europe by bicycle, then worked in an auto plant in Gorky, Soviet Union, where the factories were extremely cold, often below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Walter often wrote letters to the Moscow Daily News criticizing the problems with how the Soviet government ran the factories.

After nearly two years in the Soviet Union, the brothers traveled through Turkey, Iran, British India, and China. They crossed the East China Sea and completed their trip by bicycling through Japan. Finally, after being away from home for almost three years, they traveled back to the United States on a ship called the SS President Harding, arriving in San Francisco before returning to Detroit, where their brother Roy was already helping organize workers in the auto industry. Walter later said 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.”

Before joining the Democratic Party, Walter was a member of the Socialist Party of America. Although Walter always denied it, some people, including J. Edgar Hoover, suspected he may have been a member of the Communist Party. In 1938, Walter said, “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.” However, some sources suggest he may have paid dues to the Communist Party for a short time in 1935–36 and attended a Communist Party meeting in February 1939. Walter worked with the Communists in the mid-1930s during a time when the Communist Party and some Socialists agreed on labor issues. His connections were with Socialists who opposed Stalin. Walter remained active in the Socialist Party and tried to be elected to the Detroit City Council in 1937 but failed because the AFL and Black people opposed his ticket. Historian Martin Glaberman found proof of Walter’s brief membership in the Communist Party in the papers of a UAW activist named Nat Ganley. Impressed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s efforts to reduce inequality, Walter eventually joined the Democratic Party.

United Automobile Workers (UAW)

After returning from Europe to Detroit, Walter Reuther traveled by hitchhiking to South Bend, Indiana, to attend the second annual convention as a representative for the new United Auto Workers (UAW). When he returned, he became president of a newly formed local union, Local 174, on Detroit’s west side. With his brother Victor, he led the first successful strike against Kelsey Hayes, a company that made parts for Ford Motor Company. Workers complained that the assembly line was moving too fast, causing injuries and even deaths. In December 1936, workers surprised management by staging a strike and sitting in the plant until their demands were met.

When managers tried to remove equipment from the plant, thousands of supporters blocked the entrances. Ford needed the parts and, after 10 days, agreed to negotiate. This marked the first major UAW victory in auto factories. Reuther insisted that women be paid the same as men, earning 75 cents an hour. The assembly line speed was reduced, and workers could not be fired for joining the union. Local 174’s membership grew from 200 to 35,000 in one year.

In 1936, General Motors (GM), the world’s largest company, had many plants in Flint, Michigan, 60 miles north of Detroit. Reuther’s brother, Roy, was already in Flint planning strategies to organize workers to demand union recognition. The strike began on December 31, 1936, when workers sat in GM plants and refused to leave. GM responded by turning off the heat inside the factory.

In support of the Flint workers, Reuther led a strike at Detroit’s Fleetwood Plant, where car bodies were made for GM’s Cadillac. Other strikes were also organized in Oakland, California; Pontiac, Michigan; and St. Louis, Missouri. Workers across the country joined in solidarity with the Flint strikers.

In Flint, police tried to force workers out of the plant during the "Battle of Bulls Run." Over 100 officers attacked picketers with tear gas and bullets, injuring 13 workers. Victor Reuther operated a sound car, encouraging workers to resist by throwing door hinges from the roof and using fire hoses on police during a cold winter night. Victor and Genora Johnson, a leader of the Women’s Brigade, took turns in the sound car, urging workers to stay firm.

Michigan Governor Frank Murphy sent 2,000 National Guard members to Flint not to remove workers but to maintain peace. After a key action, workers took control of the only plant in the country that made Chevrolet engines. After 44 days, GM agreed to recognize the workers’ right to unionize and signed the first collective bargaining agreement with the UAW.

The Flint sit-down strike is called the "Lexington and Valley Forge of American industrial unionism." Roy Reuther later said, "When workers left the plants, I never saw a night like that. It felt like a country gaining independence, with families reunited and joy filling the air."

In 1950, Reuther negotiated the "Treaty of Detroit," a five-year labor agreement with General Motors’ CEO, Charlie Wilson. The deal promised better wages, healthcare, and pensions in exchange for a promise not to strike. At the time, Fortune Magazine said the treaty made workers "middle-class members of a middle-class society."

Next, Chrysler was targeted by the young UAW. In March 1937, 60,000 Chrysler workers went on strike. When police attacked picketers, over 150,000 people gathered in Detroit’s Cadillac Square to protest. After four weeks, Chrysler agreed to its first collective bargaining agreement with the UAW.

Henry Ford had refused to allow unionization. His main enforcer, Harry Bennett, led a 3,000-person security force that threatened, beat, and fired workers who supported unions. In 1932, workers protested Ford’s fast assembly lines at the River Rouge Complex but were attacked by Bennett’s men, resulting in five deaths and hundreds of injuries.

In April 1937, Reuther and three UAW leaders distributed leaflets titled "Unionism, not Fordism" at the Ford River Rouge Complex. As they approached a bridge, they were attacked by Bennett’s men and severely beaten. Reuther was knocked to the ground, kicked, and thrown down stairs. The attack was captured in photos and became national news as the "Battle of the Overpass."

The violence against union leaders turned public opinion against Ford. Time Magazine published the photos, and Ford stopped advertising in Time, Life, and Fortune. It took four more years, but in 1941, Henry Ford signed his first agreement with the UAW. Later, Ford told Reuther, "You’ve been fighting General Motors and Wall Street. Now you’re on our side, and we can fight them together."

In the 1950s, Reuther and Henry Ford II, CEO of Ford, visited a modern engine plant in Cleveland. Ford pointed to automated machines and asked, "Walter, how will you get these robots to pay union dues?" Reuther replied, "Henry, how will you get them to buy your cars?"

In 1940, during World War II, the U.S. needed to produce more fighter planes to help Allied forces. Production was too slow, so Reuther proposed using the auto industry’s unused capacity to create a large plane production unit.

Ideas, activism, and political stances

In 1950, Walter Reuther wrote an article called "A Proposal for a Total Peace Offensive." He suggested the United States create a group of young people who would travel worldwide to help others and improve communities. During the 1950s, he gave speeches about this idea.

In August 1960, after the Democratic National Convention, Walter Reuther visited President-elect John F. Kennedy at his home in Hyannisport. They talked about Kennedy's plans for his future government. Reuther convinced Kennedy to create a government group that would later become the Peace Corps. Earlier that summer, the United Auto Workers (UAW) had made a plan that included sending young people to help in developing countries. Because of Reuther's efforts, Kennedy announced the idea during a speech at the University of Michigan on October 14, 1960.

Walter Reuther supported the Civil Rights Movement. He marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Jackson. When King and others were jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, and King wrote his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Reuther paid $160,000 to help release the protestors. He also helped organize and fund the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. He spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial shortly before King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. Reuther served on the board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Under his leadership, the UAW donated $75,000 in 1954 to support the NAACP’s work before the Supreme Court in the case Brown v. Board of Education. In 1957, Reuther asked union members to support the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, D.C. On the 25th anniversary of the UAW, King wrote a letter to Reuther, praising his work.

In the early 1930s, as a student at Wayne State University, Reuther challenged racism. When a hotel refused to let Black students use its swimming pool, he organized a protest. The hotel closed its pool to all students. In 2013, President Barack Obama said,

The Walk to Freedom was a march in Detroit on June 23, 1963. It protested racism, segregation, and unfair treatment of African Americans in the North and South. It was a practice for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which happened two months later. About 125,000 people attended, making it the largest civil rights demonstration in U.S. history at that time. Reuther helped organize the event and gave the UAW’s headquarters, Solidarity House, as a meeting place for Martin Luther King Jr. Reuther marched down Woodward Avenue and spoke at Cobo Hall, where King first shared his "I Have a Dream" speech.

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place on August 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C. It aimed to support the civil and economic rights of African Americans. Reuther helped organize the march with other leaders. He persuaded organizers to move the event to the Lincoln Memorial, believing it would be more respectful to Congress. He paid for a sound system so everyone could hear the speakers. The UAW provided transportation for 5,000 people and signs for marchers. Signs included messages like "Equal Rights and Jobs NOW" and "UAW Supports Freedom March."

Reuther was the most prominent white speaker at the march. He urged Americans to pressure politicians to fix racial injustices. He said,

According to Irving Bluestone, who was near the platform, he heard two Black women talk. One asked, "Who is that white man?" The other replied, "Don’t you know him? That’s the white Martin Luther King."

After the march, civil rights leaders met with President Kennedy to discuss laws. Reuther told Kennedy, "You can’t escape the problem. Either solve it with reason or face riots." He added, "The civil war will not be fought at Gettysburg. It will be fought in your backyard, in your plant, where your kids are growing up."

On March 9, 1965, two days after Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, Reuther sent a telegram to President Johnson. It read in part:

After the death of James Reeb,

Assassination attempts

In April 1938, two men wearing masks tried to take Walter Reuther away from a party he was hosting. One guest managed to run away and tell the police, which led to the men being caught. During the trial, the defense claimed that Reuther had planned the event to gain attention. However, the connection between the attackers and Harry Bennett, a person who opposed the UAW, was not shared with the jury.

On April 20, 1948, Walter Reuther survived an attack when a double-barrel shotgun fired through his kitchen window while he was eating a late-night snack. The shot happened at 9:48 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. As the gun fired, Reuther turned toward his wife and was hit in his right arm instead of his chest or heart. The attack broke his right arm into 150 pieces of bone. Another bullet went through his back and out of his stomach. The attacker escaped in a bright red four-door Ford sedan, according to police. Reuther did not lose consciousness and yelled at his attacker while being treated by his neighbor, who was a doctor. He said, “Those dirty sons of bitches! They have to shoot a man in the back. They won’t come out in the open and fight.” Doctors tried to save his life, but he later became sick with malaria and hepatitis from blood transfusions. After months of treatment, he regained some use of his right arm but had to learn to write and shake hands with his left hand for the rest of his life. When Attorney General Tom Clark asked J. Edgar Hoover to investigate the shooting, Hoover refused, saying, “I’m not going to send in the FBI every time some nigger woman gets raped.” The attack was never solved.

Thirteen months after the attack, Walter Reuther’s brother, Victor, was nearly killed in a similar shooting. A double-barrel shotgun fired through Victor’s living room window, hitting him in the face, throat, and chest. His right eye was destroyed and had to be removed. 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.’” This shooting was also never solved.

After both attacks, 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.”

Death

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 died when their chartered Learjet 23 crashed in flames at 9:33 p.m. Eastern Time. The plane, flying from Detroit in rain and fog, was on its final approach to Pellston Regional Airport in Pellston, Michigan, near the UAW’s recreational and educational facility in Black Lake, Michigan. The National Transportation Safety Board found that the plane’s altimeter was missing parts, some incorrect parts were installed, and one part was placed upside down. This led some people to suggest that Reuther might have been murdered. Earlier, Reuther had survived two attempted assassinations and a similar near-crash in a small plane in 1969.

Journalist Michael Parenti wrote, “Reuther’s death seems connected to a reduction in leadership that included the deaths of four national figures: President John Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Senator Robert Kennedy.”

Reuther’s funeral was held on May 15, 1970, at Ford Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan. About 3,400 people attended. Coretta Scott King gave a speech during the ceremony.

Personal life

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

Walter lived a simple life. He did not smoke or drink alcohol because he believed these habits reduced a person’s energy. For lunch, he always ate the same thing: a sandwich and a cup of tea. He was an early riser. Author William Manchester described Walter as a “true ascetic,” meaning someone who lived very simply.

To relax, Walter enjoyed hiking, fishing, and playing tennis. He liked listening to German songs, classical music, spirituals, and songs about unions. Though some people thought he was strict and had no sense of humor, his friend Irving Bluestone said, “That wasn’t true at all. He was easy to work with and had a good sense of humor. He could laugh at himself. Sometimes, when he was excited, he even used strong language, just like others.”

Walter loved spending time outdoors. He built a fish ladder to help trout swim under their bridge and planted a Japanese garden for May to enjoy from their bedroom window. At their home on Paint Creek, outside Rochester, Michigan, he and his daughter Lisa created an arboretum with over 50 types of trees. He was skilled at woodworking and made most of the furniture for their home. After an assassination attempt in 1948, which broke his arm into 150 pieces, he recovered by squeezing a rubber ball and rebuilding their home from a small cottage. He said, “I got a good house and a good hand, all for the same money.”

May was Walter’s advisor and close partner during his public life. She was a teacher and helped organize a teachers’ union. Early in her career, she earned $60 a week, most of which she gave to support organizing auto workers for the UAW. Later, she became Walter’s full-time secretary, earning $15 a week. She worked with charities and programs to help the community. May marched with Walter during civil rights protests in Selma and other places. She hosted Eleanor Roosevelt at their home and was president of the PTA at their daughter’s school. After Walter’s 1948 assassination attempt, May focused on giving their daughters a normal life, though the family had bodyguards and dogs to keep them safe for the rest of their lives.

Honors and awards

• In 1955, the National Religion and Labor Foundation gave Reuther a Social Justice Award.
• In 1968, Reuther received the Eugene V. Debs Award for his work in organizing workers.
• In 1958, the National Committee for Israel Labor presented Reuther with the Histadrut Humanitarian Award.
• In 1968, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel gave Reuther the Weizmann Award in the Sciences and Humanities. The institute also created the Walter P. Reuther Chair of Research in the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy.
• Reuther earned honorary degrees from several institutions, including Harvard University, University of Michigan, Oakland University, Tuskegee University, and University of Rhode Island.
• The Smithsonian Institute's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., has three portraits and one sculpture of Reuther in its collection.
• Reuther was featured on the covers of Time Magazine twice, Newsweek three times, Der Spiegel once, The New York Times Magazine once, and Life magazine once.

Legacy

Walter Reuther was named one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by Time Magazine. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 after he died, given by President Bill Clinton. At the ceremony, Clinton said, "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." Murray Kempton, a journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize, wrote, "Walter Reuther is the only man I have ever met who could reminisce about the future." A. H. Raskin, a labor editor for 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." George Romney, the 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."

• Walter Reuther appears on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
• He was inducted into the Department of Labor's Hall of Honor.
• In 1999, Wayne State University created the Walter P. Reuther Humanitarian Award to honor individuals who share Reuther's values.
• In 2002, Americans for Democratic Action created the Reuther-Chavez Award to recognize work that supports workers' rights, especially the right to join unions and negotiate together.
• The Walter P. Reuther Memorial, featuring a seven-foot bronze statue of Reuther, was dedicated on October 12, 2006, in Wheeling, West Virginia. The statue was made by sculptor Alan Cottrill. The statue's base includes words Reuther wrote: “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.”
• Reuther's home near Rochester, Michigan, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

In 1999, Wayne State University, along with the UAW and Reuther's family, created the Walter P. Reuther Humanitarian Award to honor people who reflect Reuther's spirit and values. Past winners 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.

• The Walter P. Reuther Library, the largest labor archives in North America, is located at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
• Walter P. Reuther Freeway (I-696) connects the eastern and western suburbs of Detroit.
• The Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center is in Black Lake, Michigan.
• Walter Reuther Psychiatric Hospital is in Westland, Michigan.
• Reuther Middle School is in Rochester Hills, Michigan.
• Walter Reuther Central High School is in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
• Reuther Way is a street in Janesville, Wisconsin, connecting a GM plant to Interstate 90/39.
• The Walter Reuther Center for youngsters is in Holon, Israel.

• Walter Reuther is portrayed in Robert Schenkkan's Broadway play All the Way, which won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Play. The play was later adapted into a television drama by HBO in 2016, with Reuther played by Spencer Garrett.
• Greg Pliska and Charley Morey are creating a musical about Reuther's life titled A Most Dangerous Man. The release date is not yet known.
• In Thomas Pynchon's novel V., Reuther is mentioned 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 records related to Walter P. Reuther are mainly kept at the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs. A significant part of the collection is the UAW President's Office: Walter P. Reuther Records, which shows his work as president of the UAW. The collection includes his personal letters, writings, photographs, official memos, and other types of documents. Researchers who want to access these materials should contact the Reuther Library for help. A guide to the records is available here.