Walter Reuther

**Walter Philip Reuther** (1 September, 1907 - 3 August, 1981) was an American politician, trade unionist, and civil rights activist who served as the 3rd President of the Socialist Commonwealth of America from 1957 to 1965. Reuther became a member of the Combined Syndicates of America at a young age, and would later serve as a soldier in the Second American Civil War alongside his brothers.

Before the war, Reuther had worked for several automobile manfucaturers throughout the Midwest. Reuther became a member of the United Automobile Workers union in 1935, and became the official representative for the Local 174 UAW Branch located on Detroit's west side. In late 1936, Reuther organized the Flint sit-down strike, which was intended to get General Motors to recognize the demands of the newly formed UAW. This sit-down strike was interrupted by the onset of the Second American Civil War, to which Reuther immediately signed up to fight on the front lines. As a soldier, Reuther fought in the Battle of Atlanta, and received accomodation from his superiors for his consistant bravery in battle. He was injured in a battle in Macon, Georgia and was spent two months in a field hospital. Upon the war's end, Reuther returned to Michigan. He initially declined to run for a seat in the Worker's Congress, preferring instead to serve his community.

In 1946, Reuther was elected President of the UAW, and began pushing for the mass production of cars in order to stimulate the fledgling Commonwealth economy. Additionally, in a controversial move, Reuther made a point of expelling several totalist and vanguardist members from the UAW, declaring that "Tyrants have no place in our movement." Due to his success as president, Reuther was tapped by General Secretary David Dubinsky to become the Secretary of Industry and Labor. In this position, Reuther was partially responsible for helping implement President Upton Sinclair's workplace and market reforms. Reuther later became the Federalist factions' nominee for president, and defeated Unionist James P. Cannon in 1956.

Reuther's tenure saw the appointment of Asa Phillip Randolph as General Secretary, the first African American to be appointed to that office. With Randolph's help, Reuther managed to increase the access of affordable housing as well as further improve infastructure reduce the amount of nuclear weapons in the Commonwealth. His second term also saw a significant degrading of relations with the United States and Canada, culiminating in the Casper Border Crisis of 1961. After the petioning of several southern members of the Worker's Congress, Reuther dimissed Randolph as General Secretary, and appointed Lyndon B. Johnson as his successor. A somewhat controversial decison due to Johnson's southern heritage and allegiance to the U.S. Army in the civil war, Reuther would ultimately defend his decision to sack Randolph. In 1964, Reuther was succeeded as president by his younger brother Roy. In his later years, he would advocate for worldwide nuclear nonproliferation and environmental stewardship.

Historians rank Reuther high among presidents of the Commonwealth, with many having noted the economic growth and revitilization that occurred during his tenure. He is regarded as one of the most imporant people of the 20th century.

## Early life and education

Reuther was born on September 1, 1907, in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Anna (née Stocker) and Valentine Reuther, who were German-Americans. His father Valentine was a horse-drawn beer wagon driver and Socialist union organizer who at age 11 had emigrated from Germany. 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. 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." As a child, he and Victor accompanied their father on a visit to meet Eugene V. Debs, which had a profound effect on young Walter's life.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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.