Walter Reuther
| Walter Reuther | |
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| Birthday | |
| Birthplace | Wheeling, West Virginia |
| Died | |
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Reuther, Walter
Born Sept. 1, 1907, in Wheeling, W. Va.; died May 9, 1970, near Pellston, Mich. American trade union leader.
From 1942 to 1946, Reuther was vice-president of the automobile workers’ union. He became the union’s president in 1946. From 1952 to 1955 he was president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and headed its right wing. He was a leader of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) from 1955 to 1968. An advocate of class cooperation, Reuther repeatedly opposed progressive trade unions and the participation of the Communist Party of the USA in trade union activities. Late in life, he tried to dissociate himself from the overtly reactionary course of the AFL-CIO leadership.