YOUSUF KARSH Walter Reuther pictured before the Government Operations Subcommittee of Senate on December 9, 1966

Monday, Dec. 7, 1998
Men with queazy stomachs had no place one afternoon last week on the overpass at the No. 4 gate of Henry Ford's great River Rouge plant." So began TIME's account of the Battle of the Overpass, the confrontation that made May 26, 1937, a red-letter day in labor history and brought to national attention a young United Auto Workers official named Walter P. Reuther.

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That morning Reuther and his colleagues suspected the day's events could escalate into something historic as they prepared to hand out organizing leaflets (slogan: "Unionism, Not Fordism") to the plant's 9,000 workers. Reuther had put on his Sunday suit, complete with vest, gold watch and chain. He had invited newspapermen, priests and local officials to be witnesses. When Reuther and three other officials arrived at the gate, Ford company police charged at them and delivered a brutal, prolonged beating. Pictures of the battered victims were published across the U.S., a huge P.R. victory that would slowly but surely lead, several years later, to U.A.W. organization at the plant.

The pictures, ironically, capture the wrong image of Walter Reuther. While he arrived on the national scene as a scuffler with blood on his face, he would evolve into one of labor's most dynamic and innovative leaders, as well as a humanitarian whose impact ranged well beyond his field. His achievements were guided by his oft expressed philosophy of human endeavor: "There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well." Reuther believed it wholeheartedly and, as they say, walked the walk. He was nurtured to a devoted commitment to unionism. His father, a brewery-wagon driver and union leader in Wheeling, W.Va., had the family regularly discuss the role of unions, as well as social and economic issues. Like thousands of others who lived in poor regions such as West Virginia, Walter and two of his brothers, Roy and Victor, migrated to the Detroit area to find jobs in the auto industry. Not surprisingly, they became actively involved in the budding United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers Union.

Reuther was 29 in 1936, when he became president of Local 174. It was a tumultuous period in labor history, when the U.A.W. literally fought for survival. Reuther became one of the union's generals, directing a series of sit-down strikes and other guerrilla tactics to try to organize auto plants. He soon gained national prominence and even entry into President Roosevelt's White House. He and his wife May also became great friends of Eleanor Roosevelt's. It's not difficult to see why he was welcome. In 1940, a year before Pearl Harbor, he proposed converting available capacity in auto plants to military production. Echoing F.D.R.'s "Arsenal of Democracy" stance, he urged that the industry turn out "500 planes a day." His plan was harshly criticized by the corporations, which were unwilling to give up any part of their profitable business. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the rapid conversion to military production validated Reuther's vision.

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