He came to Detroit as a high-school dropout raised in hardscrabble West Virginia. The career arc that followed -- from diemaker at Henry Ford's Ford Rouge Plant to confidant of American presidents -- marks Walter Reuther as a singular figure in in the U.S. labor movement. His vision of power-sharing and social progressivism drew the template for a blue-collar middle class. Even as technology has shrunk the workforce, and corruption allegations have stained a later generation of leaders, Reuther's place in American history is assured. This week's Detroit History Podcast traces the Reuther saga from his first days at the Rouge to a fateful plane crash near the northern Michigan recreational haven and training facility he envisioned for UAW members.
Season 6, Episode 5- The Last Hanging in Detroit
Season 6, Episode 4- How the DIA Turned From a Private Art Collection Into a World-Renowned Museum
Season 6, Episode 3- Bird, Barry and Miles: The Blue Bird Inn during the 1950s
Season 6, Episode 2- The Polar Bears of World War 1
Season 6, Episode 1- The Sheik and Big Time Wrestling
The 1957 NFL Champion Detroit Lions Revisited
Season 5 Finale- The Development of PCP and Ketamine
Season 5, Episode 9- Fran Harris, The First Female Newscaster in Michigan
Season 5, Episode 8- A Century of Mexicantown
Season 5, Episode 7- The Biography of a Rumor: The "Paul McCartney is Dead" Hoax
Season 5, Episode 6- The Origins of Detroit Style Pizza
Season 5, Episode 5- The Michigan Democratic Social Club Triple Beheading
Season 5, Episode 4- The Native American Origins of Detroit
Season 5, Episode 3- The 1863 Civil War Riot
Season 5, Episode 2- The Ford Hunger March
Season 5, Episode 1- Joe Louis, The Punch of Detroit
Season 4 Finale- Jeff Montgomery, Detroit's Fierce LGBTQ+ Rights Activist
Season 4, Episode 9- When The Cold War Seemed Hot: Nike Missiles Around Metro Detroit, And A Nuclear Warhead On Belle Isle
Season 4, Episode 8- Hammerin' Hank Greenberg, How a Jewish Kid from the Bronx became a Detroit Tiger Great
Season 4, Episode 7- The 1960s and General Motors: Consumerism Hits The Big Three
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