Introducing “The Life and Times of Walter Reuther: An Unfinished Liberal Legacy”

“The Life and Times of Walter Reuther: An Unfinished Liberal Legacy” is a compelling book that takes readers on a journey through the events and social movements that have shaped modern America. Authored by James TenEyck, this book offers a nuanced exploration of Walter

Reuther’s pivotal role in advancing liberal economic and social policies through his work with the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union.

For over thirty years, Walter Reuther and the UAW were at the forefront of voices advocating for policies that raised living standards, extended legal protections, and provided security for marginalized groups in society. Through Reuther’s lens, readers gain insights into a period of labor advances, civil rights struggles, and the complexities of the hot and cold wars, all viewed from a liberal perspective.

The book traces Walter and Victor Reuther’s European journey during Hitler’s rise to power, their experiences at the Gorky auto works factory in Soviet Russia, and their return to America for labor battles in Flint and Dearborn. These experiences laid the groundwork for historic agreements that shaped labor-management relations for decades.

Reuther survived 3 assassination attempts, was a presence on the national stage during 4 post-WW2 administrations and internationally among the Social Democratic leaders in Europe, the Labor Government in Israel. He served as a goodwill ambassador to Nehru’s India after a diplomatic rift and had Frank discussions with Soviet leaders Mikoyan and Khrushchev He was a speaker at the 1963 March on Washington. Event when MLK gave his I Have a Dream speech.

Reuther was known as the Plan Man. His plans included using excess capacity of auto factories for wartime production and for his 1956 plan for a Peace Copts. He was a primary architect of Model Cities and formation of the Dept. of Housing in the Great Society planning.

At the time of his 1970 death in a plane crash, he was approaching age 65 retirement. He was an early environmentalist and an advocate for a national health insurance plan. In the last 2 chapters, TenEyk reflects on these and other liberal initiative through his own eyes and subsequent events.

“The Life and Times of Walter Reuther: An Unfinished Liberal Legacy” is now available at www.amazon.com.

Product details
Publisher : Page Publishing (May 9, 2016)
Language : English
Hardcover : 920 pages
ISBN-10 : 1683482085
ISBN-13 : 978-1683482086

About the Author

James TenEyck’s bio reads much like some lines from his poem about a colonial bowl – “no mark of pedigree. No bearing in itself reveals a higher caste.”

After graduating from Lafayette College with a math degree, he worked several years at IBM Endicott. While at IBM he took courses offered through a Syracuse University extension program and decided to take a leave of absence, which became permanent, and obtain a PhD in physics. Thus began his rather pedestrian career in academia. He later added an MS in Computer Science from WPI and taught for the next 25 years at Marist College until retirement.

Since retirement he has authored the book “The Life and Times of Walter Reuther,” which offers a panoramic view of America in the twentieth century through the life of a man who was central to many of the events, movements, and debates of the time. As they say on Amazon, if you like this poetry book you may also like the style and prose of the Reuther book.

James met his wife, Veronica, when they were grad students in Syracuse and several poems in Footprints reflect events in their life together. He cannot paint a compelling biographical cover to draw you into his book. He hopes once inside the cover you will find the verse and content compelling.

Contact Information

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