Biography: Valentine Reuther
Valentine Reuther was a socialist labor leader in Wheeling, and the father of American labor giants, Walter, Victor, and Roy Reuther.
Valentine was born to Rhineland peasants Jacob and Christina Reuther in Edigheim, Rhineland in 1881.
In 1892, the Reuther family immigrated to the United States. Valentine grew up working on his family’s farm, but when he got older, he moved to Wheeling, West Virginia.
At left: Valentine Reuther engagement photograph circa 1903. Courtesy Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.
Upon his arrival in Wheeling in 1899, Valentine’s brother Jacob helped him secure his first job in Benwood, West Virginia, at Riverside Iron Works. It was here that Valentine would learn first-hand the plight of the American laborer. After failed attempts at organizing a labor union, Valentine went to work as a teamster at Schmulbach Brewing Company. This job gave him the opportunity to meet his future wife, Anna Stocker. The two would marry and settle in an apartment on Jacob Street in a neighborhood with many other groups of immigrants. In socializing with fellow German immigrants, Valentine learned of socialist ideology.
Through his membership with the Turnverein (a gymnastics association), Valentine got to know his cousin Philip, who turned out to have an important impact on his life. Through Philip, Valentine was introduced to a plethora of socialist literature which in turn inspired him to start a teamsters union at Schmulbach. This led to Valentine’s subsequent election to the Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly (OVTLA) as a union delegate.and a leader – in memory of his dead union brothers at Homestead – in the opposition to a Carnegie Library being built in Wheeling.
In 1909 Valentine was elected president of the OVTLA. He soon realized that neither the Democratic nor the Republican parties could help the working class, so he began to offer his support to the Socialist Party. He would later make the acquaintance of Eugene V. Debs and worked for his presidential campaigns.
The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 brought about many problems for Valentine both professionally and personally. America’s entry into the conflict hurt the influence of his Socialist party and he ended up dealing with many personal issues as a result. Although vigilante attacks were few and far between in Wheeling, Valentine received threats and had his property vandalized. He was hit the hardest when his friend Eugene V. Debs was arrested and sentenced, in 1918, to ten years in prison for violating the Sedition Act. Valentine even took young Victor and Walter to visit his hero Debs at the Moundsville Penitentiary, where he was briefly transferred. The visit had a profound impact on young Walter.
Valentine’s union work and support for the socialist party had crumbled by the end of the 1920s. However, his political legacy would be carried on by his sons, Walter, Roy, and Victor, who would become highly successful and admired organized labor leaders. Valentine had prepared his sons to debate controversial issues of the day at the family dinner table.
Walter would establish the United Automobile Workers union with Victor working at his side. Victor was an active organizer and risked himself confronting company thugs in the 1936 General Motors strike. He later became head of the education department of the United Automobile Workers union, where Walter was the president. Roy Reuther was an accomplished organizer who helped his brothers build the UAW into a powerful union, beginning with the 1936 Flint Sit-Down Strike and the 1939 Tool and Die Strike, both involving General Motors. He eventually became the political director of the UAW. Like his brother Walter, Roy was heavily involved in the Civil Rights Movement and was a strong supporter of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union.
As his sons became more popular, so did their father, Valentine. People started to realize just how influential Valentine was on the lives of his sons. With the help of Walter, Roy, and Victor, Valentine was able to make an impact in the United States and abroad. He and Anna made trips to West Germany in 1952 and 1961. There he would meet with labor union leaders and members of the German Bundestag. Valentine Reuther continued to be influential in labor union circles both in the United States and abroad until his death in 1967.
He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Wheeling, West Virginia.
At right: Valentine Reuther on his 81st birthday. in 1962. Courtesy Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University.
See also: Labor Unions in Wheeling
Written by Zach Musilli with contributions by Seán Duffy.
Zach is a native of St. Clairsville Ohio. He is a graduate of West Liberty University and the University of Nebraska at Kearney where he received an M.A. in History. During his studies, he focused on military and local history, which led him to travel to the Walter P. Reuther Library in Detroit, Michigan. He is a teacher at Triadelphia Middle School and lives in Moundsville with his wife, child, and dog.
