Walter Reuther, 1937 November 5, 2014 by joel After Walter Reuther became President of the United Auto Workers, he effectively ran the State of Michigan . This photo in the public domain is a labor movement icon. It shows Reuther (fifth from the left), in 1937 early in his career as a union organizer. Reuther is about to be beaten by Ford Motor Company employees (called by the UAW “goons.”) Reuther recalled: “Seven times they raised me off the concrete and slammed me down on it. They pinned my arms . . . and I was punched and kicked and dragged by my feet to the stairway, thrown down the first flight of steps, picked up, slammed down on the platform and kicked down the second flight. “See Wikipedia: Battle of the Overpass.