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Reuther Added to West Virginia History Classes
Text & photos Region 8 Webmaster John Davis

The purpose of the memorial is to honor the memory of Walter Reuther, but to also be used as a teaching tool and inspiration for future generations to come. Part of the process of putting this memorial together was to develop a field of study to be incorporated into the study on West Virginia history that all 8th grade students in the state go through.

When the time came to develop the materials for the study, David Javersak, dean of West Liberty State College’s School of Liberal Arts was tapped to provide the curriculum. Dean Javersak graded from West Virginia Southern College in 1967, with Walter Reuther being the commencement speaker. “What impressed me the most at the time was the fact that here was a man in his 60s, at the height of his career, the confidante of the sitting president at the time, Lyndon Baines Johnson, he knew the movers and shakers and he introduces his father and mother,” Dean Javersak told the delegates of the UAW Region 8 Civil Rights Conference on the morning before the dedication. “Reuther was a man that was on the cover of Time Magazine — “not once but twice” — in 1948 and 1955 and in September 1995, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the Clinton administration, named to Time Magazines top 100 people of the 20th century and holds a place on the Wall Street Journal’s “Gallery of the Greatest Business Leaders” along side the captains of industry such as D. Rockefeller, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and Carnegie. This man from Wheeling never forgot where he came from or who he was working for. At this commencement ceremony in 1967 he recognized his parents Valentine and Hannah in the audience.

It’s difficult to take on the Communists, mobsters and a president, but he did it, and he did it well. Here was an extraordinary man who dedicated his life to the ordinary man – because there was where his roots lay. Walter Reuther took on many battles that were unpopular. When he became a staunch advocate for the civil rights movement it wasn’t that popular within the UAW. But, Walter Reuther didn’t choose his battles based on popularity but rather by need. In 1968he stood before the assembly of the UAW and stated that “we will not be made free by neither black power nor white supremacy but rather by human solidarity in the sight of God.” When he was beaten, he didn’t back away, when they tried to kill him, he fought harder and when the pundits of the time tried to discredit him he pushed harder.

Today it is the responsibility of every American to stand firm for American Democracy and to insure the idea and promise that America is stands true for all citizens regardless of race, gender, heritage or social standing.”

Over 450 8th grade students from Ohio County, in which Wheeling is located, attended dedication and learned more about their native son Walter Reuther. At the conclusion of the program the students were treated to lunch and received a short visit with UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. The students left the event, inspired by that great Reuther quote “There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow man. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well.”

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