A short history of the UAW

Trapper John has an excellent post over at Daily Kos about the history of the UAW. His basic point is something that I have long suspected: that the UAW is one of the institutions primarily responsible for the creation of the middle class in the mid-20th century. He writes extensively about Walter Reuther, who was president of the UAW for 24 years, until his death in a plane crash in 1970. I know something about Walter Reuther; he was my grandfather's roommate in the 1920's. Gramps was very conservative, and hated unions with a passion. But he always said that the most honest man he ever met was Walter Reuther.