Richard Frankensteen (March 6, 1907 in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

– 1977) was the first president of the "Automotive Industrial Workers Association" which merged into the

United Auto Workers The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) ...

(UAW) He was elected vice-president of the UAW, where he played a major role until he was ousted in 1947. Although never a Communist Party member, he was a leader of the leftwing coalition led by R. J. Thomas and George P. Addes. It opposed to

Walter Reuther Walter Philip Reuther (; September 1, 1907 – May 9, 1970) was an American leader of organized labor and civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history. He ...

, who defeated them in 1947. Frankensteen attended Central High School, named to the all-city and all-state high school football teams and earned All-American honors in his senior year at

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

. Beginning at age 15, he worked summers at the Dodge Brothers' plant for more than six years. After an intended career of teaching and high school football coaching in Ohio was crushed by the Depression, he returned home to Detroit to work full-time with Dodge, and studied law at night at the

University of Detroit The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Roman Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catholic univers ...

. He rose to the bargaining council of the company union at the Dodge plant, and later became leader of the movement that reorganized it into an independent union. He was defeated for mayor of Detroit in 1945. He was aligned with UAW faction that was finally defeated by

. He left union activity and became a corporate consultant. Frankensteen married Grace Callahan and they had three children: Carol Lee Vitale, Marilyn St. Cyr Fekety, and Richard T. Frankensteen, Jr. (Rick).

Sources

* Barnard, John, '' American Vanguard: A History of the United Auto Workers, 1935–1970'' (2004) passim. * Doody, Colleen. ''Detroit's Cold War: The Origins of Postwar Conservatism'' (2017
excerpt
* Fink, Gary M. ''Biographical Dictionary of American Labor Leaders''(Greenwood Press, 1974). p. 112. * Goode, Bill. ''Infighting in the UAW: The 1946 Election and the Ascendancy of Walter Reuther'' (Greenwood, 1994
online
also see
online review
* Halpern, Martin. ''UAW Politics in the Cold War Era'' (SUNY Press, 1988
online
* Kraus, Henry. ''Heroes of Unwritten Story: The UAW, 1934–1939'' (University of Illinois Press, 1993). * Lichtenstein, Nelson. ''Walter Reuther: The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit'' (1995). a major scholarly biography
online
* https://archive.today/20130102143916/http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=119&category=people {{DEFAULTSORT:Frankensteen, Richard 1907 births American trade union leaders University of Dayton alumni University of Detroit Mercy alumni 1977 deaths Dayton Flyers football players Trade unionists from Michigan

See also

Sources