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'''Reuben George Soderstrom''' (March 10, 1888 – December 15, 1970) was an American leader of [[Labor unions in the United States|organized labor]] who served as President of the [[Illinois State Federation of Labor]] (ISFL) and [[Illinois AFL-CIO]] from 1930–1970. A key figure in Chicago and
== Early
[[File:Soderstrom Family Portrait.jpg|left|thumb|The Soderstrom family, 1904. Standing (from left): Paul, Reuben, and Lafe. Seated: John, Olga, and Anna.]]
Reuben Soderstrom was born on March 10, 1888, on a small farm west of [[Waverly, Minnesota]]. He was the second of six children born to John Frederick Soderstrom and Anna Gustafava Erikson, immigrants from [[Småland|Småland, Sweden]], and [[Jämtland|Jämtland, Sweden]], respectively. John, a [[Free church|Free Church]] preacher and cobbler by trade, attempted to become a farmer. He leveraged the family’s assets in 1886 to purchase land, seed and equipment. His efforts met with failure, and within ten years the Soderstrom family was mired in debt.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=http://www.reubengsoderstromfoundation.com/downloads/Olga.pdf|title=Reuben G. Soderstrom|last=Hodgson|first=Olga|publisher=|year=1974|isbn=|___location=Kankakee, IL|pages=3-5}}</ref>
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Soderstrom pursued a career as a union linotypist, apprenticing throughout the Midwest from St. Louis, Missouri to Madison, Wisconsin to Chicago, Illinois. He returned to Streator in 1909, establishing himself professionally and marrying Jeanne Shaw on December 2, 1912. He also assumed full financial responsibility for his mother and sister after his father’s death that same year.<ref name=":0" />
== Political
[[File:Reuben Soderstrom and FDR.jpg|left|thumb|300x300px|Reuben Soderstrom stumping for Vice Presidential Candidate Franklin Roosevelt in Mendota, IL, 1920]]
Soderstrom joined Streator ITU Local 328 and soon became a fixture in the city’s labor movement. In 1910, he was elected to his Local’s Executive Committee, and was nominated as a delegate to the city’s Trades and Labor Council. In 1912, he was elected President of both his Local and the Streator Trades and Labor Council. After retiring from the Presidency in 1920 he became the Labor Council’s Reading Clerk, a position he held until 1936.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.fortygavels.com/|title=Forty Gavels: The Life of Reuben Soderstrom and the Illinois AFL-CIO|last=Soderstrom|first=Carl|last2=Soderstrom|first2=Robert|last3=Stevens|first3=Chris|last4=Burt|first4=Andrew|publisher=CWS Publishing|year=2018|isbn=978-0998257532|volume=1|___location=Peoria IL|pages=105}}</ref>
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[[File:Reuben Soderstrom Portrait.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Reuben Soderstrom, circa 1930]]
=== Miners'
In 1930, the Illinois State Federation of Labor (ISFL) faced a crisis when its largest union, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), broke apart under the heavy-handed leadership of [[John L. Lewis]]. ISFL President John Walker, himself a UMWA member, was forced to resign after he and his Progressive Miners of America (PMA) withdrew from the UMWA and claimed to be the “legitimate” miners’ union. As many as 85% of Illinois UMWA miners sided with Walker, and ISFL membership plummeted to under 200,000.<ref>{{Cite book|title=John L Lewis: A Biography|last=Dubofsky|first=Melvyn|last2=Van Tine|first2=Warren|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=1986|isbn=0-252-01287-9|___location=Urbana IL|pages=116-118}}</ref>
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After the War, Soderstrom advanced labor interests in Illinois at a time when anti-labor sentiment was rising nationwide. He passed pro-labor legislation including affordable housing, increased workmen's compensation and unemployment benefits, as well as the founding of a Labor Institute at the University of Illinois. He also thwarted repeated attempts to pass the model "right to work" legislation that swept through 16 other states. This was accomplished in part through an organized effort to curb strikes within the state and a new political alliance with onetime opponent Governor Green (who was considering running for the Republican Presidential nomination).<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.fortygavels.com|title=Forty Gavels: The Life of Reuben Soderstrom and the Illinois AFL-CIO|last=Soderstrom|first=Carl|last2=Soderstrom|first2=Robert|last3=Stevens|first3=Chris|last4=Burt|first4=Andrew|publisher=CWS Publishing|year=2018|isbn=978-0998257532|volume=2|___location=Peoria, IL|pages=291, 310, 24, 322}}</ref>
=== AFL-CIO
Soderstrom’s influence continued to expand in the post-war era. As a direct result of his efforts, Illinois was one of the only states not to be consumed by the wave of anti-labor legislation that shook the country in the late 1940s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Green Remains GOP Darkhorse|last=|first=|date=October 17, 1947|work=The Edwardsville Intelligencer|access-date=}}</ref> Nationally, he exerted influence as Secretary of the AFL’s powerful Resolutions Committee. He gained the personal confidence of national AFL President [[William Green (U.S. labor leader)|William Green]], who repeatedly dispatched Reuben as his personal representative to resolve internal disputes across the country and represent the AFL abroad.<ref>Soderstrom, Reuben, and George Lawson. “Report of Los Angeles Central Labor Council of A.F. of L. Central Labor Committee,” May 1943. [[Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library]].</ref><ref>Johnson, Stanley. “Soderstrom A Franternal Delegate,” August 1954. [[Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum|Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library]].</ref> When [[George Meany]], Green’s successor, began talks with his CIO counterpart to merge the two labor organizations, Soderstrom was one of the handful of leaders—and the only state president—selected to travel to help craft the agreement in Washington, D.C.<ref>Woll, Matthew. “Letter to Reuben Soderstrom,” August 1, 1955. [[Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum|Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library]].</ref><ref>Soderstrom, Reuben. “Letter to George Meany,” July 25, 1955. [[Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum|Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library]].</ref> When his own Illinois State Federation was merged with its CIO counterpart in 1958, Reuben was elected to be the first President of the new Illinois AFL-CIO.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=State AFL-CIO Elects Soderstrom President|last=|first=|date=October 8, 1958|work=The Decatur Herald|access-date=}}</ref>
=== Civil
[[File:Reuben Soderstrom MLK 1965.jpg|left|thumb|300x300px|Reuben Soderstrom pinning a medallion on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the 1965 Illinois AFL-CIO Convention]]
In the Civil Rights era, Reuben worked to bring equality into the workplace. He supported the Illinois Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) Act and other legislative efforts to end discrimination.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Fair Employment Passage Bolstered In Springfield|last=Kramp|first=Larry|date=April 11, 1961|work=Freeport Journal-Standard|access-date=}}</ref> He strongly supported Jewish rights at home and efforts to organize in the nascent nation of Israel, for which he was formally honored by the [[Jewish Labor Committee]] in 1953.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Jewish Labor Unit to Honor Soderstrom|last=|first=|date=March 8, 1953|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|access-date=}}</ref> When the [[Martin Luther King Jr.|Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.]], led a Rally for Civil Rights in Chicago in 1964, Reuben served as an Honorary Chairman, welcoming him to Illinois.<ref>Miller, Jay. “Letter to Reuben Soderstrom,” June 18, 1964. [[Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum|Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library]].</ref> After the event, Reuben personally invited Dr. King to come and deliver the keynote address at the Illinois AFL-CIO Convention, which he did the following year.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Address of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=|first=|date=December 4, 1965|work=Illinois AFL-CIO News Letter|access-date=}}</ref> Multiple Civil Rights leaders spoke before the Illinois AFL-CIO at Reuben’s request, including Dr. King' successor, the [[Ralph Abernathy|Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Address of Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy|last=|first=|date=December 14, 1963|work=Illinois AFL-CIO Weekly News Letter|access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Address of the Hon. Corneal Davis|last=|first=|date=January 4, 1964|work=Illinois AFL-CIO Weekly News Letter|access-date=}}</ref>
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He was committed to the city of [[Streator, Illinois|Streator]], and chose to commute to his offices in Chicago and Springfield rather than leave his adopted hometown. On September 2, 2012, the city honored him with the dedication of the Reuben G. Soderstrom Statue and Memorial Plaza.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.newstrib.com/news/local_news/streator-statue-memorializes-labor-leader/article_b76ab277-b088-57f8-b6bd-a5cdff44a8a4.html|title=Streator Statue Memorializes Labor Leader|last=|first=|date=September 4, 2012|work=News Tribune|access-date=May 11, 2018}}</ref>
== Death and
On September 12, 1970, Soderstrom was named
=== ''Forty Gavels''
[[File:Forty Gavels Series.jpg|left|thumb|381x381px|''Forty Gavels'', the three-volume biography of Reuben Soderstrom]]
Soderstrom's authoritative, three-volume biography ''[http://www.fortygavels.com Forty Gavels: The Life of Reuben Soderstrom and the Illinois AFL-CIO]'' was released on February 28, 2018. Named after the ceremonial gavels Soderstrom received at the annual state labor conventions, ''Forty Gavels'' spans a century of history and examines its subject in documented, year-by-year detail. The biography also features more than 2,250 photos and images from several historical archives. ''Forty Gavels'' was written by Carl W. Soderstrom, Robert W. Soderstrom, Chris M. Stevens, and Andrew W. Burt, with graphic design by Kevin Evans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fortygavels.com|title=Forty Gavels: The Life of Reuben Soderstrom and the Illinois AFL-CIO|last=|first=|date=|website=Forty Gavels|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=May 11, 2018}}</ref>
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