![]() Henry Ford, undated.
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In spite of Henry Ford's groundbreaking changes to the workday procedures; the introduction of the assembly line in 1913, and the $5.00 per day workday in 1914 (which equals $120 per day today), relations with workers were not always positive. The fact was, he despised unions of any type, writing his complaints in detail in his book, My Life And Work. His thought was that increased productivity would be good for the economy, and he saw unions as groups that sought to cut productivity in order to foster more employment.
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Harry Bennett, Henry Ford's right-hand man for controlling the interest of unions, c.1937. (Courtesy reuther.edu)
![]() The exact moment of the confrontation's genesis. Second from right is Walter Reuther, who would become the first head of the United Auto Workers Union. (National Archives)
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![]() Battle Of The Overpass in full-blown mode, May 26, 1937. (National Archives)
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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. On the ground they beat and kicked me some more. . .
- WALTER REUTHER, describing the battle
![]() More action taking place between the union and the "Security Force." (Courtesy reuther.edu)
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![]() Richard Frankensteen (at left) with Walter Reuther after the battle concluded. (Courtesy reformation.org)
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![]() The shirt, tie and vest worn by Richard Frankensteen during the Battle Of The Overpass, modern day. (Courtesy michi101.blogspot.com)
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There were no casualties as a result of the event, although Union organizer Richard Merriweather suffered a broken back in the melee.
The Service Department detail then started after Kilpatrick and his photographic plates, intending on destroying them to wipe away evidence of a scuffle. However, Kilpatrick was able to decoy the group by surrendering useless plates without images; the images he kept and developed were hidden in his car. Once developed, printed and published, the incident would become known around the world. Bennett, however, would continue undeterred in his defense of the battle against the Union organizers, in spite of there being many ear- and eyewitnesses:
The affair was deliberately provoked by union officials. . . . They simply wanted to trump up a charge of Ford brutality. ... I know definitely no Ford service man or plant police were involved in any way in the fight. |
![]() Reflections of the battle, 40 years later, from a 1977 publication.
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