As head of the United Automobile Workers, Walter Reuther was one of the most important figures in the history of American labor. only did he win significant benefits for manufacturing workers, but he also had a revolutionary vision for a society that would form a partnership between management, business, and workers in decision making. In his many public addresses, Reuther sought to depict the American laborer as part of the middle class, placing blue-collar and white-collar workers on the same level. He delivered his Address before the Berlin Freedom Rally on International Worker’s Day, May 1, 1959. In the speech, Reuther, who was an advocate of dialogue between the United States and the Soviet Union, put forward his vision of a worldwide labor movement that rejected Communism.