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- Description:
- Don Stevens, former Michigan State University trustee and AFL-CIO board member, reminisces about his childhood, family, farming, his early education, and his experiences with labor unions and union organizing. Stevens talks about his early work life, hearing about unions during the auto sit-down strikes in 1936 and 1937, listening to radio preachers condemn unions, and failed attempts to unionize a laundry where he worked and later success in organizing dairy and retail workers in the Grand Rapids area in the 1940s. Stevens also discusses CIO leadership during the war, union political efforts regarding health and safety, unemployment insurance, higher wages, and seniority rights and his own involvement in the growing union movement and labor organizing. Stevens is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor of Labor and Industrial Relations. Part one of four.
- Date Issued:
- 1983-02-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- In an oral history interview, Don Stevens, former Michigan State University trustee and AFL-CIO board member, talks about conflicts within the leadership of the state AFL-CIO, how he came to head the state CIO Education Department, and visiting Europe in order to help unions in postwar Europe reestablish themselves. Stevens describes efforts to influence elections, endorsing John Swainson for Governor, and tax issues involving Detroit which cost Swainson reelection. He also talks about the creation of the labor center at MSU, the start of Oakland University as a separate institution during his time as an MSU trustee, and John Hannah's presidency of MSU. He closes by considering what that the labor movement in Michigan has accomplished, what it has meant to him, and the threats it is under. Stevens is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor of Labor and Industrial Relations. Part four of four.
- Date Issued:
- 1983-03-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Don Stevens, former Michigan State University trustee and AFL-CIO board member, talks about his experiences in the Michigan labor movement. Among other topics, he discusses the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists, the anti-union efforts of Father Coughlin, the pro-union efforts of other priests, the internal struggles of a number of Michigan unions during WWII as different factions jockeyed for control and influence and the creation of the United Way as a method for coordinating charitable fund raising . Stevens also talks about the 1961-62 Michigan constitutional convention, Coleman Young, Gus Scholle, the growth of union influence in the state and the 1948 campaigns of G. Mennen Williams for governor and Gerald R. Ford for the U.S. Congress. Stevens says that Ford courted union support in the 1948 Republican primary and later betrayed the unions by voting to override President Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act. Stevens is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor of Labor and Industrial Relations. Part three of four. Gift of John Revitte.
- Date Issued:
- 1983-03-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Don Stevens, former Michigan State University trustee and AFL-CIO board member, talks about strife in the CIO and the division between different locals, Water Reuther backing Gus Scholle for leadership of the Michigan CIO and the left-right fight within the CIO. He discusses efforts by the University of Michigan to establish a labor program and says that General Motors and Michigan Bell put "spys" into the classes and demanded that the program be "killed," which led to the establishment of the CIO education facility in Port Huron Stevens also recalls John Hannah's interest in establishing a labor program at MSU as the Republican majority in the state declined and Hannah's defense of the program before the Michigan Senate. He says that Hannah also called a special trustee meeting in 1963 in an attempt to bar two left-wing speakers from campus, and later wanted to expel antiwar demonstration leaders. Stevens is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor of Labor and Industrial Relations. Part two of four.
- Date Issued:
- 1983-02-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- In an oral history interview, Don Stevens, former Michigan State University trustee and AFL-CIO board member, talks about conflicts within the leadership of the state AFL-CIO, how he came to head the state CIO Education Department, and visiting Europe in order to help unions in postwar Europe reestablish themselves. Stevens describes efforts to influence elections, endorsing John Swainson for Governor, and tax issues involving Detroit which cost Swainson reelection. He also talks about the creation of the labor center at MSU, the start of Oakland University as a separate institution during his time as an MSU trustee, and John Hannah's presidency of MSU. He closes by considering what that the labor movement in Michigan has accomplished, what it has meant to him, and the threats it is under. Stevens is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor of Labor and Industrial Relations. Part four of four.
- Date Issued:
- 1983-03-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Don Stevens, former Michigan State University trustee and AFL-CIO board member, talks about his experiences in the Michigan labor movement. Among other topics, he discusses the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists, the anti-union efforts of Father Coughlin, the pro-union efforts of other priests, the internal struggles of a number of Michigan unions during WWII as different factions jockeyed for control and influence and the creation of the United Way as a method for coordinating charitable fund raising . Stevens also talks about the 1961-62 Michigan constitutional convention, Coleman Young, Gus Scholle, the growth of union influence in the state and the 1948 campaigns of G. Mennen Williams for governor and Gerald R. Ford for the U.S. Congress. Stevens says that Ford courted union support in the 1948 Republican primary and later betrayed the unions by voting to override President Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act. Stevens is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor of Labor and Industrial Relations. Part three of four. Gift of John Revitte.
- Date Issued:
- 1983-03-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Don Stevens, former Michigan State University trustee and AFL-CIO board member, reminisces about his childhood, family, farming, his early education, and his experiences with labor unions and union organizing. Stevens talks about his early work life, hearing about unions during the auto sit-down strikes in 1936 and 1937, listening to radio preachers condemn unions, and failed attempts to unionize a laundry where he worked and later success in organizing dairy and retail workers in the Grand Rapids area in the 1940s. Stevens also discusses CIO leadership during the war, union political efforts regarding health and safety, unemployment insurance, higher wages, and seniority rights and his own involvement in the growing union movement and labor organizing. Stevens is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor of Labor and Industrial Relations. Part one of four.
- Date Issued:
- 1983-02-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Don Stevens, former Michigan State University trustee and AFL-CIO board member, talks about strife in the CIO and the division between different locals, Water Reuther backing Gus Scholle for leadership of the Michigan CIO and the left-right fight within the CIO. He discusses efforts by the University of Michigan to establish a labor program and says that General Motors and Michigan Bell put "spys" into the classes and demanded that the program be "killed," which led to the establishment of the CIO education facility in Port Huron Stevens also recalls John Hannah's interest in establishing a labor program at MSU as the Republican majority in the state declined and Hannah's defense of the program before the Michigan Senate. He says that Hannah also called a special trustee meeting in 1963 in an attempt to bar two left-wing speakers from campus, and later wanted to expel antiwar demonstration leaders. Stevens is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor of Labor and Industrial Relations. Part two of four.
- Date Issued:
- 1983-02-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection