Reuben G. Soderstrom

<p>Reuben George Soderstrom (March 10, 1888 – December 15, 1970) was an American leader of <a href="/facts/Labor_unions_in_the_United_States/FHruckNo">organized labor</a> who served as President of the Illinois State Federation of Labor (ISFL)  and Illinois AFL-CIO from 1930 to 1970. A key figure in <a href="/facts/Chicago/yPMokrXH">Chicago</a> and <a href="/facts/Illinois/MuPb1Ctn">Illinois</a> politics, he also played a pivotal role in <a href="/facts/American_labor_history/BGkyASA5">American labor history</a> by helping to define national labor policy after the formation of the <a href="/facts/AFL%25E2%2580%2593CIO/t8AFyWMH">AFL–CIO</a> in 1955. Soderstrom advised and was courted by multiple U.S. presidents seeking his endorsement and the votes of the over 1.3 million laborers he represented. The longest-serving state federation chief in American labor history, he passed seminal labor legislation and increased his organization's membership five-fold, transforming it into one of the most powerful labor bodies in the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a>.
</p>

Reuben G. Soderstrom open-in-new

Reuben G. Soderstrom