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About the Author
Bob Rodden grew up during the Great Depression in
a working family in the blue collar section of Pittsburgh known as
Homewood. His parents, both of whom first went to work as children,
his father in a coal mine and his mother in a textile mill,
instilled an early appreciation of unionism.
Barred by childhood polio from joining friends
who went to work in the steel mills or other factory jobs after
graduating from Pittsburgh's Westinghouse High School, the author
was sent to the University of Pittsburgh by the federal Bureau of
Rehabilitation. Receiving his B. A. from Pitt in 1944 he came to
Washington, first as an employee of the War Department and later
joining a team of historians preparing a postwar study of the Navy's
war-time research and development programs.
Pursuing an interest in unionism which had been
further whetted by industrial relations courses at Pitt, Rodden
earned his M. A. in labor economics at American University and spent
the next several years at the U. S. Department of Labor.
Specializing and writing on workmen's compensation, industrial
relations and other labor issues he became acquainted with various
members of the Machinists Union's headquarters staff. Offered a
position as special assistant to President Al Hayes in 1957, Rodden
has spent the years since researching and preparing speeches,
articles, testimony, pamphlets, manuals and organizing materials for
IAM officers and staff. For many years he also taught legislative
issues and labor history at Machinists Leadership Schools. When
assigned to lecture on the history of the American labor movement at
orientation seminars for the IAM's field staff some years ago, he
developed a deep interest in the IAM's origins and early struggles.
The Fighting Machinists is the result of hours spent poring
over early Machinists Monthly Journals and other old
documents.
Soon to retire, Rodden lives in Bethesda,
Maryland, where he and his Canadian-born wife look forward to
frequent visits from a growing bevy of grandchildren in assorted
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