The most prominent white speaker was called the ‘white Martin Luther King’

Walter Reuther was the head of the United Automobile Workers, which provided office space, staff and funding for the march in Detroit and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He was the seventh speaker listed on the program, and shared his remarks to the crowd.

“We will not solve education or housing or public accommodations as long as millions of Negroes are treated as second-class economic citizens and denied jobs,” he said.

In 1998, Time Magazine included him in its list of Builders & Titans Of The 20th Century. Irving Bluestone, Reuther’s former administrative assistant, shared this popular story to explain who Reuther was at the March on Washington: “Standing close to the podium were two elderly women. As (Reuther) was introduced, one of the women was overheard asking her friend, ‘Who is Walter Reuther?’ The response: ‘Walter Reuther? He’s the white Martin Luther King.'”