He was the second of six children born to John Frederick Soderstrom and Anna Gustafava Erikson, Swedish immigrants from Småland, and Jämtland, respectively.

At 16, he became a printer's devil at the Streator Independent Times, where he came under the tutelage of John E. Williams, a columnist and an early leader of the labor movement in Illinois.

[5] He introduced Soderstrom to the works of many organized labor theorists, economists, and activists including John Mitchell, Richard Ely, and William U’Ren.

[6] Soderstrom pursued a career as a union linotypist, apprenticing throughout the Midwest from St. Louis, Missouri, to Madison, Wisconsin, to Chicago, Illinois.

[7] In 1914, Soderstrom made his first run for public office, campaigning for Illinois State Representative as a member of ex-President Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party.

The historically-organized city became a central front in the NAM's bid to end unions in America, with Illinois Manufacturers' Association (IMA) chief J.M.

During the course of events he was introduced to American Federation of Labor leader Samuel Gompers, who encouraged him to persevere and counseled him, "Young man, you know you can climb the highest mountain if you've got the patience to do it one step at a time.

"[18][19] While Roosevelt won Illinois, Soderstrom lost his re-election, a defeat generally attributed to his support for the Democratic president.

From that point onward, he generally pursued the unaffiliated, non-partisan approach favored by the AFL founder Samuel Gompers (popularly known as "elect our friends") of endorsing both Republican and Democratic politicians throughout his tenure.

[24] In 1930, the Illinois State Federation of Labor (ISFL) faced a crisis when its largest union, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), broke apart under the heavy-handed leadership of John L. Lewis.

[25] With no clear successor, the ISFL Executive Committee approached the 42-year-old Soderstrom in the hope that his political acumen could help stabilize the crisis.

[30] He also ran a relentless recruitment campaign by focusing not only on unorganized workers but also on established unions not previously affiliated with the ISFL.

[31] As a result, Soderstrom saw his membership surge despite the Great Depression and the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), a rival to Reuben's American Federation of Labor (AFL).

[35] Illinois became a seat of the nation's wartime manufacturing by producing more than 246,845 planes, 75,000 tanks, 56,696 Navy vessels, 15,454,714 firearms, and over 37,000,000,000 rounds of ammunition.

He passed pro-labor legislation, including affordable housing, increased workmen's compensation and unemployment benefits as well as the founding of a Labor Institute at the University of Illinois.

That was accomplished in part through an organized effort to curb strikes within the state and a new political alliance with one-time opponent Governor Green, who was considering running for the Republican presidential nomination.

As a direct result of his efforts, Illinois was one of the only states not to be consumed by the wave of anti-labor legislation that shook the country in the late 1940s.

[40][41] When George Meany, Green's successor, began talks with his CIO counterpart to merge the two labor organizations, Soderstrom was one of the handful of leaders and the only state president selected to travel to help craft the agreement in Washington, D.C.[42][43] When his own Illinois State Federation was merged with its CIO counterpart in 1958, Reuben was elected to be the first president of the new Illinois AFL-CIO.

He supported the Illinois Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) Act and other legislative efforts to end discrimination.

[46] When Martin Luther King Jr., led a Rally for Civil Rights in Chicago in 1964, Reuben served as an Honorary Chairman and welcomed him to Illinois.

[47] After the event, Reuben personally invited Dr. King to come and deliver the keynote address at the Illinois AFL-CIO Convention, which he did the following year.

[48] Multiple civil rights leaders spoke before the Illinois AFL-CIO at Reuben's request, including King' successor, Ralph Abernathy.

[51] He was close to his siblings, especially his sister Olga and brothers Paul and Lafe, whose own career in labor politics was cut short when he was killed by a drunk driver in Chicago in 1940.

[58] The foundation hosts an expanding digital archive of textual and audiovisual records, and promotes works and endeavors commemorating the life and legacy of Reuben Soderstrom.