Mantanmoreland (talk | contribs) not necessary -- source is in cite |
Reverted to last by Rj. Let's try to keep this scholarly and leave the "investigative journalists" out of this. |
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The result was the highly successful [[Ford Model A]], introduced in December, 1927 and produced through 1931, with a total output of over four million automobiles. Subsequently, the company adopted an annual model change system similar to that in use by automakers today. |
The result was the highly successful [[Ford Model A]], introduced in December, 1927 and produced through 1931, with a total output of over four million automobiles. Subsequently, the company adopted an annual model change system similar to that in use by automakers today. |
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Henry Ford eventually grew to be an early promoter of [[aviation]]. As such, he also heavily sponsored the [[Stout Metal Airplane Company]], which developed the [[Ford Tri-Motor]], an early airliner. During the 1930s, Ford also overcame his objection to finance companies, and the Ford-owned [[Universal Credit Company]] became a major car financing operation. |
Despite his traditional [[Midwestern]] upbringing and skepticism of new innovations, Henry Ford eventually grew to be an early promoter of [[aviation]]. As such, he also heavily sponsored the [[Stout Metal Airplane Company]], which developed the [[Ford Tri-Motor]], an early airliner. During the 1930s, Ford also overcame his objection to finance companies, and the Ford-owned [[Universal Credit Company]] became a major car financing operation. |
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===Death of Edsel Ford=== |
===Death of Edsel Ford=== |
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== Allegations of anti-Semitism and ''The Dearborn Independent'' == |
== Allegations of anti-Semitism and ''The Dearborn Independent'' == |
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[[Image:1920 International Jew reprint from Dearborn Independent.jpg|thumb|''The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem''. Articles from ''The Dearborn Independent'', 1920]] |
[[Image:1920 International Jew reprint from Dearborn Independent.jpg|thumb|''The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem''. Articles from ''The Dearborn Independent'', 1920]] |
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In 1918 Ford's closest aide and private secretary, the anti-Semitic [[Prussian]] Ernest G. Liebold, purchased an obscure weekly newspaper, ''[[The Dearborn Independent]]'', so that Ford could spread his views. By 1920 Ford had become virulently anti-Semitic and in March of that year began an anti-Jewish crusade in the pages of his newspaper.<ref>Slater, Elinor and Slater, Robert (1999). ''Great Moments in Jewish History''. Jonathan David Company, Inc., ISBN 0824604083, p. 190.</ref> |
In 1918 Ford's closest aide and private secretary, the anti-Semitic [[Prussian]] Ernest G. Liebold, purchased an obscure weekly newspaper, ''[[The Dearborn Independent]]'', so that Ford could spread his views. By 1920 Ford had become virulently anti-Semitic and in March of that year began an anti-Jewish crusade in the pages of his newspaper.<ref>Slater, Elinor and Slater, Robert (1999). ''Great Moments in Jewish History''. Jonathan David Company, Inc., ISBN 0824604083, p. 190.</ref> The ''Independent'' ran for eight years, from 1920 until 1927, during which Liebold was editor. The newspaper published "[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion|Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion]]," which has since been discredited as a forgery. The [[American Jewish Historical Society]] describes the ideas presented in the magazine as "[[Nativism (politics)|anti-immigrant]], anti-labor, anti-liquor, and anti-Semitic". In February 1921, the [[New York World]] published an interview with Ford, in which he said "The only statement I care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on". During this period Ford emerged as "a respected spokesman for right-wing extremism and religious prejudice," reaching around 700,000 readers through his violently anti-Semitic newspaper. <ref>Glock, Charles Y. and Quinley, Harold E. (1983). ''Anti-Semitism in America''. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 087855940X, p. 168.</ref> |
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<blockquote>No American institution, according to the ''Independent,'' was was immune from the grasp of Jewish control. "Whichever way you turn to trace the harmful streams of influence that flow through society, you come upon a group of Jews," it declared. "If fans wish to know the trouble with American baseball, they have it in three words: too much Jew." Jazz music was "Jewish moron music." The Fedeal Reserve was designed by "Jew bankers" to put the nation's money under the control of a "Jewish cabal."<ref>Wallace, ''The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich'', 11-12</ref></blockquote> |
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The ''Independent'' ran for eight years, from 1920 until 1927, during which Liebold was editor. The newspaper published "[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion|Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion]]," which has since been discredited as a forgery. The [[American Jewish Historical Society]] describes the ideas presented in the magazine as "[[Nativism (politics)|anti-immigrant]], anti-labor, anti-liquor, and anti-Semitic". In February 1921, the [[New York World]] published an interview with Ford, in which he said "The only statement I care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on". During this period Ford emerged as "a respected spokesman for right-wing extremism and religious prejudice," reaching around 700,000 readers through his violently anti-Semitic newspaper. <ref>Glock, Charles Y. and Quinley, Harold E. (1983). ''Anti-Semitism in America''. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 087855940X, p. 168.</ref> |
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Along with the ''Protocols'', anti-Jewish articles published by ''The Dearborn Independent'' were also released in the early 1920s as a set of four bound volumes, cumulatively titled ''The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem''. Vincent Curcio writes of these publications that, |
Along with the ''Protocols'', anti-Jewish articles published by ''The Dearborn Independent'' were also released in the early 1920s as a set of four bound volumes, cumulatively titled ''The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem''. Vincent Curcio writes of these publications that, |
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:... they were widely distributed and had great influence, particularly in Nazi Germany, where no less a personage than Adolph Hitler read and admired them. Hitler hung Ford's picture on the wall, and based several sections of ''Mein Kampf'' on his writings: indeed, Ford is the only American mentioned in Hitler's book. It can probably be said, as Lacey does, that no American contributed as much to the evils of Nazism as Henry Ford.<ref>Curcio, Vincent (2001). ''Chrysler: The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius''. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195147057, p. 211.</ref> |
:... they were widely distributed and had great influence, particularly in Nazi Germany, where no less a personage than Adolph Hitler read and admired them. Hitler hung Ford's picture on the wall, and based several sections of ''Mein Kampf'' on his writings: indeed, Ford is the only American mentioned in Hitler's book. It can probably be said, as Lacey does, that no American contributed as much to the evils of Nazism as Henry Ford.<ref>Curcio, Vincent (2001). ''Chrysler: The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius''. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195147057, p. 211.</ref> |
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[[Image:Service Cross of the German Eagle.JPG|thumb|left|150px|Service Cross of the German Eagle]] |
[[Image:Service Cross of the German Eagle.JPG|thumb|left|150px|Service Cross of the German Eagle]] |
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Denounced by the [[Anti-Defamation League]] (ADL), the articles nevertheless explicitly condemned pogroms and violence against Jews (Volume 4, Chapter 80), preferring to blame incidents of mass violence on the Jews themselves. None of this work was actually written by Ford--who wrote almost nothing according to trial testimony. Friends and business associates warned Ford about the contents, although Ford probably never read them. (He claimed he only read headlines.)<ref> Watts pp x, 376-387; Lewis (1976) pp 135-59. |
Denounced by the [[Anti-Defamation League]] (ADL), the articles nevertheless explicitly condemned pogroms and violence against Jews (Volume 4, Chapter 80), preferring to blame incidents of mass violence on the Jews themselves. None of this work was actually written by Ford--who wrote almost nothing according to trial testimony. Friends and business associates warned Ford about the contents, although Ford probably never read them. (He claimed he only read headlines.)<ref> Watts pp x, 376-387; Lewis (1976) pp 135-59.</ref> |
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Libel lawsuits in response to anti-Semitic remarks led Ford to close the ''Independent'' in December 1927. News reports at the time quoted him as being shocked by the content and having been unaware of its nature. During the trial the editor of Ford's "Own Page", William Cameron, testified that Ford had nothing to do with the editorials even though they were under his byline. Cameron said he never discussed the content of the pages or sent them to Ford for his approval.<ref>Lewis, ''The Public Image of Henry Ford'', pp. 140-156; Baldwin p 220-221.</ref>{{or}} |
Libel lawsuits in response to anti-Semitic remarks led Ford to close the ''Independent'' in December 1927. News reports at the time quoted him as being shocked by the content and having been unaware of its nature. During the trial the editor of Ford's "Own Page", William Cameron, testified that Ford had nothing to do with the editorials even though they were under his byline. Cameron said he never discussed the content of the pages or sent them to Ford for his approval.<ref>Lewis, ''The Public Image of Henry Ford'', pp. 140-156; Baldwin p 220-221.</ref>{{or}} |
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In 1938 the German consul at Cleveland gave Ford and the senior executive of General Motors the award of the [[Grand Cross of the German Eagle]] for building a car for the masses [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm]. |
In 1938 the German consul at Cleveland gave Ford and the senior executive of General Motors the award of the [[Grand Cross of the German Eagle]] for building a car for the masses [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm]. |
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Ford publicly retracted the ''International Jew'' and the ''Protocols''. In January 1942, he wrote a public letter to the ADL denouncing hatred against the Jews and expressing his hope that anti-Jewish hatred would cease for all time.[Watts]{{fact}} But extremist groups often recycled the material without permission; it still appears on [[anti-Semitic]] and [[neo-Nazi]] websites. |
Ford publicly retracted the ''International Jew'' and the ''Protocols''. In January 1942, he wrote a public letter to the ADL denouncing hatred against the Jews and expressing his hope that anti-Jewish hatred would cease for all time.[Watts]{{fact}} But extremist groups often recycled the material without permission; it still appears on [[anti-Semitic]] and [[neo-Nazi]] websites. |
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== Ford does business with the world== |
== Ford does business with the world== |
Revision as of 19:23, 2 August 2006
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of the modern assembly line used in mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Company he became one of two or three richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism" that is, the mass production of large numbers of inexpensive automobiles using the assembly line, coupled with high wages for his workers, and a locally-rooted network of franchise dealers. He had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. He was a leading pacifist in World War I, but turned his company into a major producer of war materials in both world wars. His intense commitment to lowering costs resulted in numerous experiments and innovations. A successful lawsuit by the Dodge brothers in 1917 had paved the way for General Motors to leapfrog Ford in the 1920s. General Motors offered consumers style, variety, and convenient financing plans. He left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation, but arranged for his family to permanently control the company. In 1929, he founded the The Henry Ford, the largest museum complex devoted to American History, which includes many rare treasures such as Abraham Lincoln's death chair, John F. Kennedy's Lincoln Limosine, and Thomas Edison's laboratory.
Early life
Ford was born on a prosperous farm in Springwells Township (now in the city of Dearborn, Michigan) owned by his parents, William Ford (1826-1905) and Mary Litogot (c1839-1876), immigrants from County Cork, Ireland. The Ford family has its origins in western England - the family was evicted from their land in Somerset and 'planted' in Ireland. His siblings include: Margaret Ford (1867-1868); Jane Ford (c1868-1945); William Ford (1871-1917) and Robert Ford (1873-1934).
During the summer of 1873, Henry saw his first self-propelled road machine, a stationary steam engine that could be used for threshing or to power a saw mill. The operator, Fred Reden, had mounted it on wheels connected with a drive chain. Henry was fascinated with the machine and Reden over the next year taught Henry how to fire and operate the engine. Ford later said, it was this experience "that showed me that I was by instinct an engineer."[1]
Henry took this passion about mechanics into his home. His father had given him a pocket watch in his early teens. By fifteen, he had a reputation as a watch repairman, having dismantled and reassembled timepieces of friends and neighbors dozens of times.[2]
His mother died in 1876. It was a blow that devastated poor Henry. His father expected Henry to eventually take over the family farm, but Henry despised farm work. And with his mother dead, little remained to keep him on the farm. He later said, "I never had any particular love for the farm. It was the mother on the farm I loved."[3]
In 1879, he left home for the nearby city of Detroit to work as an apprentice machinist, first with James F. Flower & Bros., and later with the Detroit Dry Dock Co. In 1882, he returned to Dearborn to work on the family farm and became adept at operating the Westinghouse portable steam engine. This led to his being hired by Westinghouse company to service their steam engines.
Upon his marriage to Clara Bryant in 1888, Ford supported himself by farming and running a sawmill. They had a single child: Edsel Bryant Ford (1893-1943).
In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company, and after his promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893, he had enough time and money to devote attention to his personal experiments on gasoline engines. These experiments culminated in 1896 with the completion of his own self-propelled vehicle named the Quadricycle, which he test-drove on June 4 of that year. After various test-drives, Henry Ford brainstormed ways to improve the Quadricycle.
Detroit Automobile Company and The Henry Ford Company
After this initial success, Ford came to Edison Illuminating in 1899 with other investors, and they formed the Detroit Automobile Company. The Company soon went bankrupt because Ford continued to improve the design, instead of selling cars. He raced his car against those of other manufacturers to show the superiority of his designs. With his interest in race cars, he formed the Henry Ford Company.
During this period, he personally drove one of his cars to victory in a race against Alexander Winton on October 10, 1901. In 1902, Ford continued to work on his race car to the dismay of the investors. They wanted a high-end production model and brought in Henry M. Leland to do it. Ford resigned over this usurpation of his authority. He said later that "I resigned, determined never again to put myself under orders."[4] The company was reorganized as Cadillac.
Ford Motor Company
At age 40, Ford, with 11 other investors and $28,000 in capital, incorporated the Ford Motor Company in 1903. In a newly-designed car, Ford drove an exhibition in which the car covered the distance of a mile on the ice of Lake St. Clair in 39.4 seconds, which was a new land speed record. Convinced by this success, the famous race driver Barney Oldfield, who named this new Ford model "999" in honor of a racing locomotive of the day, took the car around the country and thereby made the Ford brand known throughout the United States. Ford was also one of the early backers of the Indianapolis 500.
Henry Ford shocked his fellow capitalists by more than doubling the daily wage of most of his workers in 1914, 11 years after he established his first automobile factory. He knew what he was doing. The buying power of his workers was increased, and their raised consumption stimulated buying elsewhere. Ford called it 'wage motive.' The company's use of vertical integration and other business tactics also contributed to its success.
The Model T
Racing was, by 1913, no longer necessary from a publicity standpoint because the Model T was already famous and ubiquitous on American roads. It was in this year that Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly belts into his plants, which enabled an enormous increase in production. Although Ford is often credited with the idea, contemporary sources indicate that the concept and its development came from employees Clarence Avery, Peter E. Martin, Charles E. Sorensen, and C.H. Wills. (See Piquette Plant)
By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model Ts. The design was fervently promoted and defended by Henry Ford, and production continued through 1927 (well after its popularity had faded), with a final total production of 15 million vehicles. This was a record which stood for the next 45 years. As Ford wrote in his autobiography, "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black"[5]. Until the development of the assembly line which mandated black because of its quicker drying time, Model Ts were available in other colors including red.
In December 1918, after losing a race for the Senate, Henry Ford turned the presidency of Ford Motor Company over to his son Edsel Ford. Henry, however, retained final decision authority and sometimes reversed his son. Henry and Edsel purchased all remaining stock from other investors, thus giving the family sole ownership of the company.
By the mid 1920s, sales of the Model T began to decline due to rising competition. Other auto makers offered payment plans through which consumers could buy their cars, which usually included more modern mechanical features and styling not available with the Model T. Despite urgings from Edsel, Henry steadfastly refused to incorporate new features into the Model T or to form a customer credit plan.
The "Model A" and Ford's Later Career
By 1926, flagging sales of the Model T finally convinced Henry to make a new model car. Henry pursued the project with a great deal of technical expertise in design of the engine, chassis, and other mechanical necessities, while leaving the body design to his son. Edsel also managed to prevail over his father's initial objections in the inclusion of a sliding-shift transmission.
The result was the highly successful Ford Model A, introduced in December, 1927 and produced through 1931, with a total output of over four million automobiles. Subsequently, the company adopted an annual model change system similar to that in use by automakers today.
Despite his traditional Midwestern upbringing and skepticism of new innovations, Henry Ford eventually grew to be an early promoter of aviation. As such, he also heavily sponsored the Stout Metal Airplane Company, which developed the Ford Tri-Motor, an early airliner. During the 1930s, Ford also overcame his objection to finance companies, and the Ford-owned Universal Credit Company became a major car financing operation.
Death of Edsel Ford
In May 1943, Edsel Ford died, leaving a vacancy in the company presidency. Henry Ford advocated long-time associate Harry Bennett to take the spot. Edsel's widow Eleanor, who had inherited Edsel's voting stock, wanted her son Henry Ford II to take over the position. The issue was settled for a period when Henry himself, at age 79, took over the presidency personally. Henry Ford II was released from the Navy and became an executive vice president, while Harry Bennett had a seat on the board and was responsible for personnel, labor relations, and public relations.
The company saw hard times during the next two years, losing $10 million a month. President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered a federal bailout for Ford Motor Company so that wartime production could continue. By 1945, Henry Ford's senility was quite evident, and his wife and daughter-in-law forced his resignation in favor of his grandson, Henry Ford II.
Ford's labor philosophy
Henry Ford was a pioneer of "welfare capitalism" designed to improve the lot of his workers and especially to reduce the heavy turnover that had many departments hiring 300 men a year to fill 100 slots. Efficiency meant hiring and keeping the best workers. On January 5, 1914 Ford announced his five-dollar a day program. The revolutionary program called for a reduction in length of the workday from 9 to 8 hours, a 5 day work week, and a raise in minimum daily pay from $2.34 to $5 for qualifying workers.
Ford had been criticized by Wall Street for starting the 40 hour work week and a minimum wage. But he proved that paying people more would be good for the economy and enable Ford workers to afford the cars they were producing. Ford labeled the increased compensation as profit-sharing rather than wages. The wage was offered to men over age 22, who had worked at the company for 6 months or more, and, importantly, conducted their lives in a manner of which Ford's "Sociological Department" approved. They frowned on heavy drinking and gambling. The Sociological Department used 150 investigators and support staff to maintain employee standards; a large percentage of workers were able to qualify for the profit-sharing.
Ford was adamantly against labor unions in his plants. To forestall union activity, he promoted Harry Bennett, a former Navy boxer, to be the head of the Service Department. Bennett employed various intimidation tactics to squash union organizing. The most famous incident, in 1937, was a bloody brawl between company security men and organizers that became known as The Battle of the Overpass.
Ford was the last Detroit automaker to recognize the United Auto Workers union (UAW). A sit-down strike by the UAW union in April 1941 closed the River Rouge Plant. Under pressure from Edsel and his wife, Clara, Henry Ford finally agreed to collective bargaining at Ford plants, and the first contract with the UAW was signed in June 1941.
Ford Airplane Company
Ford, like other automobile companies, entered the aviation business during World War I, building Liberty engines. After the war, it returned to auto manufacturing until 1925, when Henry Ford acquired the Stout Metal Airplane Company.
Ford's most successful aircraft was the Ford 4AT Trimotor—called the “Tin Goose” because of its corrugated metal construction. It used a new alloy called Alclad that combined the corrosion resistance of aluminum with the strength of duralumin. The plane was similar to Fokker's V.VII-3m, and some say that Ford's engineers surreptitiously measured the Fokker plane and then copied it. The Trimotor first flew on June 11, 1926, and was the first successful U.S. passenger airliner, accommodating about 12 passengers in a rather uncomfortable fashion. Several variants were also used by the U.S. Army. About 200 Trimotors were built before it was discontinued in 1933, when the Ford Airplane Division shut down because of poor sales due to the Depression.
Peace ship
In 1915, he funded a trip to Europe, where World War I was raging, for himself and about 170 other prominent peace leaders. He talked to President Wilson about the trip but had no government support. His group went to neutral Sweden and the Netherlands to meet with peace activists there. Ford, the target of much ridicule, left the ship as soon as it reached Sweden.
An article G. K. Chesterton wrote for the December 11, 1915 issue of Illustrated London News, shows why Ford's effort was ridiculed. Referring to Ford as "the celebrated American comedian," Chesterton noted that Ford had been quoted claiming, "I believe that the sinking of the Lusitania was deliberately planned to get this country [America] into war. It was planned by the financiers of war." Chesterton expressed "difficulty in believing that bankers swim under the sea to cut holes in the bottoms of ships," and asked why, if what Ford said was true, Germany took responsibility for the sinking and "defended what it did not do." Mr. Ford's efforts, he concluded, "queer the pitch" of "more plausible and presentable" pacifists.
Allegations of anti-Semitism and The Dearborn Independent
In 1918 Ford's closest aide and private secretary, the anti-Semitic Prussian Ernest G. Liebold, purchased an obscure weekly newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, so that Ford could spread his views. By 1920 Ford had become virulently anti-Semitic and in March of that year began an anti-Jewish crusade in the pages of his newspaper.[6] The Independent ran for eight years, from 1920 until 1927, during which Liebold was editor. The newspaper published "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion," which has since been discredited as a forgery. The American Jewish Historical Society describes the ideas presented in the magazine as "anti-immigrant, anti-labor, anti-liquor, and anti-Semitic". In February 1921, the New York World published an interview with Ford, in which he said "The only statement I care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on". During this period Ford emerged as "a respected spokesman for right-wing extremism and religious prejudice," reaching around 700,000 readers through his violently anti-Semitic newspaper. [7]
Along with the Protocols, anti-Jewish articles published by The Dearborn Independent were also released in the early 1920s as a set of four bound volumes, cumulatively titled The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem. Vincent Curcio writes of these publications that,
- ... they were widely distributed and had great influence, particularly in Nazi Germany, where no less a personage than Adolph Hitler read and admired them. Hitler hung Ford's picture on the wall, and based several sections of Mein Kampf on his writings: indeed, Ford is the only American mentioned in Hitler's book. It can probably be said, as Lacey does, that no American contributed as much to the evils of Nazism as Henry Ford.[8]
Denounced by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the articles nevertheless explicitly condemned pogroms and violence against Jews (Volume 4, Chapter 80), preferring to blame incidents of mass violence on the Jews themselves. None of this work was actually written by Ford--who wrote almost nothing according to trial testimony. Friends and business associates warned Ford about the contents, although Ford probably never read them. (He claimed he only read headlines.)[9]
Libel lawsuits in response to anti-Semitic remarks led Ford to close the Independent in December 1927. News reports at the time quoted him as being shocked by the content and having been unaware of its nature. During the trial the editor of Ford's "Own Page", William Cameron, testified that Ford had nothing to do with the editorials even though they were under his byline. Cameron said he never discussed the content of the pages or sent them to Ford for his approval.[10][original research?]
In 1938 the German consul at Cleveland gave Ford and the senior executive of General Motors the award of the Grand Cross of the German Eagle for building a car for the masses [1]. Ford publicly retracted the International Jew and the Protocols. In January 1942, he wrote a public letter to the ADL denouncing hatred against the Jews and expressing his hope that anti-Jewish hatred would cease for all time.[Watts][citation needed] But extremist groups often recycled the material without permission; it still appears on anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi websites.
Ford does business with the world
Ford's philosophy was one of economic independence for the United States. Ford's River Rouge Plant would become the world's largest industrial complex even able to produce its own steel. Ford's goal was to produce a vehicle from scratch without reliance on foreign trade. Ford believed in the global expansion of his company. He believed that international trade and cooperation led to international peace, and used the assembly line process and production of the Model T to demonstrate it [Watts 236-40]. He opened Ford assembly plants in Britain and Canada in 1911, and soon became the biggest automotive producer in those countries. In 1912 Ford cooperated with Agnelli of Fiat to launch the first Italian automotive assembly plants. The first plants in Germany were built in the 1920s with the encouragement of Herbert Hoover and the Commerce department, which agreed with Ford's theory that international trade was essential to world peace [Wilkins]. In the 1920s Ford also opened plants in Australia, India, and France, and by 1929 he had successful dealerships on six continents. Ford experimented with a commercial rubber plantation in the Amazon jungle called Fordlândia; it was one of the few failures. In 1929 Ford accepted Stalin's invitation to build a model plant at Gorky, and he sent American engineers and technicians to help set it up, including future labor leader Walter Reuther.
The technical assistance agreement between Ford Motor Company, VSNH and Amtorg [2] (as purchasing agent) was concluded for nine years and signed on May 31, 1929, by Ford, FMC vice-president Peter E. Martin, V. I. Mezhlauk, and the president of Amtorg, Saul G. Bron. Any nation where the United States had peaceful diplomatic relations, Ford Motor Company worked to conduct business. By 1932, Ford was manufacturing one third of all the world’s automobiles.
Henry Ford's image transfixed Europeans, especially the Germans, arousing the "fear of some, the infatuation of others, and the fascination among all" [Nolan p 31]. Germans who discussed "Fordism" often believed that it represented something quintessentially American. They saw the size, tempo, standardization, and philosophy of production demonstrated at the Ford Works as a national service - an "American thing" that represented the culture of United States. Both supporters and critics insisted that Fordism epitomized American capitalist development, and that the auto industry was the key to understanding economic and social relations in the United States. As one German explained, "Automobiles have so completely changed the American's mode of life that today one can hardly imagine being without a car. It is difficult to remember what life was like before Mr. Ford began preaching his doctrine of salvation" [Nolan p 31]. For many Germans Henry Ford himself embodied the essence of successful Americanism.
Racing
Ford began his career as a racing car driver and maintained his interest. From 1909 to 1913, Ford entered stripped-down Model Ts in races, finishing first (although later disqualified) in an "ocean-to-ocean" (across the United States) race in 1909, and setting a one-mile oval speed record at Detroit Fairgrounds in 1911 with driver Frank Kulick. In 1913, Ford attempted to enter a reworked Model T in the Indianapolis 500, but was told rules required the addition of another 1,000 pounds (450 kg) to the car before it could qualify. Ford dropped out of the race, and soon thereafter dropped out of racing permanently, citing dissatisfaction with the sport's rules and the demands on his time by the now-booming production of the Model Ts.
He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1996.
The Ford Foundation
Henry Ford, with his son Edsel, founded the Ford Foundation in 1936 with a broad charter to promote human welfare. Ford split his stock into a small number of voting shares, which he gave his family, and a large number of nonvoting shares he gave the Foundation. The Foundation grew immensely and, by 1950, had become international in scope. It gradually sold all its shares on the stock market from 1955 through 1974[3], and dropped all connections with the Ford Motor Company and the Ford family.[11]
Death
Ford suffered an initial stroke in 1938, after which he turned over the running of his company to Edsel. Edsel's 1943 death brought Henry Ford out of retirement. In ill health, he ceded the presidency to his grandson Henry Ford II in September 1945, and went into retirement. He died in 1947 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 83 in Fair Lane, his Dearborn estate, and is buried in the Ford Cemetery in Detroit. On the night of his death a nearby stream had flooded the local power station and had left Ford's house without electricity. Before going to sleep Henry and his wife lit candles and oil lamps to light the house. Later that evening, just before dawn, Henry Ford, father of mass production and creator of the modern era, died in the same atmosphere as he had been born 83 years earlier, under the light of candles.
Henry Ford's - Family tree
The following is the family tree of Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company. It includes those family members that work, or have worked for Ford.
Template:Henry Ford family tree
Quotations
Ford was quick with a quip, and hired writers to produce aphorisms attributed to him.
- "History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we make today."
- "The international financiers are behind all war. They are what is called the International Jew -- German Jews, French Jews, English Jews, American Jews. I believe that in all these countries except our own the Jewish financier is supreme... Here, the Jew is a threat."
- "Nothing is particularly hard, as long as you divide it into small jobs."
- "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."
- "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black."
- "Most people spend more time and energy in going around problems than in trying to solve them."
- "I don't believe in preparedness. It's like a man carrying a gun. Men and nations who carry guns get into trouble. If I had my way, I'd throw every ounce of gunpowder into the sea and strip the soldiers and sailors of their insignias."
- "It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages."
- "It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
- "To do more than the world has done for you, that is success"*
Sidelights
Henry Ford long had an interest in plastics developed from agricultural products, especially soybeans. He cultivated a working relationship with George Washington Carver for this purpose, building him a laboratory specifically for researching alternative uses for agricultural products. Soybean-based plastics were used in Ford automobiles throughout the 1930s in plastic parts such as car horns, in paint, etc. This project culminated in 1942, when Ford patented an automobile made almost entirely of plastic, attached to a tubular welded frame. It weighed 30% less than a steel car, and was said to be able to withstand blows ten times greater than could steel. Furthermore, it ran on grain alcohol (ethanol) instead of gasoline. The design never caught on. [Lewis 1995]
Ford was instrumental in developing charcoal briquets, under the brand name "Kingsford". Along with his brother in law, E.G. Kingsford used wood scraps from the Ford factory to make the briquets, adding backyard grilling as a pastime.
Ford maintained a vacation residence (known as the "Ford Plantation") in Richmond Hill, Georgia. He contributed substantially to the community, building a chapel and schoolhouse and employing a large number of local residents.
Ford had an interest in "Americana". In the 1920s, Ford began work to turn Sudbury, Massachusetts into a themed historical village. He moved the schoolhouse (supposedly) referred to in the nursery rhyme, Mary had a little lamb from Sterling, Massachusetts and purchased the historical Wayside Inn. This plan never saw fruition, but Ford repeated it with the creation of Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. It may have inspired the creation of Old Sturbridge Village as well. About the same time, he began collecting materials for his museum, which had a theme of practical technology. It was opened in 1929 as the Edison Institute and, although greatly modernized, remains open today.
Henry Ford is sometimes credited with the invention of the automobile, generally attributed to Karl Benz, and the assembly line, invented by Ransom E. Olds. Ford's employees did develop the first moving assembly line based on conveyor belts.
Ford was the winner of the award of Car Entrepreneur of the Century in 1999.
See also
- Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad
- Edison and Ford Winter Estates
- Fair Lane
- Fordlândia
- William B. Mayo
- Dodge v. Ford Motor Company
- Philip Roth the novelist who imagined Ford as Secretary of Interior in an imaginary Lindbergh administration in his bestselling 2005 novel The Plot Against America.
Notes
- ^ Ford, My Life and Work, 22; Nevins and Hill, Ford: The Times, the Man, the Company (TMC), 54-55.
- ^ Ford, My Life and Work, 22-24; Nevins and Hill, Ford TMC, 58.
- ^ Ford, My Life and Work, 24; Edward A. Guest "Henry Ford Talks About His Mother," American Magazine, July, 1923, 11-15, 116-120.
- ^ Ford, My Life and Work, 36
- ^ Ford, My Life and Work, Chapter IV
- ^ Slater, Elinor and Slater, Robert (1999). Great Moments in Jewish History. Jonathan David Company, Inc., ISBN 0824604083, p. 190.
- ^ Glock, Charles Y. and Quinley, Harold E. (1983). Anti-Semitism in America. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 087855940X, p. 168.
- ^ Curcio, Vincent (2001). Chrysler: The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195147057, p. 211.
- ^ Watts pp x, 376-387; Lewis (1976) pp 135-59.
- ^ Lewis, The Public Image of Henry Ford, pp. 140-156; Baldwin p 220-221.
- ^ FAQ, Ford Foundation.
References
Primary sources
- Ford, Henry and Crowther, Samuel; My Life and Work, 1922
- Ford, Henry and Crowther, Samuel; Today and Tomorrow, 1926
- Ford, Henry and Crowther, Samuel; Moving Forward, 1930
- Bennett, Harry, as told to Paul Marcus. Ford: We Never Called Him Henry, 1951
- Sorensen, Charles E., with Samuel T. Williamson. My Forty Years with Ford, 1956; ISBN 0915299364
Biographies
- Bak, Richard. Henry and Edsel: The Creation of the Ford Empire (2003)
- Brinkley, Douglas G. Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress (2003)
- Halberstam, David. "Citizen Ford" American Heritage 1986 37(6): 49-64. interpretive essay
- Jardim, Anne. The First Henry Ford: A Study in Personality and Business Leadership Massachusetts Inst. of Technology Press 1970.
- Lacey, Robert. Ford: The Men and the Machine Little, Brown, 1986. popular biography
- Lewis, David I. The Public Image of Henry Ford: An American Folk Hero and His Company Wayne State U Press (1976),
- Nevins, Allan (1954). Ford: The Times, The Man, The Company. New York: Charles Scribners' Sons.
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suggested) (help) - Nevins, Allan (1962). Ford: Decline and Rebirth, 1933-1962. New York: Charles Scribners' Sons.
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suggested) (help) - Nye, David E. Henry Ford: "Ignorant Idealist." Kennikat, 1979.
- Watts, Steven. The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century (2005)
Specialized studies
- Batchelor, Ray. Henry Ford: Mass Production, Modernism and Design Manchester U. Press, 1994.
- Bonin, Huber et al. Ford, 1902-2003: The European History 2 vol Paris 2003. ISBN 2914 369 069 scholarly essays in English; reviewed in * Holden, Len. "Fording the Atlantic: Ford and Fordism in Europe" in Business History Volume 47, #1 Jan 2005 pp 122-127
- Brinkley, Douglas. "Prime Mover". American Heritage 2003 54(3): 44-53. on Model T
- Bryan, Ford R. Henry's Lieutenants, 1993; ISBN 0-8143-2428-2
- Bryan, Ford R. Beyond the Model T: The Other Ventures of Henry Ford Wayne State Press 1990.
- Dempsey, Mary A. "Fordlandia," Michigan History 1994 78(4): 24-33. Ford's rubber plantation in Brazil
- Jacobson, D. S. "The Political Economy of Industrial Location: the Ford Motor Company at Cork 1912-26." Irish Economic and Social History 1977 4: 36-55. Ford and Irish politics
- Kraft, Barbara S. The Peace Ship: Henry Ford's Pacifist Adventure in the First World War Macmillan, 1978
- Levinson, William A. Henry Ford's Lean Vision: Enduring Principles from the First Ford Motor Plant, 2002; ISBN 1-56327-260-1
- Lewis, David L. "Ford and Kahn" Michigan History 1980 64(5): 17-28. Ford commissioned architect Albert Kahn to design factories
- Lewis, David L. "Henry Ford and His Magic Beanstalk" . Michigan History 1995 79(3): 10-17. Ford's interest in soybeans and plastics
- Lewis, David L. "Working Side by Side" Michigan History 1993 77(1): 24-30. Why Ford hired large numbers of black workers
- McIntyre, Stephen L. "The Failure of Fordism: Reform of the Automobile Repair Industry, 1913-1940: Technology and Culture 2000 41(2): 269-299. repair shops rejected flat rates
- Meyer, Stephen. The Five Dollar Day: Labor Management and Social Control in the Ford Motor Company, 1908-1921 (1981)
- Nolan; Mary. Visions of Modernity: American Business and the Modernization of Germany (1994)
- Daniel M. G. Raff and Lawrence H. Summers (October 1987). "Did Henry Ford Pay Efficiency Wages?". Journal of Labor Economics. 5 (4): S57–S86.
- Pietrykowski, Bruce. "Fordism at Ford: Spatial Decentralization and Labor Segmentation at the Ford Motor Company, 1920-1950" Economic Geography 1995 71(4): 383-401.
- Roediger, David, ed "Americanism and Fordism - American Style: Kate Richards O'hare's 'Has Henry Ford Made Good?'" Labor History 1988 29(2): 241-252. Socialist praise for Ford in 1916
- Segal, Howard P. "'Little Plants in the Country': Henry Ford's Village Industries and the Beginning of Decentralized Technology in Modern America" Prospects 1988 13: 181-223. Ford created 19 rural workplaces as pastoral retreats
- Tedlow, Richard S. "The Struggle for Dominance in the Automobile Market: the Early Years of Ford and General Motors" Business and Economic History 1988 17: 49-62. Ford stressed low price based on efficient factories but GM did better in oligopolistic competition by including investment in manufacturing, marketing, and management.
- Thomas, Robert Paul. "The Automobile Industry and its Tycoon" Explorations in Entrepreneurial History 1969 6(2): 139-157. argues Ford did NOT have much influence on US industry,
- Valdés, Dennis Nodin. "Perspiring Capitalists: Latinos and the Henry Ford Service School, 1918-1928" Aztlán 1981 12(2): 227-239. Ford brought hundreds of Mexicans in for training as managers
- Wilkins, Mira and Frank Ernest Hill, American Business Abroad: Ford on Six Continents Wayne State University Press, 1964
- Williams, Karel, Colin Haslam and John Williams, "Ford versus `Fordism': The Beginning of Mass Production?" Work, Employment & Society, Vol. 6, No. 4, 517-555 (1992), stress on Ford's flexibility and commitment to continuous improvements
Jews, anti-semitism and Nazis
- Baldwin, Neil; Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate; PublicAffairs, 2000; ISBN 1-58-648163-0
- Foust, James C. "Mass-produced Reform: Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent" American Journalism 1997 14(3-4): 411-424.
- Higham, Charles, Trading With The Enemy 1983
- Kandel, Alan D. "Ford and Israel" Michigan Jewish History 1999 39: 13-17. covers business and philanthropy
- Lee, Albert; Henry Ford and the Jews; Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1980; ISBN 0-81-282701-5
- Lewis, David L. "Henry Ford's Anti-semitism and its Repercussions" Michigan Jewish History 1984 24(1): 3-10.
- Reich, Simon (1999) "The Ford Motor Company and the Third Reich" Dimensions, 13(2): 15 - 17 online
- Ribuffo, Leo P. "Henry Ford and the International Jew" American Jewish History 1980 69(4): 437-477.
- Sapiro, Aaron L. "A Retrospective View of the Aaron Sapiro-Henry Ford Case" Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly 1982 15(1): 79-84.
- Silverstein, K. (2000) "Ford and the Fuhrer" The Nation 270(3): 11 - 16
- Wallace, Max The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich; ISBN 0312335318
- Woeste, Victoria Saker. "Insecure Equality: Louis Marshall, Henry Ford, and the Problem of Defamatory Antisemitism, 1920-1929" Journal of American History 2004 91(3): 877-905.
External links
- Full text of My Life and Work from Project Gutenberg
- My Life and Work, adapted from the Gutenberg Project version, with contextual links to Wikipedia.
- Notable quotations and speech excerpts
- Timelineand Quotes by Henry Ford
- Nevins and Hill tell story of Peace Ship in American Heritage
- College student reports on the 1915 Peace Ship expedition
- The Henry Ford Heritage Association
- Review of Henry Ford and the Jews
- American Corporate Support for Nazis
- Works by Henry Ford at Project Gutenberg
- The Washington Post reports on Ford and General Motors possible collaboration with Nazi Germany
- Recent criticism of Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh as part of a struggle to define American identity