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{{Nominated}}{{Key}}
{{Infobox1 person
[[File:Henryford.png|thumb|Henry Ford, genius.]]
| name              = Henry Ford
'''Henry Ford''' (1863 – 1947), one of the most influential industrialists in history, ushered in the era of mass-production at the turn of the century, making the automobile available to the middle and working classes. In doing so, he shaped the culture of [[America]] forever.
| image              = Henry ford 1919.jpg
| image_size = 300px
| caption            = Photo by Fred Hartsook, c. 1919
| birth_name        =
| birth_date        = {{birth date|mf=yes|1863|07|30}}
| birth_place        = {{nowrap|Springwells Township, [[Michigan]], U.S.}}
| death_date        = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1947|04|07|1863|07|30}}
| death_place        = {{nowrap|Dearborn, [[Michigan]], U.S.}}
| resting_place      = St. Martha's Episcopal Church Cemetery, [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], U.S.
| occupation        = Engineer, industrialist, philanthropist
| known_for          = Founding and leading the [[Ford Motor Company]]; Pioneering a system that launched the mass production and sale of affordable automotives to the public
| title              = President of Ford Motor Company<br/>(1906–1919, 1943–1945)
| years_active      = 1891–1945
| party              = {{plainlist|
*[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (before 1918)
*[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (after 1918)
}}
| spouse            = ∞ 11 April 1888 Clara Jane Bryant
| children          = Edsel Bryant Ford
| signature          =
}}
'''Henry Ford''' (30 July 1863 – 7 April 1947) was [[American]] industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, who revolutionized factory production with his assembly-line methods.  


=Early life=
==Life==
Ford was born on July 30, 1863, at his family's prosperous farm in Dearborn, MI. During his early years, Ford demonstrated very little interest in farming and preferred instead to tinker with mechanical devices. At age 16, Ford left the farm to work in nearby Detroit as an apprentice machinist, a job he held for three years before returning to Dearborn. He married Clara Bryant in 1888 and supported himself and his wife by running a sawmill. From 1891 to 1899, he worked as a mechanical engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit.
[[File:Oskar von Miller with Henry Ford in front of the diesel engine in the German Museum in Munich on 26 September 1930.png|thumb|310px|[[Oskar von Miller]] with Henry Ford in front of the diesel engine in the [[German]] Museum in Munich on 26 September 1930]]
[[File:Henry Ford erhält das Großkreuz des Verdienstordens des Deutschen Adlerordens, Juli 1938.png|thumb|310px|[[Germanophilist]] Henry Ford receiving the Grand Cross of the [[Order of the German Eagle]] on 30 July 1938 in Ford's main office at the Dearborn Engineering Laboratory in recognition of his "pioneering in making motor cars available for the masses." Ford was the first American and the fourth person ([[Benito Mussolini]] was another) to receive the award created by [[Hitler]] in 1937, the highest [[honor]] the Reich could bestow upon a foreigner; On the right is [[Karl Kapp]], German Consul General in Cleveland, [[Ohio]], and on the [[left]] Fritz Hailer (an American citizen of German heritage), German consular representative in Detroit, [[Michigan]] (Honorary Consul as of 1935).]]
Ford was born on a farm near Dearborn, Michigan and later there established an estate, his largest factory, the world headquarters of the Ford Motor Company, and various other facilities.


=Internal combustion=
: ''Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, was born in Springwells Township, Wayne County, Michigan, on July 30, 1863, to Mary (Litogot) and William Ford. He was the eldest of six children in a family of four boys and two girls. His father was a native of County Cork, Ireland, who came to [[America]] in 1847 and settled on a farm in Wayne County. Young Henry Ford showed an early interest in mechanics. By the [[time]] he was 12, he was spending most of his spare time in a small machine shop he had equipped himself. There, at 15, he constructed his first steam engine. Later, he became a machinist’s apprentice in Detroit in the shops of James F. Flower and Brothers, and in the plant of the Detroit Dry Dock Company. After completing his apprenticeship in 1882, he spent a year setting up and repairing Westinghouse steam engines in southern Michigan. In July 1891, he was employed as an engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company of Detroit. He became chief engineer on November 6, 1893. Thomas Edison would become a lifelong mentor and friend to Henry Ford. On April 11, 1888, Henry married Clara Jane Bryant of Greenfield, Michigan, the daughter of Martha (Bench) and Melvin Bryant, a Wayne County farmer. Clara lived to the age of 84 and died on September 29, 1950. They had one child, son Edsel Bryant Ford was born on November 6, 1893.''
In his free time, Ford began testing experimental gasoline engine designs. By 1893, he had built a small one-cylinder gasoline combustion engine. Three years later he invented the Quadricycle the first "horseless carriage." The Quadricycle had four wire wheels, was steered by a boat-like tiller, and propelled by an ethanol-powered engine with two forward speeds and no reverse. The two-cylinder engine generated 4 hp and a top speed of 20 mph.


Toward the turn of the century, Ford's interest turned to automobiles, and by 1899 he had raised enough money to start his own company, the Detroit Automobile Company. Ford spent $86,000 in seed money, a fortune at the time, and designed his second vehicle in 1900, a delivery wagon. However, his investors saw no profits forthcoming from the company and withdrew. After the collapse of the Detroit Automobile Company, with the help of new backers, Ford formed the Henry Ford Company, but this effort failed as well, amid significant competition by as many as 60 aspiring automakers in the U.S. at the time. His final effort began with the The Ford Motor Company in 1903 and he rolled out his first car, the Model A, in July of that year.
: ''Henry Ford’s career as a builder of automobiles dated from the winter of 1893 when his interest in internal combustion engines led him to construct a small one-cylinder gasoline model. The first Ford engine sputtered its way to life on a wooden table in the kitchen of the Ford home at 58 Bagley Avenue in Detroit. A later version of that engine powered his first automobile, which was essentially a frame fitted with four bicycle wheels. This first Ford car, the Quadricycle, was completed in June 1896. On August 19, 1899, he resigned from the Edison Illuminating Company and, with [[others]], organized the Detroit Automobile Company, which went into bankruptcy about 18 months later. Meanwhile, Henry Ford designed and built several racing cars. In one of them, called Sweepstakes, he defeated Alexander Winton on a track in Grosse Pointe, Michigan on October 10, 1901. One month later, Henry Ford founded his second automobile venture, the Henry Ford Company. He would leave that enterprise, which would become the Cadillac Motor Car Company, in early 1902. In another of his racing cars, the 999, he established a world record for the mile, covering the distance in 39.4 seconds on January 12, 1904 on the winter ice of Lake St. Clair. On June 16, 1903, Henry and 12 others invested $28,000 and created Ford Motor Company. The first car built by the Company was sold July 15, 1903. Henry owned 25.5% of the stock in the new organization. He became president and controlling owner in 1906. In 1919, Henry, Clara, and Edsel Ford acquired the interest of all [[minority]] stockholders for $105,820,894 and became the sole owners of the Company. Edsel, who succeeded his father as president in 1919, occupied that position until his death in 1943, when Henry Ford returned to the post. In September, 1945, when he resigned the presidency for a second time, Henry Ford recommended that his grandson, Henry Ford II, be elected to the position. The board of directors followed his recommendation. In 1946, Henry Ford was lauded at the Automotive Golden Jubilee for his contributions to the automotive industry. In July of that same year, 50,000 [[people]] cheered for him in Dearborn at a giant 83rd birthday party. Later that year, the American Petroleum Institute awarded him its first Gold Medal annual award for outstanding contributions to the welfare of humanity. The [[United States]] [[government]] honored him in 1965 by featuring his likeness with a Model T on a postage stamp as part of their Prominent Americans series. In 1999, Fortune magazine named Henry Ford the Businessman of the Century.''<ref>[https://corporate.ford.com/articles/history/henry-ford-biography.html Henry Ford Biography]</ref>


=Success=
He converted the automobile from an expensive curiosity into a practical conveyance that would profoundly impact the landscape of the [[20th century]]. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and industry. He is also credited with "Fordism" mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with [[consumerism]] as the key to [[peace]]. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout most of North America and in major cities on six continents. Ford was also widely known for his [[pacifism]] during the first years of [[World War I]].
The Ford Motor Company was a success even though just five weeks after incorporation the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers threatened to put Ford out of business because he was not a licensed manufacturer. The group had acquired the rights to an automobile patent granted to inventor/patent attorney George Baldwin Selden, and was collecting a licensing fee for each vehicle manufactured. Ford fought the claim, and although he lost the initial case in 1909, he won an appeal in 1911 and thus opened the doors for the rapid growth of the automobile industry. The fight and the victory had made Ford a popular hero.
Ford dreamed of producing a reasonably priced, reliable automobile accessible to everyone. He once proclaimed, "I will build a motor car for the great multitude." His dream came true when he launched the Model T in October of 1908. In the 19 years of the Model T's existence, he sold more than 15 million vehicles in the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain, a total amounting to half of the automobile output of the world at the time.


=Assembly line=
===Claimed anti-Semitism ===
Ford's greatest contribution to the automobile industry was the development of the moving assembly line. After much experimentation, Ford implemented the system in 1913 at its new plant in Highland Park, MI. The success of the new manufacturing technique was contingent upon the delivery of parts, subassemblies, and assemblies with precise timing to a constantly moving main assembly line. The new technique allowed individual workers to stay in one place and perform the same task repeatedly on multiple vehicles that passed by them.
Ford had a reputation as one of the few major corporations actively hiring Black workers, and was not accused of discrimination against [[jewish]] workers or suppliers. He also hired women and handicapped men at a time when doing so was uncommon. Ford also promoted the [[melting pot]] [[idea]] among his immigrant work force.  


The line proved tremendously efficient, helping the company far surpass the production levels of their competitors—and making the vehicles more affordable. Previously, it took 14 hours to assemble a Model T car. The assembly line approach reduced this to 1 hour and 33 minutes. With higher manufacturing efficiency, Ford could lower the cost of each car and reduce the selling price from $1,000 to $360. In 1914, Ford began paying his employees $5 a day, nearly twice as much as the wages offered by other auto manufacturers. He cut the work day down to eight hours, enabling the company to employ three shifts around the clock.
However, Ford also acquired the already existing newspaper the ''Dearborn Independent'', which sometimes printed [[anti-Semitic]] articles, including ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]''. Every Ford franchise nationwide had to carry the paper and distribute it to its customers. Some of the articles were reprinted into four volumes called ''The International jew''.  
Ford's vision of the automobile as the ordinary man's utility rather than the rich man's luxury ushered in the so-called "Motor Age" that changed the economic and social character of the country. The new-found mobility of the masses enabled cities to spread outward and spurred the creation of suburbs and housing developments all connected by a developing highway system.


=End of life=
Regarding ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'', in 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.''"
Over the years, Ford suffered through problems with employees, government regulations, unions, and competition, mostly attributed to his opinionated, authoritative personality. He was slowed by a stroke in 1938 and died on April 7, 1947 at his home in Dearborn.


=The Dearborn Independent=
A jewish lawyer sued Ford for libel, claiming the newspaper hurt his reputation. Ford's defense was that he had not written articles signed by him and even claimed that he did not read the newspaper. During the trial, the editor of Ford's "Own Page", William Cameron (a [[British Israelite]]), testified that Ford had nothing to do with the editorials even though they were under his byline. Cameron testified that he never discussed the content of the pages with Ford, or sent them to Ford for his approval. Friends and business associates said they warned Ford about the contents and that Ford probably never read the articles (he claimed he only read the [[headlines]]). The trial prompted the [[Anti-Defamation League]] (ADL) to begin a campaign against Ford. An ADL-led coalition of jewish groups led the charge, and raised objections to Ford's writings in the Detroit press. The ADL also organized a boycott of Ford products. Ford reached a secret settlement, publicly apologized for any harm he might have caused, and stopped publishing the paper. News reports at the time quoted him as saying he was shocked by the paper's content and unaware of its [[nature]]. Ford also wrote a public apology letter to the ADL president Sigmund Livingstone.
In January 1919, Henry Ford began publication of ''[[the Dearborn Independent]],'' a small financially troubled community weekly he had purchased the previous year. He applied his usual genius to save the paper and the jobs of its employees.  


Carrying the subtitle, ''The Chronicler of the Neglected Truth'', each issue of the ''Independent ''carried “Mr. Ford’s Own Page,” an editorial expressing his opinions.  Ford hired Edwin G. Pipp from the Detroit News to serve as editor. Paperboys went door-to-door selling subscriptions, and [[Ford Motor Company]] encouraged car dealers to buy multiple subscriptions and hand out copies to customers.  The newspaper was extremely popular, it went international, and circulation reached over a million copies in 1926.
That the material claimed to be written by Ford actually criticized all [[jews]], rather than only some influential jews ("[[International jewry]]"), argued to have been involved in the start of WWI, may be unclear. Some have viewed Ford's personal secretary Ernest Liebold and/or the British Israelite editor William Cameron as the origin of the published views. Another view is that


=The Protocols of the Elders of Zion=
: "''Ford’s own attitudes towards jews were the major [[reason]] for the publication of “[[The International jew]].” His anti-Semitic beliefs formed along several strands from his upbringing, attitudes, and personal beliefs. They were also influenced by current populist [[political]] sensibilities that advocated a distrust of financiers, bankers and institutions of economic power. A common stereotype at the time led some people to assume that jews controlled the international banking system; that belief may have fed his [[anti-jewish]] feelings. Ford’s pacifism probably formed a second strand. His crusade against World War I convinced him that international jewish bankers were fomenting the war. Here again, the stereotype noted above may have convinced him that international jewish bankers supported the war for personal gain. Lastly, Ford’s growing cultural [[conservatism]], anti-urbanism, and nostalgia for the rural past formed an important third strand. Ford saw jews present in everything that he viewed as modern and distasteful—contemporary [[music]], movies, theater, new dress styles, and loosening [[social]] mores.''"<ref>Henry Ford and [[Anti-Semitism]]: A Complex Story https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-resources/popular-topics/henry-ford-and-anti-semitism-a-complex-story</ref>
The idea of acquiring a newspaper first came to Ford during his antiwar crusade, when it became known to him that a hostile press controlled by jews and other powerful financial interests was campaigning against him. The paper would provide Ford a means to express his own views and to counter the attacks that had been launched against him for the five-dollar day, his pacifist activities, and his 1918 run for the U. S. Senate in which it eventually became known that Senator Truman H. Newberry had stolen from him. He had grown weary of jew manipulations.
===Order of the German Eagle===
On 30 July 1938, on his seventy-fifth birthday, Ford accepted the Grand Cross of the [[Order of the German Eagle]], the highest medal that [[National Socialist Germany]] could bestow on a foreigner. The following ceremony and birthday dinner was held in the evening in Dearborn, Michigan. German Consul General in Cleveland (1936-1941) [[Karl Kapp]] (1889–1947) delivered the laudatory speech in front of 1,500 prominent guests of honor, written on a roll of parchment and signed by [[Adolf Hitler]], an enthusiastic admirer of the entrepreneur. Hitler's personal congratulations were simultaneously extended to the magnat. Ford was the first American to receive [[National Socialist Germany]]'s highest decoration for foreigners. It was only one of many awards from other countries that Ford accepted, but it became later widely used to criticize Ford. Henry Ford's [[German American]] private secretary, Ernest Gustav Liebold<ref>Liebold's parents were German [[Lutheran]] immigrants. He grew up in Detroit's German community, attended Detroit's Eastern High School and graduated from Gutchess Metropolitan Business College. He subsequently worked at a number of temporary positions as a stenographer and bookkeeper before being employed by the Peninsula Savings Bank in Highland Park, Michigan. There Liebold rapidly established himself, progressing from messenger to bank officer. His strong financial acumen drew the interest of James Couzens, vice president and general manager of the Ford Motor Company, who asked him to organize the newly established Highland Park State Bank; Liebold started working there as the cashier in 1909, and was later made president of the bank. He married Clara Alicia Reich on 17 March 1910. In 1910, after resigning from the Highland Park State Bank, Liebold was hired by Henry Ford as his personal secretary and continued working for Ford until finally retiring in 1944. In January 1953, he was interviewed by Owen W. Bombard about his life and career; the interview, part of the Ford Motor Company oral [[history]] program, was transcribed and gathered in ten volumes. Liebold died in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan on 4 March 1956, at the age of seventy-one.</ref> (1884–1956), who had purchased on Ford's behalf ''[[The Dearborn Independent]]'' in 1918, was awarded Order of the German Eagle 1st Class in September 1938.


The Dearborn Independent would, most likely, have remained a sidebar in Ford’s biography were it not for a revealing series that began on May 22, 1920 and lasted for several years.  Appearing on the front page every week, “The International Jew: The World’s Problem” examined various manipulations dealings launched by Jewish groups, often exposing their activities.  The basis for some articles was an ancient and secret text, ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]'',  which jewish leaders of course claimed was an anti-semitic hoax, ignoring that its contents have all turned out to be true, and have stood the test of time.  
==External links==
*[https://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2009/04/11/macdonald-ford/ Defaming America’s past: Henry Ford and the Eugenics Movement]
*[https://codoh.com/library/document/henry-ford-would-be-champion-of-the-good-jews/en/ Henry Ford: Would-Be Champion of the “Good jews”]
*[http://www.kevinmacdonald.net/HenryFord-2.htm Part II: Henry Ford and the jewish Question]
*[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_International_jew ''The International jew'']
*[https://archive.org/details/TheInternationaljewTheWorldsForemostProblemhenryFord1920s ''The International jew'']


[[William Cameron]], who became editor of the ''Independent'', was an enthusiastic supporter of publication of the uncomfortable truths.
=== Encyclopedias ===
*[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Ford Encyclopedia Britannica: Henry Ford]
*[https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/f/henry_ford.html Britannica 1911 Edition: Henry Ford]
*[https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/social-sciences-and-law/business-leaders/henry-ford Encyclopedia.com: Henry Ford]; [https://christiansfortruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/The-International-jew-The-Worlds-Foremost-Problem.pdf also here]


However, Ford’s own experiences with jews were a major reason for the publication of “[[The International Jew]].”  His knowledge formed along several solid paths of his direct experience, those of others, and logical patterns of evidence.   He was also somewhat  influenced by his own populist political sensibilities that advocated a realist view  of the greedy financiers, bankers and institutions of the day.  At the time jews controlled the international banking system; that knowledge fed his common-sense conclusions. Ford was a saavy businessman, but also a fascist, and a champion of the common man, and a pacifist. His crusade against [[World War I]] convinced him that international jewish bankers were fomenting the war and supported the war for personal gain. 
==References==
{{reflist|2}}


Lastly, Ford’s growing cultural conservatism, anti-urbanism, and nostalgia for the rural past formed an important third strand.  Ford saw judeo-Marxists present in everything
[[Category:Engineers]]
modern and distasteful—contemporary music, movies, theater, new dress styles, and loosening social mores. The term "cultural Marxism" did not yet exist in his time, but that is what he saw.
[[Category:Henry Ford| ]]
 
[[Category:Pages using duplicate arguments in template calls]]
The publication of “The International Jew” caused an uproar.  In most quarters it 2as well recieved.  The jews of course were appalled by the series, published demands for retractions, forcibly removed the paper from public libraries, and launched a worldwide boycott of Ford automobiles.  Under jewish pressure many Ford dealers were prevented from carrying the paper. Thousands of frivilous lawsuits were filed.  Responding to this pressure, Ford halted publication of the documentary series in January 1922, to create a cool-down, only to start it up again less than a year later.  
[[Category:Pages with broken file links]]
 
In April 1924, the Independent initiated a new series expose' on attorney Aaron Sapiro, revealing his exploiting farmers’ cooperatives.  When Ford refused to print a retraction, Sapiro sued him to force th3 series to stop.  The case finally came to trial in March 1927 and quickly turned into a media circus. 
 
After negotiations with U.S. Representative Nathan D. Perlman, vice president of the [[American Jewish Congress]], and Louis Marshall, president of the [[American Jewish Committee]], Ford agreed to release a formal apology, written by Marshall, make a cash settlement with Sapiro, and order the closing of the Dearborn Independent (it closed at the end of 1927). 
 
[[Category:People]]

Latest revision as of 09:41, 2 March 2024

Henry Ford
File:Henry ford 1919.jpg
Photo by Fred Hartsook, c. 1919
Born July 30, 1863(1863-07-30)
Springwells Township, Michigan, U.S.
Died April 7, 1947 (aged 83)
Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.
Resting place St. Martha's Episcopal Church Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation Engineer, industrialist, philanthropist
Years active 1891–1945
Known for Founding and leading the Ford Motor Company; Pioneering a system that launched the mass production and sale of affordable automotives to the public
Title President of Ford Motor Company
(1906–1919, 1943–1945)
Political party
Spouse ∞ 11 April 1888 Clara Jane Bryant
Children Edsel Bryant Ford

Henry Ford (30 July 1863 – 7 April 1947) was American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, who revolutionized factory production with his assembly-line methods.

Life

File:Oskar von Miller with Henry Ford in front of the diesel engine in the German Museum in Munich on 26 September 1930.png
Oskar von Miller with Henry Ford in front of the diesel engine in the German Museum in Munich on 26 September 1930
File:Henry Ford erhält das Großkreuz des Verdienstordens des Deutschen Adlerordens, Juli 1938.png
Germanophilist Henry Ford receiving the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle on 30 July 1938 in Ford's main office at the Dearborn Engineering Laboratory in recognition of his "pioneering in making motor cars available for the masses." Ford was the first American and the fourth person (Benito Mussolini was another) to receive the award created by Hitler in 1937, the highest honor the Reich could bestow upon a foreigner; On the right is Karl Kapp, German Consul General in Cleveland, Ohio, and on the left Fritz Hailer (an American citizen of German heritage), German consular representative in Detroit, Michigan (Honorary Consul as of 1935).

Ford was born on a farm near Dearborn, Michigan and later there established an estate, his largest factory, the world headquarters of the Ford Motor Company, and various other facilities.

Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, was born in Springwells Township, Wayne County, Michigan, on July 30, 1863, to Mary (Litogot) and William Ford. He was the eldest of six children in a family of four boys and two girls. His father was a native of County Cork, Ireland, who came to America in 1847 and settled on a farm in Wayne County. Young Henry Ford showed an early interest in mechanics. By the time he was 12, he was spending most of his spare time in a small machine shop he had equipped himself. There, at 15, he constructed his first steam engine. Later, he became a machinist’s apprentice in Detroit in the shops of James F. Flower and Brothers, and in the plant of the Detroit Dry Dock Company. After completing his apprenticeship in 1882, he spent a year setting up and repairing Westinghouse steam engines in southern Michigan. In July 1891, he was employed as an engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company of Detroit. He became chief engineer on November 6, 1893. Thomas Edison would become a lifelong mentor and friend to Henry Ford. On April 11, 1888, Henry married Clara Jane Bryant of Greenfield, Michigan, the daughter of Martha (Bench) and Melvin Bryant, a Wayne County farmer. Clara lived to the age of 84 and died on September 29, 1950. They had one child, son Edsel Bryant Ford was born on November 6, 1893.
Henry Ford’s career as a builder of automobiles dated from the winter of 1893 when his interest in internal combustion engines led him to construct a small one-cylinder gasoline model. The first Ford engine sputtered its way to life on a wooden table in the kitchen of the Ford home at 58 Bagley Avenue in Detroit. A later version of that engine powered his first automobile, which was essentially a frame fitted with four bicycle wheels. This first Ford car, the Quadricycle, was completed in June 1896. On August 19, 1899, he resigned from the Edison Illuminating Company and, with others, organized the Detroit Automobile Company, which went into bankruptcy about 18 months later. Meanwhile, Henry Ford designed and built several racing cars. In one of them, called Sweepstakes, he defeated Alexander Winton on a track in Grosse Pointe, Michigan on October 10, 1901. One month later, Henry Ford founded his second automobile venture, the Henry Ford Company. He would leave that enterprise, which would become the Cadillac Motor Car Company, in early 1902. In another of his racing cars, the 999, he established a world record for the mile, covering the distance in 39.4 seconds on January 12, 1904 on the winter ice of Lake St. Clair. On June 16, 1903, Henry and 12 others invested $28,000 and created Ford Motor Company. The first car built by the Company was sold July 15, 1903. Henry owned 25.5% of the stock in the new organization. He became president and controlling owner in 1906. In 1919, Henry, Clara, and Edsel Ford acquired the interest of all minority stockholders for $105,820,894 and became the sole owners of the Company. Edsel, who succeeded his father as president in 1919, occupied that position until his death in 1943, when Henry Ford returned to the post. In September, 1945, when he resigned the presidency for a second time, Henry Ford recommended that his grandson, Henry Ford II, be elected to the position. The board of directors followed his recommendation. In 1946, Henry Ford was lauded at the Automotive Golden Jubilee for his contributions to the automotive industry. In July of that same year, 50,000 people cheered for him in Dearborn at a giant 83rd birthday party. Later that year, the American Petroleum Institute awarded him its first Gold Medal annual award for outstanding contributions to the welfare of humanity. The United States government honored him in 1965 by featuring his likeness with a Model T on a postage stamp as part of their Prominent Americans series. In 1999, Fortune magazine named Henry Ford the Businessman of the Century.[1]

He converted the automobile from an expensive curiosity into a practical conveyance that would profoundly impact the landscape of the 20th century. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and industry. He is also credited with "Fordism" mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout most of North America and in major cities on six continents. Ford was also widely known for his pacifism during the first years of World War I.

Claimed anti-Semitism

Ford had a reputation as one of the few major corporations actively hiring Black workers, and was not accused of discrimination against jewish workers or suppliers. He also hired women and handicapped men at a time when doing so was uncommon. Ford also promoted the melting pot idea among his immigrant work force.

However, Ford also acquired the already existing newspaper the Dearborn Independent, which sometimes printed anti-Semitic articles, including The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Every Ford franchise nationwide had to carry the paper and distribute it to its customers. Some of the articles were reprinted into four volumes called The International jew.

Regarding The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, in 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."

A jewish lawyer sued Ford for libel, claiming the newspaper hurt his reputation. Ford's defense was that he had not written articles signed by him and even claimed that he did not read the newspaper. During the trial, the editor of Ford's "Own Page", William Cameron (a British Israelite), testified that Ford had nothing to do with the editorials even though they were under his byline. Cameron testified that he never discussed the content of the pages with Ford, or sent them to Ford for his approval. Friends and business associates said they warned Ford about the contents and that Ford probably never read the articles (he claimed he only read the headlines). The trial prompted the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to begin a campaign against Ford. An ADL-led coalition of jewish groups led the charge, and raised objections to Ford's writings in the Detroit press. The ADL also organized a boycott of Ford products. Ford reached a secret settlement, publicly apologized for any harm he might have caused, and stopped publishing the paper. News reports at the time quoted him as saying he was shocked by the paper's content and unaware of its nature. Ford also wrote a public apology letter to the ADL president Sigmund Livingstone.

That the material claimed to be written by Ford actually criticized all jews, rather than only some influential jews ("International jewry"), argued to have been involved in the start of WWI, may be unclear. Some have viewed Ford's personal secretary Ernest Liebold and/or the British Israelite editor William Cameron as the origin of the published views. Another view is that

"Ford’s own attitudes towards jews were the major reason for the publication of “The International jew.” His anti-Semitic beliefs formed along several strands from his upbringing, attitudes, and personal beliefs. They were also influenced by current populist political sensibilities that advocated a distrust of financiers, bankers and institutions of economic power. A common stereotype at the time led some people to assume that jews controlled the international banking system; that belief may have fed his anti-jewish feelings. Ford’s pacifism probably formed a second strand. His crusade against World War I convinced him that international jewish bankers were fomenting the war. Here again, the stereotype noted above may have convinced him that international jewish bankers supported the war for personal gain. Lastly, Ford’s growing cultural conservatism, anti-urbanism, and nostalgia for the rural past formed an important third strand. Ford saw jews present in everything that he viewed as modern and distasteful—contemporary music, movies, theater, new dress styles, and loosening social mores."[2]

Order of the German Eagle

On 30 July 1938, on his seventy-fifth birthday, Ford accepted the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle, the highest medal that National Socialist Germany could bestow on a foreigner. The following ceremony and birthday dinner was held in the evening in Dearborn, Michigan. German Consul General in Cleveland (1936-1941) Karl Kapp (1889–1947) delivered the laudatory speech in front of 1,500 prominent guests of honor, written on a roll of parchment and signed by Adolf Hitler, an enthusiastic admirer of the entrepreneur. Hitler's personal congratulations were simultaneously extended to the magnat. Ford was the first American to receive National Socialist Germany's highest decoration for foreigners. It was only one of many awards from other countries that Ford accepted, but it became later widely used to criticize Ford. Henry Ford's German American private secretary, Ernest Gustav Liebold[3] (1884–1956), who had purchased on Ford's behalf The Dearborn Independent in 1918, was awarded Order of the German Eagle 1st Class in September 1938.

External links

Encyclopedias

References

  1. ↑ Henry Ford Biography
  2. ↑ Henry Ford and Anti-Semitism: A Complex Story https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-resources/popular-topics/henry-ford-and-anti-semitism-a-complex-story
  3. ↑ Liebold's parents were German Lutheran immigrants. He grew up in Detroit's German community, attended Detroit's Eastern High School and graduated from Gutchess Metropolitan Business College. He subsequently worked at a number of temporary positions as a stenographer and bookkeeper before being employed by the Peninsula Savings Bank in Highland Park, Michigan. There Liebold rapidly established himself, progressing from messenger to bank officer. His strong financial acumen drew the interest of James Couzens, vice president and general manager of the Ford Motor Company, who asked him to organize the newly established Highland Park State Bank; Liebold started working there as the cashier in 1909, and was later made president of the bank. He married Clara Alicia Reich on 17 March 1910. In 1910, after resigning from the Highland Park State Bank, Liebold was hired by Henry Ford as his personal secretary and continued working for Ford until finally retiring in 1944. In January 1953, he was interviewed by Owen W. Bombard about his life and career; the interview, part of the Ford Motor Company oral history program, was transcribed and gathered in ten volumes. Liebold died in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan on 4 March 1956, at the age of seventy-one.
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