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Henry Ford
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This article is about the American industrialist. For other uses, seeHenry Ford (disambiguation).

Henry Ford

Henry Ford, c. 1919
Born July 30, 1863(1863-07-30)
Greenfield Township,Dearborn, Michigan,U.S.
Died April 7, 1947 (aged 83)
Fair Lane,Dearborn, Michigan,U.S.
OccupationBusiness,Engineering
Net worth ▲$188.1 billion, based on information fromForbes – February 2008.
Religious beliefsProtestant Episcopal
Spouse(s) Clara Jane Bryant
ChildrenEdsel Ford
Parents William Ford and Mary Ford
Signature
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was theAmerican founder of theFord Motor Company and father of modernassembly lines used inmass production. His introduction of theModel Tautomobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. He was aprolific inventor and was awarded 161 U.S.patents. As owner of the Ford Motor Company he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism",that is, the mass production of large numbers of inexpensiveautomobiles using the assembly line, coupled with high wages for hisworkers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key topeace. Ford did not believe in accountants; he amassed one of theworld's largest fortunes without ever having his companyauditedunder his administration. Henry Ford's intense commitment to loweringcosts resulted in many technical and business innovations, including afranchise system that put a dealership in every city in North America,and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vastwealth to theFord Foundation but arranged for his family to control the company permanently.
Contents
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1 Early years
2 Ford Motor Company2.1 Model T
2.2 Model A and Ford's later career
2.3 Labor philosophy
2.4 Labor unions
3 Ford Airplane Company3.1 Willow Run
4 Politics4.1 World War I era
4.2 World War II era
5 The Dearborn Independent
6 International business
7 Racing
8 Later career
9 Death
10 Sidelights10.1 Interest in materials science and engineering
10.2 Georgia residence and community
10.3 Preserving Americana in museums and villages
10.4 The invention of the automobile
10.5 The invention of the assembly line
10.6 Miscellaneous
11 Popular culture
12 Honors
13 See also
14 Notes
15 References15.1 Memoirs by Ford Motor Company principals
15.2 Biographies
15.3 Specialized studies
15.4 Further reading
16 External links
17 References
Early years
Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863, on a farm inGreenfield Township (nearDetroit, Michigan).[1] His father,William Ford (1826–1905), was born inCounty Cork,Ireland. His mother, Mary Litogot Ford (1839–1876), was born in Michigan; she was the youngest child ofBelgianimmigrants; her parents died when Mary was a child and she was adoptedby neighbors, the O'Herns. Henry Ford's siblings include Margaret Ford(1867–1938); Jane Ford (c. 1868–1945); William Ford (1871–1917) andRobert Ford (1873–1934).
His father gave Henry a pocket watch in his early teens. At fifteen,Ford dismantled and reassembled the timepieces of friends and neighborsdozens of times, gaining the reputation of a watch repairman.[2] At twenty, Ford walked four miles to theirEpiscopal church every Sunday.[3]
Ford was devastated when his mother died in 1876. His fatherexpected him to eventually take over the family farm but Henry despisedfarm work. He told his father, "I never had any particular love for thefarm—it was the mother on the farm I loved."[4]
In 1879, he left home to work as an apprentice machinist in the city ofDetroit,first with James F. Flower & Bros., and later with the Detroit DryDock Co. In 1882, he returned to Dearborn to work on the family farmand became adept at operating the Westinghouse portablesteam engine. He was later hired byWestinghouse company to service their steam engines.
Henry Ford at twenty five years old in 1888.
Ford married Clara Ala Bryant (c. 1865–1950) in the year 1888 and supported himself by farming and running a sawmill.[5] They had a single child:Edsel Bryant Ford (1893-1943).[6]
In 1891, Ford became an engineer with theEdison Illuminating Company,and after his promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893, he had enough timeand money to devote attention to his personal experiments on gasolineengines. These experiments culminated in 1896 with the completion ofhis own self-propelled vehicle named theFord Quadricycle, which he test-drove onJune 4. After various test-drives, Ford brainstormed ways to improve the Quadricycle.[7]
Also in 1896, Ford attended a meeting of Edison executives, where he was introduced toThomas Edison.Edison approved of Ford's automobile experimentation; encouraged byEdison's approval, Ford designed and built a second vehicle, which wascompleted in 1898.[8] Backed by the capital of Detroitlumber baron William H. Murphy, Ford resigned from Edison and founded theDetroit Automobile Company on August 5, 1899.[9]However, the automobiles produced were of a lower quality and higherprice than Ford liked. Ultimately, the company was not successful andwas dissolved in January 1901.[9]
With the help ofC. Harold Wills,Ford designed, built, and successfully raced a twenty six horsepowerautomobile in October 1901. With this success, Murphy and otherstockholders in the Detroit Automobile Company formed theHenry Ford Company on November 30, 1901, with Ford as chief engineer.[10] However, Murphy brought inHenry M. Leland as a consultant. As a result, Ford left the company bearing his name in 1902. With Ford gone, Murphy renamed the company theCadillac Automobile Company.[10]
Ford also produced the 80+ horsepower racer "999", and gettingBarney Oldfield to drive it to victory in October 1902. Ford received the backing of an old acquaintance,Alexander Y. Malcomson, a Detroit-area coal dealer.[10]They formed a partnership, "Ford & Malcomson, Ltd." to manufactureautomobiles. Ford went to work designing an inexpensive automobile, andthe duo leased a factory and contracted with a machine shop owned byJohn andHorace E. Dodge to supply over $160,000 in parts.[10] Sales were slow, and a crisis arose when the Dodge brothers demanded payment for their first shipment.
Ford Motor Company

Henry Ford withThomas Edison andHarvey Firestone.Ft. Myers,Florida, February 11, 1929.
In response, Malcomson brought in another group of investors andconvinced the Dodge Brothers to accept a portion of the new company.[11] Ford & Malcomson was reincorporated as theFord Motor Company on June 16, 1903,[11] with $28,000 capital. The original investors included Ford and Malcomson, the Dodge brothers, Malcomson's uncle John S. Gray,Horace Rackham, andJames Couzens. In a newly designed car, Ford gave an exhibition on the ice ofLake St. Clair, driving 1 mile (1.6 km) in 39.4 seconds, setting a newland speed record at 91.3 miles per hour (147.0 km/h). Convinced by this success, the race driverBarney Oldfield,who named this new Ford model "999" in honor of a racing locomotive ofthe day, took the car around the country, making the Ford brand knownthroughout the United States. Ford also was one of the early backers oftheIndianapolis 500.
Ford astonished the world in 1914 by offering a $5 per day wage,which more than doubled the rate of most of his workers. (Using theConsumer Price Index, this was equivalent to $111.10 per day in 2008dollars.) The move proved extremely profitable; instead of constantturnover of employees, the best mechanics in Detroit flocked to Ford,bringing in their human capital and expertise, raising productivity,and lowering training costs. Ford called it "wage motive." Thecompany's use ofvertical integration also proved successful when Ford built a gigantic factory that shipped in raw materials and shipped out finished automobiles.
Model T
TheModel Twas introduced on October 1, 1908. It had the steering wheel on theleft, which every other company soon copied. The entire engine andtransmission were enclosed; the four cylinders were cast in a solidblock; the suspension used two semi-elliptic springs.
The car was very simple to drive, and easy and cheap to repair. Itwas so cheap at $825 in 1908 (the price fell every year) that by the1920s a majority of American drivers learned to drive on the Model T.
Ford created a massive publicity machine in Detroit to ensure everynewspaper carried stories and ads about the new product. Ford's networkof local dealers made the car ubiquitous in virtually every city inNorth America. As independent dealers, the franchises grew rich andpublicized not just the Ford but the very concept of automobiling;local motor clubs sprang up to help new drivers and to explore thecountryside. Ford was always eager to sell to farmers, who looked onthe vehicle as a commercial device to help their business. Salesskyrocketed—several years posted 100% gains on the previous year.Always on the hunt for more efficiency and lower costs, in 1913 Fordintroduced the moving assembly belts into his plants, which enabled anenormous increase in production. Although Henry Ford is often creditedwith the idea, contemporary sources indicate that the concept and itsdevelopment came from employeesClarence Avery,Peter E. Martin,Charles E. Sorensen, andC. Harold Wills. (SeePiquette Plant)

Ford Assembly Line, 1913
Sales passed 250,000 in 1914. By 1916, as the price dropped to $360for the basic touring car, sales reached 472,000.[12] (Using the Consumer Price Index, this price was equivalent to $7,020 in 2008 dollars.)
By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model T's. However, it wasa monolithic block; as Ford wrote in his autobiography, "Any customercan have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black".[13]Until the development of the assembly line, which mandated blackbecause of its quicker drying time, Model T's were available in othercolors including red. The design was fervently promoted and defended byFord, and production continued as late as 1927; the final totalproduction was 15,007,034. This record stood for the next 45 years.
This record was achieved in just 19 years flat from the introduction of the firstModel T (1908).
PresidentWoodrow Wilson asked Ford to run as a Democrat for theUnited States Senate from Michigan in 1918. Although the nation was at war, Ford ran as a peace candidate and a strong supporter of the proposedLeague of Nations.[14]
Henry Ford turned the presidency of Ford Motor Company over to his sonEdsel Fordin December 1918. Henry, however, retained final decision authority andsometimes reversed his son. Henry started another company, Henry Fordand Son, and made a show of taking himself and his best employees tothe new company; the goal was to scare the remaining holdoutstockholders of the Ford Motor Company to sell their stakes to himbefore they lost most of their value. (He was determined to have fullcontrol over strategic decisions). The ruse worked, and Henry and Edselpurchased all remaining stock from the other investors, thus giving thefamily sole ownership of the company.
By the mid-1920s, sales of the Model T began to decline due torising competition. Other auto makers offered payment plans throughwhich consumers could buy their cars, which usually included moremodern mechanical features and styling not available with the Model T.Despite urgings from Edsel, Henry steadfastly refused to incorporatenew features into the Model T or to form a customer credit plan.
Model A and Ford's later career
By 1926, flagging sales of the Model T finally convinced Henry tomake a new model. Henry pursued the project with a great deal oftechnical expertise in design of the engine, chassis, and othermechanical necessities, while leaving the body design to his son. Edselalso managed to prevail over his father's initial objections in theinclusion of a sliding-shift transmission.
The result was the successfulFord Model A,introduced in December 1927 and produced through 1931, with a totaloutput of more than 4 million. Subsequently, the company adopted anannual model change system similar to that in use by automakers today.Not until the 1930s did Ford overcome his objection to financecompanies, and the Ford-ownedUniversal Credit Corporation became a major car-financing operation.
Labor philosophy

Time Magazine, January 14, 1935.
Henry Ford was a pioneer of "welfare capitalism"designed to improve the lot of his workers and especially to reduce theheavy turnover that had many departments hiring 300 men per year tofill 100 slots. Efficiency meant hiring and keeping the best workers.
Ford announced his $5-per-day program on January 5, 1914. Therevolutionary program called for a raise in minimum daily pay from$2.34 to $5 for qualifying workers. It also set a new, reducedworkweek, although the details vary in different accounts. Ford andCrowther in 1922 described it as six 8-hour days, giving a 48-hour week,[15] while in 1926 they described it as five 8-hour days, giving a 40-hour week.[16](Apparently the program started with Saturdays as workdays and sometimelater made them days off.) Ford says that with this voluntary change,labor turnover in his plants went from huge to so small that he stopped bothering to measure it.[17]
When Ford started the 40-hour work week and a minimum wage he was criticized by other industrialists and byWall Street.He proved, however, that paying people more would enable Ford workersto afford the cars they were producing and be good for the economy.Ford explained the change in part of the "Wages" chapter of My Life and Work.[18] He labeled the increased compensation as profit-sharing rather than wages.
The profit-sharing was offered to employees who had worked at thecompany for six months or more, and, importantly, conducted their livesin a manner of which Ford's "Social Department" approved. They frownedon heavy drinking, gambling, and what might today be called "deadbeat dads".The Social Department used 50 investigators, plus support staff, tomaintain employee standards; a large percentage of workers were able toqualify for this "profit-sharing."
Ford's incursion into his employees' private lives was highlycontroversial, and he soon backed off from the most intrusive aspects;by the time he wrote his 1922 memoir, he spoke of the Social Departmentand of the private conditions for profit-sharing in the past tense, andadmitted that "paternalism has no place in industry. Welfare work thatconsists in prying into employees' private concerns is out of date. Menneed counsel and men need help, oftentimes special help; and all thisought to be rendered for decency's sake. But the broad workable plan ofinvestment and participation will do more to solidify industry andstrengthen organization than will any social work on the outside.Without changing the principle we have changed the method of payment."[19]
Ford, an Episcopalian himself, protested against him being called upon by Brazilian authorities andlabor unions to build aCatholicparish church for employees near his inlandBrazilian factory and its workers settlementFordlandia.[20]
Labor unions
Ford was adamantly againstlabor unions. He explained his views on unions in Chapter 18 of My Life and Work.[21]He thought they were too heavily influenced by some leaders who,despite their ostensible good motives, would end up doing more harmthan good for workers. Most wanted to restrict productivity as a meansto foster employment, but Ford saw this as self-defeating because, inhis view, productivity was necessary for any economic prosperity toexist.
He believed that productivity gains that obviated certain jobs wouldnevertheless stimulate the larger economy and thus grow new jobselsewhere, whether within the same corporation or in others. Ford alsobelieved that union leaders (most particularly Leninist-leaning ones)had a perverse incentive to foment perpetual socio-economic crisis as away to maintain their own power. Meanwhile, he believed that smartmanagers had an incentive to do right by their workers, because doingso would actually maximize their own profits. (Ford did acknowledge,however, that many managers were basically too bad at managing tounderstand this fact.) But Ford believed that eventually, if goodmanagers such as himself could successfully fend off the attacks ofmisguided people from both left and right (i.e., both socialists andbad-manager reactionaries), the good managers would create asocio-economic system wherein neither bad management nor bad unionscould find enough support to continue existing.
To forestall union activity Ford promotedHarry Bennett, a formerNavy boxer, to head the Service Department. Bennett employed various intimidation tactics to squash union organizing.[22] The most famous incident, in 1937, was a bloody brawl between company security men and organizers that became known asThe Battle of the Overpass.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Edsel (who was president of thecompany) thought it was necessary for Ford to come to some sort ofcollective bargainingagreement with the unions, because the violence, work disruptions, andbitter stalemates could not go on forever. But Henry (who still had thefinal veto in the company on a de facto basis even if not an officialone) refused to cooperate. For several years, he kept Bennett in chargeof talking to the unions that were trying to organize the Ford company.Sorensen's memoir[23] makes clear that Henry's purpose in putting Bennett in charge was to make sure no agreements were ever reached.
The Ford company was the last Detroit automaker to recognize theUnited Auto Workers union (UAW). A sit-down strike by the UAW union in April 1941 closed theRiver Rouge Plant. Sorensen said[24]a distraught Henry Ford was very close to following through with athreat to break up the company rather than cooperate but that his wife,Clara, told him she would leave him if he destroyed the family businessthat she wanted to see her son and grandsons lead into the future.Henry complied with his wife's ultimatum, and Ford went literallyovernight from the most stubborn holdout among automakers to the onewith the most favorable UAW contract terms. The contract was signed inJune 1941.
Ford Airplane Company
Ford, like other automobile companies, entered the aviation business duringWorld War I,building Liberty engines. After the war, it returned to automanufacturing until 1925, when Henry Ford acquired the Stout MetalAirplane Company.

Ford 4-AT-F (EC-RRA) de L.A.P.E.
Ford's most successful aircraft was theFord 4AT Trimotor — called the “Tin Goose” because of its corrugated metal construction. It used a new alloy calledAlclad that combined the corrosion resistance of aluminum with the strength ofduralumin. The plane was similar toFokker'sV.VII-3m, and some say that Ford's engineers surreptitiously measuredthe Fokker plane and then copied it. The Trimotor first flew on June11, 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 theU.S. Army. Henry Ford has been honored by theSmithsonian Institutionfor changing the aviation industry. About 200 Trimotors were builtbefore it was discontinued in 1933, when the Ford Airplane Divisionshut down because of poor sales during theGreat Depression.
Willow Run
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt referred to Detroit as the "Arsenal of Democracy." The Ford Motor Company played a pivotal role in theAllied victory during World War I andWorld War II.[25]With Europe under siege, the Ford company's genius turned to massproduction for the war effort. Specifically, Ford examined theB-24 Liberator bomber, still the most-producedAllied bomber in history, which quickly shifted the balance of power.
Before Ford, and under optimal conditions, the aviation industrycould produce one Consolidated Aircraft B-24 Bomber a day at anaircraft plant. Ford showed the world how to produce one B-24 an hourat a peak of 600 per month in 24-hour shifts. Ford'sWillow Runfactory broke ground in April 1941. At the time, it was the largestassembly plant in the world, with over 3,500,000 square feet (330,000 m2).
Mass production of the B-24, led by Charles Sorensen and later MeadBricker, began by August 1943. Many pilots slept on cots waiting fortakeoff as the B-24 rolled off the assembly line at Ford's Willow Runfacility.[26]
Politics
World War I era
Henry Ford opposed war, which he thought was a waste of time.[27][28][29]Ford became highly critical of those who he felt financed war, and heseemed to do whatever he could to stop them. He felt time was betterspent making things.[citation needed]
In 1915,Jewish pacifistRosika Schwimmerhad gained the favor of Henry Ford, who agreed to fund a peace ship toEurope, where World War I was raging, for himself and about 170 otherprominent peace leaders. Ford's Episcopalian pastor, Reverend Samuel S.Marquis, accompanied him on the mission. Marquis also headed Ford'sSociology Department from 1913 to 1921. Ford talked to President Wilsonabout the mission but had no government support. His group went toneutralSweden and theNetherlands to meet with peace activists there. As a target of much ridicule, he left the ship as soon as it reached Sweden.
An articleG. K. Chesterton wrote for the December 12, 1916, issue of Illustrated London News,shows why Ford's effort was ridiculed. Referring to Ford as "thecelebrated American comedian," Chesterton noted that Ford had beenquoted claiming, "I believe that the sinking of theLusitaniawas deliberately planned to get this country [America] into war. It wasplanned by the financiers of war." Chesterton expressed "difficulty inbelieving that bankers swim under the sea to cut holes in the bottomsof ships," and asked why, if what Ford said was true, Germany tookresponsibility for the sinking and "defended what it did not do." Mr.Ford's efforts, he concluded, "queer the pitch" of "more plausible andpresentable" pacifists.
On the other handH.G. Wells, inThe Shape of Things to Come,devoted an entire chapter to the Ford Peace Ship, stating that "despiteits failure, this effort to stop the war will be remembered when thegenerals and their battles and senseless slaughter are forgotten."Wells claimed that the American armaments industry and banks, who madeenormous profits from selling munitions to the warring Europeannations, deliberately spread lies in order to cause the failure ofFord's peace efforts. He noted, however, that when the U.S. entered thewar in 1917, Ford took part and made considerable profits from the saleof munitions.
The episode was fictionalized by the British novelist Douglas Galbraith in his novel King Henry.[30]
In 1918, with the war still raging and theLeague of Nations a growing issue in global politics,PresidentWoodrow Wilson encouraged Ford to run for aMichigan seat in theU.S. Senate, believing he would tip the scales in favor ofWilson's proposedLeague. "You are the only man inMichigan who can be elected and help bring about the peace you so desire," thepresidentwrote Ford. Ford wrote back: "If they want to elect me let them do so,but I won't make a penny's investment." Ford did run, however, and camewithin 4,500 votes of winning, out of more than 400,000 cast statewide.[31]
World War II era
Ford and Adolf Hitler admired each other's achievements.[32]Adolf Hitler kept a life-size portrait of Ford next to his desk.[32] "I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration," Hitler told aDetroit News reporter two years before becoming theChancellor of Germany in 1933.[32] In July 1938, four months after theGerman annexation of Austria, Ford was awarded theGrand Cross of the German Eagle, the highest medal awarded byNazi Germany to foreigners.[32]
Ford disliked the administration of PresidentFranklin D. Rooseveltand did not approve of U.S. involvement in the war. Therefore, from1939 to 1943, the War Production Board's dealings with the Ford MotorCompany were with others in the organization, such as Edsel Ford andCharles Sorensen, much more than with Henry Ford. During this timeHenry Ford did not stop his executives from cooperating withWashington, but he himself did not get deeply involved. He watched,focusing on his own pet side projects, as the work progressed.[33] AfterEdsel Ford's passing, Henry Ford resumed control of the company in 1943.
After years of theGreat Depression, labor strife, andNew Deal,he suspected people in Washington were conspiring to wrest the companyfrom his control. Ironically, his paranoia was trending towardself-fulfilling prophesy, as his attitude inspired background chatterin Washington about how to undermine his control of the company,whether by wartime government fiat or by instigating some sort of coupamong executives and directors.[34] In 1945, the war ended,Henry Ford II became company president, and the storm was past.
The Dearborn Independent

The non-Ford publicationThe International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem. Articles fromThe Dearborn Independent, 1920
In 1918, Ford's closest aide and private secretary,Ernest G. Liebold, purchased an obscure weekly newspaper,The Dearborn Independent for Ford. 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 was discredited byThe Times of London as a forgery during the Independent's publishing run. TheAmerican Jewish Historical Society described the ideas presented in the magazine as "anti-immigrant, anti-labor, anti-liquor, andanti-Semitic." In February 1921, theNew York Worldpublished an interview with Ford, in which he said "The only statementI care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what isgoing on." During this period, Ford emerged as "a respected spokesmanfor right-wing extremism and religious prejudice," reaching around700,000 readers through his newspaper.[35]
Along with the Protocols, anti-Jewish articles published by The Dearborn Independent also were released in the early 1920s as a set of four bound volumes, in a non-Ford publication inWeimar Republic Germany cumulatively titledThe International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem. Vincent Curcio wrote of these publications that "they were widely distributed and had great influence, particularly inNazi Germany, where no less a personage thanAdolf Hitlerread and admired them." Hitler, fascinated with automobiles, hungFord's picture on his wall; Ford is the only American mentioned inMein Kampf.Steven Watts wrote that Hitler "revered" Ford, proclaiming that "Ishall do my best to put his theories into practice in Germany, andmodeling theVolkswagen, the people's car, on the model T."[36]
On 1 February 1924 Ford received a representative of Hitler,Kurt Ludecke, at his home. Ludecke was introduced to Ford bySiegfried Wagner (son of the famous composerRichard Wagner) and Siegfried's wifeWinifred Wagner, both Nazi sympathizers and anti-Semites. Ludecke asked Ford for a contribution to the Nazi cause but was apparently refused.[37]
Denounced by theAnti-Defamation League (ADL), the articles nevertheless explicitly condemnedpogroms and violence against Jews (Volume 4, Chapter 80), preferring to blame incidents of mass violence on the Jews themselves.[38]None of this work was actually written by Ford, who wrote almostnothing according to trial testimony. Friends and business associateshave said they warned Ford about the contents of the Independent and that he probably never read them. (He claimed he only read the headlines.)[39]However, court testimony in a libel suit, brought by one of the targetsof the newspaper, alleged that Ford did know about the contents of the Independent in advance of publication.[40]
A libel lawsuit brought bySan Francisco lawyer and Jewish farm cooperative organizerAaron Sapiro in response to anti-Semitic remarks led Ford to close the Independentin December 1927. News reports at the time quoted him as being shockedby the content and having been unaware of its nature. During the trial,the editor of Ford's "Own Page," William Cameron, testified that Fordhad nothing to do with the editorials even though they were under hisbyline. Cameron testified at the libel trial that he never discussedthe content of the pages or sent them to Ford for his approval.[41] Investigative journalistMax Wallace noted that "whatever credibility this absurd claim may have had was soon undermined when James M. Miller, a former Dearborn Independent employee, swore under oath that Ford had told him he intended to expose Sapiro."[40]
Michael Barkun observed, "That Cameron would have continued topublish such controversial material without Ford's explicitinstructions seemed unthinkable to those who knew both men. Mrs.Stanley Ruddiman, a Ford family intimate, remarked that 'I don't thinkMr. Cameron ever wrote anything for publication without Mr. Ford'sapproval.'"[42] According to Spencer Blakeslee,
The ADL mobilized prominent Jews and non-Jews to publicly opposeFord's message. They formed a coalition of Jewish groups for the samepurpose and raised constant objections in the Detroit press. Beforeleaving his presidency early in 1921, Woodrow Wilson joined otherleading Americans in a statement that rebuked Ford and others for theirantisemitic campaign. A boycott against Ford products by Jews andliberal Christians also had an impact, and Ford shut down the paper in1927, recanting his views in a public letter toSigmund Livingston, ADL.[43]

Grand Cross of the German Eagle, an award bestowed to Mr. Ford
Ford's 1927 apology had been well received, "Four-Fifths of thehundreds of letters addressed to Ford in July of 1927 were from Jews,and almost without exception they praised the Industrialist."[44] In January 1937, a Ford statement to the Detroit Jewish Chronicle disavowed "any connection whatsoever with the publication in Germany of a book known as the International Jew."[44]
In July 1938, prior to the outbreak of war, the German consul atCleveland gave Ford, on his 75th birthday, the award of theGrand Cross of the German Eagle, the highest medal Nazi Germany could bestow on a foreigner,[32] while James D. Mooney, vice-president of overseas operations forGeneral Motors, received a similar medal, the Merit Cross of the German Eagle, First Class.[45]
Distribution of International Jew was halted in 1942 through legal action by Ford despite complications from a lack of copyright,[44] but extremist groups often recycle the material; it still appears onantisemitic andneo-Nazi websites.
One Jewish personality who was said to have been friendly with Fordis Detroit Judge Harry Keidan. When asked about this connection, Fordreplied that Keidan was only half-Jewish. A close collaborator of HenryFord during World War II reported that Ford, at the time being morethan 80 years old, was shown a movie of theNazi concentration camps.[46]
International business
Ford's philosophy was one of economic independence for the UnitedStates. His River Rouge Plant became the world's largest industrialcomplex, even able to produce its own steel. Ford's goal was to producea vehicle from scratch without reliance on foreign trade. He believedin the global expansion of his company. He believed that internationaltrade and cooperation led to international peace, and he used theassembly line process and production of the Model T to demonstrate it.[47]He opened Ford assembly plants in Britain and Canada in 1911, and soonbecame the biggest automotive producer in those countries. In 1912,Ford cooperated withAgnelli ofFiatto launch the first Italian automotive assembly plants. The firstplants in Germany were built in the 1920s with the encouragement ofHerbert Hoover and the Commerce Department, which agreed with Ford's theory that international trade was essential to world peace.[48]In the 1920s Ford also opened plants in Australia, India, and France,and by 1929, he had successful dealerships on six continents. Fordexperimented with a commercial rubber plantation in theAmazon jungle calledFordlândia; it was one of the few failures. In 1929, Ford acceptedStalin's invitation to build a model plant (NNAZ, todayGAZ) at Gorky, a city later renamedNizhny Novgorod, and he sent American engineers and technicians to help set it up, including future labor leaderWalter Reuther.

Edsel Ford,Charles Lindbergh, and Henry Ford pose in the Ford hangar during Lindbergh's August 1927 visit.
The technical assistance agreement between Ford Motor Company, VSNH and the Soviet-controlledAmtorg Trading Corporation[49] (as purchasing agent) was concluded for nine years and signed on May 31, 1929, by Ford, FMC vice-presidentPeter E. Martin, V. I. Mezhlauk, and the president ofAmtorg,Saul G. Bron. The Ford Motor Company worked to conduct business in anynation where the United States had peaceful diplomatic relations:
Ford of Australia
Ford of Britain
Ford of Argentina
Ford of Brazil
Ford of Canada
Ford of Europe
Ford India
Ford South Africa
Ford Mexico
By 1932, Ford was manufacturing one third of all the world’s automobiles.
Ford's image transfixed Europeans, especially the Germans, arousingthe "fear of some, the infatuation of others, and the fascination amongall".[50]Germans who discussed "Fordism" often believed that it representedsomething quintessentially American. They saw the size, tempo,standardization, and philosophy of production demonstrated at the FordWorks as a national service—an "American thing" that represented theculture of United States.Both supporters and critics insisted that Fordism epitomized Americancapitalist development, and that the auto industry was the key tounderstanding economic and social relations in the United States. Asone German explained, "Automobiles have so completely changed theAmerican's mode of life that today one can hardly imagine being withouta car. It is difficult to remember what life was like before Mr. Fordbegan preaching his doctrine of salvation".[51] For many Germans, Henry Ford embodied the essence of successful Americanism.
In My Life and Work, Ford predicted essentially that ifgreed, racism, and short-sightedness could be overcome, then eventuallyeconomic and technologic development throughout the world wouldprogress to the point that international trade would no longer be basedon (what today would be called)colonial orneocolonial models and would truly benefit all peoples.[52]His ideas here were vague, but they were idealistic and they seemed toindicate a belief in the inherent intelligence of all ethnicities(which some[who?] may find somewhat suspect coming from Ford).
Racing

Ford (standing) launchedBarney Oldfield's career in 1902
Ford maintained an interest in auto racing from 1901 to 1913 andbegan his involvement in the sport as both a builder and a driver,later turning the wheel over to hired drivers. He entered stripped-downModel Tsin races, finishing first (although later disqualified) in an"ocean-to-ocean" (across the United States) race in 1909, and setting aone-mile (1.6 km) oval speed record at Detroit Fairgrounds in 1911 withdriver Frank Kulick. In 1913, Ford attempted to enter a reworked ModelT in theIndianapolis 500but was told rules required the addition of another 1,000 pounds(450 kg) to the car before it could qualify. Ford dropped out of therace and soon thereafter dropped out of racing permanently, citingdissatisfaction with the sport's rules, demands on his time by thebooming production of the Model Ts, and his low opinion of racing as aworthwhile activity.
In My Life and Work Ford speaks (briefly) of racing in arather dismissive tone, as something that is not at all a good measureof automobiles in general. He describes himself as someone who racedonly because in the 1890s through 1910s, one had to race becauseprevailing ignorance held that racing was the way to prove the worth ofan automobile. Ford did not agree. But he was determined that as longas this was the definition of success (flawed though the definitionwas), then his cars would be the best that there were at racing.[53]Throughout the book he continually returns to ideals such astransportation, production efficiency, affordability, reliability, fuelefficiency, economic prosperity, and the automation of drudgery infarming and industry, but rarely mentions, and rather belittles, theidea of merely going fast from point A to point B.
Nevertheless, Ford did make quite an impact on auto racing during his racing years, and he was inducted into theMotorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1996.
Later career
When Edsel, president of Ford Motor Company, died of cancer in May1943, the elderly and ailing Henry Ford decided to assume thepresidency. By this point in his life, he had had severalcardiovascular events (variously cited as heart attack or stroke) andwas mentally inconsistent, suspicious, and generally no longer fit forsuch a job.[54]
Most of the directors did not want to see him as president. But forthe previous 20 years, though he had long been without any officialexecutive title, he had always had de facto control over the company;the board and the management had never seriously defied him, and thismoment was not different. The directors elected him,[55]and he served until the end of the war. During this period the companybegan to decline, losing more than $10 million a month. Theadministration of PresidentFranklin Roosevelt had been considering a government takeover of the company in order to ensure continued war production,[34] but the idea never progressed.
Death
In ill health, he ceded the presidency to his grandsonHenry Ford II in September 1945 and went into retirement. He died in 1947 of acerebral hemorrhage at age 83 inFair Lane, his Dearborn estate, and he is buried in the Ford Cemetery in Detroit.[56]
Sidelights
Interest in materials science and engineering
Henry Ford long had an interest in materials science andengineering. He enthusiastically described his company's adoption ofvanadium steel alloys and subsequent metallurgic R&D work.[57]
Ford long had an interest inplastics developed from agricultural products, especiallysoybeans. He cultivated a relationship withGeorge Washington Carver for this purpose.[citation needed]Soybean-based plastics were used in Ford automobiles throughout the1930s in plastic parts such as car horns, in paint, etc. This projectculminated in 1942, when Ford patented an automobile made almostentirely 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 tentimes greater than could steel. Furthermore, it ran on grain alcohol (ethanol) instead of gasoline. The design never caught on.[58]
Ford was interested in engineered woods ("Better wood can be made than is grown"[59])(at this time plywood and particle board were little more thanexperimental ideas); corn as a fuel source, via both corn oil andethanol;[60] and the potential uses of cotton.[59] Ford was instrumental in developing charcoalbriquets, under the brand name "Kingsford". His brother in law,E.G. Kingsford, used wood scraps from the Ford factory to make the briquets.
Georgia residence and community
Ford maintained a vacation residence (known as the "Ford Plantation") inRichmond Hill, Georgia. He contributed substantially to the community, building a chapel and schoolhouse and employing numerous local residents.
Preserving Americana in museums and villages
Ford had an interest in "Americana." In the 1920s, Ford began work to turnSudbury, Massachusetts, into a themed historical village. He moved the schoolhouse supposedly referred to in the nursery rhyme,Mary had a little lamb, fromSterling, Massachusetts, and purchased the historicalWayside Inn. This plan never saw fruition, but Ford repeated it with the creation ofGreenfield Village inDearborn, Michigan. It may have inspired the creation ofOld Sturbridge Villageas well. About the same time, he began collecting materials for hismuseum, which had a theme of practical technology. It was opened in1929 as the Edison Institute and, although greatly modernized, remainsopen today.
The invention of the automobile
Both Henry Ford andKarl Benzare sometimes oversimplistically credited with the invention of theautomobile, although (as is the case with most inventions) the realityof the automobile's development included many inventors. As Fordhimself said, by the 1870s, the notion of a "horseless carriage was acommon idea",[61] and many attempts atsteam-powered road vehicleshad been made. What the following decades brought was the technicalsuccess of the idea, and the extension of the idea beyond steam powerto other power sources (electric motors andinternal combustion engines).Ford was, however, more influential than any other single person inchanging the paradigm of the automobile from a scarce, heavy,hand-built toy for rich people into a lightweight, reliable,affordable, mass-produced mode of transportation for the masses ofworking people.
The invention of the assembly line
Both Henry Ford andRansom E. Olds are sometimes oversimplistically credited with the invention of theassembly line,although (as is the case with most inventions) the reality of theassembly line's development included many inventors. One prerequisitewas the idea ofinterchangeable parts(which was another gradual technological development, dating to the18th century, often mistakenly attributed to one individual oranother). Ford's first moving assembly line (employing conveyor belts),after 5 years of empirical development, first began mass production onor around April 1, 1913. The idea was tried first on subassemblies, andshortly after on the entire chassis. Again, although it is inaccurateto say that Henry Ford himself invented the assembly line, it isaccurate to say that his sponsorship of its development was central toits explosive success in the 20th century.
Miscellaneous
Ford was the winner of the award ofCar Entrepreneur of the Century in 1999.
Henry Ford dressed up asSanta Claus and gave sleigh rides to children atChristmas time on his estate.[27]
Henry Ford was especially fond ofThomas Edison,and on Edison's deathbed, he demanded Edison's son catch his finalbreath in a test tube. The test tube can still be found today inHenry Ford Museum.[62]
In 1923, Ford's pastor, and head of his sociology department,Episcopal minister Samuel S. Marquis, claimed that Ford believed, or"once believed" inreincarnation.[63] Though it is unclear whether or how long Ford kept such a belief, theSan Francisco Examiner from August 26, 1928, published a quote which described Ford's beliefs:
I adopted the theory of Reincarnation when I was twenty six.Religion offered nothing to the point. Even work could not give mecomplete satisfaction. Work is futile if we cannot utilise theexperience we collect in one life in the next. When I discoveredReincarnation it was as if I had found a universal plan I realised thatthere was a chance to work out my ideas. Time was no longer limited. Iwas no longer a slave to the hands of the clock. Genius is experience.Some seem to think that it is a gift or talent, but it is the fruit oflong experience in many lives. Some are older souls than others, and sothey know more. The discovery of Reincarnation put my mind at ease. Ifyou preserve a record of this conversation, write it so that it putsmen’s minds at ease. I would like to communicate to others the calmnessthat the long view of life gives to us.
Popular culture
InAldous Huxley'sBrave New World, society is organized on 'Fordist' lines and the years are dated A.F. (After Ford). In the book, the expression 'My Ford' is used instead of 'My Lord'. Even human beings are produced via an assembly line, grown in large glass jars and provided in five models: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. As homage to the assembly line philosophy that so defined the mass-culture society of Brave New World, native individuals make the "sign of the T" instead of the "sign of the cross."
Ford is a character in several historical fiction books, notablyE. L. Doctorow'sRagtime, andRichard Powers' novel Three Farmers on the Way to a Dance.
In the 2005 novelThe Plot Against America,Philip Roth imagines Ford as Secretary of Interior in an imaginary Lindbergh administration.
Ford, his family, and his company were the subjects of a 1986 biography byRobert Lacey entitledFord: The Men and the Machine. The book was adapted in 1987 into a film starringCliff Robertson andMichael Ironside.
Henry Ford appears as a Great Builder in the 2008 strategyvideo gameCivilization Revolution.[64]
Honors
In December 1999 Ford was among 18 included inGallup's List of Widely Admired People of the 20th Century, from a poll conducted of the American people.
See also
Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad
Dodge v. Ford Motor Company
Edison and Ford Winter Estates
Fair Lane
Ford Family Tree
Fordlândia
List of people on the cover of Time Magazine: 1920s
List of most wealthy historical figures
William B. Mayo
Notes
^www.hfmgv.org The Henry Ford Museum: The Life of Henry Ford
^ Ford, My Life and Work, 22–24; Nevins and Hill, Ford TMC, 58.
^ Evans, Harold "They Made America" Little, Brown and Company. New York
^ Ford, My Life and Work, 24; Edward A. Guest "Henry Ford Talks About His Mother," American Magazine, July, 1923, 11–15, 116–120.
^ "Widow of Automobile Pioneer, Victim of Coronary Occlusion, Survived Him Three Years".Associated Press. September 29, 1950, Friday. "Friday, Sept. 29 (Associated Press) Mrs. Clara Bryant Ford, 84 year-old widow of Henry Ford, died at 2 A. M. today in Henry Ford Hospital. A family spokesman said her death was the result of an acute coronary occlusion."
^ "Edsel Ford Dies in Detroit at 49. Motor Company President, the Only Son of Its Founder, Had Long Been Ill.".Associated Press. May 26, 1943, Wednesday. "Edsel Ford, 49-year-old president of the Ford Motor Company, died this morning at his home atGrosse Pointe Shores following an illness of six weeks."
^The Showroom of Automotive History: 1896 Quadricycle
^ Ford R. Bryan,The Birth of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford Heritage Association, retrieved December 13, 2007.
^abBryan
^abcdBryan
^abBryan
^ Lewis 1976, pp 41–59
^ Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther (1922).My Life and Work. Doubleday. p. 72.http://books.google.com/books?id=4K82efXzn10C&pg=PA72&dq=%22My+Life+and+Work%22+%22it+is+black%22.
^ Watts, pp 243–48
^ Ford and Crowther 1922:126.
^ Samuel CrowtherHenry Ford: Why I Favor Five Days' Work With Six Days' Pay World's Work, October 1926 pp. 613–616
^ Ford and Crowther 1922:129–130.
^ Ford and Crowther 1922:126–130.
^ Ford and Crowther 1922:130.
^Fordlandia, Michigan History Magazine
Alexander said Henry Ford balked at building a Catholic church at Fordlandia—even though Catholicism was the predominant Christian religion in Brazil. The Catholic chapel was erected right away at Belterra.]
^ Ford and Crowther 1922:253–266.
^ Harris, J: Henry Ford, pages 91-92. Moffa Press, 1984.
^Sorensen 1956, p. 261.
^Sorensen 1956, p. 266–272.
^ Larry Lankton (November – December 1991).From Autos to ArmamentsMichigan History Magazine. Retrieved on April 2, 2007.
^ Jenny Nolan (compiled).Willow Run and the Arsenal of Democracy The Detroit News. Retrieved on April 2, 2007.
^ab Henry Ford, Biography (March 25, 1999). A&E Television.
^ Michigan History, January/February 1993
^ Marquis, Rev. Samuel S. (Episcopalian), with introduction by David Lewis. (2007/[1923]). Henry Ford: An Interpretation. Wayne State University Press
^RandomHouse.ca | Books | King Henry by Douglas Galbraith
^ Banham, Russ. (2002) The Ford Century. Tehabi Books.ISBN 1-887656-88-X, p. 44.
^abcde "Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration".Washington Post: pp. A01. 1998-11-30.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
^Sorensen 1956, p. 286, 292–298, 333.
^abSorensen 1956, p. 324–333.
^ Glock, Charles Y. and Quinley, Harold E. (1983). Anti-Semitism in America. Transaction Publishers.ISBN 0-87855-940-X, p. 168.
^ Watts page xi.
^ The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich, by Max Wallace (Macmillan, 2004), pp.50-54,ISBN 0312335318. Years later, in 1977, Winifred claimed that Ford had told her that he had helped finance Hitler. This, however, is the only credible evidence that Ford made a contribution. The company itself has always denied that any contribution was made and no documentary evidence has ever been found. Ibid p. 54. See also Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate, by Neil Baldwin (PublicAffairs, 2002), pp. 185-189,ISBN 1586481630.
^ Ford, Henry (2003). The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem. Kessinger Publishing.ISBN 0-7661-7829-3, p. 61.
^ Watts pp x, 376–387; Lewis (1976) pp 135–59.
^ab Wallace, p. 30.
^ Lewis, (1976) pp. 140–156; Baldwin p 220–221.
^ Barkun, Michael (1996). Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. UNC Press.ISBN 0-8078-4638-4, p. 35.
^ Blakeslee, Spencer (2000). The Death of American Antisemitism. Praeger/Greenwood.ISBN 0-275-96508-2, p. 83.
^abc Lewis, David I. (1976). The Public Image of Henry Ford: An American Folk Hero and His Company. Wayne State University Press. , pp. 146–154.
^ Farber, David R. (2002). Sloan Rules: Alfred P. Sloan and the Triumph of General Motors. University of Chicago Press,ISBN 0-226-23804-0, p. 228.
^ Lacey, Robert (1987). Ford: Des Hommes et des Machines, Libre Expression editor,ISBN 2-89111-335-7, p. 140.
^ Watts 236–40
^ Wilkins
^KGB Deep Background: Reference Detail
^ Nolan p. 31.
^ Nolan, p. 31.
^ Ford and Crowther 1922:242–244.
^ Ford and Crowther 1922:50.
^Sorensen 1956, p. 266,271–272,310–314.
^Sorensen 1956, p. 325–326.
^ "Leader in Production Founded Vast Empire in Motors in 1903. He had Retired in 1945. Began Company With Capital of $28,000 Invested by His Friends and Neighbors. Henry Ford Is Dead. Founder of Vast Automotive Empire and Leader in Mass Production.".Associated Press. April 8, 1947, Tuesday. "Henry Ford, noted automotive pioneer, died at 11:40 tonight at the age of 83. He had retired a little more than a year and a half ago from active direction of the great industrial empire he founded in 1903."
^ Ford and Crowther 1922:18,65–67.
^ Lewis 1995.
^ab Ford and Crowther 1922:281.
^ Ford and Crowther 1922:275–276.
^Ford and Crowther 1922:25.
^Exquisite Corpse
^ Marquis, Samuel S. ([1923]/2007). Henry Ford: An Interpretation. Wayne State University Press.
^Civilization Revolution: Great People "CivFanatics" Retrieved on 4th September 2009
References
Memoirs by Ford Motor Company principals
Ford, Henry; with Crowther, Samuel (1922),My Life and Work, Garden City, New York, USA: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc,http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/7213 . Various republications, includingISBN 9781406500189. Original is public domain in U.S.
Ford, Henry; with Crowther, Samuel (1926), Today and Tomorrow, Garden City, New York, USA: Doubleday, Page & Company .Co-edition, 1926, London, William Heinemann. Various republications, includingISBN 0-915299-36-4.
Ford, Henry; with Crowther, Samuel (1930), Moving Forward, Garden City, New York, USA: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc . Co-edition, 1931, London, William Heinemann.
Ford, Henry; with Crowther, Samuel (1930), Edison as I Know Him, New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation . Apparent co-edition, 1930, as My Friend Mr. Edison, London, Ernest Benn. Republished as Edison as I Knew Him by American Thought and Action, San Diego, 1966, OCLC 3456201. Republished as Edison as I Know Him by Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2007,ISBN 9781432561581.
Bennett, Harry; with Marcus, Paul (1951), We Never Called Him Henry, New York: Fawcett Publications,LCCN51-036122 .
Sorensen, Charles E.; with Williamson, Samuel T. (1956), My Forty Years with Ford, New York: Norton,LCCN56-010854 . Various republications, includingISBN 9780814332795.
Biographies
Bak, Richard (2003). Henry and Edsel: The Creation of the Ford Empire. WileyISBN 0471234877
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. (1976). The Public Image of Henry Ford: An American Folk Hero and His Company. Wayne State University Press.
Nevins, Allan; Frank Ernest Hill (1954). Ford: The Times, The Man, The Company. New York: Charles Scribners' Sons.
Nevins, Allan; Frank Ernest Hill (1957). Ford: Expansion and Challenge, 1915–1933. New York: Charles Scribners' Sons.
Nevins, Allan; Frank Ernest Hill (1962). Ford: Decline and Rebirth, 1933–1962. New York: Charles Scribners' Sons.
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 2-914369-06-9 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.doi:10.1086/298165.
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
Further reading
Baldwin, Neil; Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate; PublicAffairs, 2000;ISBN 1-58648-163-0
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 The Nazi – American Money Plot 1933–1949 ; Delacorte Press 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 0-8128-2701-5
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 – 17online
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 Führer" The Nation 270(3): 11 – 16
Wallace, MaxThe American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh and the Rise of the Third Reich;ISBN 0-312-33531-8
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
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:Henry Ford
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:Henry Ford
Automobile History Online – Henry Ford history and photos
Full text ofMy Life and Work fromProject Gutenberg
Commentary on Ford's My Life and Work
Notable quotations and speech excerpts
Timeline
Quotes
Nevins and Hill tell the story of Peace Ship in American Heritage
College student reports on the 1915 Peace Ship expedition
The Henry Ford Heritage Association
American Corporations and Hitler
The Washington Post reports on Ford and General Motors response to alleged collaboration with Nazi Germany
Power, Ignorance, and Anti-Semitism: Henry Ford and His War on Jews by Jonathan R. Logsdon, Hanover Historical Review 1999
Review of "Henry Ford and The Jews" by Neil Baldwin
Review of "The People's Tycoon" by Steven Watts. Henry Ford may have regretted his innovation (SF Chronicle)
Business positions
Preceded by
n/aChief Executive Officer of theFord Motor Company
1903–1919 Succeeded by
Edsel Ford
Preceded by
Edsel FordChief Executive Officer of theFord Motor Company
1943–1945[1] Succeeded by
Henry Ford II
References
^ "Henry Ford".http://www.ford.com/en/heritage/fordFamily/default.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-14. "Henry Ford resigned for the second time at the end of World War II. His eldest grandson, Henry Ford II, became president on Sept. 21, 1945. Even as Henry Ford II drove the industry's first postwar car off the assembly line, he was making plans to reorganize and decentralize the company to resume its prewar position as a major force in a fiercely competitive auto industry. Henry Ford II provided strong leadership for Ford Motor Company from the postwar era into the 1980s. He was president from 1945 until 1960 and chief executive officer from 1945 until 1979. He was chairman of the board of directors from 1960 until 1980, and remained as chairman of the finance committee from 1980 until his death in 1987."
Persondata
NAME Ford, Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION founder of theFord Motor Company and father of modernassembly lines used inmass production
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTHGreenfield Township,Detroit, Michigan,U.S.
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 1947
PLACE OF DEATHFair Lane,Dearborn, Michigan,U.S.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford"
Categories:1863 births |1947 deaths |American Episcopalians |19th-century American Episcopalians |20th-century American Episcopalians |American businesspeople |American founders of automobile manufacturers |Automotive pioneers |Antisemitism |Belgian Americans |Ford family |Ford executives |History of the United States (1865–1918) |International Motorsports Hall of Fame |Irish Americans |Land speed record personalities |National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees |People from Dearborn, Michigan |Propagandists |Protocols of the Elders of Zion |Racism |United States presidential candidates, 1916 |Deaths from cerebral hemorrhage