Henry Ford

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. He was a prolific inventor and was awarded 161 U.S. patents. As sole owner of the Ford 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 inexpensive automobiles using the assembly line which could finish a car in 98 minutes, coupled with high wages for his workers—notably the $5.00 per day pay scale adopted in 1914. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. Ford did not believe in accountants; he amassed one of the world's largest fortunes without ever having his company audited. The company's first audit occurred after Henry Ford II became head of the company. Henry Ford's intense commitment to lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put a dealership in every city in North America, and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation but arranged for his family to control the company permanently.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Early years
* 2 Ford Motor Company
o 2.1 Model T
o 2.2 "Model A" and Ford's later career
o 2.3 Labor philosophy
* 3 Ford Airplane Company
o 3.1 Willow Run
* 4 Pacifism
* 5 Dearborn Independent
* 6 International business
* 7 Racing
* 8 Death
* 9 Sidelights
* 10 Popular culture
* 11 Honors
* 12 See also
* 13 Notes
* 14 References
o 14.1 Biographies
o 14.2 Specialized studies
o 14.3 Further reading
* 15 External links

[edit] Early years
Henry Ford, 1888
Henry Ford, 1888

Ford was born on July 30th, 1863, on a farm next to a rural town west of Detroit, Michigan (this area is now part of Dearborn, Michigan). His father, William Ford (1826-1905), was born in County Cork, Ireland. His mother, Mary Litogot Ford (1839-1876), was born in Michigan; she was the youngest child of Belgian immigrants; her parents died when Mary was a child and she was adopted by neighbours, the O'Herns. Henry Ford's siblings include: Margaret Ford (1867-1868); Jane Ford (c. 1868-1945); William Ford (1871-1917) and Robert Ford (1873-1934).

Henry took this passion about mechanics into his home. His father had given him a pocket watch in his early teens. At fifteen, he had a reputation as a watch repairman, having dismantled and reassembled timepieces of friends and neighbors dozens of times.[1]

His mother died in 1876, which came as a blow that devastated young Henry. His father expected Henry to eventually take over the family farm, but Henry despised farm work. With his mother dead, little remained to keep him on the farm. He later said to his father, "I never had any particular love for the farm—it was the mother on the farm I loved."[2]

In 1879, he left home for the nearby city of Detroit, Michigan, to work as an apprentice machinist, first with James F. Flower & Bros., and later with the Detroit Dry Dock Co. In 1882, he returned to Dearborn to work on the family farm and became adept at operating the Westinghouse portable steam engine. He was later hired by Westinghouse company to service their steam engines.

He married Clara Ala Bryant (c1865-1950) in 1888, and Ford supported himself by farming and running a sawmill. [3] They had a single child: Edsel Bryant Ford (1893-1943 and had adopted one from china. [4]

In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company, and after his promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893, he had enough time and money to devote attention to his personal experiments on gasoline engines. These experiments culminated in 1896 with the completion of his own self-propelled vehicle named the Quadricycle, which he test-drove on June 4. After various test-drives, Henry Ford brainstormed ways to improve the Quadricycle.[5]

[edit] Ford Motor Company

At age 40, Ford, with 11 other investors and $28,000 in capital, incorporated the Ford Motor Company in 1903. In a newly-designed car, Ford gave an exhibition on the ice of Lake St. Clair, driving one mile (1.6 km) in 39.4 seconds, setting a new land speed record at 91.3 miles per hour (147.0 km/h). Convinced by this success, the race driver Barney Oldfield, who named this new Ford model "999" in honor of a racing locomotive of the day, took the car around the country, making the Ford brand known throughout the United States. Ford was also one of the early backers of the Indianapolis 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. The move proved extremely profitable; instead of constant turnover 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." The company's use of vertical integration also proved successful when Ford built a gigantic factory that shipped in raw materials and shipped out finished automobiles.

[edit] Model T

The Model T was introduced on October 1, 1908. It had many important innovations—such as the steering wheel on the left, which every other company soon copied. The entire engine and transmission were enclosed; the 4 cylinders were cast in a solid block; the suspension used two semi-elliptic springs. The car was very simple to drive, and—more importantly—easy and cheap to repair. It was so cheap at $825 in 1908 (the price fell every year) that by the 1920s a majority of American drivers learned to drive on the Model T, leaving fond memories for millions. Ford created a massive publicity machine in Detroit to ensure every newspaper carried stories and ads about the new product. Ford's network of local dealers made the car ubiquitous in virtually every city in North America. As independent dealers, the franchises grew rich and publicized not just the Ford but the very concept of automobiling; local motor clubs sprang up to help new drivers and to explore the countryside. Ford was always eager to sell to farmers, who looked on the vehicle as a commercial device to help their business. Sales skyrocketed—several years posted 100% gains on the previous year. Always on the hunt for more efficiency and lower costs, in 1913 Ford introduced the moving assembly belts into his plants, which enabled an enormous increase in production. Although Henry Ford is often credited with the idea, contemporary sources indicate that the concept and its development came from employees Clarence Avery, Peter E. Martin, Charles E. Sorensen, and C.H. Wills. (See Piquette Plant) Sales passed 250,000 in 1914. By 1916, as the price dropped to $360 for the basic touring car, sales reached 472,000.[6]
Ford Assembly Line, 1913
Ford Assembly Line, 1913

By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model T's. As Ford wrote in his autobiography, "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black".[7] Until the development of the assembly line which mandated black because of its quicker drying time, Model T's were available in other colors including red. The design was fervently promoted and defended by Henry Ford, and production continued as late as 1927; the final total production was 15,007,034. This was a record which stood for the next 45 years.

In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson personally asked Ford to run for the United States Senate from Michigan as a Democrat. Although the nation was at war, Ford ran as a peace candidate and a strong supporter of the proposed League of Nations.[8] In December 1918, Henry Ford turned the presidency of Ford Motor Company over to his son Edsel Ford. Henry, however, retained final decision authority and sometimes reversed his son. Henry and Edsel purchased all remaining stock from other investors, thus giving the family sole ownership of the company.

By the mid-1920s, sales of the Model T began to decline due to rising competition. Other auto makers offered payment plans through which consumers could buy their cars, which usually included more modern mechanical features and styling not available with the Model T. Despite urgings from Edsel, Henry steadfastly refused to incorporate new features into the Model T or to form a customer credit plan.

[edit] "Model A" and Ford's later career

By 1926, flagging sales of the Model T finally convinced Henry to make a new model car. Henry pursued the project with a great deal of technical expertise in design of the engine, chassis, and other mechanical necessities, while leaving the body design to his son. Edsel also managed to prevail over his father's initial objections in the inclusion of a sliding-shift transmission. The result was the successful Ford Model A, introduced in December 1927 and produced through 1931, with a total output of over four million automobiles. Subsequently, the company adopted an annual model change system similar to that in use by automakers today. Not until the 1930s did Ford overcome his objection to finance companies, and the Ford-owned Universal Credit Corporation became a major car financing operation.
Time Magazine, January 14, 1935
Time Magazine, January 14, 1935

[edit] Labor philosophy

Henry Ford was a pioneer of "welfare capitalism" designed to improve the lot of his workers and especially to reduce the heavy turnover that had many departments hiring 300 men per year to fill 100 slots. Efficiency meant hiring and keeping the best workers. On January 5, 1914, Ford announced his five-dollar per day program. The revolutionary program called for a reduction in length of the workday from 9 to 8 hours, a 5 day work week, and a raise in minimum daily pay from $2.34 to $5 for qualifying workers.[9]

Ford had been criticized by Wall Street for starting the 40 hour work week and a minimum wage. He proved, however, that paying people more would enable Ford workers to afford the cars they were producing and therefore be good for the economy. Ford labeled the increased compensation as profit-sharing rather than wages. The wage was offered to men over age 22, who had worked at the company for 6 months or more, and, importantly, conducted their lives in a manner of which Ford's "Sociological Department" approved. They frowned on heavy drinking and gambling. The Sociological Department used 150 investigators and support staff to maintain employee standards; a large percentage of workers were able to qualify for the profit-sharing.

Ford was adamantly against labor unions in his plants. To forestall union activity, he promoted Harry Bennett, a former Navy boxer, to be the head of the Service Department. Bennett employed various intimidation tactics to squash union organizing. The most famous incident, in 1937, was a bloody brawl between company security men and organizers that became known as The Battle of the Overpass.

Ford was the last Detroit automaker to recognize the United Auto Workers union (UAW). A sit-down strike by the UAW union in April 1941 closed the River Rouge Plant. Under pressure from Edsel and his wife, Clara, Henry Ford finally agreed to collective bargaining at Ford plants, and the first contract with the UAW was signed in June 1941.

[edit] Ford Airplane Company

Ford, like other automobile companies, entered the aviation business during World War I, building Liberty engines. After the war, it returned to auto manufacturing until 1925, when Henry Ford acquired the Stout Metal Airplane Company.
Ford 4-AT-F (EC-RRA) de L.A.P.E.
Ford 4-AT-F (EC-RRA) de L.A.P.E.

Ford's most successful aircraft was the Ford 4AT Trimotor—called the “Tin Goose” because of its corrugated metal construction. It used a new alloy called Alclad that combined the corrosion resistance of aluminum with the strength of duralumin. The plane was similar to Fokker's V.VII-3m, and some say that Ford's engineers surreptitiously measured the Fokker plane and then copied it. The Trimotor first flew on June 11, 1926, and was the first successful U.S. passenger airliner, accommodating about 12 passengers in a rather uncomfortable fashion. Several variants were also used by the U.S. Army. About 200 Trimotors were built before it was discontinued in 1933, when the Ford Airplane Division shut down because of poor sales during the Great Depression.

[edit] Willow Run

Henry Ford has been honored by the Smithsonian Institution for changing the aviation industry. President Franklin Roosevelt referred to Detroit as the "Arsenal of Democracy." The Ford Motor Company played a pivotal role in the Allied victory during World War I and World War II.[10] With Europe under siege, Henry Ford's genius turned to mass production for the war effort. Specifically, Ford examined the B-24 Liberator bomber, still the most produced Allied bomber in history, which quickly shifted the balance of power. Before Ford, and under optimal conditions, the aviation industry could produce one Consolidated Aircraft B-24 Bomber a day at an aircraft plant. Ford showed the world how to produce one B-24 an hour at a peak of 600 per month in 24 hour shifts. Ford's Willow Run factory broke ground in the April 1941. At the time, it was the largest assembly plant in the world, with over 3,500,000 square feet (330,000 m²).

Edsel Ford, under stress, died in the spring of 1943 of stomach cancer prompting Henry Ford to re-assume day-to-day control of the Ford Motor Company. Mass production of the B-24 began by August 1943. Many pilots slept on cots waiting for takeoff as the B-24 rolled off the assembly line at Ford's Willow Run facility.[11]

[edit] Pacifism

Henry Ford was an Episcopalian Christian who opposed war which he thought was a waste of time.[12][13][14] Ford became highly critical of those who he felt financed war and seemed to do whatever he could to stop them. Ford felt that time was better spent making things. In 1915, Jewish pacifist Rosika Schwimmer had gained the favor of Henry Ford who agreed to fund a peace ship to Europe, where World War I was raging, for himself and about 170 other prominent peace leaders. Ford's Episcopalian pastor, Reverend Samuel S. Marquis, accompanied him on the mission. Marquis also headed Ford's Sociology Department from 1913 to 1921. Ford talked to President Wilson about the mission but had no government support. His group went to neutral Sweden and the Netherlands to meet with peace activists there. As a target of much ridicule, he left the ship as soon as it reached Sweden.

An article G. K. Chesterton wrote for the December 12, 1916, issue of Illustrated London News, shows why Ford's effort was ridiculed. Referring to Ford as "the celebrated American comedian," Chesterton noted that Ford had been quoted claiming, "I believe that the sinking of the Lusitania was deliberately planned to get this country [America] into war. It was planned by the financiers of war." Chesterton expressed "difficulty in believing that bankers swim under the sea to cut holes in the bottoms of ships," and asked why, if what Ford said was true, Germany took responsibility for the sinking and "defended what it did not do." Mr Ford's efforts, he concluded, "queer the pitch" of "more plausible and presentable" pacifists.

On the other hand H.G. Wells, in "The Shape of Things to Come", devoted an entire chapter to the Ford Peace Ship, stating that "despite its failure, this effort to stop the war will be remembered when the generals and their battles and senseless slaughter are forgotten". Wells claimed that the American armaments industry and banks, who made enormous profits from selling munitions to the warring European nations, deliberately spread lies in order to cause the failure of Ford's peace efforts. He notes, however, that when the U.S. entered the war in 1917, Ford took part and made considerable profits from the sale of munitions.

The episode has recently been fictionalized by the British novelist Douglas Galbraith in his novel King Henry.[15]

[edit] Dearborn Independent
The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem. Articles from The Dearborn Independent, 1920
The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem. Articles from The 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 as a forgery during the Independent's publishing run by The Times of London. The American Jewish Historical Society describes the ideas presented in the magazine as "anti-immigrant, anti-labor, anti-liquor, and anti-Semitic." In February 1921, the New York World published an interview with Ford, in which he said "The only statement I care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on." During this period, Ford emerged as "a respected spokesman for right-wing extremism and religious prejudice," reaching around 700,000 readers through his newspaper.[16]

Along with the Protocols, anti-Jewish articles published by The Dearborn Independent were also released in the early 1920s as a set of four bound volumes, cumulatively titled The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem. Vincent Curcio writes of these publications that "they were widely distributed and had great influence, particularly in Nazi Germany, where no less a personage than Adolf Hitler read and admired them." Hitler, fascinated with automobiles, hung Ford's picture on the wall; Ford is the only American mentioned in Hitler's book. Steven Watts writes that Hitler "revered" Ford, proclaiming that "I shall do my best to put his theories into practice in Germany, and modeling the Volkswagen, the people's car, on the model T."[17]

Denounced by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the articles nevertheless explicitly condemned pogroms and violence against Jews (Volume 4, Chapter 80), preferring to blame incidents of mass violence on the Jews themselves.[18] None of this work was actually written by Ford, who wrote almost nothing according to trial testimony. Friends and business associates say they warned Ford about the contents of the Independent and that Ford probably never read them. (He claimed he only read the headlines.)[19] However, court testimony in a libel suit, brought by one of the targets of the newspaper, alleged that Ford did know about the contents of the Independent in advance of publication.[20]

A libel lawsuit brought by San Francisco lawyer and Jewish farm cooperative organizer Aaron Sapiro in response to anti-Semitic remarks led Ford to close the Independent in December 1927. News reports at the time quoted him as being shocked by the content and having been unaware of its nature. During the trial, the editor of Ford's "Own Page," William Cameron, testified that Ford had nothing to do with the editorials even though they were under his byline. Cameron testified at the libel trial that he never discussed the content of the pages or sent them to Ford for his approval.[21] Investigative journalist Max 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."[22]

Michael Barkun observed, "That Cameron would have continued to publish such controversial material without Ford's explicit instructions seemed unthinkable to those who knew both men. Mrs. Stanley Ruddiman, a Ford family intimate, remarked that 'I don't think Mr. Cameron ever wrote anything for publication without Mr. Ford's approval.'"[23] According to Spencer Blakeslee,
“ The ADL mobilized prominent Jews and non-Jews to publicly oppose Ford's message. They formed a coalition of Jewish groups for the same purpose and raised constant objections in the Detroit press. Before leaving his presidency early in 1921, Woodrow Wilson joined other leading Americans in a statement that rebuked Ford and others for their antisemitic campaign. A boycott against Ford products by Jews and liberal Christians also had an impact, and Ford shut down the paper in 1927, recanting his views in a public letter to Sigmund Livingston, ADL.[24] ”
Grand Cross of the German Eagle
Grand Cross of the German Eagle

In July 1938, prior to the outbreak of war, the German consul at Cleveland gave Ford, on his 75th birthday, the award of the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, the highest medal that Nazi Germany could bestow on a foreigner,[25] while James D. Mooney, vice-president of overseas operations for General Motors, received a similar medal, the Merit Cross of the German Eagle, First Class.[26]

Distribution of International Jew was halted in 1942, but extremist groups often recycle the material; it still appears on antisemitic and neo-Nazi websites.

Credible sources do report that in his private life he was in good terms with almost every Jew he happened to know personally. He was very surprised when Rabbi Leo Franklin returned the Model T he had offered him. When he started buying antiques he went to a Jewish merchant, and his personal butcher at his mansion was a Jew. He was in excellent terms with architect Albert Kahn. Another personality who was said to have been friendly with Ford is Detroit Judge Harry Keidan. When asked regarding this connection, Ford replied that Harry is only half-Jewish, which is inaccurate. Keidan was, in fact, an Orthodox Jew. Ford's factories employed at least 3,000 Jews. A close collaborator of Henry Ford during World War II reported that Henry, at the time being more than 80 years old, was shown a movie of the Nazi concentration camps. He was not able to cope with what he saw and had a heart attack.[27]

[edit] International business

Ford's philosophy was one of economic independence for the United States. His River Rouge Plant became the world's largest industrial complex, even able to produce its own steel. Ford's goal was to produce a vehicle from scratch without reliance on foreign trade. He believed in the global expansion of his company. He believed that international trade and cooperation led to international peace, and he used the assembly line process and production of the Model T to demonstrate it.[28] He opened Ford assembly plants in Britain and Canada in 1911, and soon became the biggest automotive producer in those countries. In 1912, Ford cooperated with Agnelli of Fiat to launch the first Italian automotive assembly plants. The first plants in Germany were built in the 1920s with the encouragement of Herbert Hoover and the Commerce Department, which agreed with Ford's theory that international trade was essential to world peace.[29] In the 1920s Ford also opened plants in Australia, India, and France, and by 1929, he had successful dealerships on six continents. Ford experimented with a commercial rubber plantation in the Amazon jungle called Fordlândia; it was one of the few failures. In 1929, Ford accepted Stalin's invitation to build a model plant (NNAZ, today GAZ) at Gorky, a city later renamed Nizhny Novgorod, and he sent American engineers and technicians to help set it up, including future labor leader Walter Reuther.
Edsel Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and Henry Ford pose in the Ford hangar during Lindbergh's August 1927 visit.
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-controlled American Trading Organization (AMTORG)[30] (as purchasing agent) was concluded for nine years and signed on May 31, 1929, by Ford, FMC vice-president Peter E. Martin, V. I. Mezhlauk, and the president of Amtorg, Saul G. Bron. The Ford Motor Company worked to conduct business in any nation 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
* Autolatina
* Mazda
* Volvo Cars since 1999
* Jaguar since 1990

By 1932, Ford was manufacturing one third of all the world’s automobiles.

Ford's image transfixed Europeans, especially the Germans, arousing the "fear of some, the infatuation of others, and the fascination among all".[31] Germans who discussed "Fordism" often believed that it represented something quintessentially American. They saw the size, tempo, standardization, and philosophy of production demonstrated at the Ford Works as a national service—an "American thing" that represented the culture of United States. Both supporters and critics insisted that Fordism epitomized American capitalist development, and that the auto industry was the key to understanding economic and social relations in the United States. As one German explained, "Automobiles have so completely changed the American's mode of life that today one can hardly imagine being without a car. It is difficult to remember what life was like before Mr. Ford began preaching his doctrine of salvation"[32] For many Germans, Henry Ford embodied the essence of successful Americanism.

[edit] Racing
Ford (standing) launched Barney Oldfield's career in 1902
Ford (standing) launched Barney Oldfield's career in 1902

Ford began his career as a race car driver and maintained his interest in the sport from 1901 to 1913. Ford entered stripped-down Model Ts in races, finishing first (although later disqualified) in an "ocean-to-ocean" (across the United States) race in 1909, and setting a one-mile (1.6 km) oval speed record at Detroit Fairgrounds in 1911 with driver Frank Kulick. In 1913, Ford attempted to enter a reworked Model T in the Indianapolis 500 but was told rules required the addition of another 1,000 pounds (450 kg) to the car before it could qualify. Ford dropped out of the race and soon thereafter dropped out of racing permanently, citing dissatisfaction with the sport's rules and the demands on his time by the booming production of the Model Ts.

He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1996.

[edit] Death

Ford suffered an initial heart attack in 1938, after which he turned over the running of his company to Edsel. Edsel's 1943 death brought Henry Ford out of retirement. In ill health, he ceded the presidency to his grandson Henry Ford II in September 1945 and went into retirement. He died in 1947 of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 83 in Fair Lane, his Dearborn estate, and he is buried in the Ford Cemetery in Detroit. [33]

[edit] Sidelights

Henry Ford long had an interest in plastics developed from agricultural products, especially soybeans. He cultivated a relationship with George Washington Carver for this purpose. Soybean-based plastics were used in Ford automobiles throughout the 1930s in plastic parts such as car horns, in paint, etc. This project culminated in 1942, when Ford patented an automobile made almost entirely of plastic, attached to a tubular welded frame. It weighed 30% less than a steel car and was said to be able to withstand blows ten times greater than could steel. Furthermore, it ran on grain alcohol (ethanol) instead of gasoline. The design never caught on.[34]

Ford was instrumental in developing charcoal briquets, under the brand name "Kingsford". His brother in law, E.G. Kingsford, used wood scraps from the Ford factory to make the briquets.

Ford maintained a vacation residence (known as the "Ford Plantation") in Richmond Hill, Georgia. He contributed substantially to the community, building a chapel and schoolhouse and employing numerous local residents.

Ford had an interest in "Americana". In the 1920s, Ford began work to turn Sudbury, Massachusetts, into a themed historical village. He moved the schoolhouse supposedly referred to in the nursery rhyme, Mary had a little lamb, from Sterling, Massachusetts, and purchased the historical Wayside Inn. This plan never saw fruition, but Ford repeated it with the creation of Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. It may have inspired the creation of Old Sturbridge Village as well. About the same time, he began collecting materials for his museum, which had a theme of practical technology. It was opened in 1929 as the Edison Institute and, although greatly modernized, remains open today.

Henry Ford is sometimes credited with the invention of the automobile, generally attributed to Karl Benz, and the assembly line, invented by Ransom E. Olds. Ford's employees did develop the first moving assembly line based on conveyor belts.

Ford was the winner of the award of Car Entrepreneur of the Century in 1999.

Ford held a strong dislike for activities which included touching. This belief led him to found many square-dancing clubs.

An Episcopalian, Henry Ford dressed up as Santa Claus and gave sleigh rides to children at Christmas time on his estate.[35]

Henry Ford was especially fond of Thomas Edison, and on Edison's deathbed, he demanded Edison's son catch his final breath in a test tube. The test tube can still be found today in Henry Ford Museum.[36]

In 1923, Ford's pastor, and head of his Sociology Department, the Episcopal minister Samuel S. Marquis, claimed that Ford believed, or "once believed" in reincarnation.[37] Though it is unclear whether or how long Ford kept such a belief, the San 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 me complete satisfaction. Work is futile if we cannot utilise the experience we collect in one life in the next. When I discovered Reincarnation it was as if I had found a universal plan I realised that there was a chance to work out my ideas. Time was no longer limited. I was 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 of long experience in many lives. Some are older souls than others, and so they know more. The discovery of Reincarnation put my mind at ease. If you preserve a record of this conversation, write it so that it puts men’s minds at ease. I would like to communicate to others the calmness that the long view of life gives to us. ”

[edit] Popular culture

* In Aldous Huxley's Brave 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 were produced via an assembly line in large glass jars and 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, notably E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime, and Richard Powers' novel Three Farmers on the Way to a Dance.
* In the 2005 novel The 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 by Roberty Lacey entitled Ford: The Man and the Machine. The book was adapted in 1987 into a film starring Cliff Robertson and Michael Ironside.

[edit] Honors

* In December 1999 Ford was among 18 included in Gallup's List of Widely Admired People of the 20th Century, from a poll conducted of the American people.

[edit] See also

* Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad
* Edison and Ford Winter Estates
* Fair Lane
* Fordlândia
* William B. Mayo
* Dodge v. Ford Motor Company
* Ford Family Tree
* List of most wealthy historical figures

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Ford, My Life and Work, 22-24; Nevins and Hill, Ford TMC, 58.
2. ^ Ford, My Life and Work, 24; Edward A. Guest "Henry Ford Talks About His Mother," American Magazine, July, 1923, 11-15, 116-120.
3. ^ "Widow of Automobile Pioneer, Victim of Coronary Occlusion, Survived Him Three Years", Associated Press, September 29, 1950, Friday. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. “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.”
4. ^ "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. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. “Edsel Ford, 49-year-old president of the Ford Motor Company, died this morning at his home at Grosse Pointe Shores following an illness of six weeks.”
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ Lewis 1976, pp 41-59
7. ^ Ford, My Life and Work, Chapter IV
8. ^ Watts, pp 243-48
9. ^ Samuel Crowther Henry Ford: Why I Favor Five Days' Work With Six Days' Pay World's Work, October 1926 pp. 613-616
10. ^ Larry Lankton (November - December 1991). From Autos to ArmamentsMichigan History Magazine. Retrieved on April 2, 2007.
11. ^ Jenny Nolan (compiled).Willow Run and the Arsenal of Democracy The Detroit News. Retrieved on April 2, 2007.
12. ^ Henry Ford, Biography (March 25, 1999). A&E Television.
13. ^ Michigan History, January/February 1993
14. ^ Marquis, Rev. Samuel S. (Episcopalian), with introduction by David Lewis. (2007/[1923]). Henry Ford: An Interpretation. Wayne State University Press
15. ^ http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780436206283
16. ^ Glock, Charles Y. and Quinley, Harold E. (1983). Anti-Semitism in America. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 0-87855-940-X, p. 168.
17. ^ Watts page xi.
18. ^ Ford, Henry (2003). The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-7829-3, p. 61.
19. ^ Watts pp x, 376-387; Lewis (1976) pp 135-59.
20. ^ Wallace, p. 30.
21. ^ Lewis, (1976) pp. 140-156; Baldwin p 220-221.
22. ^ Wallace, p. 30.
23. ^ Barkun, Michael (1996). Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. UNC Press. ISBN 0-8078-4638-4, p. 35.
24. ^ Blakeslee, Spencer (2000). The Death of American Antisemitism. Praeger/Greenwood. ISBN 0-275-96508-2, p. 83.
25. ^ Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration, Washington Post, Monday, November 30, 1998; Page A01.
26. ^ 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.
27. ^ Lacey, Robert (1987). Ford: Des Hommes et des Machines, Libre Expression editor, ISBN 2-89111-335-7, p. 140.
28. ^ Watts 236-40
29. ^ Wilkins
30. ^ [2]
31. ^ Nolan p 31
32. ^ Nolan, p 31
33. ^ "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. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. “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.”
34. ^ Lewis 1995
35. ^ Henry Ford, Biography (March 25, 1999). A&E Television.
36. ^ [3]
37. ^ Marquis, Samuel S. ([1923]/2007). Henry Ford: An Interpretation. Wayne State University Press.
38. ^ Henry Ford. Retrieved on 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.”

[edit] References

* Ford, Henry and Crowther, Samuel; My Life and Work, 1922
* Ford, Henry and Crowther, Samuel; Today and Tomorrow, 1926
* Ford, Henry and Crowther, Samuel; Moving Forward, 1930
* Edison as I knew him. (1930)
* Bennett, Harry, as told to Paul Marcus. Ford: We Never Called Him Henry, 1951
* Sorensen, Charles E., with Samuel T. Williamson. My Forty Years with Ford, 1956; ISBN 0-915299-36-4

[edit] Biographies

* Bak, Richard (2003). Henry and Edsel: The Creation of the Ford Empire. Wiley ISBN 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. The Public Image of Henry Ford: An American Folk Hero and His Company Wayne State U Press (1976),
* 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)

[edit] 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.
* 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

[edit] 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 - 17 online
* Ribuffo, Leo P. "Henry Ford and the International Jew" American Jewish History 1980 69(4): 437-477.
* Sapiro, Aaron L. "A Retrospective View of the Aaron Sapiro-Henry Ford Case" Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly 1982 15(1): 79-84.
* Silverstein, K. (2000) "Ford and the Fuhrer" The Nation 270(3): 11 - 16
* Wallace, Max The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich; ISBN 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.

[edit] 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 of My Life and Work from Project Gutenberg
* 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 Corporate Support for Nazis
* 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
* Listen to “The Terror of the Machine” by Henry Ford Free mp3 audio download from ThoughtAudio.com
* Review of "The People's Tycoon" by Steven Watts. Henry Ford may have regretted his innovation (SF Chronicle)