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Friends,
The age-old question—Ford or Chevy? It has broken relationships and started wars in families. Facebook pages have been set up for supporters. Many people have stayed up all night waiting for the latest and greatest vehicles to be released. As American icons go, it is a way of life, a tribute to the hardworking citizens of this country, on par with Christmas and apple pie.
Besides the fact that there are about a billion car lots with his name all over the world, what do you really know about Henry Ford?
Background
In 1893, at the age of twenty, he was promoted to Chief Engineer of Detroit’s Thomas Edison Illumination Company. In six years, Edison convinced him to pursue his dream of building a gasoline-powered automobile.
Ford is the co-inventor of Kingsford charcoal briquettes. His brother-in-law, E.G. Kingsford, suggested beginning a charcoal plant when Ford complained that oak wood scraps piled up on his Model-T production lines. As a tribute to his brother-in-law, Ford named the product Kingsford Charcoal, which remains the leading producer of charcoal briquettes today.
Indiana Jones is flying a Ford Tri-Motor airplane produced by the Ford Airplane Company between 1928 and 1933 in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
At 15, he built his first steam-powered locomotive.
Truth vs. Reality
Now, let’s take a closer look at the History.com facts about Henry Ford.
Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. It is now generally accepted that Karl Benz of Germany was the recipient of that honor in 1885/1886. However, Leonardo Da Vinci was actually working on designs and models related to transportation vehicles in the 15th century. Ford deserves credit, however, for making cars affordable for the average American.
According to Ford’s interview with the Detroit Times in 1928, he attributed his inspiration to a ‘Master Mind’:
Somewhere is a Master Mind sending brain wave messages to us. There is a Great Spirit. I never did anything by my own volition. I was pushed by invisible forces within and without me.
Henry Ford
There is some truth to the belief that Henry Ford invented mass production methods, but it is not entirely accurate. An American inventor and automobile maker, Ransom Eli Olds, is credited with this honor for creating the three-horsepower, curved-dash Oldsmobile. It was the first vehicle to achieve commercial success using the assembly system, which laid the foundation for modern mass production.
White Elephant in the Room
So, let’s start by addressing the white elephant in the room since, honestly, this is why you are still here! What makes Ford such a villain in the eyes of so many people? What could the legendary American do to have people spitting at the mere mention of his name?
Fordlandia welcomes you. Take a moment to visualize two and a half million acres of virgin rainforest in the heart of the Amazon. Untouched natural beauty, 1,000-year-old trees, the song of colorful birds, and the hissing of dangerous animals surround us. A paradise!
It won’t last long!
A Dream Leads To Devastation.
Ford purchased the land for $125,000 and transformed it as soon as the check cleared. Ford aimed to create a modern utopia inspired by small-town America.
Why? Were there no small towns in America at the time?
It was said that Ford believed himself to be a ‘prophet of proper living.’ Now, when I say he built a town, I really mean Ford built a city! On-site homes were provided for the workers’ families. There were 8-hour shifts for the workers, a school, a golf course, a hospital, a cemetery, and a swimming pool.
Sounds terrific, doesn’t it?
It depends on who you ask. Besides the strict rules, there was a meatless diet modeled after Ford’s vegetarian eating habits; alcohol was prohibited (as was prostitution); members of the community were required to attend poetry readings and English-only signing sessions; and only square dancing was permitted.
The utopia was briefly interrupted when the dining hall switched from wait service to self-service. Locals were furious! Fordlandia was devastated by a riot over food shortages, but it soon quieted, leaving only a simmer of rage.
Despite being a tipping point, this is not the reason Fordlandia failed. It was because Rubber trees are native to Brazil, and Ford thought they could be grown like apple tree fields. Instead of hiring an expert, he decided to replant, regrow, and reproduce a tree that had never been seen in America before.
It didn’t work out for him.
A Massive Failure
Despite Ford’s millions of dollars invested and, at one point, even relocating the entire operation upstream, the project ultimately failed. The creation of synthetic rubber dealt the final blow.
How did Ford respond?
After selling the whole thing for $250,000, he just left. Because Ford didn’t clean up his mess, the buildings remain. Almost all of them have caved in and become rusted. A hotel in the area will let you tour the ruins if you are brave. However, I find it offensive that you have a multimillion-dollar franchise yet can’t clean up after yourself.
One thing that really made me doubt the self-proclaimed humanitarian was his anti-Semitism.
Newspaperman
Henry Ford acquired The Dearborn Independent, his hometown newspaper, in 1918. A year and a half later, he published a series of articles alleging an enormous Jewish conspiracy was spreading across the country.
The series had 91 issues. Approximately half a million copies of “The International Jew” were distributed to Ford’s dealerships and reader networks. Despite the rhetoric’s commonality in both content and scope, Henry Ford attempted to legitimize philosophies that might not otherwise have had authority.
The circulation of anti-Semitic scurrilous material was not uncommon in small-town newspapers. However, what makes The Dearborn Independent stand out is that it was also distributed through Ford Motor dealerships.
It was not uncommon for dealerships to place copies of the newspaper in the car, so that as you drove off with your Model T, it would be on the seat next to you.
By being printed by Ford, the Dearborn Independent got much greater currency than if it had been just a small-town newspaper in some equivalent-sized town elsewhere, because other newspapers picked up on what he said.
Since this was THE Henry Ford newspaper, anything he wrote was considered law at the time.
Ford and Hitler
Because of his popularity and personal ideals, Hitler and the Nazi regime admired him. Volkswagen applied the same assembly-line theory to its production and introduced it to affordable vehicles. Because Hitler was irked that Americans claimed that Nazism could never occur in this country, he took pride in highlighting Ford’s reporting.
On his 75th birthday, Ford received the ‘Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle’ at a ceremony in Dearborn, Michigan. It was Hitler himself who created this honor in 1937, rewarding Ford as the first American recipient.
The honor was the highest possible for a foreigner, demonstrating Hitler’s appreciation and respect for Ford. Fritz Heller, the German Consular Representative in Detroit, and Karl Kapp, the German Consul in Cleveland, made a presentation.
Final Thoughts
Dear fellow readers and history lovers, we do not want to erase Ford’s accomplishments and contributions to the country. However, he was a man of double standards who pursued his own personal ideals, regardless of the consequences for others.
What are your thoughts?
Villain or American Hero?
Inventor or racist?
Role Model or a product of his time?
As with all my blurbs on American History, I invite you to do your own research and form your own opinion. Everyone has skeletons in the closet; it is up to us to decide how many of them get aired out.
Until next time, Keep Reading and Stay Caffeinated.
For those hungry to explore more, click below to find additional readings:
Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production Of Hate. How and why did this quintessential American folk-hero and pioneering industrialist become one of the most obsessive anti-Semites of our time-a man who devoted his immense financial resources to publishing a pernicious forgery, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion?
The People’s Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century. Uncovering the man behind the myth, situating his achievements and their attendant controversies firmly within the context of early twentieth-century America, Watts has given us a comprehensive, illuminating, and fascinating biography of one of America’s first mass-culture celebrities.
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If you’re looking for your next favorite read, I invite you to check out my series, The Raven Society. This spellbinding historical fantasy series takes us on a heart-pounding journey through forgotten legends and distorted history. Uncover the chilling secrets of mythology and confront the horrifying truths that transformed myths into monstrous realities. How far will you go to learn the truth?
The Writer and The Librarian (Book 1):
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Sources:
The Life of Henry Ford | American Experience | Official Site | PBS
Life of Henry Ford | Articles | Ford Motor Company
Origins of The Henry Ford – The Henry Ford
Hitler’s American Friends: Henry Ford and Nazism
When someone believes they are god because of their wealth, there are people who pay with their lives.