He maintained complete control of the company until his death and the company didn't go public until 1956. Henry didn't like debt and going public meant he was borrowing mony from the public, and he disliked borrowing money from anybody. Ford, however, also began to encroach into his workers’ personal lives and to “Americanize” his largely-immigrant workforce by offering English classes and other “improvement” programs, the goal of which was to create a “new American”—one who was encouraged not to dwell on the Old-World past, but rather focus on conforming to the standards of the New. He was anti-Semitic and was given the Verdienstkreutz Deutscher Adler (the Grand Service Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle), in 1938. In the 20's the Dearborn Independent began a series of articles entitled The International Jew. Ford owned the newspaper and The International Jew had been translated into German and his anti-Sementic ideas provided fertile ground for Germany's nascent Nazi Movement.
The 'fact' about Ford being anti-semitic is still cebated, but he did earn 'the Grand Service Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle' for helping to rebuild German industry in the 30's , and because Hitler thought he was anti-semitic (not that it matters much, the israelist din't have many friends before 1945 at all), and Ford is estimated to have build 1/4 of german trucks during the war. An industrialist that could make money on everything (he was not the only american who 'helped' the germans, at least not until Pearl Harbor) He designed the modern world as we know it more or less. (can you tell I'm a fan?...)
Get the book"Henry Ford the man and the machine" It tells his whole life story. I have it and it was really informative.
Blamed for Edsel's death? Never heard of this before (and I thought I'd heard all the good, all the bad). ANY DETAILS?
Ford facts: He experimented with a soybean car in the early 1940's. He built a "utopian" mid-west style town and rubber production facility in the middle of the Brazillian jungle. It was a failure.
His interest in providing automobiles for the masses at a fair price so all his workers could afford one was pretty radical thinking at the time, as well as many other things, including affordable housing for his work force and entire new residential neighborhoods bankrolled by Ford,.. giving work to the construction industry, that could in turn afford to buy his product. His interest in providing "Ford Equipment" (Fordson) for farmers took the same approach, The entire Soy bean experiment came from his belief that if industry could support agriculture,... Agriculture could potentially support a segment of industry. Yep !,... This looks pretty darn ominous huh ? Well there were a ton of recipients in pre-war Germany,... some of the highlights include,... Henry Ford Charles Lindbergh Thomas J. Watson, Chairman of IBM James Mooney , General Motors' chief executive Among a number of others that would surprise you,... (If you buy into the conspiracy),... The fact is that there was three different levels of this award, Henry Ford and the others mentioned above were awarded the third class or lowest class of this award. When the war started, His German factory was seized by the German government, the Factory manager was sympathetic to the Nazi regime. And accusations of the Ford Plant in Cologne never stopping production during the war,... This is true, But Ford had no control, as it was seized. For all the anti-semitic accusations,... Ol' Henry hated the Dodge Brothers,.. and might have been anti-semitic, But The Henry Ford industrial machine that shut down for the war effort,.. had a major affect on the U.S. & Allies victory in WWII AS WELL AS THE END OF THE HOLOCAUST.
You no doubt have already read the thread about henry ebing smarter than us? there are a lot of facts to be had in there.
The "Ford Estate" or Haven Hill, was a retreat used by the Ford family. I grew up only a short distance from it, and used to camp near it and would ride horses on many of the trails that wander thru the property. My dad told me about how he would drive around the area and would see Henry II and other kids on the estate with their "toys". Link to Haven Hill: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM2FNE_Haven_Hill_State_Natural_Area_Highland_Michigan And yes Henry did the charcoal, I think it is now Kingsford brand. Here's an ad from 1936 - note the bag of "Ford" charcoal near the man's elbow:
Henry had numerous "company towns", Alberta MI was one of them, created and maintained primarily - or maybe exclusively - for harvesting lumber. Located in the western Upper Penninsula of Michigan, I think it is now owned or maintained by Michigan Technical Univesity. We visited the area several years ago, it is small and kind of 'out of the way' from high volume tourist areas, but has been well taken care of and is an interesting aspect of Henry's "empire". Link to Alberta: http://fordcenter.mtu.edu/museum/history.html
I second this. I am currently reading it, and it has some very interesting info. Henry Ford was a genius in some ways and a mad man in others! LOL I would have hated to be one of his workers in the 30s. Things got really bad then. He also did not seem to have much of a sense of loyalty to those around him. The slightest, stupid little things could get a man fired!
Contrary to what has been assumed, by many, for years, the Dodge brothers were not Jews. The symbol on their radiator badges appears to be a Star of David, but it is not. The best guess, by those who have documented the brothers and their cars, is that it is two intertwined Deltas for the two Dodges, John and Horace. In the early 20th century, the Star of David was not well know at all in the US. It wasn't until after WWII that it became the universally known symbol of Judaism. There are many stories suggesting that wealthy Jews bankrolled them and demanded the symbol be put on the product as part of the deal, but that, also, is hogwash. The Dodges had earned over 10 million from their dealings with Ford, and another 25 million when they sold their Ford stock back to Henry. They didn't need backers with nearly 35 million pre WWI dollars in their war chest. The Dodges are buried at Woodlawn in Detroit which, at the time of their deaths, was considered to be a white, Christian cemetery. Times have changed, however. Rosa Parks is buried there.
Was in Dearborn last week - look at The Henry Ford - the museum probably could help Poverty leaves an impression
True.....I work for a Japanese auto plant and there are several of these books translated into Japanese for the new Japanese trainers to learn from and apply.
And don't forget the man who was "... fired from Ford more times than most people have jobs." - Engineer Don Sullivan. Here's the story: http://thehotrodsofdearborn.com/sully.html
Great stuff you guys, maybe I should write a paper. I heard the same thing about the Dodge Brothers and their logo. Cool facts indeed. Slim
Before introducing the 8 hour working day, Ford had study made which showed workers efficiency started to decline after about 9 hours. The survey also showed a weekend off improved efficiency
Great story!!!!!!!!! I happen to have that issue of Super Ford magazine down stairs in a box.. I remember reading that article back then....
You could dig into the relationship that could have been when Henry called on Frank Lloyd Wright to design his mansion "Fairlane". His wife didn't take to architect Wright's massive ego and nixed the project. She hired another architect to do the house in the more conservative Italianate style. You have to wonder what could have been had the pair of genius' collaborated. As mentioned earlier, Ford buddied with Edison, Firestone, Longfellow and other notables of his day.
QUOTE=Harms Way;6699012]ebing ?????? [/QUOTE] SMARTER than whom? Obviously, Beaner and HarmsWay are smarter than lots of commentators. At least Henry was "smart" enough to stay in civilian enterprise while his friend, Charles Brady King, went off to lend his engineering skills to help the U.S. win the Spanish-American War. Ford made an empire while renaissance man King gladly settled for having contributed to society (AND automotive engineering) in his own ways. KING had the FIRST gas-powered car on the streets of Detroit (fact) weeks before Henry Ford. But his close assistance to Henry helped Henry get 15-mph a few weeks after King's pioneering car. (King's first spin in Detroit was celebrated -- and "recreated" -- in 1946 with King, Ransom Olds, Charlie Nash, plus MANY other old-timers . . . INCLUDING Henry Ford.) I still don't know where the claim made earlier in this thread comes from which said Henry was thought to be somehow responsible for his own son's (Edsel) death comes from. I'm no Henry fan, but I'm no Henry basher either. Put up or shut up.
Horace and John Dodge, Jewish? Baloney. If they'd BEEN Jewish, they surely wouldn't have been ashamed of it, anyway.
The Jalopy Journal
