Henry Ford was adored by Charles W. Carey and Ian C. Friedman, the authors of American Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Business Visionaries. They described him as the leading individual who did more “to bring America out of the 19th century and into the 20th.” Thomas Cornell wrote about Henry Ford as one who “best symbolized the use of technology to transform human life in the early twentieth century.” Along with praise and admiration came controversy against Ford. In “The Quotable Henry Ford” by Michele Wehrewein Albion, the complexities of Henry Ford were discussed. Even though he was an admired and beloved figure. From labor unions to industrial cities to Jew, he remains to be a controversial figure. Ford employed African Americans and the handicapped, as well as supported the women’s suffrage. Historians argue that his policies were more practical when compared to others of his time. He was generally positive about human beings, saying that “people are all right.” In “The Wayward Capitalist” by Carol W. Gelderman’s, it is mentioned that a daily newspaper in Chicago once described Ford as an “ignorant idealist.” Although in this book, the author tried to tell Ford’s story simply as a story. She reported the events of his life and let the facts speak for themselves. Gelderman saw Ford’s life as fascinating and he was “an apt symbol of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial America.”
Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 in Greenfield Township, Michigan. As a child, he experienced the agrarian way of life that once dominated the American economy, but it would later be replaced by manufacturing. Unlike the “men who build America”, Ford did not grow up in a wealthy family; they were poor and came from farming stock. According to Dennis Abrams’s book, Henry Ford’s autobiography, he indicated how his childhood shaped his later career. Henry never liked the farm life; he felt that there was too much hard, monotonous work to farming. Being raised on a farm, Ford was driven to develop new ways of better transportation. As he was growing up, an age of new machines, technologies, and means of transportation were arising. Ford did not do particularly well in school. He was more intrigued in mechanical things; he loved to fix things such as the farm machinery. Unsatisfied with living on a farm, he left and moved to Detroit. He studied the primitive assembly line for the manufacture of railroad cars. He wanted to learn more, so he experimented with everything he could, his favorite being cars. Ford pursued his car-making business and founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903. He wanted to build a motor car for the great multitude. Henry’s goal was to make them affordable and durable. To do this, he said,” to make them all alike, to make them come through the factory just alike.” Many people were furious at his decision. In the book written by Russ Banham in 2002, it describes the history of the Ford Company. As a supporter of the Ford Company, Banham failed to discuss the negative results of the company due to bias.
Ford was a “stern” man. He was determined to make his cars affordable. After the price of his Model T automobiles lowered, he next focused on labor problems. He paid his workers a basic wage of five dollars a day, which then made Ford a national hero. Many disagreed with this, and soon his legend approached cult status. With World War 1 beginning, his image changed. According to Neil Schlager’s article, “he intimidated his workers through campaigns of espionage and subversion against labor unions. His fuzzy pro-Hitler remarks and turn to isolationism led many to label Ford a Nazi apologist.”
Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian who wrote and worked extensively on applying the insights of Christianity to the analysis and solution of social problems. In his work “How Philanthropic is Henry Ford?”, he compared the myth of Henry Ford, regarding the extent of his philanthropy, with Ford’s actual behavior. In the article, Niebuhr discussed how charitable Ford was and how he accumulated his wealth without ruthlessness. Many people considered Ford as a hero with imagination. He was a giving person, for example he built and maintained a hospital. Ford was also known for paying his workers five-dollars for eight hours of work (which was more pay compared to others). This pay allowed Ford’s workers to afford the cars manufactured by Ford Motors Company. In the book “Henry Ford” edited by John Bell Rae, he discussed the life of Henry Ford. In this book, three of the chapters discusses of how Ford was view by his contemporaries. The technological revolution of the moving assembly line and the five-dollars for eight hours of work made him a marked man. He was portrayed as a man with “a vivid imagination.” Ford’s motor vehicle, the Model T Ford, was the nation’s first mass-produced, affordable, and versatile. It encouraged a revolution for manufacturing methods and marked a change in automotive design and engineering. He also managed to maintain employment among men during a time of business depression. His reputation for charity was a wonderful victory. He was able to give high wages and cheap products. Although his actions to help the underprivileged are known, his charitable trait and humanitarian motives may be known as self-deceived. Reinhold Niebuhr said about Ford that “his disavowal of philanthropic intentions in the institutions of the five-day week are like the assurances of an old spinster that her reputation as a flirt has been grossly exaggerated.” The purpose of helping worker meet the standards required to qualify for the five-dollar-a-day wage scale has been criticized as an agency whose basic function was to pry into the private affairs of his employees and compel them to comply with Ford’s. While Ford paid his workers a greater amount than other companies, he demanded regular attendance and required immigrant laborers to blend into the American lifestyle.
In Martin Morse Wooster’s article “Wealth-builder beware. Make sure your legacy goes where you want”, it discussed the men who helped shape America, which include Henry Ford. Wooster focused on how Henry Ford was a charitable man. Ford donated one third of his lifetime income to charity. Wooster’s words about Henry Ford discussed the good characteristics of Ford, his affection towards his foundation. Ford Motor Company, established by Henry Ford, was a privately held family enterprise. Even after Ford’s death, there were no restrictions on the foundation’s policy. The cost of the automobile made it possible for people to buy the products.
Ford was also described as a free man. Like his cars, he was of “utility and strength.” John Kenneth Galbraith described Ford as “a relentless and avid self-advertiser.” John Bell Rae described Ford’s anti-Jewish campaign as “one of the saddest episodes of [his] life.” Ford himself had no religious beliefs, taking on ideas from others. In the book “Henry Ford” edited by Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk, this biography of Henry Ford focuses on his early life and work. Ford worked with the famous Thomas Edison. There was criticism against Ford after reading his articles about anti-Semitism. Although Henry had many friendships with Jewish people, many people still expressed hatred towards him after they found out that he was friends with Albert Kahn. Kahn was the leading American industrial architect who was born to a Jewish family. According to this book, Adolf Hitler had a picture of Ford on his wall and cited him as an inspiration. While this caused many controversy, people looked to Ford the same as they did Hitler. Hitler was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party and was the cause for the death and murder of many Jews. Therefore, this decreased people’s support for Ford because Ford was an inspiration to Hitler.
Ford’s anti-Semitic views echoed the fears and assumptions of many Americans. In 1918, Henry Ford purchased a newspaper, The Dearborn Independent. He began publishing a series of articles that claimed a vast Jewish conspiracy was infecting America. He blamed strikes, financial scandals, and agricultural depression on the Jews. Even though many saw Ford as the greatest men who helped to shape America, there will always be controversy against him.