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Henry Ford: The Blind Business Visionary

KEITH KEITH

in The Arts of Leadership

This chapter returns to the business world to look at Henry Ford, whose leadership inaugurated a qualitative leap from craft to mass production and gave rise to the term ‘Fordism’. It discusses how ... More

This chapter returns to the business world to look at Henry Ford, whose leadership inaugurated a qualitative leap from craft to mass production and gave rise to the term ‘Fordism’. It discusses how Ford enabled vast numbers of Americans to own cars because his prices were so low, but he persisted in assuming that price was critical long after many of his former customers had drifted away to the cars of General Motors and Chrysler, where the competitive edge was in novelty and product enhancements not simply price. It notes that Ford was a pacifist who spent a vast personal fortune leasing a ‘peace ship’ to sail to Europe and stop the First World War—but he simultaneously made an even bigger fortune with his production of munitions, boats, tanks, planes, and jeeps in both wars.Less

Henry Ford at a Crossroads: Inkster and the Ford Hunger March

Beth Tompkins Bates

in The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford

This chapter focuses on the Inkster Project, Henry Ford's experiment on philanthropy. The village was said to be destitute when Ford intervened, providing electric lights, organizing police ... More

This chapter focuses on the Inkster Project, Henry Ford's experiment on philanthropy. The village was said to be destitute when Ford intervened, providing electric lights, organizing police protection, and establishing a bank. Although the Inkster Project rehabilitated the village and saved many black Ford families from physical destitution, it did not succeed in reestablishing unquestioned loyalty to Ford. The chapter also discusses the Ford Hunger March on March 7 1932, when 3,000 to 5,000 unemployed workers, most laid off by Ford, marched from Detroit to the employment office of Ford's River Rouge plant in Dearborn to present a list of demands to Ford.Less

Parting Patriarchs of the Family Firms

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld

in The Hero’s Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire

The conflict and confusion that follow in the wake of monarchic departures can be found as well following the other leadership departure styles if they occur in a family firm. To gain further ... More

The conflict and confusion that follow in the wake of monarchic departures can be found as well following the other leadership departure styles if they occur in a family firm. To gain further insights into the succession tensions that confront family firms, the chapter surveys a group of chief executives who belong to the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO). In addition, this chapter examines three very different family successions in detail. The first focuses on Dunkin' Donuts and explores an entrepreneur's ambassador-like departure and transfer of power of the chief executive to his son. The second concerns Corning Glass Works. Here, the chapter describes the transfer of command of a 130-year-old firm between brothers. The third example illustrates how Henry Ford II stabilizes the troubled firm founded by his namesake. Here, the passage of top office to non-family management is observed.Less

Internal Combustion Engines

Vaclav Smil

in Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact

Invention and commercialization of automotive internal combustion engines was a multistranded process that began during the 1880s in Germany with design by Benz, Daimler and Maybach, and then ... More

Invention and commercialization of automotive internal combustion engines was a multistranded process that began during the 1880s in Germany with design by Benz, Daimler and Maybach, and then received critical contributions from France, the UK, and the United States. Otto-cycle gasoline engines became the dominant prime movers in passenger cars as well as in the first airplanes, while diesel engines were initially limited to heavy-duty maritime and railroad applications. Line assembly introduced by Henry Ford provided a long-lasting solution to the mass manufacturing. The car industry eventually became the leading sector of modern economies and car culture has had a profound effect on many facets of modern life.Less

Ford's Megaphone

in Henry Ford's War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech

In America, it was common for industrial magnates to acquire newspapers or start their own. One of them was Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company. In late 1918, Ford's public image suffered, ... More

In America, it was common for industrial magnates to acquire newspapers or start their own. One of them was Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company. In late 1918, Ford's public image suffered, in part due to his legal battles with the Chicago Tribune and Ford Motor Company's minority shareholders. Ford blamed the national press for these troubles and decided to buy his own newspaper. That newspaper turned out to be the Dearborn Independent, which he bought for $1,000 and served as his print version of a megaphone that would amplify—but not modify—everything he wanted to say. This chapter focuses on the events surrounding Ford's acquisition of the Dearborn Independent and some of the people he hired to run it, including William J. Cameron, Fred Black, and Ernest Gustav Liebold. It also looks at the Independent's publication of a series of anti-Semitic articles based on the document Protocols of the Elders of Zion that explicitly racialized views of Jews and took anti-Semitism to a different level.Less

The Politics of Unemployment in Depression-Era Detroit, 1927–1931

Beth Tompkins Bates

in The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford

This chapter examines Henry Ford's and Frank Murphy's different responses to the national economic crisis, the Great Depression, and the shifting of loyalties within black Detroit. Frank Murphy was a ... More

This chapter examines Henry Ford's and Frank Murphy's different responses to the national economic crisis, the Great Depression, and the shifting of loyalties within black Detroit. Frank Murphy was a prominent political leader and a staunch opponent of Henry Ford's agenda. In the Ossian Sweet case, Frank Murphy gained support within the black community, paving the way for political activism of black Detroiters. During the first phase of the Depression, 1929–31, black Detroiters, participated in Murphy's campaign to deal with rising unemployment. This period marked the shifting of loyalties in Detroit as black Detroiters threw their allegiance strongly behind the political campaigns of Frank Murphy.Less

Apology, Retractions, and Recriminations

in Henry Ford's War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech

Judge Fred M. Raymond's declaration of a mistrial in Sapiro v. Ford ended the public drama between Henry Ford and Aaron Sapiro, but not their legal battle. The two parties were expected to return to ... More

Judge Fred M. Raymond's declaration of a mistrial in Sapiro v. Ford ended the public drama between Henry Ford and Aaron Sapiro, but not their legal battle. The two parties were expected to return to court, but Ford decided to end the dispute outside the courtroom. To do so, he enlisted an unlikely ally, Louis Marshall, who was watching the developments from the sidelines. The “Jewish question” that emerged during the trial reawakened Marshall's concerns about the implications of the case for Jewish civil rights. He believed that the case was not in accord with the strategy that he and the American Jewish Committee had maintained for more than six years. In Detroit, Raymond arranged a hearing to discuss a new trial date. Meanwhile, the Ford Motor Company was undergoing a big transformation as it tried to endure sluggish sales. This chapter focuses on the settlement negotiations between Ford and Sapiro that eventually led to the former's issuance of an apology that was written by Marshall himself.Less

Introduction

Beth Tompkins Bates

in The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford

Henry Ford employed innovative mass-production strategies, industrial policies, and maverick business practices at the Ford Motor Company (FMC), which redefined his road to success under industrial ... More

Henry Ford employed innovative mass-production strategies, industrial policies, and maverick business practices at the Ford Motor Company (FMC), which redefined his road to success under industrial capitalism. After World War I, Ford hired thousands of African American men to work for FMC. This book traces the relationship between Henry Ford, the FMC, black workers, and Detroit's black community as they were formed and transformed during the years between World Wars I and II. It aims to capture how African Americans in Detroit used the foundation provided by their jobs at FMC to improve their lives.Less

Trial and Mistrial

in Henry Ford's War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech

Sapiro v. Ford was held in Detroit's “Million Dollar Courtroom,” where Henry Ford's defense made a last-ditch attempt to avoid trial while the plaintiff tested Judge Fred M. Raymond's willingness to ... More

Sapiro v. Ford was held in Detroit's “Million Dollar Courtroom,” where Henry Ford's defense made a last-ditch attempt to avoid trial while the plaintiff tested Judge Fred M. Raymond's willingness to permit group-libel claims into the case. Clifford B. Longley and James A. Reed, two members of Ford's defense team, submitted a plea that was described by Aaron Sapiro's lawyer, William Henry Gallagher, as irrelevant and confusing. Gallagher and Sapiro attempted to force Ford to defend the Dearborn Independent's explicitly anti-Semitic statements, a motion that was rejected by Raymond. Gallagher vowed to prove that charges of a conspiracy involving a network of prominent American Jews were totally unfounded. This chapter provides an overview of the litigation process, including the selection of the jury, and the judge's decision to declare a mistrial.Less

With the Wind at Their Backs: Migration to Detroit

Beth Tompkins Bates

in The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford

This chapter discusses the social and economic world that greeted African Americans migrating to Detroit during and after World War I. By the time black newcomers arrived in large numbers, ... More

This chapter discusses the social and economic world that greeted African Americans migrating to Detroit during and after World War I. By the time black newcomers arrived in large numbers, industrialists had spent several years grappling with the best ways to manage a diverse and foreign-born work force. Henry Ford and other industrials had constructed a new social order based on a unified work force, shaping them to conform to the American way of life. Henry Ford led this endeavor with his Americanization Plan to organize and control his overwhelmingly immigrant work force.Less

Enforcement Without Law

in Henry Ford's War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech

Even before the impact of Henry Ford's apology that ended his legal battle with Aaron Sapiro could be felt in the United States, Louis Marshall knew that the document would be useful abroad. Aware of ... More

Even before the impact of Henry Ford's apology that ended his legal battle with Aaron Sapiro could be felt in the United States, Louis Marshall knew that the document would be useful abroad. Aware of the fact that American citizens enjoyed constitutional protections, Marshall thought that anti-Semitism had more pernicious effects in other countries, especially in Eastern Europe where Jews were suffering from discrimination and violence. Ford's apology became the basis for his continuing relationship with Marshall, rather than his libel opponents. Ford made several promises that Marshall hoped he would keep, but kept only one: he shut down the Dearborn Independent. In writing the apology, Marshall was hoping that The International Jew, which he dubbed “the Anti-Semites Bible,” would no longer be published in the United States and Europe. Anti-Semitic publishers from Germany and South America challenged both the terms of Ford's apology and the arguments presented by Marshall to substitute the apology for law.Less

Taking It to the Streets

in Henry Ford's War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech

In December 1920, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) published a pamphlet, “The Protocols, Bolshevism, and the Jews,” in response to the anti-Semitic articles that appeared in Henry Ford's newspaper ... More

In December 1920, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) published a pamphlet, “The Protocols, Bolshevism, and the Jews,” in response to the anti-Semitic articles that appeared in Henry Ford's newspaper Dearborn Independent. The pamphlet generated a wave of positive publicity for AJC, which was framing the debate according to Marshall's strategy: an attack on Jewish civil rights was also an attack on American civil rights. Marshall wanted to end Ford's war on Jews by reminding Americans of the danger of violating their rights as citizens. He and his fellow Jews found allies in urban mayors and police chiefs, who relied on criminal libel laws to ban sales of the Independent on city streets. Also condemning Ford's anti-Semitism were former U.S. Presidents William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson, who signed a protest statement together with more than a hundred church leaders, politicians, artists, literary figures, and educators. This chapter examines the wave of protests generated by Ford's anti-Semitic articles and focuses on some of the prominent figures involved, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Herman Bernstein.Less

Epilogue

Beth Tompkins Bates

in The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford

Henry Ford played a major role in transforming the lives of African Americans in the twentieth century. By opening the door to economic opportunity for black workers at the Ford Motor Company (FMC), ... More

Henry Ford played a major role in transforming the lives of African Americans in the twentieth century. By opening the door to economic opportunity for black workers at the Ford Motor Company (FMC), Ford raised expectations and hope for what was possible in America. This epilogue summarizes the relations between Henry Ford, black Ford workers, and the black community, including the host of problems that threatened Ford's automotive empire.Less

The Gospel of Wealth and the Gospel of Art

Peter W. Williams

in Religion, Art, and Money: Episcopalians and American Culture from the Civil War to the Great Depression

The Episcopal church had no firm policy on how the riches of the wealthy elite should be spent philanthropically, but it during the Gilded Age it was entering a period of considerable and often ... More

The Episcopal church had no firm policy on how the riches of the wealthy elite should be spent philanthropically, but it during the Gilded Age it was entering a period of considerable and often heated debate as to what form charitable giving might best take and who was responsible for the plight of the poor. The Social Gospel movement, in which Episcopalians participated actively, was one major theological and institutional response to these questions. Another philanthropic issue of the day was the provision of cultural institutions like museums and libraries. Episcopalians were not unique among American Christians in discovering the religious potential of the material world. Wealthy Episcopalians donated or made available to the public their private collections of art, or funded public cultural institutions. The culture of urban America was manifestly enriched by their benevolences under the aegis of a church that had room for both the prophetic judgments of the Social Gospel and the sensual opulence of the Gospel of Art.Less

The Other War

in Henry Ford's War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech

In April 1924, Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent started publishing a series of articles attacking Aaron Sapiro. However, the newspaper made crucial mistakes that Sapiro would exploit in his lawsuit, ... More

In April 1924, Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent started publishing a series of articles attacking Aaron Sapiro. However, the newspaper made crucial mistakes that Sapiro would exploit in his lawsuit, including inaccurate and false reporting. Meanwhile, Ford continued to eye Muscle Shoals. After January 1922, the Independent stopped publishing negative comment about Jews, but Ernest Gustav Liebold and Fred Black secretly commissioned a series of articles designed to bolster Ford's Muscle Shoals campaign, burnish his rural image, and reveal how trusts and financial institutions exploit American farmers. One of the Independent's contributors was freelance writer Harry H. Dunn, who wrote the series of articles attacking Sapiro, Jewish involvement in agriculture, and international Jewish financiers' subversion of the cooperative movement. Sapiro knew that libel law was on his side in his legal battle with Ford, whom he knew would never be converted from his anti-Semitism. On April 22, his lawyer, William Henry Gallagher, filed a libel suit against Ford in Detroit's federal court, ushering in the saga of Sapiro v. Ford.Less

The Lawsuit

in Henry Ford's War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech

Aaron Sapiro filed his libel lawsuit against Henry Ford and his newspaper, Dearborn Independent, in April 1925, and the trial finally got under way in 1927. Both sides used the intervening period, ... More

Aaron Sapiro filed his libel lawsuit against Henry Ford and his newspaper, Dearborn Independent, in April 1925, and the trial finally got under way in 1927. Both sides used the intervening period, known in the civil litigation process as the discovery phase, to gather evidence and depose witnesses. Sapiro discovered that Ford had no intention of defending his newspaper's anti-Semitic articles, and instead wanted to focus on Sapiro's Jewishness. Instead of trying to vindicate all Jews, Sapiro and his lawyer, William Henry Gallagher, emphasized conventional individual libel grounds. Ford's team, which included Missouri Senator James A. Reed, sought to regain the moral high ground by denying explicit anti-Semitism. For both sides, Sapiro v. Ford was about Sapiro, Jews, and cooperatives.Less

Building Bombers

Sarah Jo Peterson

in Planning the Home Front: Building Bombers and Communities at Willow Run

The Consolidated Aircraft plant in San Diego produced its 1,000th bomber in November 1942 while the Willow Run Bomber Plant in Ypsilanti Township achieved this milestone only one year later. Despite ... More

The Consolidated Aircraft plant in San Diego produced its 1,000th bomber in November 1942 while the Willow Run Bomber Plant in Ypsilanti Township achieved this milestone only one year later. Despite the continued increase in production at Willow Run in 1943, it was unable to satisfy the federal government’s expectations. In order to mass produce large bombers, the Ford Motor Company had to coordinate with the Consolidated Aircraft plant and the Army Air Forces, but Willow Run’s biggest problem was the lack of manpower. This chapter examines the manpower and production crises at Willow Run Bomber Plant and the recruitment of workers. It also looks at the conflict between Henry Ford and Harry Bennett on one side and Edsel Ford and Charles Sorensen on the other.Less

Marshall for the Defense

in Henry Ford's War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech

The anti-Semitic articles published by Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent in its May 22, 1920 issue drew different reactions from Jewish religious leaders, intellectuals, activists, and lawyers. Many ... More

The anti-Semitic articles published by Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent in its May 22, 1920 issue drew different reactions from Jewish religious leaders, intellectuals, activists, and lawyers. Many Jews called for action, but the mainstream press, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Wall Street Journal, was eerily silent. Jewish lawyer Louis Marshall, a renowned leader of American Jewish civil rights activism, sent a telegram to Ford accusing his newspaper of disseminating anti-Semitism that might attract undesirable legal attention because the articles were libelous. Rabbi Leo M. Franklin of Temple Beth-El in Detroit also stepped in to address the Ford situation, but got into an acrimonious exchange with Marshall.Less

Ford’s Potemkin Villages

Thomas F. Gieryn

in Truth-Spots: How Places Make People Believe

Tourists flock to Greenfield Village, Henry Ford's outdoor historical museum located just outside Detroit, and not far from the River Rouge assembly plant that ushered in the era of industrial mass ... More

Tourists flock to Greenfield Village, Henry Ford's outdoor historical museum located just outside Detroit, and not far from the River Rouge assembly plant that ushered in the era of industrial mass production. Just before the Great Depression, Ford moved or built the homes and workplaces of America's great inventors and entrepreneurs around a replica New England village green. However artificial it was to locate Ford's first factory adjacent to the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop from Dayton, Greenfield Village serves up a compelling representation of the roots of industrial capitalism in the small town life that Ford's assembly lines ironically did so much to erase. Coincidentally, Mexican socialist Diego Rivera painted "Detroit Industry," his masterful murals in the Garden Court at the Detroit Institute of Art. Tourists also flock to this very different truth-spot that depicts the prowess of machines and their capacity to ease the physical burdens of human labor, while only hinting at the possibility of a class struggle that would move society from capitalism to communism. Ford's Village and Rivera's murals rely on both authenticity and artifice to make visitors believe in very different understandings of the past and future of American industrial capitalism.Less