Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, we are taking
a stack of sources on a figure who did more than
perhaps anyone else to define the physical and
economic landscape of the modern American century,
Henry Ford. It's a challenging assignment because
Ford, who lived from 1863 to 1947, is a study
in profound, almost unbelievable contradictions.
Right. On the one hand, he is this mechanical
genius, the industrial revolutionary who literally
put the middle class on wheels and, you know,
reinvented modern labor. But on the other hand,
on the other, he was an isolationist, a deeply
conspiratorial thinker and one of the world's
most prominent publishers of, well, virulent
anti -Semitism. And that's our mission today
to navigate this duality. We're unpacking the
life and complex legacy of the man who founded
the Ford Motor Company and is synonymous with
the system known as Fordism. And that system,
I mean, it didn't just build cars cheaply. It
revolutionized how we work, how we organize factories,
and even how we view leisure time. He fundamentally
changed expectations for what a working life
should be, right? Totally. We're talking about
the man who not only gave us the iconic Model
T, but also pioneered the radical $5 daily wage
and the five -day work week. These innovations
were so profound, they just reset the standard
for every competing industry globally. Exactly.
So let's establish the scope of his impact immediately
for you. the listener. He secured that crucial
transmission patent in 1911 and, thanks to his
industrial methods, became one of the wealthiest
people in the world. He was the ultimate American
success story, a triumph of self -made ingenuity.
But the sources mandate that we recognize the
entire picture. His immense achievements are
constantly shattered by his politics, his conspiracy
theories. And the calculated use of his massive
platform to disseminate hate speech, particularly
against Jewish people. To understand Henry Ford,
you have to hold both the visionary entrepreneur
and the dangerous ideologue in the same frame.
Let's start with the foundation, then. The mechanics
of the man himself. Ford was born on a farm in
Springwells Township, Michigan, in 1863. And
the sources highlight that he was not, you know,
academically inclined, but possessed this singular
intense mechanical aptitude from a very, very
young age. That's key. His formal education was
pretty limited. Extremely. He finished eighth
grade, taking only a brief bookkeeping course
later on. His learning was purely experiential.
He spent his childhood just obsessed with mechanisms.
And here's where that obsession really started
to show. When he received a pocket watch from
his father at age 12, he didn't just wear it.
No, he immediately started taking it apart. Right.
And he quickly gained a reputation as the local
watch repairman by the time he was 15 because
he was constantly dismantling and reassembling
timepieces for friends and neighbors. It wasn't
about telling time. It was about mastering the
internal gears and springs. And that aptitude
was crystallized by a defining moment in 1875.
As a 12 -year -old, he saw something that changed
his life. And it just showed him that mechanical
power could replace animal power on the road.
It fundamentally shaped his entire future focus.
So despite his father's wish that he take over
the farm, His passion was clearly elsewhere.
He left home at 16. He moved to Detroit to apprentice
as a machinist, first with James F. Flower and
Brothers and then the Detroit Dry Dock Company.
He was just determined to work with engines.
But he did go back to the farm eventually in
1882. He did, but not to farm. He went back to
work with the Westinghouse portable steam engine,
which powered threshing machines. This was a
critical period of hands -on experience for him.
And it allowed him to start ruling out different
engine types. Exactly. He was very clear about
his early technical dismissals. He thought steam
was, and this is a quote, not suitable for light
automobiles. Why was he so convinced against
steam power? It was a safety issue, really. He
believed the boilers required for steam engines
were just inherently dangerous and unsuitable
for a private consumer. Plus they took forever
to steam up. He also ruled out electricity, which
was actually quite popular at the time. It was,
but he saw the problems. The high cost of running
trolley wires for commercial use and the total
lack of a practical, lightweight storage battery
for private cars. The power to weight ratio just
wasn't there yet. Not even close. So he dedicated
himself entirely to the internal combustion engine.
By 1890, he was building his own two cylinder
engine. Which led to his first completed motor
car in 1892. A simple four horsepower machine.
But the crucial detail is that he didn't stop
once it ran. He drove it around 1 ,000 miles
between 1895 and 1896. Constantly refining and
testing. Yes, testing the durability of the engine
and the materials in real -world conditions.
This iterative, hands -on approach really defined
his engineering philosophy. Now let's look at
the career move that gave him the runway for
these experiments. In 1891, he joins the Edison
Illuminating Company. And he quickly becomes
chief engineer in 1893. That promotion was the
key inflection point. It gave him financial stability
and the time to focus entirely on his engine
experiments. So he could work on his own projects
without the pressure of just making ends meet.
Right. And that stability is what allowed him
to complete the Ford Quadricycle in 1896. He
test drove that first self -propelled automobile
successfully on June 4th of that year. And it
wasn't just a technical breakthrough. It was
a personal networking breakthrough. He met Thomas
Edison himself later that year. And Edison, known
for encouraging innovators, offered immediate
and strong support for Ford's work. Imagine getting
that validation. That encouragement from America's
premier inventor must have been a monumental
boost for Ford's confidence and credibility.
But success was not instantaneous. His first
venture, the Detroit Automobile Company, founded
in 1899. It failed. It was dissolved just two
years later. The sources indicate the vehicles
simply weren't up to standard. They were lower
quality than Ford wanted, and critically, they
were priced too high for his vision. He already
had this idea of making cars for the masses.
He had a fundamental belief that cars should
be affordable, and this first attempt just didn't
meet that standard. So he bounced back quickly
with Sea Herald Wills, designed a 26 -horsepower
racer that won in 1901, and that led to the Henry
Ford Company. But even this second attempt was
short -lived. It was. In 1902, the investors,
who were concerned about his management, brought
in an expert named Henry M. Leland as a consultant.
And Ford, known for his volatility and his insistence
on total control, just walked out. He left immediately.
And what's incredible is that Leland remained
and renamed the operation the Cadillac Automobile
Company. Ford essentially abandoned the company
that would become a perennial luxury rifle. So
after two failed corporate ventures, how do you
get the backing for the third and finally successful
attempt? It all came down to a high -profile
racing stunt. Ford partnered with the racing
cyclist Tom Cooper and built this enormous 80
-plus horsepower racer, the 999. And they got
Barney Oldfield, a famous cyclist, to drive it.
And he drove it to a spectacular victory in 1902.
This was critical because it raised Ford's profile
from just a regional machinist to a nationally
recognized figure of speed and mechanical prowess.
That's what finally convinced the coal dealer,
Alexander Malcolmson, to back him. And that sets
the stage for the official founding of the Ford
Motor Company in 1903. They reincorporated as
FMC with just $28 ,000 in seed capital. And the
investor list tells a fascinating story of Detroit's
emerging industrial class. It really does. It
included the Dodge brothers, John and Horace.
Who were already supplying parts and accepted
stock instead of cash when early sales were slow.
There was James Cousins, who became Ford's right
-hand man, and John S. Gray. Malcolmson's uncle,
who was elected company president. And the sources
make a point of noting that Gray was put in charge
because of Ford's recognized volatility. So they
already knew he was a difficult, if brilliant
figure. They did. His tendency to walk away or
clash with partners was well established. The
name recognition built on racing then exploded
with another massive publicity stunt. Ford himself
demonstrated a newly designed car on the ice
of Lake Sinclair, setting a land speed record
of 91 .3 miles per hour. That event. cemented
the brand nationally. It linked the Ford name
with unprecedented speed and reliability. But
the true inflection point came five years later
with the Model T, which debuted on October 1st,
1908. And while Ford's 1911 transmission patent
was important, the real genius of the Model T
was in its practical mass market design. It was
revolutionary. Mechanically, what made it so
different from everything else on the road? There
are several details that are often overlooked.
First, Ford standardized the placement of the
steering wheel on the left. An industry first.
A total first. And soon copied by every other
major automaker because it improved visibility
for passing. Second, the engine was incredibly
rugged. Its four cylinders were cast in a single
solid block. Which was simpler and cheaper to
manufacture. Much cheaper. And third, and this
was most critical for the consumer, was the planetary
transmission. Explain the significance of that
for the lay listener. Well unlike modern cars
that require complex gear shifting, the Model
T was operated primarily with three foot pedals
and a hand lever. So it made driving incredibly
simple and accessible. Exactly. For people who
had never been behind the wheel of a complex
machine before, it was a game changer. It required
no complex clutch operation, allowing the average
person, especially in rural areas, to master
it really quickly. And its high clearance and
ruggedness made it perfect for the poor roads,
which was most of America at the time. Absolutely.
The design was tailored to meet the realities
of rural America, making it a truly universal
car. It debuted at $825, which wasn't sh**. cheap
initially. No, but Ford's commitment to mass
production meant he systematically lowered that
price every single year. And that reduction is
the very foundation of Fordism. It is. By 1916,
the price had dropped to just $360 for the basic
touring car. This commitment to cost reduction,
leveraging scale, made the car affordable for
the middle class. By the 1920s, a majority of
American drivers had learned to drive on a Model
T. That insane volume required a manufacturing
revolution. Which brings us to the famous moving
assembly line introduced in 1913. This is a critical
nuance the sources clarify. While Henry Ford's
name is synonymous with the assembly line, he
didn't invent the concept of interchangeable
parts or the basic idea of the line itself. Right.
The specific innovation was the moving assembly
belt. Exactly. The part that brought the work
to the worker. And it was a collaborative effort.
We have to credit the team of Clarence Avery,
Peter E. Martin, Charles A. Sorensen, and C.
Harold Wills for the engineering and implementation.
Ford's genius was in centralizing it, perfecting
it. And rigidly enforcing the tempo of the process.
And the results were just staggering. Sales hit
472 ,000 by 1916. By 1918, half of all cars in
the U .S. were Model Ts. That's an unbelievable
degree of market saturation. The Model T, during
its run, sold over 15 million units. And this
brings us to the famous quote about color. Any
customer can have a car painted any color that
he wants, so long as it is black. We often hear
this as a sign of Ford's stubbornness, but the
real reason is purely industrial efficiency.
Explain that connection. Why black? Once the
moving assembly line was established, the entire
process was governed by tempo. They discovered
that the commercially available black varnish
paint had a significantly quicker drying time
than any other color. So it allowed workers to
install the next component sooner and maintain
the relentless speed of mass production. Precisely.
Customer choice was fully subordinated to the
needs of the system, the core ethos of Fordism.
Despite this dominance, succession and control
were constant issues within the company. In 1918,
Henry nominally handed the presidency to his
son, Edsel. But he absolutely refused to cede
final decision authority. He was constantly undercutting
Edsel's attempts to modernize the company. And
Henry was obsessed with securing sole ownership.
He achieved this through a dramatic maneuver.
He announced the formation of a new company called
Henry Ford & Son, publicly stating he was taking
his best employees there to build a new, even
cheaper vehicle. Which was a total ruse. A theatrical
move designed to panic the minority stockholders
of the Ford Motor Company into selling their
stakes cheaply. because they feared the original
company would collapse. And it worked. Henry
and Edsel purchased all the remaining stock.
It cost them about $106 million at the time,
but it solidified the family's total private
control of the corporation. And it was Edsel
who began pushing the company toward the upscale
market, which Henry initially resisted. This
is why the 1922 purchase of the Lincoln Motor
Cup is so important. It is, and Lincoln was founded
by Henry M. Leland. The same man who created
Cadillac after Ford left his previous company?
It all comes full circle. It really does. And
Edsel was much more attuned to the shifting market
dynamics, while Henry was sort of stuck on the
idea of the single, perfect, affordable car.
Which was becoming a problem. A huge problem.
By the mid -1920s, the Model T's time was up.
General Motors, under Alfred Sloan, was challenging
Ford's dominance with two revolutionary concepts.
The Pipe Ladder. A distinct car for every person
purpose, from entry -level Chevrolet up to Cadillac.
And second, GM introduced the concept of styling
under Harley Earl, emphasizing aesthetic changes
every year. Something Henry Ford famously hated.
He despised it, and he was losing market share
rapidly. Flagging Model T sales finally forced
him to relent. They had to shut down production
for 18 months, leading to the creation of the
Model A in 1927. Ford oversaw the mechanical
design, but he wisely delegated the body design
to Edsel. This was a critical partnership, contrasting
Henry's focus on engineering pragmatism with
Edsel's appreciation for aesthetics. And Edsel
had to fight his father to include the sliding
shift transmission. He did. It mattered because
it was the conventional transmission that every
other automaker was using, the one we still recognize
today. Ford opposed it because it was more complex
and expensive to manufacture than the Model T's
planetary system. But the public had moved on.
They wanted a modern driving experience. And
Edsel prevailed, making the Model A a much more
marketable vehicle. Ford continued to chase technical
supremacy, though. In 1932, he released another
bombshell, the low -priced flathead Ford V8.
This was a result of a secret, intense development
project. Prior to this, V8 engines were only
for extremely expensive luxury cars like Cadillac
or Packard. It was incredibly difficult to cast
the engine block and heads for a V8 in a single
piece, which was necessary to achieve Ford's
low price point. What's the significance of the
flathead design? The flathead refers to the valve
placement. They were in the engine block, not
in the cylinder head, which simplified the design.
While not the most efficient, achieving a reliable
V8 at an affordable price, often costing less
than $500, gave Ford an immediate reputation
for high performance. And it became a favorite
engine for hot rodders for decades. For the next
two decades, absolutely. It cemented the brand's
performance image right up until the mid 1950s.
So we've analyzed the technical revolution, but
Ford's legacy is equally defined by his contradictory
philosophy on labor. He cared for his workers'
prosperity, but only if they submitted to his
rigid, highly intrusive social standards. This
brings us to the dual nature of welfare capitalism.
The famous $5 day announced in 1914 is the perfect
starting point. He more than doubled the average
worker's daily wage from $2 .34 to $5. A radical
headline -grabbing move. It was. But the immediate
pragmatic motivation wasn't altruism. It was...
You know, desperation over turnover. The turnover
rate was astronomical, 300 percent annually in
some departments. You simply can't run a precise
high tempo assembly line when workers quit every
few months. The move was immensely profitable
despite the cost. The five dollar wage attracted
the absolute best, most disciplined mechanics
in Detroit. It drastically reduced turnover,
raised productivity. And lowered training costs.
The system paid for itself very, very quickly.
But the sources also emphasized the philosophical
element. Ford argued that by paying workers a
living wage, he was creating a mass consumer
base that could afford the very cars they were
building. Which would boost the entire national
economy. But what's fascinating here is that
the payment wasn't just a wage. It was tied to
a profit -sharing scheme, but only for those
who qualified. And who determined qualification.
The notorious social department. The social department
acted as Ford's moral police force. They did.
Oh, yeah. Ford employed 50 investigators who
would visit employees' homes unannounced. They
frowned heavily on heavy drinking, gambling,
any activity deemed frivolous. So workers had
to maintain standards approved by Ford to get
the full $5. Yes. In their domestic life, their
savings, their morality, if you failed to conform,
you didn't get the profit sharing, which reduced
your wage significantly. It was an unprecedented
intrusion into private life. It sounds like he
was trying to manufacture a compliant, disciplined
workforce both inside and outside the factory
walls. That was the goal, to create the right
kind of American consumer. However, the sources
note that this paternalism was highly controversial,
and by 1922, he backed off the most intrusive
aspects, declaring, paternalism has no place
in the industry. That shift paved the way for
his next massive labor innovation, the five day
work week. In 1926, Ford switched factory workers
to a five day, 40 hour week, a concept that was
almost unheard of in heavy industry. And his
rationale was brilliantly simple. He believed
that increased leisure time, increased productivity
workers would work harder during the 40 hours
for the promise of the full weekend. And he also
connected it back to consumption. He did. He
argued that having decent leisure time was vital
for the economy. Workers needed time to purchase
and consume more goods, to drive their cars,
to travel, to buy leisure products. He said something
like, leisure for workmen is not lost time or
a class privilege. Exactly. He saw the weekend
as an engine of economic growth. So that's the
revolutionary paternalist side. But we have to
confront the brutal, antagonistic anti -union
crusade that defined his later labor years. Ford
was adamantly ideologically opposed to labor
unions. He viewed union leaders as opportunistic
troublemakers who fostered perpetual crises and
sought to restrict the productivity he believed
was essential for prosperity. He saw them as
self -defeating and inefficient. To ensure his
factories remain union -free, he employed Harry
Bennett, a former Navy boxer, to head his paramilitary
service department. Essentially a private security
force tasked with intimidation and espionage.
And this department was responsible for some
shocking violence. The sources detailed two horrific
events. The first was the 1932 Ford Hunger March.
Unemployed autoworkers marched toward the River
Rouge complex demanding jobs. And the response
was deadly. Dearborn police and Ford security
forces opened fire on the protesters, resulting
in over 60 injuries and five deaths. A massive
public relations disaster. Given the outcry from
that, how could Ford allow Bennett's tactics
to escalate again just five years later at the
infamous Battle of the... overpass. Ford was
completely insulated by Bennett and his rigid
anti -union ideology only hardened. The 1937
battle of the overpass involved Bennett's men
brutally attacking UAW organizers, including
Walter Reuther, right outside the River Rouge
plant. The critical difference this time was
photographic evidence. Right. Photographs of
the injured UAW members, covered in blood, appeared
in newspapers nationwide the very next day. And
that turned public opinion irrevocably against
Ford. It symbolized the cruelty and brutality
of his management style. Despite the pressure,
Ford Motor Company remained the last Detroit
automaker to recognize the UAW. The resistance
finally broke in 1941. What dramatic turning
point finally compelled him to accept the union?
It took both industrial and personal crises.
First, a sit -down strike closed the massive
River Rouge plant, shutting down production.
Second, and most decisively, his wife, Clara,
intervened. She and Edsel had long argued for
union recognition. They had, but Henry always
used his veto power. Clara delivered an ultimatum.
She threatened to sell her stock in the company
if Henry did not fire Bennett and cooperate with
the union. She believed his stubbornness was
destroying the family business. A phenomenal
moment of personal influence over industrial
policy. The wife standing up to the titan. And
Ford acquiesced. Almost instantly, Ford went
from the most violent anti -union holdout to
the automaker with the most favorable UAW contract
terms in Detroit. In a stunning reversal, Ford
later told Walter Ruther that recognizing the
UAW was one of the most sensible things Harry
Bennett ever did. It suggests he viewed the union
as a potentially useful tool to combat his corporate
rivals like General Motors. Let's pivot now to
Henry Ford's ideological side, which often ran
counter to his business interests, starting with
his isolationism and often bizarre pacifism during
World War I. Ford truly saw war as a terrible
waste, believing it was only financed by greedy
financiers who profited from conflict. He thought
business efficiency and economic growth would
naturally discourage warfare. Which led to the
highly ridiculed 1915 peace ship mission. He
personally funded and led 170 peace activists
to Europe while the Great War was raging. It
was a total fiasco. Met with ridicule, infighting.
Ford abandoned the ship in Sweden and went home.
Yet despite being a staunch pacifist, when the
U .S. entered the war in 1917, Ford Motor Company
became a massive supplier of war material. A
huge supplier. They built Liberty engines for
warplanes and anti -submarine boats. This is
the ultimate contradiction. The pacifist whose
company armed the military. And in the 1920s,
that belief that war was caused by greedy financiers,
curdled into virulent anti -Semitism, disseminated
through his personal publishing empire. In 1918,
he purchased his hometown newspaper, the Dearborn
Independent. About 18 months later, he started
publishing a notorious series of articles under
his name titled The International Jew, The World's
Foremost Problem. Claiming a vast Jewish conspiracy
was manipulating global politics and finance.
And the distribution model ensured this hate
speech reached a staggering audience. That's
the most insidious part. How so? Ford required
every single one of his thousands of dealerships
nationwide to carry and distribute the newspaper
to their customers, ensuring maximum unavoidable
exposure. Articles were then compiled into four
volumes, translated, and distributed globally.
And the sources confirm he also paid to print
and distribute half a million copies of the fabricated
text, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He
did. The scope of his cultural prejudice ran
far deeper than just publishing. You mean the
bizarre details about how he tried to control
American culture? It's fascinating. Ford actively
funded square dancing in American schools. Why?
Because he hated jazz music, which he personally
associated with Jewish people, seeing it as degenerate.
This small, curious detail highlights how deep
and strange his desire to control American culture
ran, extending even down to the types of music
children were allowed to enjoy. He wanted to
manage not just the factory floor, but the moral
texture of the nation. But the real world, tragic
impact was most severe overseas, particularly
in Germany. What was the connection to the burgeoning
Nazi movement? Henry Ford is the only American
mentioned favorably in Adolf Hitler's autobiography,
Mein Kampf. Hitler reportedly kept a life -size
portrait of Ford behind his desk and regarded
Ford as his inspiration. He modeled the Volkswagen
Beetle, the people's car, directly on the Model
T philosophy. Simple, standardized, and mass
-produced for the common person. And the Nazi
regime recognized and rewarded this ideological
influence directly. They gave him a medal. On
Ford's 75th birthday in July 1938, the German
consul presented him with the Grand Cross of
the German Eagle, the highest medal Nazi Germany
could bestow upon a foreigner. And the lasting
tragic nature of his propaganda was confirmed
during the Nuremberg trials. Indeed. Baldur von
Schirach, the convicted Hitler youth leader,
testified that The International Jew was the
decisive anti -Semitic book that influenced him
and his comrades in the early days of the Nazi
party. So Ford's hate speech directly influenced
the men who perpetrated the Holocaust. The sources
are clear on that. The publication eventually
stopped in 1927, but only after a high -profile
libel lawsuit. Brought by Jewish farm cooperative
organizer Aaron Shapiro, Ford closed The Independent
and issued a public retraction. Apology's sincerity
is questionable. Highly questionable. Investigative
reporting suggests Ford never truly signed the
retraction, that his signature was forged by
Harry Bennett, and Ford himself stated in 1940,
I hope to republish The International Jew again
sometime. Suggesting his personal beliefs remained
largely unchanged. Exactly. Distribution of the
book was finally halted in 1942 by Ford's own
legal action, yet it remains banned in Germany
today, though extremist groups recycle the material
constantly online. It's a dark, persistent shadow
on his legacy. It is. Now, let's consider World
War II. Despite his history with the Nazis and
his ongoing isolationist views, Ford Motor Company
became a linchpin of the Allied victory. Responding
to President Roosevelt's call for the arsenal
of democracy, Ford directed the construction
of the massive Willow Run aircraft factory near
Detroit. The sheer scale of that project is almost
incomprehensible. It was a monumental achievement.
Three and a half million square feet, making
it the largest assembly line in the world at
the time. Ford applied the principles of Fordism
standardization, efficiency, relentless tempo
to building B -24 bombers. What were the production
numbers at its peak? By 1944, Willow Run was
producing 650 B -24s per month. The efficiency
gains were so dramatic that by 1945, Ford was
completing one B -24 every 58 minutes. Incredible.
Overall, Ford produced 9 ,000 of the 18 ,000
B -24s built during the war, making his company
absolutely essential to the Allied cause, regardless
of his personal ideological opposition to the
US entry into the war. Beyond cars and controversy,
Ford was a relentless experimenter, a titan of
globalization, and his interests ranged far outside
typical industrial manufacturing. Ford's philosophy,
despite his political isolationism, was centered
on global trade as a driver of peace and efficiency.
He pushed for economic independence for the U
.S. through vertical integration. The River Rouge
plant being the prime example. Exactly, producing
every component from raw ore to finished steel.
But simultaneously, he sought massive global
expansion. global strategy began very early.
He opened assembly plants in Britain and Canada
in 1911. And by 1929, he had active dealerships
on six continents. He even extended his global
reach to the Soviet Union. The 1929 deal to help
them build their first automobile plant. A massive
deal, providing technical aid for nine years
to help the Soviets build the GAZ plant. This
involved shipping $30 million worth of knockdown
cars and trucks and stationing Ford engineers
in the Soviet Union while training Soviet engineers.
in Detroit. That's a fascinating ideological
clash. Yeah. The ultimate capitalists working
directly with the communists. But his core belief
overrode political ideology. He declared that
wherever industry prospers, the more profit there
will be for everyone, including us. He believed
the universal language of efficiency and manufacturing
would lead to modernization and peace. We can't
discuss his global ambition without mentioning
one of his most infamous failures, Fordlandia.
The commercial rubber plantation he established
in the Amazon jungle, it was a spectacular expensive
failure. Why did it fail so badly? He tried to
apply the rigid, centralized labor and production
methods of Detroit to the Brazilian jungle, ignoring
local agricultural and environmental realities.
It failed to produce viable rubber and alienated
its workforce. But the attempt itself shows the
sheer scale of his ambition. And it's clear that
Ford's ideas traveled well. His entire manufacturing
concept, Fordism transfixed Europeans. Especially
the Germans during the interwar period. They
saw Fordism as the quintessentially American
capitalist model, the key to modernization and
scale. Ford's methods were studied, copied, and
lauded across the continent. Let's turn back
to his sheer inventive output. He was awarded
161 U .S. patents. He was deeply interested in
material science and sustainability. He was an
early adopter of advanced metallurgy, using vanadium
steel alloys to make his cars lighter and stronger.
But his most curious pursuit involved agricultural
products, particularly soybeans. His relationship
with George Washington Carver. Exactly, for research
into soybean -based plastics. And these plastics
were actually utilized in car parts like horns
and paint throughout the 1930s. This research
culminated in his 1942... plastic car. It had
a body made almost entirely of soybean -based
plastic attached to a welded frame. It weighed
30 percent less than a steel car and was designed
to run on ethanol. It never achieved commercial
success, but the research was groundbreaking.
It demonstrated his commitment to blending industry
and agriculture. He even turned factory waste
into profit. He was instrumental in developing
Kingsford charcoal briquettes. Using the wood
scraps from the Ford factory. That's right. He
saw waste as inefficiency, and the charcoal briquet
was a direct byproduct of his obsessive vertical
integration philosophy. And finally, we need
to touch on his commitment to preserving Americana
and technological history. He was a massive collector.
He founded the Edison Institute. now the Henry
Ford Museum, and Greenfield Village in Dearborn,
dedicated to practical technology and history.
He literally collected historic structures and
had them moved to the village for preservation.
He also owned homes in Fort Myers, Florida, right
next to Thomas Edison. And the massive 70 ,000
-acre Ford Plantation in Richmond Hill, Georgia.
And just for context on his other interests,
the sources confirm he was a 33rd degree Freemason,
though he publicly opposed smoking, publishing
an anti -smoking book in 1914. The final years
of Ford's life are a tragic coda to his industrial
empire, marked by decline, internal strife, and
ultimately a forced exit from the company he
created. The crisis began with the death of his
son and company president Edsel in 1943 at the
age of 49. Edsel's death was devastating for
Henry. both personally and professionally. Despite
being nearly 80 and increasingly debilitated
by a series of strokes, Ford nominally resumed
control of the company presidency. But by this
point, his mental ability was fading rapidly.
He was highly suspicious and relied heavily on
the counsel of Harry Bennett, who only made things
worse. The corporate deterioration was rapid
and severe. The sources confirmed the company
was losing over $10 million a month. The situation
became so dire that during the peak of World
War II, the Roosevelt administration seriously
considered a government takeover of the company.
That fact alone underscores the danger his continued
presence posed to the American war effort. And
in his declining state, Ford displayed increasing
jealousy and paranoia. He forced out key executive
Charles Sorensen, who had been instrumental in
developing the moving assembly line. Simply because
he was jealous of the positive press Sorensen
received. Right. The company was functionally
being run by subordinates and the menacing hand
of Harry Bennett. So how was the aging Titan
finally removed? It took another powerful personal
ultimatum, this time orchestrated in 1945 by
his wife, Clara, and Edsel's widow, Eleanor.
They were staring down the barrel of bankruptcy.
They were. And they saw the company collapsing
under Henry's erratic control and Bennett's mismanagement.
They controlled the leverage. Three quarters
of the company stocked between them. They confronted
the aging Henry, threatening to sell their controlling
stake on the open market if he did not immediately
cede control to his 28 -year -old grandson, Henry
Ford II. A dramatic confrontation where he had
absolutely no choice but to give in. The legacy
of the entire empire was saved by the women of
the family. Henry Ford retired completely. And
young Henry Ford II took over. His very first
and most consequential act was immediately firing
Harry Bennett and dismantling the despised service
department. Beginning the process of modernizing
the company. He was. Henry Ford was given one
final honor shortly before his death. In 1946,
he was honored at the Automotive Golden Jubilee
for putting the world on wheels. A fitting recognition
of his genius, separate from his controversies.
Exactly. He died the following year on April
7, 1947, at the age of 83 from a cerebral hemorrhage.
His public viewing threw thousands of people
per hour, all coming to pay respects to the man
who, for better or worse, had changed their lives
forever. So what does this deep dive ultimately
mean? We've explored the full, difficult picture
of Henry Ford, the visionary who revolutionized
industrial production side by side with the ideologue
who used his immense platform to spread some
of the most damaging hate speech of the 20th
century. The complexity is the key takeaway.
Ford was the engineer who standardized efficiency
on a global scale. Fordism became the template
for modern manufacturing. Yet he resisted corporate
modernization from styling and finance to unions
until he was almost forced into bankruptcy. Understanding
him requires integrating the brilliant entrepreneur
with the deeply flawed, regressive ideologue.
His success was so profound, but his ideology
was so damaging. It's a chilling reminder that
revolutionary genius in one field often does
not translate to wisdom or morality in others.
And the platform afforded by wealth can amplify
both good and evil. Absolutely. And as you mull
over the immense contradictions of the man who
sold half the cars in America, here is a final
provocative thought for you to consider, connecting
his factory floor ethos to his cultural paranoia.
Lay it on us. Think about the lengths Ford went
to control not just the price of his product
or the moral life of his employee, but American
culture itself. His anti -Semitism manifested
in bizarre small ways, not just in publishing
The International Jew and influencing Hitler.
But also through actively funding square dancing
in American schools. Because he associated jazz
music with Jewish people. This detail illustrates
how fundamentally deep and strange his desire
to control the nation ran. He wanted to dictate
not only how people worked and drove, but what
they listened to. That desire for total control
over the wage, the product, and the cultural
texture of the entire nation, that might be the
most comprehensive and chilling legacy of Henry
Ford. Thanks for joining us for the Deep Dive.