Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. Although Ford did not invent the automobile or the assembly line, he developed and manufactured the first automobile that many middle class Americans could afford. In doing so, Ford converted the automobile from an expensive curiosity into a practical conveyance that would profoundly impact the landscape of the twentieth century. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism": mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout most of North America and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation and arranged for his family to control the company permanently.Ford was also widely known for his pacifism during the first years of World War I, and also for being the publisher of antisemitic texts such as the book The International Jew.
William Ford, Jr., Jane Ford, Margaret Ford, Robert Ford
Awards
Order of the German Eagle, Elliott Cresson Medal
Star Sign
Leo
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Quote
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When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
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Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice.
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[on friends] My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.
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[on action] Don't find fault. Find a remedy.
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Say you can or say you can't, either way you're right.
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Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.
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History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that's worth a tinker's dam is the history we make today.
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You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do.
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Every time I reduce the price of the car by one dollar I get one thousand new buyers.
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Fact
1
In July 1938, before the outbreak of World War II, the German consul in Cleveland gave Ford, on his 75th birthday, the award of the "Grand Cross of the German Eagle", the highest medal that Nazi Germany could bestow on a foreigner who sympathized with the Nazi cause.
2
In 1922 "The New York Times" reported that Adolf Hitler's office contained a large picture of Ford. A well-thumbed copy of "The International Jew" was found in his library. It was a four-volume set of booklets and pamphlets published and distributed in the early 1920s by Ford. The rabidly anti-Ssemitc texts first appeared in Ford's own newspaper, "The Dearborn Independent". The paper reached a circulation of 900,000 by 1925, second only to the "New York Daily News", largely due to a quota system for promotion imposed on Ford dealers. Lawsuits regarding anti-Semitic material published in the paper caused Ford to close it, and the last issue was published in December 1927.
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Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1967.
$200 Billion