User:UberVegan/Draft-Ford
Henry Ford's antisemitism
[edit]Henry Ford, the American captain of industry, business magnate, assembly line pioneer, and founder of Ford Motor Company, was also a prominent antisemite who used his extensive wealth and influence to promulgate his antisemitic views.
Ford's antisemitism began in 1920 by "intensifying postwar discontent with the potent conspiracy theories of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. In order to expand his antisemitic views to a wider audience, Ford purchased a local newspaper, The Dearborn Independent. He then began publishing a series of articles based on "The Protocols" and placed the newspapers in his Ford auto dealerships and mailed them unsolicited across the U.S. to schools, libraries and hospitals. While the Jewish community ignored Ford's actions in hopes that it would go away, the newspaper's circulation quickly reached 700,000.[1]
History
[edit]Protestant Christianity, according to McGuffey, was the only real religion in America.
McGuffey was Henry Ford's favorite author and was always proud of his exposure to McGuffey's teachings, which "reinforced an ordered, rigid, and straightforward view of the world where white was white and black was black".[2] At the center of the books was a "Calvinist structure of reward and punishment".4-5 Ford was able to quote McGuffey line-for-line. 6
First foray into publishing, Ford was associate editor of Old Favorites from McGuffey Readers, a 428-page volume that was dedicated to Ford, a "lifelong devotee..."6
In 1914, the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League campaigned to eliminate The Merchant of Venice as required reading in Detroit public schools, to "remove books which maliciously and scurrilously traduce the character of the Jew".[3]
In 1910, Ford hired Ernest Gustav Liebold.24
National Americanization Day July 4, 1915(42)
"I want you, Mark, to put Jesus Christ in my factory!"38
Henry Ford was convinced that "the Jews" and "bankers" were responsible for many "symbols of social and cultural change around him" that he did not like, including Hollywood films, out-of-home childcare, governmental business regulations, newer fashions in dress and music, and Eastern European immigration.[4][5]
A close friend of Ford wrote in his diary about Ford lecturing to a group around a campfire in 1919. Ford attributed "all evil to Jews or to the Jewish capitalists" and that "Jews caused [World War I], the Jews caused the outbreak of thieving and robbery all over the country, the Jews caused the inefficiency of the navy...".[6]
In 1920 Ford wrote, "If fans wish to know the trouble with American baseball they have it in three words—too much Jew."[7] He labeled jazz "Yiddish moron music”,[8] referring to the language used by Ashkenazi Jews predominantly from Central Europe.
Quote, “inspiration” and is arguably the most notorious anti-Semite in modern U.S. history."
Ford was reclusive and tolerated no criticism or opposition.[9]
Ford and Hitler
[edit]Ford is among the most famous and wealthiest Americans, yet, as historian Hasia Diner said, "here's the person whose money and whose influence commands tremendous attention, spewing stuff that's no different than what Hitler is saying in his beer hall meetings in Munich at the same time."[6]
Adolf Hitler was an admirer of Ford and was an admirer of his writings. The two also shared a common thread of information: "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". In 1931, a large portrait of Ford hung in the office of Adolf Hitler.[10] When asked about Ford, Hitler said:
“You can tell Herr Ford that I am a great admirer of his...I shall do my best to put his theories into practice in Germany...I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration”.
Hitler was inspired by Ford's writing.
The Dearborn Independent
[edit]In 1918, Ford purchased The Dearborn Independent, a financially troubled hometown community weekly newspaper.[11]
Ford's antisemitic legacy
[edit]Ford Motor Company
[edit]In 1945, Ford's son, Henry Ford II, took control of Ford Motor Company he spent a "lifelong" campaign to support U.S. Jewish causes and Israel.
The Henry Ford
[edit]Ford's legacy is kept alive through The Henry Ford Museum, that "rivals the Smithsonian in the range and depth of its collections". However, as research historian Victoria Saker Woeste wrote after her tour of the museum, what "you won’t find, even now, is anything that indicates that the Independent ever existed, much less that it was the mouthpiece for Ford’s anti-Semitism".
The Dearborn Historian
[edit]In 2019, Bill McGraw, the longtime editor of The Dearborn Historian, a local quarterly journal published by Dearborn, Michigan's historical commission, thought that the residents of Dearborn could learn more about how Ford "spread virulent anti-Semitism in his weekly newspaper The Dearborn Independent.[12] McGraw wrote, "In general, metro Detroit and its institutions tend to treat Mr. Ford gently when it comes to his dark sides...But his anti-Semitism is much more than a personal failing”. McGraw then placed a special report in the Historian, detailing Ford's extraordinary efforts to "spread hate".[12]
However, Dearborn mayor John B. O’Reilly stopped the distribution of the city-financed journal and terminated McGraw's contract as editor.[12]
In 2014, Fort Myers, Florida mayor, Randy Henderson, withdrew a proposal to rename a bridge in honor of Ford, after the local Jewish Federation and others criticized the idea. The Jewish Federation's director said, "[Ford] really has a very dark history as far as the Jewish community and Jews are concerned”.[8]
- ^ Saker Woeste, Victoria (February 9, 2019). "Why Ford needs to grapple with its founder's anti-Semitism". The Washington Post.
- ^ Baldwin, Neil (2001). Henry Ford and the Jews: the mass production of hate. Cambridge, MA: PublicAffairs. p. 5. ISBN 1-58648-163-0.
- ^ Belth, Nathan C. (1979). A Promise to Keep. A Narrative of the American Encounter with Anti-Semitism. New York: Times Book / Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. p. 43.
- ^ Feldberg, Michael. "Henry Ford Invents a Jewish Conspiracy". My Jewish Learning. Article provided by the American Jewish Historical Society.
- ^ "Henry Ford and Anti-Semitism: A Complex Story". The Henry Ford.
- ^ a b "Ford's Anti-Semitism". PBS. American Experience.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Zeitlin, Alan (November 15, 2010). "Jews and Baseball Is a Film You Should Catch". The New York Blueprint. Archived from the original on December 10, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- ^ a b Rudin, A. James (October 10, 2014). "The dark legacy of Henry Ford's anti-Semitism". The Washington Post.
- ^ Chiu, Allyson (August 22, 2019). "Trump, amid claims of anti-Semitism, invoked Henry Ford. Hitler called the automaker his 'inspiration.'". The Washington Post.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Friess, Steve (February 2, 2019). "A Mayor's Effort to Play Down Henry Ford's Anti-Semitism Backfires". The New York Times.
- ^ "Henry Ford and Anti-Semitism: A Complex Story". The Henry Ford.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
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