Contents
FORD, Henry
(1863–1947), American industrialist, best known for
his pioneering achievements in the automobile industry.
Ford was born on a farm near Dearborn, Mich., on July 30,
1863, and educated in district schools. He became a machinist’s
apprentice in Detroit at the age of 16. From 1888 to 1899 he was
a mechanical engineer, and later chief engineer, with the Edison
Illuminating Co. In 1893, after experimenting for several years
in his leisure hours, he completed the construction of his first
automobile, and in 1903 he founded the Ford Motor Co.
In 1913 Ford began using standardized interchangeable parts and
assembly-line techniques in his plant. Although Ford neither originated
nor was the first to employ such practices, he was chiefly responsible
for their general adoption and for the consequent great expansion
of American industry and the raising of the American standard of
living.
By early 1914 this innovation, although greatly increasing
productivity, had resulted in a monthly labor turnover of 40 to
60 percent in his factory, largely because of the unpleasant monotony
of assembly-line work and repeated increases in the production quotas
assigned to workers. Ford met this difficulty by doubling the daily
wage then standard in the industry, raising it from about $2.50
to $5. The net result was increased stability in his labor
force and a substantial reduction in operating costs. These factors,
coupled with the enormous increase in output made possible by new
technological methods, led to an increase in company profits from $30
million in 1914 to $60 million in 1916.
In 1908 the Ford company initiated production of the celebrated
Model T. Until 1927, when the Model T was discontinued in favor
of a more up-to-date model, the company produced and sold about
15 million cars. Within the ensuing few years, however, Ford’s
preeminence as the largest producer and seller of automobiles in
the nation was gradually lost to his competitors, largely because
he was slow to adopt the practice of introducing a new model of
automobile each year, which had become standard in the industry. During
the 1930s Ford adopted the policy of the yearly changeover, but
his company was unable to regain the position it had formerly held.
In the period from 1937 to 1941, the Ford company became the
only major manufacturer of automobiles in the Detroit area that
had not recognized any labor union as the collective bargaining
representative of employees. At hearings before the National Labor
Relations Board Ford was found guilty of repeated violations of
the National Labor Relations Act. The findings against him were upheld
on appeal to the federal courts. Ford was constrained to negotiate
a standard labor contract after a successful strike by the workers
at his main plant at River Rouge, Mich., in April 1941.
Early in 1941 Ford was granted government contracts whereby
he was, at first, to manufacture parts for bombers and, later, the
entire airplane. He thereupon launched the construction of a huge
plant at Willow Run, Mich., where production was begun in May 1942.
Despite certain technical difficulties, by the end of World War
II (1945) this plant had manufactured more than 8000 planes.
Ford was active in several other fields besides those of automobile
and airplane manufacturing. In 1915 he chartered a peace ship, which
carried him and a number of like-minded individuals to Europe, where
they attempted without success to persuade the belligerent governments
to end World War I. He was nominated for the office of U.S. senator
from Michigan in 1918 but was defeated in the election. In the following
year he erected the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit at a cost of $7.5
million. In 1919 he became the publisher of the Dearborn
Independent, a weekly journal, which at first published
anti-Semitic material. After considerable public protest, Ford directed
that publication of such articles be discontinued and that a public
apology be made to the Jewish people.
Advancing age obliged Ford to retire from the active direction
of his gigantic enterprises in 1945. He died on April 7, 1947, in
Dearborn. Ford left a personal fortune estimated at $500
to $700 million, bequeathing the largest share of his holdings
in the Ford Motor Co. to the Ford Foundation, a nonprofit organization.