Editing Henry Ford (section)

==Antisemitism and ''The Dearborn Independent''==
{{anchor|The Dearborn Independent and antisemitism}}
{{main|Dearborn Independent}}

Ford was a [[conspiracy theorist]] who drew on a [[Antisemitism|long tradition]] of [[Antisemitic trope|false allegations]] against [[Jews]]. Ford claimed that Jewish internationalism posed a threat to traditional American values, which he deeply believed were at risk in the modern world.<ref>Michael Alexander, Review of "Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate." ''Jewish Quarterly Review'' 94#4 (2004), pp. 716–718, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1455604 online].</ref> Part of his racist and antisemitic legacy includes the funding of square-dancing in American schools because he hated [[jazz]] and associated its creation with Jewish people.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://qz.com/1153516/americas-wholesome-square-dancing-tradition-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/ |title=America's wholesome square dancing tradition is a tool of white supremacy |last=Pennacchia |first=Robyn |date=December 12, 2017 |website=Quartz |access-date=June 16, 2019 }}</ref> In 1920 Ford wrote, "If fans wish to know the trouble with American baseball they have it in three words—too much Jew."<ref name="nyblueprint1">{{Cite web |last=Zeitlin |first=Alan |date=November 15, 2010 |title=Jews and Baseball Is a Film You Should Catch |url=http://nyblueprint.com/articles/view.aspx?id=824 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101210065732/http://nyblueprint.com/articles/view.aspx?id=824 |archive-date=December 10, 2010 |access-date=February 6, 2014 |publisher=The New York Blueprint}} (citing the 2010 documentary film ''[[Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story]]'', by [[Pulitzer Prize]] winner [[Ira Berkow]]).</ref>

In 1918, Ford purchased his hometown newspaper, ''[[The Dearborn Independent]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Dearborn Independent, February 20, 1926 – Henry Ford |url=https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/488175/ |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=www.thehenryford.org |language=en}}</ref> A year and a half later, Ford began publishing a series of articles in the paper under his own name, claiming a vast Jewish conspiracy was affecting America.<ref name="pbs.org">{{Cite web |title=Ford's Anti-Semitism {{!}} American Experience {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/henryford-antisemitism/ |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=www.pbs.org |language=en}}</ref> The series ran in 91 issues. Every Ford dealership nationwide was required to carry the paper and distribute it to its customers. Ford later bound the articles into four volumes entitled [[The International Jew|''The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem'']], which was translated into multiple languages and distributed widely across the US and Europe.<ref name="bridgemi.com">{{Cite web |title=Henry Ford and the Jews, the story Dearborn didn't want told {{!}} Bridge Michigan |url=https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/henry-ford-and-jews-story-dearborn-didnt-want-told |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=www.bridgemi.com |date=July 13, 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The International Jew: 1920s Antisemitism Revived Online {{!}} ADL |url=https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/the-international-jew-1920s-antisemitism-revived-online |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=www.adl.org |language=en}}</ref> ''The International Jew'' blamed nearly all the troubles it saw in American society on Jews.<ref name="pbs.org"/> The ''Independent'' ran under Ford's ownership until its closure in 1927. With around 700,000 readers of his newspaper, Ford emerged as a "spokesman for right-wing extremism and religious prejudice."<ref>Glock, Charles Y. and Quinley, Harold E. (1983). ''Anti-Semitism in America''. Transaction Publishers. {{ISBN|0-87855-940-X}}, p. 168.</ref>

[[File:1920 International Jew reprint from Dearborn Independent.jpg|thumb|upright|The Ford publication ''[[The International Jew|The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem]]''. Articles from ''[[The Dearborn Independent]]'', 1920]]
In Germany, Ford's ''The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem'' was published by [[Theodor Fritsch]], founder of several antisemitic parties and a member of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]], influencing German anti-Semitic discourse. In a letter written in 1924, [[Heinrich Himmler]] described Ford as "one of our most valuable, important, and witty fighters".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=Michael Thad |url=https://archive.org/details/businessofgenoci00alle/page/14 |title=The Business of Genocide: The SS, Slave Labor, and the Concentration Camps |date=2002 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0807826775 |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |pages=[https://archive.org/details/businessofgenoci00alle/page/14 14, 290] |url-access=registration}} See also, {{cite book |last=Pfal-Traughber |first=Armin |title=Der antisemitisch-antifreimaurerische Verschwörungsmythos in der Weimarer Republik und im NS-Staat |publisher=Braumüller |year=1993 |location=Vienna, Austria |page=39 |language=de}} See also: [http://www.graswurzel.net/284/hohmann.shtml#u4 ''Eliten-Antisemitismus in Nazi-Kontinuität.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730212508/http://www.graswurzel.net/284/hohmann.shtml#u4|date=July 30, 2017}}, In: ''[[Graswurzelrevolution]].'' December 2003.  Pfal-Traughber and Allen both cite {{cite book |last1=Ackermann |title=Heinrich Himmler als Ideologe |page=37 |language=de}}</ref> Ford is the only American mentioned favorably in Hitler's autobiography ''[[Mein Kampf]]'',<ref>Adolph Hitler. [https://archive.org/stream/meinkampf035176mbp/meinkampf035176mbp_djvu.txt ''Mein Kampf''], pp. 929, 930.</ref> which appeared five years after Ford's anti-Semitic pamphlets were published in book form.

[[Adolf Hitler]] wrote, "only Ford, [who], to [the Jews'] fury, still maintains full independence ... [from] the controlling masters of the producers in a nation of one hundred and twenty millions." Speaking in 1931 to a ''[[Detroit News]]'' reporter, Hitler said "I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration," explaining his reason for keeping a life-size portrait of Ford behind his desk.<ref name="WP" /><ref name="bridgemi.com"/> Steven Watts wrote that Hitler "revered" Ford, proclaiming that "I shall do my best to put his theories into practice in Germany", and modeling the [[Volkswagen Beetle]], the people's car, on the Model T,<ref>Watts, p. xi.</ref> which was designed by members of the Austrian-German [[Ferdinand Porsche Jr.|Porsche]] family of sportscar makers. Max Wallace has stated, "History records that ... Adolf Hitler was an ardent Anti-Semite before he ever read Ford's ''The International Jew''."<ref>Wallace, Max. ''The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindberg and the Rise of the Third Reich'', St. Martin's Griffin, New York, p. 52.</ref> Ford also paid to print and distribute 500,000 copies of the [[antisemitic canard|antisemitic fabricated text]] ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]''<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/the-dark-legacy-of-henry-fords-anti-semitism-commentary/2014/10/10/c95b7df2-509d-11e4-877c-335b53ffe736_story.htmlSemitic |title=Thepamphlets darkwere legacypublished ofin Henrybook Ford's anti-Semitism |last=Rudin |first=Aform. James |date=October 10, 2014 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=January 14, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Eisenstein">{{Cite web |last=Eisenstein |first=Paul A. |title=Mayor's attempt to censor local article about Henry Ford's anti-Semitism draws national attention |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/04/mayors-bid-to-censor-article-on-henry-fords-anti-semitism-goes-viral.html |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=CNBC |date=February 4, 2019 |language=en}}</ref> and is reported to have paid for the English translation of Hitler's ''Mein Kampf.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=ORF-Radiothek {{!}} 100 Jahre Autobahn (Part 2) |url=https://oe1.orf.at/player/20241008/772293/1728372603000 |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=oe1.orf.at |language=DE}}</ref> Historians say Hitler distributed Ford's books and articles throughout Germany, stoking the hatred that helped fuel the Holocaust.<ref name="Eisenstein"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/11/05/elon-musk-henry-ford-antisemitism/|title=Long before Elon Musk, Henry Ford went to war with Jewish groups|newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref>

On February 1, 1924, Ford received [[Kurt Ludecke]], a representative of Hitler, at home. Ludecke was introduced to Ford by [[Siegfried Wagner]] (son of the composer [[Richard Wagner]]) and his wife [[Winifred Wagner|Winifred]], both [[Nazi]] sympathizers and anti-Semites. Ludecke asked Ford for a contribution to the Nazi cause, but was apparently refused. Ford did, however, give considerable sums of money to [[Boris Brasol]], a member of the [[Aufbau Vereinigung]], an organization linking German Nazis and White Russian emigrants which financed the recently established [[Nazi Party]].{{refn|Max Wallace. ''The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich'', (Macmillan, 2004), pp. 50–54, {{ISBN|0312335318}}. Years later, in 1977, Winifred claimed that Ford had told her that he had helped finance Hitler. This anecdote is the suggestion that Ford made a contribution. The company has always denied that any contribution was made, and no documentary evidence has ever been found (''ibid'' p. 54). However, according to a captured Nazi document, the German subsidiary of Ford made a personal present to Hitler of 35,000 Reichsmarks in honor of his 50th birthday, in April 1939.<ref name="WP" /> See also [[Neil Baldwin (writer)|Neil Baldwin]], ''Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate'' (Public Affairs, 2002), pp. 185–89, {{ISBN|1-58648-163-0}}.}}<ref>Brigitte Hamann. ''Hitler's Vienna: A Dictator's Apprenticeship,'' New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. pp. 347–359.</ref>

Ford's articles were denounced by the [[Anti-Defamation League]] (ADL). While these articles explicitly condemned [[pogrom]]s and violence against Jews, they blamed the Jews themselves for provoking them.<ref>Ford, Henry (2003). ''The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem''. Kessinger Publishing. {{ISBN|0766178293}}, p. 61.</ref> According to some trial testimony, none of this work was written by Ford, but he allowed his name to be used as an author. Friends and business associates said they warned Ford about the contents of the ''Independent'' and that he probably never read the articles (he claimed he only read the headlines).<ref>Watts, pp. x, 376–387; Lewis (1976), pp. 135–159.</ref> On the other hand, court testimony in a [[libel]] suit, brought by one of the targets of the newspaper, alleged that Ford did know about the contents of the ''Independent'' in advance of publication.<ref name="Wallace" />

A libel lawsuit was brought by [[San Francisco]] [[lawyer]] and Jewish farm cooperative organizer [[Aaron Sapiro]] in response to the antisemitic remarks, and led Ford to close the ''Independent'' in December 1927. News reports at the time quoted him as saying he was shocked by the content and unaware of its nature. During the trial, the editor of Ford's "Own Page", William Cameron, testified that Ford had nothing to do with the editorials even though they were under his byline. Cameron testified at the libel trial that he never discussed the content of the pages or sent them to Ford for his approval.<ref>Lewis (1976), pp. 140–156; Baldwin, pp. 220–221.</ref> Investigative journalist [[Max Wallace]] noted that "whatever credibility this absurd claim may have had was soon undermined when James M. Miller, a former ''Dearborn Independent'' employee, swore under oath that Ford had told him he intended to expose Sapiro."<ref>Wallace, Max. (2003). ''The American Axis: Ford, Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich''. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 30.</ref>

[[Michael Barkun]] observed: "That Cameron would have continued to publish such anti-Semitic material without Ford's explicit instructions seemed unthinkable to those who knew both men. Mrs. Stanley Ruddiman, a Ford family intimate, remarked that "I don't think Mr. Cameron ever wrote anything for publication without Mr. Ford's approval."<ref>Barkun, Michael (1996). ''Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement''. UNC Press. {{ISBN|0-8078-4638-4}}, p. 35.</ref> According to Spencer Blakeslee, "[t]he ADL mobilized prominent Jews and non-Jews to publicly oppose Ford's message. They formed a coalition of Jewish groups for the same purpose and raised constant objections in the Detroit press. Before leaving his presidency early in 1921, [[Woodrow Wilson]] joined other leading Americans in a statement that rebuked Ford and others for their antisemitic campaign. A [[boycott]] against Ford products by Jews and liberal Christians also had an impact, and Ford shut down the paper in 1927, recanting his views in a public letter to [[Sigmund Livingston]], president of the ADL."<ref>Blakeslee, Spencer (2000). ''The Death of American Antisemitism''. Praeger/Greenwood. {{ISBN|0275965082}}, p. 83.</ref> Wallace also found that Ford's apology was likely, or at least partly, motivated by a business that was slumping as a result of his antisemitism, repelling potential buyers of Ford cars.<ref name="Wallace" /> Up until the apology, a considerable number of dealers, who had been required to make sure that buyers of Ford cars received the ''Independent'', bought up and destroyed copies of the newspaper rather than alienate customers.<ref name="Wallace"/>

Ford's 1927 apology was well received. "Four-fifths of the hundreds of letters addressed to Ford in July 1927 were from Jews, and almost without exception they praised the industrialist..."<ref name="Lewis">{{Cite book |title=The Public Image of Henry Ford: An American Folk Hero and His Company |last=Lewis |first=David I.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SudV13L6mkoC&q=four-fifths |publisher=Wayne State University Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0814315538}}, pp. 146–154.</ref> In January 1937, a Ford statement to ''[[The Detroit Jewish Chronicle]]'' disavowed "any connection whatsoever with the publication in Germany of a book known as the ''International Jew''".<ref name=Lewis/> Ford, however, allegedly never signed the retraction and apology, which were written by others—rather, his signature was forged by [[Harry Bennett]]—and Ford never actually recanted his antisemitic views, stating in 1940: "I hope to republish ''The International Jew'' again some time."<ref name="Pool_and_Pool_1978">{{Harvnb|Pool|Pool|1978}}.</ref>

[[File:Service Cross of the German Eagle.png|thumb|upright=0.9|left|[[Grand Cross of the German Eagle]], an award bestowed on Henry Ford by Nazi Germany on July 30, 1938.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-11-20 |title=Henry Ford receiving the Grand Cross of the German Eagle from Nazi officials, 1938 |url=https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/henry-ford-grand-cross-1938/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Rare Historical Photos / Associated Press |language=en-US}}</ref> ]]
In July 1938, the German consul in Cleveland gave Ford, on his 75th birthday, the award of the [[Grand Cross of the German Eagle]], the highest medal Nazi Germany could bestow on a foreigner.<ref name="WP">{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm |title=Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration |date=November 30, 1998 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=March 5, 2008 |pages=A01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kampeas|first=Ron|date=2020-02-08|title=At Ford-sponsored Auschwitz exhibit, no sign of founder's role in Nazi machine|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/at-ford-sponsored-auschwitz-exhibit-no-sign-of-founders-role-in-nazi-machine/|access-date=2022-02-05|website=Times of Israel|language=en-US}}</ref> [[James D. Mooney]], vice president of overseas operations for [[General Motors]], received a similar medal, the Merit Cross of the German Eagle, First Class.<ref name="WP" /><ref>Farber, David R. (2002). ''Sloan Rules: Alfred P. Sloan and the Triumph of General Motors''. University of Chicago Press, {{ISBN|0226238040}}, p. 228.</ref>

On January 7, 1942, Ford wrote another letter to [[Sigmund Livingston]] disclaiming direct or indirect support of "any agitation which would promote antagonism toward my Jewish fellow citizens". He concluded the letter with, "My sincere hope that now in this country and throughout the world when the war is finished, hatred of the Jews and hatred against any other racial or religious groups shall cease for all time."<ref name="Arnstein">"Arnstein & Lehr, The First 120 Years" (Louis A. Lehr, Jr.) (Amazon), p. 32.</ref>

The distribution of ''The International Jew'' was halted in 1942 through legal action by Ford, despite complications from a lack of copyright.<ref name=Lewis/> It is still banned in Germany. Extremist groups often recycle the material; it still appears on [[antisemitic]] and [[neo-Nazi]] websites. Testifying at [[Nuremberg Trials|Nuremberg]], convicted [[Hitler Youth]] leader [[Baldur von Schirach]] who, in his role as ''[[Gauleiter]]'' of [[Vienna]], deported 65,000 Jews to camps in Poland, stated: "The decisive anti-Semitic book I was reading and the book that influenced my comrades was ... that book by Henry Ford, ''The International Jew''. I read it and became anti-Semitic. The book made a great influence on myself and my friends because we saw in Henry Ford the representative of success and also the representative of a progressive social policy."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Baldur von Schirach before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg |date=May 23, 1946}}</ref>

Robert Lacey wrote in ''Ford: The Men and the Machines'' that a close Willow Run associate of Ford reported that when he was shown newsreel footage of the [[Nazi concentration camps]], he "was confronted with the atrocities which finally and unanswerably laid bare the bestiality of the prejudice to which he contributed, he collapsed with a [[stroke]] – his last and most serious."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lacey |first1=Robert |title=Ford |date=1986 |pages=218–219}}; which in turn cites:
* {{cite encyclopedia |title=The Poor Mr Ford |encyclopedia=Josephine Fellows Gomon Papers |location=[[Bentley Historical Library]] |series=draft manuscript |volume=Box 10}}</ref> Ford had suffered previous strokes and his final [[Intracerebral hemorrhage|cerebral hemorrhage]] occurred in 1947 at age 83.<ref name="AP-1947.04.08"/>