Henry Ford’s Antisemitism
And how his family tried to make amends
In last week’s article I referred briefly to Henry Ford’s antisemitism. Some readers have asked to know more so I thought I would follow up on him this week.
In many ways Henry Ford was a remarkable man. He revolutionised car production and paid his employees well, setting new standards for manufacturing industries. But his heirs knew that all the good he had done was obliterated by a fierce, unyielding antisemitism that resulted in him being the only American honoured by Hitler. His descendants have put tremendous energy in trying to make up for his behaviour. But they cannot change the man he was.
Ford set up his car manufacturing company in 1903. Ten years later he revolutionised the production line, reducing the time it took to produce a car from 12.5 hours to just over an hour and a half. By 1925 he was producing 10,000 vehicles a day. It allowed him to slash the price of his cars and give ordinary working people the chance of owning their own vehicle.
However, his new production line made his workers’ jobs monotonous. He found it hard to retain staff. Realising that it was cheaper to pay them more to keep them than to train replacements, he doubled their wages, to $5 a day. Suddenly a job at Ford’s was one every factory worker wanted.
The pay rise came at a price though. In order to qualify, workers had to allow Ford’s inspectors into their homes. If the inspectors found that their houses were dirty, or if their wives worked or the workers drank or gambled, they were denied the pay rise. Immigrant workers were obliged to attend classes to Americanise themselves and black employees were only allowed to perform the most menial and dangerous tasks. Henry Ford had strong, unconscionable views on social structures and hierarchies.