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Who is Henry Ford?
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that middle-class Americans could afford, he converted the automobile from an expensive luxury into an accessible conveyance that profoundly impacted the landscape of the 20th century.
His introduction of the Ford Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As the Ford Motor Company owner, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with “Fordism“, the 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 North America and major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation and arranged for his family to permanently control it.
Ford was also widely known for his pacifism during the first years of World War I, and later for promoting antisemitic content, including The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, through his newspaper The Dearborn Independent, and the book The International Jew.
That biography certainly takes a strange turn there at the end. I wonder whether he actually believed this or whether he believed that it was advantageous in some way to be perceived as believing it. Maybe the distinction ultimately does not matter.
