Henry Ford And The Jews

This book was my light reading for the week. It is probably not of general interest to most people unless they are particularly interested in Henry Ford and/or anti-Semitism in the late 19th and early 20th century. My next book is about Cornelius Vanderbilt.



Neil Baldwin, “Henry Ford And The Jews” (The Mass Production Of Hate), Public Affairs, 2001, 329 Pages

Henry Ford wanted a vehicle (no pun intended) to expound his views, particularly his views on the danger the Jews posed for the world. Therefore, he created the Dearborn Independent which, between 1920 and 1927, published weekly articles on "The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem." In addition, Henry spent much energy and money on the translation and publication of the infamous forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as well as many other anti-Semitic tracts. In Henry Ford And The Jews, Neil Baldwin tells the story of anti-Semitism in the early 20th century through the biography of Henry Ford.

Ford is ostensibly the subject of this book but, in reality, the author presents the anti-Semitism that permeated American culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. Henry Ford was greatly influenced by the public school textbooks by William Holmes McGuffey. These books along with the general climate around him instilled in Ford the stereotype of Jews as the greedy and perverse Shylocks (pound of flesh, et.al). This bigoted view was not atypical and was reinforced for Ford as he grew up and even in his adult life by his social circle, which included Thomas Edison and Charles Lindbergh. Hitler was a great admirer of Ford and even hung a portrait of him in his office and read all his publications.

I came away from this book with the conviction that Henry Ford was a particularly ignorant man. He was a great engineer and tenacious when after something. His tenacity resulted in his great wealth through the development of the automobile for the masses. This same tenacity almost put him out of business when he repeatedly refused to modify his original creation and better meet consumer demand; ala: “You can have any color car you want, as long as it is black.” His ignorance is vividly displayed in his anti-Semitic pronouncements. What was particularly unfortunate was his credibility. Just as today, too many people are influenced by people of great wealth or fame no matter how uninformed the wealthy or famous person may be in the subject discussed.

The Ford Motor Co. has spent much time and effort to eradicate their founders anti-Semitism. Ford’s son and wife always tried to dissuade Henry from his irrational beliefs, but had little success. Henry was very anti-intellectual and felt that history was “bunk.” After his son Edsel graduated from High School, Henry dissuaded him from entering college.