Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist and 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 curiosity into an accessible
conveyance that would profoundly impact the landscape of the 20th century.

His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American

industry. As the owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-
known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism": 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
most of North America and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to
the Ford Foundation and arranged for his family to control the company permanently.

Ford was also widely known for his pacifism during the first years of World War I, and for
promoting antisemitic content, including The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, through his
newspaper The Dearborn Independent and the book The International Jew, having an alleged
influence on the development of Nazism.

Contents
 1 Early life
 2 Marriage and family
 3 Career
o 3.1 Ford Motor Company
 3.1.1 Model T
 3.1.2 Model A and Ford's later career
 3.1.3 Labor philosophy
 3.1.3.1 The five-dollar wage
 3.1.3.2 The five-day workweek
 3.1.3.3 Labor unions
o 3.2 Ford Airplane Company
 3.2.1 Willow Run
o 3.3 Peace and war
 3.3.1 World War I era
 3.3.2 The coming of World War II and Ford's mental collapse
 4 The Dearborn Independent and antisemitism
 5 International business
 6 Racing
 7 Later career and death
 8 Personal interests
o 8.1 Interest in materials science and engineering
 o 8.2 Florida and Georgia residences and community
o 8.3 Preserving Americana
 9 In popular culture
 10 Honors and recognition
 11 See also
 12 References
 13 Bibliography
 14 Further reading
o 14.1 Memoirs by Ford Motor Company principals
o 14.2 Biographies
o 14.3 Specialized studies
 15 External links

Early life
Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863, on a farm in Greenfield Township, Michigan.[1] His father,
William Ford (1826–1905), was born in County Cork, Ireland, to a family which emigrated from
Somerset, England in the 16th century."The history of Ford in Ireland". His mother, Mary Ford
(née Litogot; 1839–1876), was born in Michigan as the youngest child of Belgian immigrants;
her parents died when she was a child and she was adopted by neighbors, the O'Herns. Henry
Ford's siblings were Margaret Ford (1867–1938); Jane Ford (c. 1868–1945); William Ford
(1871–1917) and Robert Ford (1873–1934).

His father gave him a pocket watch in his early teens. At 15, Ford dismantled and reassembled
the timepieces of friends and neighbors dozens of times, gaining the reputation of a watch
repairman.[2] At twenty, Ford walked four miles to their Episcopal church every Sunday.[3]

Ford was devastated when his mother died in 1876. His father expected him to eventually take
over the family farm, but he despised farm work. He later wrote, "I never had any particular love
for the farm—it was the mother on the farm I loved."[4]

In 1879, Ford left home to work as an apprentice machinist in Detroit, first with James F. Flower
& Bros., and later with the Detroit Dry Dock Co. In 1882, he returned to Dearborn to work on
the family farm, where he became adept at operating the Westinghouse portable steam engine.
He was later hired by Westinghouse to service their steam engines. During this period Ford also
studied bookkeeping at Goldsmith, Bryant & Stratton Business College in Detroit.[5]

Ford stated two major events occurred in 1875, when he was 12. He received a watch, and he
witnessed the operation of a Nichols and Shepard road engine, "...the first vehicle other than
horse-drawn that I had ever seen." In his farm workshop, Ford built a "steam wagon or tractor"
and a steam car, but thought "steam was not suitable for light vehicles," as "the boiler was
dangerous." Ford also stated, he "did not see the use of experimenting with electricity, due to the
expense of trolley wires, and "no storage battery was in sight of a weight that was practical."
Then in 1885, Ford had the opportunity to repair an Otto engine, and built a four-cycle model in
1887, with a one-inch bore and a three-inch stroke. In 1890, Ford started work on a two cylinder
engine. Ford stated, "In 1892, I completed my first motor car, powered by a two cylinder four
horsepower motor, with a two-and-half-inch bore and a six-inch stroke, which was connected to
a countershaft by a belt, and then to the rear wheel by a chain. The belt was shifted by a clutch
lever to control speeds at 10 or 20 miles per hour, augmented by a throttle. Other features
included 28-inch wire bicycle wheels with rubber tires, a foot brake, a 3-gallon gasoline tank,
and later, a water jacket around the cylinders for cooling. Ford stated that "in the spring of 1893
the machine was running to my partial satisfaction and giving an opportunity further to test out
the design and material on the road." Between 1895 and 1896, Ford drove that machine about
1000 miles. Ford then started a second car in 1896, eventually building 3 cars in his home
workshop.[6]

Marriage and family

Henry Ford in 1888

(aged 25)

Ford married Clara Jane Bryant (1866–1950) on April 11, 1888, and supported himself by
farming and running a sawmill.[7] They had one child: Edsel Ford (1893–1943).[8]

Career
In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company of Detroit. After his
promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893, he had enough time and money to devote attention to his
personal experiments on gasoline engines. These experiments culminated in 1896 with the
completion of a self-propelled vehicle which he named the Ford Quadricycle. He test-drove it on
June 4. After various test drives, Ford brainstormed ways to improve the Quadricycle.[9]

Also in 1896, Ford attended a meeting of Edison executives, where he was introduced to Thomas
Edison. Edison approved of Ford's automobile experimentation. Encouraged by Edison, Ford
designed and built a second vehicle, completing it in 1898.[10] Backed by the capital of Detroit
lumber baron William H. Murphy, Ford resigned from the Edison Company and founded the
Detroit Automobile Company on August 5, 1899.[10] However, the automobiles produced were of
a lower quality and higher price than Ford wanted. Ultimately, the company was not successful
and was dissolved in January 1901.[10]
With the help of C. Harold Wills, Ford designed, built, and successfully raced a 26-horsepower
automobile in October 1901. With this success, Murphy and other stockholders in the Detroit
Automobile Company formed the Henry Ford Company on November 30, 1901, with Ford as
chief engineer.[10] In 1902, Murphy brought in Henry M. Leland as a consultant; Ford, in
response, left the company bearing his name. With Ford gone, Murphy renamed the company the
Cadillac Automobile Company.[10]

Teaming up with former racing cyclist Tom Cooper, Ford also produced the 80+ horsepower
racer "999" which Barney Oldfield was to drive to victory in a race in October 1902. Ford
received the backing of an old acquaintance, Alexander Y. Malcomson, a Detroit-area coal
dealer.[10] They formed a partnership, "Ford & Malcomson, Ltd." to manufacture automobiles.
Ford went to work designing an inexpensive automobile, and the duo leased a factory and
contracted with a machine shop owned by John and Horace E. Dodge to supply over $160,000 in
parts.[10] Sales were slow, and a crisis arose when the Dodge brothers demanded payment for
their first shipment.