Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an
American industrialist, the
founder of the Ford Motor Company,
and the sponsor of the development of the assembly
line technique of mass production.
Although
Ford did not invent the automobile or the assembly line, he developed and manufactured the
first automobile that many middle class Americans could
afford. In doing so, Ford converted the automobile from an expensive curiosity
into a practical conveyance that would profoundly impact the landscape of the
twentieth 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 having published antisemitic material such as found in the book The International Jew. Ford
said he neither wrote nor read the text, and as a result of the controversy
surrounding its publication and its influence on Germans, Ford apologized for
its publication a month after America entered WWII:
"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."
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