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The Life of Henry Ford
childhood
the engineer
ford motor company
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quick facts
Henry Ford was a complex and at times, contradictory personality with a wide range of interests and strongly held opinions. You probably know about Ford's achievements in automobile production, but did you also know that Henry Ford...
  • Built and drove race cars early in his career to demonstrate that his engineering designs produced reliable vehicles?

  • Financed a pacifist expedition to Europe during WWI?

  • Adopted a paternalistic policy to reform his workers' lives both at home and at work?

  • Was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in 1918?

  • Owned a controversial newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, that published anti-Jewish articles which offended many and tarnished his image?

  • Promoted the early use of aviation technology?

  • Built Village Industries, small factories in rural Michigan, where people could work and farm during different seasons, thereby bridging the urban and rural experience?

  • Sought ways to use agricultural products in industrial production, including soybean-based plastic automobile components such as this experimental automobile trunk?

  • Was one of the nation's foremost opponents of labor unions in the 1930s and was the last automobile manufacturer to unionize his work force?

  • Mobilized his factories for the war effort and produced bombers, Jeeps, and tanks for World War II?

  • Established schools in several areas of the country that provided educational experiences based on traditional one room school techniques, modern teaching methods, and "learning through doing"?

  • Established an indoor/outdoor museum--The Henry Ford--to preserve historical items that illustrated the American experience and American ingenuity?

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1st Ford Racer, Henry Ford and Spider Huff, 1901. Photo: P.188.10038

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Peace Ship, the King Oscar II, leaving Hoboken, NJ, 1915. Photo: P.833.97357.3

cover of DI
Cover of The Dearborn Independent, August 6, 1921. Photo: P.D.1218

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Henry Ford hitting a 1941 Ford car made from soybean plastic. Photo: P.188.28273

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B-24 Final Assembly, Willow Run Plant, ca. 1944. Photo: P.833.80716

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At Saline Michigan school, ca.1943. Photo: P.O.6534





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The Henry Ford is an AAM (American Association of Museums) accredited museum. The museum complex is an independent, non-profit, educational institution not affiliated with the Ford Motor Company or the Ford Foundation.