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    Henry Ford

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    John Nash
    Henry Ford (1863-1947) was an American industrialist who revolutionized automobile production. He founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and introduced the affordable and easy to drive Model T in 1908. Ford pioneered the moving assembly line for mass production, which allowed him to greatly reduce costs and prices. As a result, half of all cars in America by 1918 were Model Ts. While Ford offered high wages to workers and was philanthropic, he was also an anti-Semite who supported publications spreading anti-Semitic views.

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    Henry Ford

    Uploaded by

    John Nash
    125 views2 pages
    Henry Ford (1863-1947) was an American industrialist who revolutionized automobile production. He founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and introduced the affordable and easy to drive Model T in 1908. Ford pioneered the moving assembly line for mass production, which allowed him to greatly reduce costs and prices. As a result, half of all cars in America by 1918 were Model Ts. While Ford offered high wages to workers and was philanthropic, he was also an anti-Semite who supported publications spreading anti-Semitic views.

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    Henry Ford (1863-1947) was an American industrialist who revolutionized automobile production. He founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and introduced the affordable and easy to drive Model T in 1908. Ford pioneered the moving assembly line for mass production, which allowed him to greatly reduce costs and prices. As a result, half of all cars in America by 1918 were Model Ts. While Ford offered high wages to workers and was philanthropic, he was also an anti-Semite who supported publications spreading anti-Semitic views.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    125 views2 pages

    Henry Ford

    Uploaded by

    John Nash
    Henry Ford (1863-1947) was an American industrialist who revolutionized automobile production. He founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and introduced the affordable and easy to drive Model T in 1908. Ford pioneered the moving assembly line for mass production, which allowed him to greatly reduce costs and prices. As a result, half of all cars in America by 1918 were Model Ts. While Ford offered high wages to workers and was philanthropic, he was also an anti-Semite who supported publications spreading anti-Semitic views.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Henry Ford Biography

    (18631947)
    One of America's foremost industrialists, Henry Ford revolutionized assembly-
    line modes of production for the automobile.

    Synopsis
    Born on July 30, 1863, near Dearborn, Michigan, Henry Ford created the Ford
    Model T car in 1908 and went on to develop the assembly line mode of production,
    which revolutionized the industry. As a result, Ford sold millions of cars and
    became a world-famous company head. The company lost its market dominance
    but had a lasting impact on other technological development and U.S.
    infrastructure.

    Early Life
    Famed automobile manufacturer Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, on his
    family's farm in Wayne County, near Dearborn, Michigan. When Ford was 13
    years old, his father gifted him a pocket watch, which the young boy promptly took
    apart and reassembled. Friends and neighbors were impressed, and requested that
    he fix their timepieces too.

    Unsatistfied with farm work, Ford left home the following year, at the age of 16, to
    take an apprenticeship as a machinist in Detroit. In the years that followed, he
    would learn to skillfully operate and service steam engines, and would also study
    bookkeeping.

    Early Career
    In 1888, Ford married Clara Ala Bryant and briefly returned to farming to support
    his wife and son, Edsel. But three years later, he was hired as an engineer for the
    Edison Illuminating Company. In 1893, his natural talents earned him a promotion
    to chief engineer.

    All the while, Ford developed his plans for a horseless carriage, and in 1896, he
    constructed his first model, the Ford Quadricycle. Within the same year, he
    attended a meeting with Edison executives and found himself presenting his
    automobile plans to Thomas Edison. The lighting genius encouraged Ford to build
    a second, better model.
    Ford Motor Company
    After a few trials building cars and companies, in 1903, Henry Ford established the
    Ford Motor Company. Ford introduced the Model T in October of 1908, and for
    several years, the company posted 100 percent gains.

    However, more than for his profits, Ford became renowned for his revolutionary
    vision: the manufacture of an inexpensive automobile made by skilled workers
    who earn steady wages.

    In 1914, he sponsored the development of the moving assembly line technique of


    mass production. Simultaneously, he introduced the $5-per-day wage ($110 in
    2011) as a method of keeping the best workers loyal to his company. Simple to
    drive and cheap to repair, half of all cars in America in 1918 were Model T's.

    Philosophy, Philanthropy and Anti-Semitism


    From a social perspective, Henry Ford's was marked by seemingly contradictory
    viewpoints. In business, Ford offered profit sharing to select employees who stayed
    with the company for six months and, most important, who conducted their lives in
    a respectable manner.

    The company's "Social Department" looked into an employees drinking, gambling


    and otherwise uncouth activities to determine eligibility for participation. Ford was
    also an ardent pacifist and opposed World War I, even funding a peace ship to
    Europe. Later, in 1936, Ford and his family established the Ford Foundation to
    provide ongoing grants for research, education and development. But despite these
    philanthropic leanings, Ford was also a committed anti-Semite, going as far as to
    support a weekly newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, which furthered such
    views.

    Henry Ford died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 7, 1947, at the age of 83, near
    his Dearborn estate, Fair Lane. Ford, considered one of America's leading
    businessmen, is credited today for helping to build America's economy during the
    nation's vulnerable early years. His legacy will live on for decades to come.

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