Innovator, Industrialist, Outdoorsman: Henry Ford Started It All

While always a dutiful contributor to the family farm, Henry's earliest exposure to his real
passion—machinery and mechanics—came from visits to town with his father, where he saw
some of the earliest technology of machines, engines and mills.

Henry Ford’s Beginnings

Born in Wayne County, Michigan, in an area that later became Dearborn, on July 30, 1863,
Henry Ford was the oldest of six children. Although he chose to leave the family farm and
pursue his own interests, Henry never strayed far from his roots.

In April 1888, Ford married Clara Bryant, a local girl and the foster child of—like Henry—Irish
immigrant farmers. Success soon came to him as he took a position in 1891 as an engineer at the
Edison Illuminating Company and fairly quickly climbed the ranks. Greater financial security
along with more freedom to explore his own experiments came with his promotion to chief
engineer in 1893—the same year his only child, Edsel, was born.

Although he had established a solid career with good prospects at Edison Illuminating, Ford was
restless and ready to venture into the field of automotive engineering, in which he had long been
experimenting. He had confidence enough in his ideas that he believed he could continue to
support his family on them—and of course eventually, he proved right.

Driven by His Imagination

With his love for the outdoors and rural values, Ford might easily have remained in agriculture,
but something even stronger pulled at Ford's imagination: mechanics, machinery, understanding
how things worked and what new possibilities lay in store.

As a young boy, Ford took apart everything he got his hands on; he became known around the
neighborhood for fixing people's watches. As he grew up, he explored every mechanical
opportunity he could find, learning to fix steam engines and run mill operations. In the 1890s, he
focused particularly on internal combustion engines.

Edison’s Encouragement

"Young man, that's the thing! You have it—the self-contained unit carrying its own fuel with it!
Keep at it!" These early words of encouragement came from Thomas Edison, who was to
become one of Henry Ford's closest friends. At their first meeting at a convention in 1896, Ford
was still an unknown. But the enthusiasm of the famous and widely respected Edison surely
fueled Ford's drive.

The friendship between Henry Ford and scientist and inventor Thomas Edison, which spanned
more than 30 years, is almost legendary. From their earliest meetings, they encouraged and
inspired one another, often contributing to each other's work.
In Edison, Ford found a sympathetic mind and true friendship that transcended the boundaries of
mere celebrity or fame. The first publicly released '28 Model A Ford may have gone to the movie
stars, but the first one ever produced went to Edison.

Difficult Beginnings

Henry Ford called his first vehicle the Quadricycle. It attracted enough financial backing for
Ford to leave his engineer position at Edison Illuminating and help found the Detroit Automobile
Company in 1899. The company faltered for a variety of reasons, and in 1901 Ford left to pursue
his own work again. Later that year, the Henry Ford Company was born, but Henry Ford himself
stayed with it only a few months. He left in early 1902 to devote more time to refining his
vehicles.

Henry Ford spent much of the next year or so working on his racing cars and winning some high-
profile races with them. The record setting attracted serious financial backing, along with smart
business partners such as James Couzens, the company's first business manager. Couzens’s
business acumen complemented Ford's mechanical talents, and in the early years he was largely
responsible for important moves the company made in advertising, customer relations, dealer
franchises and more.

Within a few months of the June 16, 1903 founding of Ford Motor Company, the first Ford, a
Model A, was being sold in Detroit. Although there were 87 other car companies in the United
States, it soon became clear that Henry Ford's vision for the automotive industry was going to
work.

Bringing Cars to the Common Man

What made Henry Ford successful where others had failed (or succeeded on a much smaller
scale)? It wasn't just his vehicles, excellent as they were—it was his unique understanding of the
potential of those vehicles to transform society.

Before Ford, cars were luxury items, and most of his early competitors continued to view them
that way, manufacturing and marketing their vehicles for the wealthy. Ford's great stroke of
genius was recognizing that with the right techniques, cars could be made affordable for the
general public—and that the general public would want them. Ford focused on making the
manufacturing process more efficient so he could produce more cars and charge less for each.

Innovating a New Future

Some of Ford's greatest innovations came not in the cars themselves but in the processes for
creating them, like his 1914 introduction of a moving conveyor belt at the Highland Park plant,
which dramatically increased production. Starting construction on the Rouge plant in 1917 was
the first step toward Ford's dream of an all-in-one manufacturing complex, where the processing
of raw materials, parts and final automobiles could happen efficiently in a single place.
Ford was also unique in recognizing that his business was about more than just cars; it was about
transportation, mobility, changing lifestyles. He anticipated the ripple effect from mass
production to create more jobs that let more people afford the cost-effective cars he produced.

Ford pushed for more gas stations and campaigned for better roads, understanding conditions
necessary for his product to make its mark. And his far-reaching vision opened his eyes to the
global market, making Ford Motor Company an international enterprise far earlier than any of its
competitors. At the height of Henry Ford's fame and business power, his company operated or
sold in more than 30 countries around the world, including such far-reaching places as Indonesia,
China, Brazil and Egypt, as well as much of Europe.

Providing Opportunities for a Better Society

Henry Ford's personal motto of "Help the Other Fellow" spilled over into his management style;
he recognized that policies generous to his employees would result in happier workers and a
better product. He claimed, however, not to believe in conventional charity; rather he preferred
to provide opportunities for people to help themselves.

These are just some of the liberal innovations Ford implemented within his company:

 The $5 workday, doubling the industry standard for a day's wages and bringing his
hardworking employees closer to affording the cars they built. Ford considered it a way
of sharing the company's profits with all those who had helped make those profits
possible.
 Employment policies that created opportunities for the physically and mentally
handicapped and even ex-convicts.
 A variety of educational facilities at the workplace, starting with the English Language
School at the Highland Park plant in 1914, when he realized his largely immigrant
workforce needed language skills and assistance.

A Fascinating Personality

As Ford Motor Company's public image developed, much of it began to focus on the personality
of the company's charismatic leader. Ford made a fascinating subject for a variety of reasons. He
wasn't a "behind-the-scenes" kind of executive; rather, he stayed actively involved in company
operations and was frequently on hand at milestone events. He had a forceful, outspoken
personality that often expressed itself in highly quotable remarks. Moreover, his wide-ranging
interests led him to explore a variety of fields—aviation, film, politics (including a run for the
U.S. Senate)—that led to associations with other celebrities and people of note.

But it would be a mistake to conclude that Ford's celebrity associations involved just smiling for
the camera with the latest movie stars. The list of dignitaries and personalities with whom he
exchanged letters is long and impressive. Moreover, Ford had meaningful relationships with
many luminaries of his time. He shared an interest in agricultural experimentation with African
American educator and agriculturalist George Washington Carver. He communicated with
aviation pioneers such as Wilbur and Orville Wright and Charles Lindbergh, who were
consultants to the company's aviation division. America's leaders relied on Ford Motor
Company's wartime production, and Ford himself was well-acquainted with several U.S.
presidents.

Life Beyond the Automobile

Cars were always central to Henry Ford's life: He built them, he raced them, he sold them. But
there was so much more to the man than his automobiles. He was a man of many interests and
had a highly developed sense of curiosity; he never stopped exploring new fields and learning
about new subjects.

In many ways, for many years, Ford Motor Company was inseparable from the man who
founded it, and Henry Ford's constant exploration of new areas and opportunities led the
company into a variety of pursuits beyond just automobiles:

 Ford always maintained strong ties to his rural upbringing and frequently looked for ways
to support the work of farmers. In 1917, he and his son, Edsel, founded the Fordson
("Ford" and his "son") division to manufacture tractors that, like the Model T, would be
lightweight and inexpensive.
 Ford Motor Company's Motion Picture Department was established in 1914 with a staff
of 24 that traveled worldwide producing promotional and educational short films. In the
1920s, the company was the world's largest producer of motion pictures—more than
Hollywood or the New York studios! In that same period, half of all rural Americans saw
a Ford film as their first motion picture ever.

Ford's fondness for small-town American life and culture is most comprehensively recorded in
the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village (now part of what is called "The Henry Ford"),
which together form the largest museum in the country. In 1929, Ford founded The Edison
Institute, a combination school and museum to allow for education through the studying of
artifacts and cultural history, not just books. As he collected pieces of Americana, historic
buildings, and more, this project of Ford's evolved into the sprawling cultural complex that it is
today. Company and tax records show that over his lifetime, Ford poured more than $10 million
of his own money into it.

There was very little that Henry Ford didn't either dabble in or undertake seriously. He co-
authored several books; he loved to dance and sparked a revival in old-fashioned American
dancing and country fiddling; he participated actively in a variety of philanthropic ventures.
What bound those interests together were curiosity and the will to learn.

A Business Leader

Henry Ford retired (for the first time) in 1919, when he handed over leadership of his company
to his son, Edsel. Also In 1919, Henry, along with his wife and Edsel, acquired the stock of the
company's minority shareholders for the astonishing (for 1919) sum of $105,820,894 and
became the sole owners of Ford Motor Company—truly making it a family-owned business for
the first time.
In 1943, after Edsel's death from cancer at age 49, Henry was persuaded to return as president of
the company and showed remarkable energy for a man in his 80s—but many say he was never
the same after the death of his beloved son.

On September 21, 1945, the Ford Motor Company board of directors was presented with a letter
from Henry Ford, resigning as president of the company and recommending Henry Ford II,
Edsel's eldest son and Henry's eldest grandson, as his successor. With that, Henry Ford
permanently left behind the management of Ford Motor Company. He was 82 years old.

Henry Ford’s retirement found him as busy as ever, pursuing interests, accepting awards,
satisfying his boundless curiosity. His last day was no different: He spent April 7, 1947,
inspecting buildings and grounds around Dearborn that had been damaged by the worst floods in
that area's history. The flood had cut off power to Ford's home, Fair Lane. He died in his bed that
night by candlelight, in an odd re-creation of the electricity-free world into which he had been
born.

An Immeasurable Legacy

The impact Henry Ford had on the world is almost immeasurable. His introduction of the
automobile into the mass market transformed agricultural economies in the United States and
even around the world into prosperous industrial and urban ones. Many historians credit him
with creating a middle class in America. His mass production techniques provided work that
many people (even the less educated) could do, and he paid them well for doing it. His high
minimum wages were revolutionary at the time, but these "profit-sharing" programs set a
precedent for fair distribution of company wealth that greatly influenced later management
practices.

And of course, there were the cars themselves. Henry Ford's curiosity and enterprising nature
were directly responsible for a long list of automotive innovations, many of which we take for
granted today, from the V-8 engine to safety glass.

As an outdoorsman, Henry Ford was deeply conscious of the impact his industry had on the
delicate natural world. He implemented practices that were progressive for his time—replacing
wood with steel to conserve forests, using lighter materials to increase fuel efficiency, even
prohibiting the use of crowbars to open wooden crates so as not to damage the potentially
reusable lumber.

Henry Ford was an industrial genius, but his lack of education left
him without great depth of character or cultural sophistication.
Henry Ford gained control and succeeded in business by relentless and incisive actions. Henry Ford built
his production system as if assembling some gigantic piece of clockwork People were just incidental
parts in that machine to be cared for, kept in order and discarded as advantageous.

Henry Ford Biography: Early Life

Henry Ford was born on the 30th of July, 1863 to William and Mary Ford in a rural town west of Detroit,
Michigan which is now a part of Dearborn. He had 2 sisters Margaret and Jane and 2 brothers William
and Robert.

At the age of 15, Henry showed his aptitude for mechanics. He had dismantled and reassembled several
watches and timepieces owned by his friends and family and had gained a reputation as an excellent
watch repairman.

His father wanted him to work with him on their farm, but Henry was really not interested in farming.
When his mother died in 1876, he was devastated. His one link to the farm was cut off. So in 1879 he left
home and went to Detroit to work for James F. Flower & Bros., and then later with the Detroit Dry Dock
Company as an apprentice machinist. In 1882 he returned to the farm and became an expert at running
the Westinghouse portable steam engine. This company later hired him to service their steam engines.

In 1888, he married Clara Ala Bryant. They had one son, Edsel Bryant Ford.

In 1891 Henry Ford joined the Edison Illuminating Company as an engineer and was subsequently
promoted to Chief Engineer in 1893. After this promotion, he had a lot of time on his hands to devote
for his personal experimentation on engines.

Henry Ford History: Ford Motor Company

In 1903, Henry Ford and eleven investors formed the Ford Motor Company. He had designed a car which
he drove on the ice of Lake St. Clair and set a land speed record at that time.

In 1908 he introduced the ‘Model T’ which became synonymous with the company. The car was simple
to make and equally simple to drive. He priced it cheap and publicized it widely. He created a network of
dealers in all the small and large towns of America which helped boost his sales. These franchises also
promoted local motor clubs to help drivers explore their countryside.

What revolutionized the process of creating the cars was the introduction of assembly lines in the
production in the year 1913. Henry Ford is also often referred to as the ‘Father of the Assembly Line
Production System’.

In 1914, he created another furor by reducing the per day working hours of his laborers from 9 to 8 and
increasing their wages from $2.34 to $5 per day. He also created a 5-day work week. This revolutionized
the way workers or laborers were paid because most skilled and talented workers flocked to work at the
Ford Motor Company. This reduced their cost of training and also reduced the workers’ migrations from
one job to the other in search of a better pay.

Henry Ford also created a Sociological Department within his company to keep a watch on the way the
laborers conducted their day to day life. Activities such as gambling and drinking were not acceptable
and this often disqualified the workers from receiving the higher pay.

In the year 1918, half of the cars in America were Ford Model Ts. This was also the year when Henry
Ford retired and his son Edsel became the president of the company. But Henry kept a final decision
authority and reversed his son’s decisions on several occasions.

In the 1920s, Ford expanded operations on an international scale, building plants including in Australia,
India, France and Italy. He helped Stalin set up a model plant, which is now called the GAZ at Gorky.

By the middle of the 1920s the Model T had been overtaken by other competitors. But Henry refused to
listen to his son and make changes to the car or introduce a finance plan. Most other companies were
offering these facilities, besides also having improved facilities. The Model T suffered due to this. In
1926, finally Henry relented and the Ford Model A was introduced in 1927 with improved features, and
an annual model change system. In 1930 Henry Ford finally allowed the creation of a finance plan under
the Universal Credit Corporation.

Since 1925, Ford was also involved in building airplanes – the most well known being the Ford 4AT
Trimotor – during World War I.

Henry Ford was also vehemently opposed to Labor Unions and he did not allow the creation of a Union
in his factory. He went to the extent of hiring a former Navy Boxer as the head of his ‘Service
Department’ who intimidated workers and stopped any union activity. But in 1941, he had to relent and
finally agreed to recognize the United Auto Workers Union.

In 1941, Henry Ford also showed the world how to produce aircrafts like the B-24 Liberator Bomber at
the rate of one plane per hour. His laborers worked in 24 hour shifts.

In 1943, Edsel Ford died of stomach cancer, and Henry finally came out of retirement.

Facts about Henry Ford: Pacifism and Anti-Semitism

Henry Ford was a fervent believer in Peace. During World War I, he funded a peace ship to Europe.
Along with 170 others like him, the ship went to Sweden and Netherlands to meet with peace activists.
But this effort was quite ridiculed, especially on the grounds that his airplane company was profiting
from the war.

Henry Ford also came under the scanner for several anti-Semitic activities, especially with reference to
the newspaper ‘The Dearborn Independent’ which was owned by his close friend and private secretary,
Ernest G. Liebold. The newspaper printed articles which were anti-Semitic, anti-labor and anti-liquor. In
the 1920s the newspaper also printed several anti-Jewish articles in a set of 4 bound volumes under the
title "The International Jew, The World’s Foremost Problem".
Adolf Hitler admired Henry Ford and his ideas and policies to the point that he had a picture of Ford on
his wall. Hitler had also proclaimed that he would try to put Ford’s theories in practice and also re-model
the Volkswagen along the lines of the Model T.

This newspaper had to be closed down in 1927 after a libel lawsuit was brought against it. Ford claimed
that he knew nothing of all this and that he had not written any of these articles. He also claimed that he
had no idea of the content of the articles that had been printed.

The distribution of the book was stopped in 1942. But the speculation is rife with sources claiming that
Ford knew about what was being printed in this newspaper and some again claiming that Ford had
several good friends who were Jewish.

Life History and Biography of Henry Ford: Death

In 1938, Henry Ford had suffered a heart attack, after which he had retired. He resumed the running of
his company in 1943 when his son died. But his health had deteriorated. In 1945 he gave up the control
of his company to his grandson, Henry Ford II and finally retired.

On the 7th of April, 1947, Henry Ford passed away of cerebral hemorrhage. He was 83.