Henry Ford

Ford's Illumination

Henry Ford lived from July 30, 1863 to April 7, 1947. Henry was the oldest in the family with 4 younger siblings. As a boy, Ford grew up on a farm, but was always more interested in the machines then the work required of a farm boy. When he was fifteen years old, his father gave him a watch that he would disassemble and reassemble for fun, and he would fix his friends and neighbors' watches too. Three years after his mother died in 1876, Henry Ford went to find work in Detriot, Michigan and became skilled at repairing steam engines.

Ford was married in 1888 and had his only child, Edsel Ford, 5 years later. In 1891 Ford was hired at the Edison Illuminating Company, where he was quickly promoted up to Chief Engineer. He began testing gasoline-powered engines. The testing culminated in the Ford Quadricycle, which changed Henry's focus into creating automobiles for the masses.

Ford's Determination

The Ford Motor Company was Ford's 3rd attempt at creating an automobile business. His first company was the Detroit Automobile Company in which he was the Chief Engineer. This only lasted from 1899 to 1901 when Ford left the company because the automobiles were a low quality and were highly priced. Less than a year later came the Henry Ford Company, co-founded with C. Harold Wills. After Wills brought Henry Leland onto the team in 1902, Ford left the company, which was renamed the Cadillac Automobile Company.

Ford's 3rd company began as "Ford & Malcomson, Ltd." because Alexander Y. Malcomson was the financial backer for the company. John and Horace E. Dodge supplied the company with $160,000 worth of parts, but sales were slow, and when they demanded payment for the first shipment of parts, Malcomson had to bring in another group of investors and also had the Dodge brothers take a portion of the company, now renamed to the Ford Motor Company. The next step for the company was to gain popularity and obtain much needed profit. Going through all the different businesses taught Ford to manage things his own way or not at all. Ford later said, "Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success."

Ford's Companies

Ford used his experiences from past businesses to shape the Ford Motor Company, making prices cheaper and giving his employees good wages to encourage them to continue working hard and buy from the company itself. One of Ford's beliefs was that, "Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs." To keep prices cheaper, Ford used vertical integration and hired skilled workers to lower training costs and run production more efficently. Instead of hiring and losing workers, he weeded out the best workers and encouraged them to continue working for him.

The Model T was what put Ford on top of the car industry. It was cheap to make and repair, and late into the 1910's almost every car on the road was a Model T. In 1913, Ford introduced the assembly line (see photo), which greatly increased production. 3 years later Ford had sold almost 500,000 Model T's, and by the time Ford stopped production of the car in 1927, he had produced 15 million Model T's.

Ford's Influence

This video clip shows possibly the first Automobile Parade on November 4, 1899. You'll notice that nearly all the horseless carriages, or cars, are of a different design, and only 20 years later Ford had made almost every car a Model T. Ford took advantage of the new and growing market and was able to build the highest income car company of his time.

Ford's Strategies

"It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages."

While Ford is often credited with the assembly line, many earlier groups used interchangeable parts to speed production, beginning as early as the Terracotta Army. Ford got the idea from Chicago meat packaging companies.

What Ford did manage to do is popularize the idea in America, and essentially all large-scale businesses had to have interchangeable parts to stay in business.

Bettering workers' wages was also an excellent example of lowering costs. The higher wages attracted the best mechanics and brute labor to work for Ford, which meant that Ford had to hire new workers much less often and labor costs came down because the labor was more skilled and efficent.

Personal Legacy

Ford was a shining example of Andrew Carnegie's vision of America. Ford was a stout philanthropist, creating The Ford Foundation and donating monetary gifts to various states and colleges. As Ford said, "An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous." And as Charles E. Sorensen puts it, "He was ruthless in getting his own way, yet he had a deep sense of public responsibility," and "He was contemptuous of money-making, of money-makers and profit seekers, yet he made more money and greater profits than those he despised."

Primary
Sources

1913: Ford assembly line. 1913.
A photograph displaying workers using the assembly line in the factory. This photo fits in great with my "Ford Motor Company" section because it clearly shows Ford’s idea in action.

Edison, Thomas A. "Automobile Parade." Automobile Parade. 6 Feb. 1900.
This is a black-and-white video clip showing the Automobile Parade in 1900 that ironically ends with a horse buggy getting stuck in the traffic. This is a great video that really shows how popular cars in general were becoming even by 1900.

Ford, Henry. My Life and Work. Grand Rapids: Kessinger, LLC, 2003.
An autobiography with Ford’s own personal insight on how to run a successful business. It gave me some insight, such as his determination and unique ideas, into why and how Ford managed such feats as he did.

Primary
Sources

Hartsook, photographer. "[Henry Ford, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left\ / Hartsook photo." 1919. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
A photograph of Henry Ford once he was in his prime in 1919. This is my favorite picture of Ford because he looks like he is on top of the world in a subtle way, which is why it is used on the front page of the website.

Henderson, Jim. Looking east at Ford Foundation headquarters on a sunny afternoon. 16 Aug. 2008.
A recent photograph of the Ford Foundation headquarters. This picture is a great compliment to the "Personal Legacy" page because it shows just one of the many things Ford donated money to.

"Photos: The Ford Model T turns 100." CNet News. 29 Sept. 2008. CNet. 2 Nov. 2008 <http://news.cnet.com/2300-11389_3-6246735-1.html?tag=mncol>.
A collection of photos in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Model T. This was an excellent source of primary source photos, taken when the Model T first came out.

Secondary
Sources

Bankston, John. Henry Ford and the Assembly Line. New York, NY: Mitchell Lane, Incorporated, 2003.
This book is set in a world where there were 50 new automobile companies a year, Ford managed to be the top dog by promoting the Model T car for everyone, not just the rich. It looks into how Ford managed to go from farm boy to mass production giant, and what mostly helped me was its description of the beginning steps he took that have had lasting effects on our society.

Brinkley, Douglas G. Wheels for the World : Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress. New York: Viking Adult, 2003.
In this book, Brinkley takes a look at the Ford Motor Company at large, and has a large portion that really shows Henrys work with it. It helped me gain a better understanding of how Ford began and managed a nearly self-sufficient business.

Bushnell, Sarah T. The Truth about Henry Ford. The Reilly & Lee Co., 1922.
This book contains extensive interviews prominently by Mrs. Henry Ford, along with friends of Ford in his early days. It was great for my research because of all of the information Mrs. Ford has about the man himself.

Secondary
Sources

Collier, Peter, and David Horowitz. The Fords : An American Epic. New York, NY: Encounter Books, 2002. This book focuses on 3 generations of Fords, starting with Henry and ending with his grandson, depicting their control of the Ford Motor Company. The book was unique for my research because Collier and Horowitz provide a unique view on the Fords’ empire by focusing on the men who led the company and the direct effects of their leadership and relationships with each other.

"Ford Motor Company Heritage - Ford." Ford Motor Company. 26 Oct. 2008 <http://www.ford.com/about-ford/heritage>. The official website for the Ford Motor Company that contains a vast bank of history about Ford and his achievements in business. This site was great to supplement my website with unique information, like Ford’s motivation behind the assembly line and the 5 dollar week wages.

"The Henry Ford: The Life of Henry Ford." The Henry Ford: The Life of Henry Ford. 2003. The Henry Ford. 21 Sept. 2008 <http://www.hfmgv.org/>. This website of the official Henry Ford Museum hosts a slew of pictures and information, including a life biography. This website was very useful when designing my website for History Day because of all the pictures they have with Ford in them.

Secondary
Sources

"HFHA." HFHA. 18 Aug. 2000. The Henry Ford Heritage Association. 2 Nov. 2008 <http://www.hfha.org/>.
The HFHA has access to a lot of information about Ford, and they have a great bibliography on their site. This website was great for my research because of the pictures and bibliography.

Lewis, David Lanier. The Public Image of Henry Ford : An American Folk Hero and His Company. New York: Wayne State UP, 1987.
In this book, David Lewis focuses specifically on the Ford Motor Company and how, over time, it became the powerhouse that it was. It gave me a unique view on the Ford Motor Company that will help me in my research.

Sorensen, Charles E. My Forty Years with Ford. New York: Painted Turtle, 2006.
An eyewitness account of Ford’s life as told by his associate, Charles Sorensen. This book was helpful for my research because of its first-person view of Ford’s life and Sorensen’s observations about Ford’s character.

Secondary
Sources

Watts, Steven. The People's Tycoon : Henry Ford and the American Century. New York, NY: Vintage, 2006.
In this book, the historian Watts offers a "balanced" biography of Henry Ford. This gave me some great information about Henry’s childhood and the reasons behind his actions in the future without attempting to skew the information to make Ford look like a man that he was not, Watt just told it like it happened.