How Did Henry Ford Affect America

Henry Ford

Henry ford was an american industrialist who would greatly affect america and his impact can still be found today. Henry ford was born on July 30, 1863 in Dearborn, Michigan and lived there during his childhood. When he was 13 he fixed many of his neighbors clocks and watches during his spare time. After only having a grammar school education he moved to Detroit and became an apprentice for a machinist at a shipbuilding firm there.

After 3 years he went back to help with his family's farm, working on steam engines in his free time. Then in 1988 he married Clara Bryant and began running a sawmill. He then moved back to detroit because of a job opportunity to be an engineer at the Edison Illuminating company. It was then that Ford

He then released the model T in 1908, designed for the general population it was the first mass produced car and would get the nickname the "Tin Lizzie". Due to the large demand he created the franchise-dealership system. Because of the incredible efficiency of his factory because of the many subdivisions of labor on the first moving assembly line he was able to create a model T in only 93 minutes. Although the model T originally started at $850 the price eventually dropped to $280 which would take cars from being a luxury item for the wealthy to an item most people can afford which would cause them to sell over 15 million model T’s. The model T had a massive impact on american culture because it turned the car into not only an option for the general population but a necessity. He was well known for his unusual practice of paying his workers 5 dollars a day which was twice the national average at the time, they had a work day of only 8 hours and he established a profit sharing plan. Many other business owners at the time thought this was ridiculous because at the time the common business practice was to minimize expenses and maximize

In 1919 he bought a newspaper publisher and while he owned it they printed weekly articles reflecting anti semitic views. One such article was the international jew which said that jews were the cause of world war 1. For his 75th birthday he received the grand cross of the supreme order, the highest honor nazzi germany could give to a foreigner. His company also allegedly profited off of slave labor in a factory in germany during world war 2. He also did all he could to try and stop his company from being unionized but after a strike he ended up signing the contract for the UAW. He refused to update the model t or even allow multiple color options and due to this general motors and chrysler had the upperhand in the market and became fierce competitors. In 1943 Edsel Ford died and Henry took back full control of the company but it was losing 10 million dollars a month. In 1945 he gave the company to his Ford the second, Henry Ford’s grandson was able to make the company profitable