Why Is Henry Ford Important In The 1920s

The Man In The Model T

In thinking about some of the most influential Americans during the 1920s, a few names that come to mind may be the following: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Herbert Hoover, Al Capone, and possibly the most influential, Henry Ford. The 1920s was a time most renowned for sex, drugs/alcohol, violence, and inappropriate dance music, and it was possibly the last glimpse of happiness before the Great Depression. Henry Ford is most noted for creating the assembly line production system and the Model T car. Many of the things Ford stood for truly represented many of the soaring emotions of the roaring 20s. Due to the large availability of cars because of Ford’s ingenuity, many people were given “portable sex rooms”. Cars even helped

He was a man stuck in between two different frames of mind. First, he was obviously innovative, hardworking, ingenious, and forward thinking. However, despite all these qualities, he was an incredibly backwards, old-fashioned thinker. In a odd sense, he was a mixture of Daniel Boone’s pioneering boyhood and Elon Musk’s SpaceX ingenuity. He represented the future and the past, and many Americans of the time even said he eased a multitude of the tensions of the 1920s. He also represented the American dream: the “rags to riches” prophecy. He came from a small town in Dearborn, Michigan in which his family had only be on farming land for a year, directly after being on the rough frontier, only to become reputedly one of the richest men in America living in a lavish home. After a moment of thought, it is visible to see that Ford was in his mid fifties during his prime years in the 20s. Against popular belief, many people during this time were middle aged. Ford was so popular that some colleges even ranked him as one of the most famous people, right behind Jesus Christ and

At first, history was worthless in Ford’s mind. He believed that what happened should be forgotten and moved past. But as time progressed, history became much more than a hobby; it became an obsession. When he died, he had amassed a collection so large it was donated to a museum for an entire exhibit. Eventually, his obsession took him back to Michigan and to his boyhood home. He restored it exactly, with each and every finite detail in place. He even restored a hotel, and after a visit, he decided that a nearby highway was disturbing the peace; he had it rerouted at the cost of $250,000. This was not enough to whet his restoration appetite. In 1926, he made his way to Greenfield, Michigan to begin a large scale restoration. His goal was to move America back to the more idyllic days before war. He only allowed for horse drawn carriages, and many of the artisans there, like blacksmiths and cobblers, were forced to use obsolete methods. Now, in Ford’s mind, history was vital to learn. He aimed to get the children of America to see past the new day’s innovations and remember the way life used to be. Because Ford was so enamored by the restoration process and other hobbies, he applied a hefty amount of his free time to seeing his side projects