The Populist who wouldn't let go of Power.

Henry Ford's battle with himself

Henry Ford grew up on a farm with his mother and father in Michigan, he daydreamed of the first steam engine he saw and wanted to become a machinist. Henry lost his beloved mother when he was just 13, she and child died during childbirth. This strained the father son relationship between Henry and his father. His father was tough on him, but he was also encouraging of Henry’s love of machines, helping him land his first job at 16 in Detroit. Henry didn’t describe it this way though, he painted his father as a tyrannical dictator who stood in his way at every turn. It could be that he resented or blamed his father for his mothers death, or it could be that it was in Ford’s personality to paint himself as the hero of every story, and every hero needs a villain.

Ford was a populist manufacture who avoided big finance when funding his company. He designed a car for the common people and he produced at such volumes to make it affordable for them. He believed there was dignity in work and wanted to pay labor a living wage saying “If you are going to get the best possible service from a wage worker you must remember he is a man and treat him as a man.” The Ford Motor Company introduced the Five Dollar Day in 1914, a revolutionary wage increase that shocked the country, but the wage increase was tied to moral standards and it was enforced by the Ford Motor Company’s “sociological department”. The program had good intent, it encouraged sobriety and savings, but to enforce these policies they conducted uncomfortable in-home interviews with invasive questions. Ford management feared the high wage increase would result in irresponsible behavior, the head of the sociological department John R. Lee worried the prosperity “would work a tremendous handicap along the paths of rectitude and right living and would make them a menace to society.” The high wages served Fords idea of a consumer economy saying “we increased the buying power of our own people, and they increased the buying power of other people, and so on and on. It is this thought of enlarging buying power by paying higher wages and selling at a low prices which is behind the prosperity of this county.” Ford’s consumer economy turned labor into the consumer, and allowed them to follow the American dream of owning property and perusing happiness. Ford preached freedom, fairness, and oppurtunity for common people, while his sociological department treated his own people like children.

Working for Ford was like working for a tyrant, he surrounded himself with yes men and bullies. He’d pit people against each other and made snap decisions on gut feelings. When labor tensions rose as the economy faltered, he put in charge a “watch dog” who escalated tensions leading to violence at his Dearborn Plant. Ford was stubborn, impetuous, and cruel.

In 1920 Ford used his Dearborn Independent publication to run a series titled “The International Jew: The World’s Problem.” Ford’s antisemitic views are the result of a highly intelligent mind, lacking the education and understanding of such a complex world. Seeing first hand the corruption of the “monied interests” by big corporations and big finance, Ford cast them as the villain, this combined with his unwillingness to read, and distrust of history allowed him to be pulled into conspiracy’s. Ford was a man who operated on “hunches” and a small circle of yes men.

Ford loved his wife Clara, she may have been the only persons opinion he respected other than his own. He failed to live up to his own moral standards and had an affair, although he and Clara worked past his failings, staying with each other until death. As a father he was loving and absent when his son Edsel was young, when Edsel was an adult, Ford would bully him as a way to toughen him up. The hardworking Edsel was named Ford Motor Company President, because his father was fearful of big finance taking control of his company. Ford wanted it to stay in the family but mostly he wanted it to stay under his control. Ford would undermine Edsel’s authority at every turn, he even conspired with other employees to challenge and humilate Edsel. Ford believed he was making his son stronger but it was more because of his inability to let go of power and trust others. Edsel died of stomach cancer when he was 49 and Ford was critical of him to his dying days. It was only after his passing did he reflect on his behavior.

It’s not for us to judge but maybe we can understand. Maybe his “tough love” was a combination of generational parenting, and a defense mechanism Ford created to deal with the loss of his Mother. Maybe his inability to let go of power was really just his inability to trust others, and maybe that’s because at 13, in his eyes, one of the only two people he trusted died, and the other let it happen. Maybe he built everyone into a villain and himself into the hero because it made it easier to do the things necessary to survive in an unfair and cruel world. Ford dabbled in politics, pacifism, and philanthropy. He built museums, ran for office and tried to peacefully end WWI. Looking back at Ford’s life it’s hard to see the good through all the bad he did, yet people of the time admired and loved him. It could be because they didn’t know him, they only knew the version advertised, like any good populist leader, he was good at crafting a story with only half the information. Maybe it’s because he wanted to help people, or maybe it’s because he wanted to be the hero. All I know is, like most populist leaders, he told us he was for the people, but his actions kept people under his thumb.