4 ms·

Uhm, Henry Ford was known for violently suppressing unions in his factories. He considered unions to be closely tied to "Jewish Zionist" ambitions. He was als

by openfly 16y ago

Uhm, Henry Ford was known for violently suppressing unions in his factories. He considered unions to be closely tied to "Jewish Zionist" ambitions. He was also a heavy monetary supporter of Adolf Hitler. In fact, he refused to give back awards he received from the Third Reicht, and was in fact buried with them. Oh, and he was illiterate. So word of advice... don't take advice from Henry Ford.

kiba 16y ago
The merit of his characters does not mean that his advices are automatically ineffective and immoral.
- openfly 16y ago
  Sure, but Fordlandia, his inability to read, and his belief in such absurdity as "The protocols of the elders of zion" speak volumes as to the man's mental state. Which at best is mildly insane.
  - qq66 16y ago
    He also created modern American industry. Try to evaluate his output at a finer grain than the entire individual over his entire lifetime.
    - openfly 16y ago
      I gotta godwin this, I just can't resist it. Sorry. "I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration" - Adolf Hitler Ref: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/na...
      - sliverstorm 16y ago
        So? Maybe if Ford said Hitler was his inspiration, but not the other way around.
hop 16y ago
You should read his autobiography "My Life, and My Work" http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7213 http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7213 Its fascinating. I think highly dyslexic is a better description than illiterate for Henry Ford, he was a genius. Pioneered material science, machining and forming metal cost effectively, made the assembly line, 161 patents, created enormous opportunity for hard working and smart people, brought cars to the masses. His political feelings should be put in context, he had a great relationship with Germany before the war, FDR was massively increasing the size of gov't and creating entitlements with the New Deal (something few business pioneers would be for) and during the war, there was talk of FDR taking over the company he built to produce war goods for a foreign war he opposed intervening in.
- openfly 16y ago
  Wow, that's a horrifically one sided and incorrect view. Only held btw in the US, and by people who are not familiar with the actual history. Ford, like GM and IBM invests considerable effort in hiding their roles in that war. Ford however, was one of the few who "took sides". They didn't just support the Nazis for economic reasons ( which is pretty damned horrific ), they actually hindered allied production purposefully. Also, he got lucky. He built one of the first car companies and he did a good job at first. End result is he ended up being one of the big 3. Every industry has em. He was in the right place at the right time. From then on he had a large enough enterprise that it could run itself, all he had to do was sit back and not get too involved. Which he couldn't do. He nearly bankrupted the company and embarked on a bunch of inglorious economic escapades resulting in him being kicked out of the Ford. I mean... jesus, who the hell taught you people history? How can you possibly look up to this guy FOR ANYTHING. He was a bull headed arrogant deceitful bastard who tried very hard to quite literally destroy his own country and his people.
  - axod 16y ago
    >> "How can you possibly look up to this guy FOR ANYTHING." I'm not sure what you're trying to argue here. EVERY Human life can teach us things. Good and bad. If you don't want to learn, then fine, ignore him and anyone else you disagree with their politics etc You seem to be arguing "he was evil vs he was good" which is pretty irrelevant if he had some good ideas, which IMHO he did. I think you'll find many many historical/famous people have seriously flawed personalities, did terrible things as well as good etc. We are only human after all...
axod 16y ago
Many people disagree with the idea of Unions. That doesn't mean you should ignore everything they say just because you don't like one of their viewpoints. People aren't "good" or "evil". People are complex. If you ignore someone just because you dislike some of their ideas, you'll ignore pretty much everyone. Also it's incredibly unfair to judge someone without taking into account the political and social climate while they were alive.
philwelch 16y ago
Genghis Khan wiped out more ethnic groups than Hitler even had a passing opinion about, but his tactics are still taught at military academies and war colleges and his basic doctrine--maneuver warfare--has for centuries been the most effective. Moral judgment and proficiency are two different things. Ford was a brilliant industrialist who happened to be an anti-Semite. It doesn't mean we can't learn from his example, though we might think twice before we build massive statues of him.

by openfly 16y ago

kiba 16y ago

The merit of his characters does not mean that his advices are automatically ineffective and immoral.

openfly 16y ago
Sure, but Fordlandia, his inability to read, and his belief in such absurdity as "The protocols of the elders of zion" speak volumes as to the man's mental state. Which at best is mildly insane.
- qq66 16y ago
  He also created modern American industry. Try to evaluate his output at a finer grain than the entire individual over his entire lifetime.
  - openfly 16y ago
    I gotta godwin this, I just can't resist it. Sorry. "I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration" - Adolf Hitler Ref: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/na...
    - sliverstorm 16y ago
      So? Maybe if Ford said Hitler was his inspiration, but not the other way around.

hop 16y ago

You should read his autobiography "My Life, and My Work" http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7213 http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7213 Its fascinating. I think highly dyslexic is a better description than illiterate for Henry Ford, he was a genius. Pioneered material science, machining and forming metal cost effectively, made the assembly line, 161 patents, created enormous opportunity for hard working and smart people, brought cars to the masses. His political feelings should be put in context, he had a great relationship with Germany before the war, FDR was massively increasing the size of gov't and creating entitlements with the New Deal (something few business pioneers would be for) and during the war, there was talk of FDR taking over the company he built to produce war goods for a foreign war he opposed intervening in.

openfly 16y ago
Wow, that's a horrifically one sided and incorrect view. Only held btw in the US, and by people who are not familiar with the actual history. Ford, like GM and IBM invests considerable effort in hiding their roles in that war. Ford however, was one of the few who "took sides". They didn't just support the Nazis for economic reasons ( which is pretty damned horrific ), they actually hindered allied production purposefully. Also, he got lucky. He built one of the first car companies and he did a good job at first. End result is he ended up being one of the big 3. Every industry has em. He was in the right place at the right time. From then on he had a large enough enterprise that it could run itself, all he had to do was sit back and not get too involved. Which he couldn't do. He nearly bankrupted the company and embarked on a bunch of inglorious economic escapades resulting in him being kicked out of the Ford. I mean... jesus, who the hell taught you people history? How can you possibly look up to this guy FOR ANYTHING. He was a bull headed arrogant deceitful bastard who tried very hard to quite literally destroy his own country and his people.
- axod 16y ago
  >> "How can you possibly look up to this guy FOR ANYTHING." I'm not sure what you're trying to argue here. EVERY Human life can teach us things. Good and bad. If you don't want to learn, then fine, ignore him and anyone else you disagree with their politics etc You seem to be arguing "he was evil vs he was good" which is pretty irrelevant if he had some good ideas, which IMHO he did. I think you'll find many many historical/famous people have seriously flawed personalities, did terrible things as well as good etc. We are only human after all...

axod 16y ago

Many people disagree with the idea of Unions. That doesn't mean you should ignore everything they say just because you don't like one of their viewpoints. People aren't "good" or "evil". People are complex. If you ignore someone just because you dislike some of their ideas, you'll ignore pretty much everyone. Also it's incredibly unfair to judge someone without taking into account the political and social climate while they were alive.

philwelch 16y ago

Genghis Khan wiped out more ethnic groups than Hitler even had a passing opinion about, but his tactics are still taught at military academies and war colleges and his basic doctrine--maneuver warfare--has for centuries been the most effective. Moral judgment and proficiency are two different things. Ford was a brilliant industrialist who happened to be an anti-Semite. It doesn't mean we can't learn from his example, though we might think twice before we build massive statues of him.