Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business

magnate,
founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of
mass
production. By creating the first automobile that middle-class Americans could afford, he
converted the automobile from an expensive curiosity into an accessible conveyance that
profoundly impacted the landscape of the 20th century.
Born July 30, 1863

Springwells Township, Michigan, U.S.

Died April 7, 1947 (aged 83)

Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.

Resting place St. Martha's Episcopal Church Cemetery, Detroit,

Michigan, U.S.

Occupation Engineer, industrialist, philanthropist

Years active 1891–1945

Known for Founding and leading the Ford Motor Company

Pioneering a system that launched the mass

production and sale of affordable automotives to

the public

Title President of Ford Motor Company

1906–1919 and 1943–1945

Political party Republican (before 1918)

Democratic (after 1918)

Spouse(s) Clara Jane Bryant (m. 1888)

Children Edsel Ford

He is credited with "Fordism", the mass production of inexpensive goods

coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key
to
peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical
and
business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout North
America and major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford
Foundation and arranged for his family to permanently control it.
Ford was also widely known for his pacifism during the first years of World War I, and for
promoting antisemitic content, including The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, through his
newspaper The Dearborn Independent, and the book The International Jew.
Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863, on a farm in Springwells Township, Michigan. [1] His
father,
William Ford (1826–1905), His mother, Mary Ford
Ford finished eighth grade at a one room school,[3] Springwells middle school. He did not
go to high school or college.
Ford was devastated when his mother died in 1876. His father expected him to take over the
family farm eventually, but he despised farm work. He later wrote, "I never had any
particular love
for the farm—it was the mother on the farm I loved."[
In 1879, Ford left home to work as an apprentice machinist in Detroit, first with James F.
Flower
& Bros., and later with the Detroit Dry Dock Co. In 1882, he returned to Dearborn to work on
the
family farm, where he became adept at operating the Westinghouse portable steam engine.
in 1887 he built a four-cycle model

In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company

of Detroit.
After his promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893, he had enough time and
money to devote attention to his experiments on gasoline engines. These
experiments culminated in 1896 with the completion of a self-propelled
vehicle, which he named the Ford Quadricycle. He test-drove it on June 4.
After
various test drives, Ford brainstormed ways to improve the Quadricycle.[11]
Also in 1896, Ford attended a meeting of Edison executives, where he was introduced to
Thomas Edison. Edison approved of Ford's automobile experimentation. Encouraged by
Edison, Ford designed and built a second vehicle, completing it in 1898.[
Backed by the capital of Detroit lumber baron William H. Murphy, Ford resigned from the
Edison Company and founded the Detroit Automobile Company on August 5, 1899.[12]
However, the automobiles produced were of a lower quality and higher price than Ford
wanted.
Ultimately, the company was not successful and was dissolved in January 1901.[12]
With the help of C. Harold Wills, Ford designed, built, and successfully raced a 26-
horsepower automobile in October 1901. With this success, Murphy and other stockholders
in the Detroit Automobile Company formed the Henry Ford Company on November 30,
1901, with Ford as chief engineer.[12] In 1902, Murphy brought in Henry M. Leland as a
consultant; Ford, in response,
left the company bearing his name. With Ford gone, Leland renamed the company the
Cadillac Automobile Company.[12]
Teaming up with former racing cyclist Tom Cooper, Ford also produced the 80+ horsepower
racer "999," which Barney Oldfield was to drive to victory in a race in October 1902. Ford
received
the backing of an old acquaintance, Alexander Y. Malcomson, a Detroit-area coal dealer. [12]
They
formed a partnership, "Ford & Malcomson, Ltd." to manufacture automobiles. Ford went to
work
designing an inexpensive automobile, and the duo leased a factory and contracted with a
machine shop owned by John and Horace E. Dodge to supply over $160,000 in parts. [12]
Sales
were slow, and a crisis arose when the Dodge brothers demanded payment for their first
shipment.
The Model T debuted on October 1, 1908. The car was very simple to drive, and
easy and cheap to repair. It was so cheap at $825 in 1908 ($23,760 today),
with the price falling every year, that by the 1920s, a majority of American drivers had
learned to
drive on the Model T

Ford was always eager to sell to farmers, who looked at the vehicle as a commercial device
to help their business. Sales skyrocketed—several years posted 100% gains on the previous
year. In 1913, Ford introduced
moving assembly belts into his plants, which enabled an enormous increase in production.
Sales passed 250,000 in 1914. By 1916, as the price dropped to $360 for the basic touring
car, sales reached 472,000.
By 1918, half of all cars in the United States were Model Ts. All new cars were black; as
Ford
wrote in his autobiography, "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so
long as it is black."[17] Until the development of the assembly line, which mandated black
because of its quicker drying time, Model Ts were available in other colors, including red.
The
design was fervently promoted and defended by Ford, and production continued as late as
1927;
the final total production was 15,007,034. This record stood for the next 45 years, and was
achieved in 19 years from the introduction of the first Model T (1908).
Ford was a pioneer of "welfare capitalism", designed to improve the lot of his workers
and
especially to reduce the heavy turnover that had many departments hiring 300 men per year
to
fill 100 slots. Efficiency meant hiring and keeping the best workers.[25]
Time magazine, January 14, 1935
Ford astonished the world in 1914 by offering a $5 per day wage ($130 today), which more
thandoubled the rate of most of his workers
Ford's policy proved that paying employees more would enable them to afford
the cars they were producing and thus boost the local economy.

In addition to raising his workers' wages, Ford also introduced a new, reduced workweek in
1926.
The decision was made in 1922, when Ford and Crowther described it as six 8-hour days,
giving
a 48-hour week,[37] but in 1926 it was announced as five 8-hour days, giving a 40-hour week.[
Ford had decided to boost productivity, as workers were expected to put more effort into their
work in exchange for more leisure time. Ford also believed decent leisure time was good for
business, giving workers additional time to purchase and consume more goods. However,
charitable concerns also played a role. Ford explained, "It is high time to rid ourselves of the
notion that leisure for workmen is either 'lost time' or a class privilege."
By 1932, Ford was manufacturing one-third of the world's automobiles.

When Edsel Ford, President of Ford Motor Company, died of cancer in May 1943, the elderly
and ailing Henry Ford decided to assume the presidency. By this point, Ford, nearing 80
years old,
had had several cardiovascular events (variously cited as heart attacks or strokes) and was
mentally inconsistent, suspicious, and generally no longer fit for such immense
responsibilities.[
His health failing, Ford ceded the company presidency to his grandson Henry Ford II in
September 1945 and retired. He died on April 7, 1947,