Stories about Henry Ford

[matt92vr4]

OK so I spent an evening with my great uncle who went to Ford trade school in 1937 and worked for Ford until 1982. His dad, my great grandfather, worked for Ford from 1910 to 1958.

I asked him to tell me some good old stories about his time at Ford. He came up with two stories and they both involved a guy named Harry Bennett. According to him, Harry Bennett, ex con, was Henry's henchman. Harry was in charge of the dirty work.

Story #1:
One day Henry Ford looked out into the parking lot and saw a number of employee owned non-Ford products. This upset Henry and he ordered Harry to oversee towing all of the non-Ford products out of the lot, as far away as possible, and don't tell anyone where you put them. Both my uncle and grandfather drove ONLY Fords their entire life so this did not directly affect them. Sometime later Ford instated the A plan which gave employees a discount on Ford products.

Story#2:
Henry and Edsel apparently did not get along very well. Henry did not approve of the way Edsel was living. One day, Henry sent Harry Bennett to Edsel's house to smash and destroy an entire cellar of wine.

He was also able to describe the first time he met Henry Ford. It was during his time as a student at Ford Trade School. Henry would come into the classrooms to listen and observe. Then he described the old Ford Rotunda and how Henry bought it from the worlds fair in Chicago (I think), had it dismantled and reassembled across from the plant. Last he spoke about attending Henry Ford's funeral (viewing) at the Rotunda and then the funeral outside of the church.

He finished with a joke regarding how you know when someone has completely failed at life. The punchline was racist so I will not repeat it but it had to do with driving a Ford Edsel.

[Joe K]

Harry Bennett has more than a few interesting stories. Interesting at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Bennett

Since Bennett was always paranoid of being under attack, he included many security features in the lodge. The lodge was surrounded by a moat full of pointed posts. The bridge over the moat was kept loaded with dynamite. The lodge itself has many fascinating custom features. Hidden behind a hinged bookcase in the study is a secret passageway which leads to the dock. Every step of the staircase in the passageway is a different height from the others to make tripping more likely. Bennett would practice running down the steps so that he memorized their spacing to give him a head start if pursued. There is also a hidden room which was home to a central point in the ventilation system, where conversations from multiple rooms could be clearly overheard. The roof of the building featured a guard station parapet at one end, complete with a fireplace to keep Bennett's men warm while on 24-hour armed watch when Bennett was at the lodge in colder months. Bennett also had a private airfield with an airplane at the other end of Lost Lake. In the event of an attack, Bennett could take the secret passageway, emerge by the dock, take a boat across the lake, and escape by airplane. The attack never came.

[Forker]

Henry Ford’s greatness in the pioneering of modern manufacturing and as a great industrialist are unquestionable.


Although he did have a dark side; he published and widely distributed his brand of anti-Semitism via the Dearborn Independent. All Ford dealers were required to offer his paper in their showrooms.

Henry Ford holds the dubious honor of being the only American Adolf Hitler thought enough of to mention in his book Mein Kampf. Hitler adored Ford because Henry was maybe the best known open anti-Semite’s in the world at the time. Hitler said he regarded Ford as his "inspiration," explaining his reason for keeping Ford's life-size portrait next to his desk.
In a letter written in 1924, Heinrich Himmler described Ford as "one of our most valuable, important, and witty fighters." Ford was held up as a shining example by most influential Nazis and Ford's anti-sematic writings were widely re-published by Nazi German and distributed widely.

In 1927 Ford recanted his anti-sematic articles stating they weren't written by him and weren't reviewed by him before being published under his name. He said he was appalled at some of what was written in his name, some say it was an enlightening and others say it had more to do with lawsuits being brought against him and Ford’s slumping sales figures?

It should be noted that Ford never advocated violance towards anyone in his writings and to his credit he was one of the first to hire women and handicapped works.

[Brad in Germany]

Originally Posted by Forker

...
Henry Ford holds the dubious honor of being the only American Adolf Hitler thought enough of to mention in his book Mein Kampf. Hitler adored Ford because Henry was maybe the best known open anti-Semite’s in the world at the time. Hitler said he regarded Ford as his "inspiration," explaining his reason for keeping Ford's life-size portrait next to his desk....Ford was held up as a shining example by most influential Nazis and Ford's anti-sematic writings were widely re-published by Nazi German and distributed widely.

Below is a cover from the original issue of the "Ford Werkzeitung" (Ford Factory Newspaper) from April 1940 celebrating Hitler's birthday. The "Ford Werkzeitung" was the official newspaper of the Ford factory in Germany during WWII, with lots of interesting articles about how Ford supported the German military build-up, the German soldiers and the strong work ethic that was promoted by the German government during WWII. Most issues also feature a list of German Ford employees who were killed in action supporting their motherland.



Fordially,
Brad in Maryland

[Growley bear]

Originally Posted by matt92vr4

OK so I spent an evening with my great uncle who went to Ford trade school in 1937 and worked for Ford until 1982. His dad, my great grandfather, worked for Ford from 1910 to 1958.

I asked him to tell me some good old stories about his time at Ford. He came up with two stories and they both involved a guy named Harry Bennett. According to him, Harry Bennett, ex con, was Henry's henchman. Harry was in charge of the dirty work.

Story #1:
One day Henry Ford looked out into the parking lot and saw a number of employee owned non-Ford products. This upset Henry and he ordered Harry to oversee towing all of the non-Ford products out of the lot, as far away as possible, and don't tell anyone where you put them. Both my uncle and grandfather drove ONLY Fords their entire life so this did not directly affect them. Sometime later Ford instated the A plan which gave employees a discount on Ford products.

Story#2:
Henry and Edsel apparently did not get along very well. Henry did not approve of the way Edsel was living. One day, Henry sent Harry Bennett to Edsel's house to smash and destroy an entire cellar of wine.

He was also able to describe the first time he met Henry Ford. It was during his time as a student at Ford Trade School. Henry would come into the classrooms to listen and observe. Then he described the old Ford Rotunda and how Henry bought it from the worlds fair in Chicago (I think), had it dismantled and reassembled across from the plant. Last he spoke about attending Henry Ford's funeral (viewing) at the Rotunda and then the funeral outside of the church.

He finished with a joke regarding how you know when someone has completely failed at life. The punchline was racist so I will not repeat it but it had to do with driving a Ford Edsel.

Regarding story #1. My father was a FORD man to the point that he could look at a lot full of cars and only see an empty spot unless it had a Ford parked in it.
Years ago I used to work with a guy who for a time was Harry Bennet's son in law. According to him, Harry was very tight fisted when it came to money, even with the family.