The Saga of the Ford Family

The Ford Family: An Important

Chapter in American History

By Tom Morrow

     If ever there was a story deserving of a Hollywood movie, the saga of the Ford family is at the top of that list.

     Everyone knows Henry Ford was a pioneer in automobile manufacturing, but while he didn’t invent the automobile, Ford was the first automaker to mass produce vehicles. He created the assembly line, making it possible to roll out dozens of automobiles each day. Nearly everyone in American could afford a Model T. Accordingly, cities, counties, states, and the federal government, had to build streets and highways for cars, thus connecting the population across America. People who never had been more than 25 miles from home, were free to venture 35 to 40 miles in little more than an hour.

      But, as his empire expanded, Henry Ford became a troubled man. He was anti-Semitic and said as much in scathing editorials in his weekly newspaper distributed nationally through his dealerships. Prior to the outbreak of World War II, he was an isolationist, vehemently railing against America getting involved in any war. He made it known his successor would be Edsel, yet, to coin a phrase, never really gave his son “the keys to the car.” Despite Edsel being the president of the company, Henry’s constant criticisms and rejection of ideas helped drive Edsel to an early grave. Examples: Henry steadfastly believed all Americans really needed was the 1915 Model T, one of the company’s biggest all-time sellers. It was Edsel who finally persuaded his father to introduce the 1927 Model A. Then Edsel went to the mat, finally convincing his father the 1932 V-8 engine was the auto power plant of the future.

     When Edsel wanted to offer multiple colors on auto exteriors like other companies, Henry flatly rejected the idea declaring, “Buyers can have any color they want as long as it’s black!”

     There was a dark side to Henry. He was surrounded by a gang of thugs posing as “security.” The “bodyguards” were led by Harry Bennett, who gained tremendous influence over the old man, coming between father and son. Henry never realized the extent of Bennett’s power. In reality, he had control of the company by intimidating executives and workers and shutting Edsel out.

     In 1943, Edsel died of stomach cancer, leaving the old man back in charge, but Bennett continued to control Ford. When the war started, the company was not meeting Washington’s demand for aircraft, tanks, various other vehicles, and armaments. Realizing the problem, the War Department took Lt. Henry Ford II, the grandson, out of the Navy and placed him in charge of the company. One of the first decisions the young executive, (who became known as “Hank the Deuce”) made was fire Bennett and his gang of thugs.

     While Henry, his son, Edsel, and three grandsons, Henry II, Benson, and William, all made historic 20^th century contributions that revolutionized the American auto industry, the sweeping accomplishments of Edsel have nearly been lost to history.

     Like his father, Edsel was an inventor and transportation visionary. He introduced the Mercury, Lincoln automobiles along with countless innovations.

     So, the next time you hear that low rumble of a V-8 engine, think of Edsel.

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A Lot of History Over the Past 75 Years!

Lot of History Can Pass in 75 Years

By Tom Morrow

My magic year in history was 1939. It was the dawn of another global conflict. Europe was falling victim to military dictatorship, and here at home our nation was climbing out of crushing economic chaos.

The average income in America was $1,729, and you could pay rent for $28 per month, and, if you had the money, a new Ford or Chevy was $700. You could “fill ‘er up” for .10 cents a gallon, watch a movie for .25 cents, mail a letter for .3 cents, or buy a new house for $3,850.

Headlines throughout 1939 were among history’s most dramatic: The New York World’s Fair spotlighted television, with RCA’s first public telecast; Italian dictator Benito Mussolini invaded neighboring Albania, while Francisco Franco’s troops captured Madrid, ending the Spanish Civil War.

That year Germany signed a “non-aggression” treaty with the Soviet Union, giving Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler a pass to invade Poland from the west; the Soviet would attack from the east. On Sept. 1, 1939, World War II began when Hitler invaded Poland. That blatant act of aggression brought Great Britain and France into the war.

The dawn of the nuclear age was launched when scientist Enrico Fermi successfully split the atom.

Here at home, the Baseball Hall of Fame was established in Cooperstown, N.Y.; the U.S. proclaimed neutrality from the European conflict; the first local food-stamp program was established in Rochester, N.Y., and following up on Fermi’s splitting of the atom, Albert Einstein informed President Franklin Roosevelt that nuclear chain reactions could create destructive bombs.

Peace advocates like aviator Charles Lindbergh and industrialist Henry Ford warned against any U.S. involvement in the World War. Business-wise, the electronic company of Hewlitt Packard was founded, and for the first time you could buy Lay’s potato chips in grocery stories. While there, you could buy 10 pounds of sugar for just .59 cents, a gallon of milk for .49 cents, coffee was .40 cents a pound, hamburger was .14 cents a pound, and freshly-baked loaf of bread was .08 cents.

The New York Yankees won the World Series of baseball (again), Byron Nelson won the U.S. Open in golf, and Wilbur Shaw raced to an astounding 115 mph to win the Indianapolis 500. The Boston Bruins won hockey’s Stanley Cup, Oregon was the NCAA basketball champions, Texas A&M took the NCAA football crown, and quarterback Nile Kinnick of Iowa University won the Heisman Trophy.

That was the year Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig missed his first baseball game in 15 years. His 1,230 consecutive games-played was a record that stood for 56 years until Baltimore Orioles’ Cal Ripken, Jr. broke it in 1995.

In 1939, the average American lived 59.7 years. “Cactus” Jack Garner was U.S Vice President, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who wrote “The Yearling,” won the Pulitzer Prize, and Patricia Donnelly of Detroit was crowned Miss America.

Those of us who have lived 75 years and more have witnessed a great deal of world history, alas, some of it being repeated today. Although, I doubt we’ll ever be able to buy a gallon of gasoline for a dime again. 

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The Nazis Organization Hitler 

Refused to Acknowledge

By Tom Morrow

          During the 1930s, when the American economy was in shambles, many people were looking for a political savior – a different system of government that would take them out of the financial deep abyss. Some looked to socialism, others to communism. More than 30 percent of the nation was out of work, while the people of Germany were emerging from the Great Depression.

          In 1936, a number of Americans having little faith in President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the U.S. government, joined, the German-American Bund, also known as the German-American Federation. It was a Nazi-leaning organization established in 1936. The Bund replaced a group known earlier as the Friends of New Germany. The new name emphasized the Bund’s American foundation after public criticism that the Friends party was “unpatriotic.” The Bund consisted primarily of German-American citizens.

          The Bund’s main goal was to promote a favorable view of Nazi Germany. The earlier “Friends” had been authorized in 1933, when Nazi Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess gave German immigrant and Nazi party member Heinz Spanknobel the authority to form an American Nazi organization. Based in New York City, there was a strong “Friends” membership in Chicago and Milwaukee, both cities with large German-American populations. But, Spanknobel was deposed as leader when he was deported for failure to register as a foreign agent.

          Like the earlier “Friends” organization, members of the new German-American Bund wore black uniforms, marched in parades, held weekend outings for families and gave the impression of a patriotic, family-oriented all-American organization, all the while advocating a U.S. government in the image of Nazi Germany. A series of 69 Bund chapters were formed in the East and Midwest. Bund camps were set up as Nazi indoctrination and training facilities.

          Using the swastika and Hitler salute, most of the Bund propaganda railed against President Roosevelt, the Jewish population, and Communists, but the Bund always professed loyalty to the United States by always displaying the American flag.

          The Bund elected Fritz Kuhn, who had been a German soldier during World War I. He was granted U.S. citizenship in 1934. After assuming Bund control in March 1936, Kuhn was an effective leader. He was able to unite and expand the organization, but he was soon revealed to be an incompetent swindler, who had a tendency to exaggerate the truth.

          Kuhn and a few of his “Bundsmen” traveled to Berlin for the 1936 Summer Olympics. They were ushered into the Reich Chancellery, where Kuhn had his photo taken with Adolf Hitler, who was not impressed. Hitler  distrusted Kuhn and the Bund leadership, so the organization never received support from the Nazi regime.

          The beginning of the end came when the Nazi government declared that no Nazi emblems were to be used by the Bund because Hitler needed to appease the U.S. government in distancing Germany from the organization, which had become a national embarrassment.

          The Bund’s activities peaked on Feb. 20, 1939, at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. More than 20,000 attended, where Kuhn criticize President Roosevelt, referring to his “Rosenfeld’s New Jew Deal.”

          Later that year, Kuhn was charged with tax evasion and embezzling $14,000 from the Bund and was sentenced to prison.

          When Hitler declared war on the United States in late 1941, it brought an end to the German-American Bund, which has become a mere footnote in history.

Weird Facts:

There is a Web page devoted to quotes that Thomas Jefferson didn't say.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." Yup. Thomas Jefferson never said that. So many quotes mistakenly get attributed to the Founding Father that Ann Berkes, a research librarian at the Jefferson library, decided to collect them and shame misinformed quote-happy folk.

         "People will see a quote and it appeals to an opinion that they have and if it has Jefferson's name attached to it that gives it more weight," she told the Wall Street Journal in 2010. "He's constantly being invoked by people when they are making arguments about politics and actually all sorts of topics."

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar raised $17,000 for her senate campaign from ex-boyfriends.

A fact she announced at the 2009 Washington Press Club Foundation dinner. "True story!" she said. "I know that is the record in the Senate, but in the House it's held by Barney Frank."

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