Henry Ford and the Dearborn Independent

HENRY FORD AND THE DEARBORN INDEPENDENT

Henry Ford, Publisher

In 1919 Henry Ford, the man who put America on wheels with his Model T, purchased The Dearborn Independent, a weekly publication, to present his views to his many admirers. While Ford himself did not exercise direct editorial control over the publication, it reflected his opinions and beliefs.

Perpetuating Old Lies

In 1920 The Dearborn Independent began a series of articles attacking the alleged power of Jews in the international banking community and their relation to the recent World War, which Ford had bitterly opposed. The articles, later published as The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem (1922), reflected many of the anti-Semitic assumptions of nineteenth-century American rural culture. The Dearborn Independent charged that Jewish financiers had gained control of the money supply and manipulated it to advance their interests. (Ford himself regretted that he had borrowed from eastern banks to finance the expansion of his automobile company and acted as quickly as possible to regain total control over the Ford Motor Company.) The articles went further, charging that these Jewish bankers had pulled the world into the recent World War. The articles culminated by repeating the old lie that Jews were plotting to overthrow Christian civilization.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

In 1920 The Dearborn Independent began publishing a translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The Protocols were alleged to be a recounting of the centennial meeting of "learned elders" of the Jewish nation during which they detailed how they had tormented Christian society in the past hundred years and discussed plans to destroy Christian civilization in the next century. This virulently anti-Semitic document had been forged by the secret police of czarist Russia in 1905 as the government attempted to divert Russians from their growing disgust with its corruption and incompetence by turning them to a standard target of hatred—the Jews. While it is difficult to determine how many people read Ford's publication, the poison of The International Jew and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion spread into American culture backed by Ford's name.

Response

The Jewish community was divided as to how to respond to this torrent of anti-Semitism. The American Jewish Committee, the largest and most influential Jewish voice, continued its cautious practice of avoiding contention with anti-Semites in an effort to minimize and contain the old Christian hatreds of Jews. They believed that it was best not to call attention to topics that might trigger even more serious acts against them. But periodicals such as The American Hebrew called on Jews to band together to protest and boycott Ford products. Christians also sought to end the inflammatory lies coming out of Dearborn. More than a hundred people, including former presidents William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson, and prominent political and religious leaders, such as William Jennings Bryan and Cardinal William O'Connell, signed a letter asking Ford to stop the continued publication of "vicious propaganda"—to no avail.

Continued Attacks

Between May 1920 and December 1921 The Dearborn Independent ran its charges and falsehoods, and then they stopped without explanation. However, various parts of the original attacks were collected and published as The International Jew. The book circulated widely in the United States, Europe, and South America. Adolf Hitler was one of its readers, and Ford's detractors and many other people believed, without proof, that Ford offered financial support to the growth of the Nazi movement. In 1924 The Dearborn Independent returned to its anti-Semitic campaign, this time attacking a Jewish lawyer active in organizing farm cooperatives. The series, "The Jewish Exploitation of Farmers' Organizations," once more linked Jewish bankers and others to a purported effort to undermine American institutions. The outraged target of the attack sued The Dearborn Independent and Ford himself.

Trial

In spite of Ford's efforts, the issue went to trial in 1927. Ford avoided having to testify under oath as to his actual role in the publication when he was injured in an automobile accident the day before he was scheduled to appear in court. Before Ford recovered and had to go to court, a juror gave a newspaper interview about the trial, which forced the judge to declare a mistrial.

Ford's Problems

By this time the Ford Motor Company was in financial difficulty. Ford had refused to follow the lead of the revitalized General Motors Corporation into annual model changes and had dropped in market share. In 1927 Ford closed his factory and began retooling to introduce the Model A. He was eager to walk away from his money-losing publication and end the constant criticism of his social views. He arranged an interview with Louis Marshall, spokesman for the American Jewish Committee, and agreed to retract the anti-Semitic statements in The Dearborn Independent and apologize for any damage the articles had done. Marshall drafted a statement to that effect and Ford signed it without change. He then closed The Dearborn Independent, ending his publishing career.

Lingering Rumors of Anti-Semitism

Charges that Ford was anti-Semitic declined in intensity but continued to circulate, as did copies of The International Jew. Rumors continued to link Ford to Hitler into the 1930s. In 1937 he once again apologized for publishing anti-Semitic material. He lost his credibility, however, when he accepted a medal from Hitler in 1938, the year of Kristallnacht, one of the worst pogroms of the century to that time. Many Jews could not forgive Ford for his part, direct or indirect, in contributing to the flood that swept away so many of their fellow Jews in Hitler's Holocaust.

Sources:

Carol W. Gelderman, Henry Ford: The Wayward Capitalist (New York: Dial, 1981);

David L. Lewis, The Public Image of Henry Ford (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1976).