Who believes that Henry Ford is over rated?

[Prius]

I mean, comeon, people give him credit for inventing the assembly line, which was invented by Oldsmobile, and trival persuit claims that he invented the automobile, which many people know that karl benz and Gottlieb Daimler were the fathers of the automobile. now do you agree that Henry Ford was a bit overcredied?

[Sweeney921]

I mean, comeon, people give him credit for inventing the assembly line, which was invented by Oldsmobile, and trival persuit claims that he invented the automobile, which many people know that karl benz and Gottlieb Daimler were the fathers of the automobile. now do you agree that Henry Ford was a bit overcredied?

Henry ford was never given credit for inventing the car or assembly line. He was credited for making the assembly line efficient, and making the car available to everyone.

[Blitz_]

Henry ford was never given credit for inventing the car or assembly line. He was credited for making the assembly line efficient, and making the car available to everyone.

owned...


prius, do ur research before blasting the blue oval

[nota]

One could claim old Henry Ford is over-rated .. but only if you chose to ignore his revolutionary historical significance (engineering, societal, economic etc)

[Cotterik]

what have u gotten against ford prius? realy?

[Niko_Fx]

I've seen him getting credit for inventing the assembly line everywhere (including my History of US Enterprise book from last semester).

No I don't think he's overrated.

[Niko_Fx]

owned...


prius, do ur research before blasting the blue oval

He's not blasting the blue oval, he's talking about Henry Ford as a person and nothing else.

If YOU do some research you will eventually find that he actually IS credited on many occasions with iventing the assembly line.

[taz_rocks_miami]

Regardless of whether he invented the assembly line, he was the first to make it efecient enough to bring costs down, hence bringing down the price of mass production.

Prious, why do you always focus on the negative?

[Sackalack GT]

No matter how poorly some high school history textbooks are made, you still can't deny the fact that he had an impact on automotive history. Saying he's overrated is turning a blind eye to the huge corporation that he built from scratch, not a small feat.

[Niko_Fx]

No matter how poorly some high school history textbooks are made, you still can't deny the fact that he had an impact on automotive history. Saying he's overrated is turning a blind eye to the huge corporation that he built from scratch, not a small feat.

Hopefully you are addressing Prius and not me.

[johnnyperl]

From Wikipedia.com

Anti-Semitism and The Dearborn Independent

Henry Ford began publication of a newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, in 1919. The paper ran for eight years, during which it republished "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion," which has since been discredited by virtually all historians as a forgery. The American Jewish Historical Society describes the ideas presented in it as "anti-immigrant, anti-labor, anti-liquor, and anti-Semitic".

The Independent also published, in Ford's name, several anti-Jewish articles which were released in the early 1920s as a set of four bound volumes, cumulatively titled "The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem." These volumes were distributed through Ford's car dealerships. Denounced by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the articles nevertheless explicitly condemned pogroms and violence against Jews (Volume 4, Chapter 80), preferring to blame incidents of mass violence on the Jews themselves. None of this work was actually penned by Ford, though they required his tacit approval since he was the paper's publisher.

Lawsuits in response to anti-Semitic remarks led Ford to close the Dearborn Independent in December 1927. He later retracted the International Jew and the Protocols. On January 7, 1942, Henry Ford wrote a public letter to the ADL denouncing hatred against the Jews and expressing his hope that anti-Jewish hatred would cease for all time. Some claim that Ford neither wrote nor signed this letter and have questioned the sincerity of his apology. His writings continue to be used as propaganda by various groups, often appearing on anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi websites.
[edit]

Henry Ford and Nazism
Henry Ford, center, is awarded the Grand Cross of the German Eagle by Nazi diplomats.AP photo; fair use
Enlarge
Henry Ford, center, is awarded the Grand Cross of the German Eagle by Nazi diplomats.
AP photo; fair use

Henry Ford spent years bestowing gushing praise on Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime, although this praise abated as the United States entered WWII. There is also some evidence that Henry Ford gave Adolf Hitler direct financial backing when Hitler was first starting out in politics. This can in part be traced to statements from Kurt Ludecke, Germany's representative to the U.S. in the 1920s, and Winifred Wagner, daughter-in-law of Richard Wagner, who said they requested funds from Ford to aid the National Socialist movement in Germany. However, a 1933 Congressional investigation into the matter was unable to substantiate whether contributions were actually sent. Regardless of whether direct financial support was provided, Ford repeatedly voiced his overt approval of Hitler's theories.

Ford's indirect financial backing of the Nazis was also undeniable, as Ford Motor Company was active in Germany's military buildup prior to World War II. In 1938, for instance, it opened an assembly plant in Berlin, the purpose of which was to supply trucks to the Wehrmacht. In July of that year, Ford was awarded (and accepted) the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle (Großkreuz des Deutschen Adlerordens). Ford was the first American and the fourth person given this award, at the time Nazi Germany's highest honorary award given to foreigners. The decoration was given "in recognition of [Ford's] pioneering in making motor cars available for the masses." The award was accompanied by a personal congratulatory message from Adolf Hitler. [Detroit News, July 31, 1938.]

[bk4uyeah]

From Wikipedia.com

I'm lazy, care to summarize?

[johnnyperl]

I'm lazy, care to summarize?

uh...read the bold words
he was anti-semitic (published his own paper which expressed this) and was a friend of the nazi party (gave money to hitler).

[Juggs]

without henry ford we wouldnt have kingsford charcoal.......and last time i checked i loved to do me some grillin. so no....i dont think hes overrated...in fact i think hes underrated cuz bbq is delicious.

[blackcat77]

He was responsible in large part for promoting "The Prootcols of the Learned Elders of Zion" in this country. If you aren't familiar with it, it was a completely phoney history of the Jewish race which included their plan to take over the world. It was used to inspire anti-semitism among the ignorant and sadly, there were a lot of ignorant people in this country back then.

That alone is enough reason for me to despise him personally no matter what he accomplished as an industrialist.