Capeneka

Alexander Capeneka

HIST153

Dr. Thomson

6 August 2017

Henry Ford and Anti-Semitism in American Society

Anti-Semitism is the political, social and economic agitation and activities directed

against Jewish people. According to Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, the term is

now used to denote anti-Judaic acts or sentiments based on any grounds, including religious

ones. Even though the term anti-Semitism is less than century old, anti-Jewish sentiment has

existed for thousands of years. It was not until after World War I that there was an upsurge of

anti-Jewish feeling throughout the United States. This was a part of a general wave of bitterness

towards minority groups, including Roman Catholics, African Americans, and Jewish people that

swept the country (Anti-Semitism 1). Another factor that played into anti-Semitism in

American society in the 1920s was the association of Jews with political radicalism (Anti-

Semitism 1). During the 1920s, Henry Ford received much attention in the United States for his

anti-Semitic beliefs just like he did for his automobiles. He had such a strong public image that

his views were able to influence society.

Most biographers specify that Henry Ford was influenced by an exchange he had

overheard during his time on the Peace Ship. This was a group of Ford-financed pacifists who

navigated to Europe in 1915 in hopes of bringing an end to the war, which they believed was the

fault of the German-Jewish bankers (Dyrud 13). Three years later, Henry Ford bought the

failing Dearborn Independent newspaper, and launched his war on Jews in the wake of World

War I.
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Using the Dearborn Independent newspaper as a mouthpiece for his anti-Semitic beliefs,

Henry Ford began by publishing reprints of the discredited Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is the most

notorious and widely distributed anti-Semitic publication of modern times The Protocols is

entirely a work of fiction, intentionally written to blame Jews for a variety of ills. Those who

distribute it claim that it documents a Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world. Over the next

two years, Ford continued to publish a series of 91 anti-Semitic rant, each one presented by a

Protocol, accusing the Jews for practically all the worlds problems, from control of Wall Street

to a scandal in baseball (Dyrud 13).

Henry Fords newspaper had one of the largest distribution throughout the country,

overshadowing even The New York Daily News. This was because all of Fords dealerships were

required to endorse and distribute it throughout the United States (Dyrud 13). According to the

article The Case of Ford Motor Company, for a time, each new Ford that rolled off of the

assembly line had a copy of the paper tucked in its glovebox (Dyrud 13). In the mid-1920s,

Henry Fords writings in the Dearborn Independent newspaper were soon collected and

republished as a four-volume work, that was titled The International Jew. This series gathered a

audience of more than two million readers (Dyrud 13). The work was even soon translated into

German as The Eternal Jew. Ford bestowed a credit on the Nazis with his philosophical

compatibility, supported by his significant reputation (Dyrud 13).

The accusations in the Dearborn Independent newspaper exemplified the widest, and

most continuous published attack on Jews a group and individuals in the nations history

(Woeste 877). The articles that were published created clear grounds for defamation and libel

actions against Henry Ford and the Dearborn Independent newspaper. Several lawsuits were
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filed, and in 1927 one lawsuit made it into court. Sapiro v. Ford brought Fords anti-Semitic

tirade into the public atmosphere of the federal courts and put the matter of his accusations on

national display. (Woeste 878). Generating international headline, it ended in mistrial. Ford then

ended the offensive affair by signing a statement in which he had apologized for all the injustices

he had "unintentionally" done against the Jews (Woeste 877). Although Ford was forced to

renounce his opinions by an angry public and a lawsuit, he remained an anti-Semitic till the day

died. On his deathbed in 1947, Ford declared to a reporter, Ill take my factory down brick by

brick before Ill let any of the Jew speculators get stock in the company (Dyrud 13). In a 1922

letter to Henry Ford, Harris Weinstock states:

Had you shown the manliness, the courage and the honesty, frankly to say to the world

that you had been misled, deceived and imposed upon by designing minds who beguiled

you into the anti-Semitic crusade, that now your eyes had been opened, you regretted it

all and wished to apologize to the Jewish people for the base wrong you had committed

against them, you not only would have been forgiven by Jew and non-Jew, but would

have stood out as one of the world's great men, who having made a mistake, had the

courage publicly to acknowledge it. (Weinstock 93-94).

For as much as American Jews wanted to believe that they had completely embraced

American civic ideals and saw themselves as different from nonwhite minorities, the leading

culture considered them "the white other," meaning they were neither clearly marked by color as

a subordinate class nor were they entirely accepted as citizens (Woeste 878). Fords anti-Semitic

views did not help their problem. This demonstrates how his ideas had the ability to change

societies beliefs. The anti-Semitic articles in the Dearborn Independent, combined with Ford's
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public declaration of his intent created dangerous authority to racist thinking and strengthened

the prejudices that had threatened the civic equality of minorities like the Jewish community.
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Works Cited

"Anti-Semitism." Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 2016, p. 1p. 1. EBSCOhost

An excerpt from the Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia on the topic of

antisemitism. Providing a background, history and definitions relating to the topic

of antisemitism.

Dyrud, Marilyn "The Case of Ford Motor Company." Journal of Engineering Technology, vol.

33, no. 1, Spring 2016, pp. 10-21. EBSCOhost

The article presents a case study of the automobile company Ford Motor Co.

(FMC), focusing on the history and philosophy of the company, and anti-

Semitism practiced by the company. Ford was established by Henry Ford in 1863

in Wayne County, Michigan. Ford exercised control not only over the work

environment, but also the personal lives of individual workers. Ford's anti-

Semitism practice included blaming the Jews for all of the world's ills, and

supporting the Nazis.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Holocaust

Encyclopedia

An excerpt from the Holocaust Encyclopedia that is available on the United States

Memorial Museum Website. The excerpt discusses the Protocols of the Elders of

Zion, its history, and its influence on anitsemitic views around the world.
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Weinstock, Harry. "A Letter to Henry Ford in 1922." Western States Jewish History, vol. 22, no.

1, Oct. 1989, pp. 92-94. EBSCOhost

A letter is presented from Harris Weinstock to Henry Ford published in the

journal "Pipp's Weekly" in February 18, 1922 regarding the latter's alleged attacks

against Jews in the U.S. Weinstock rebuffed Ford and his alleged anti-Jewish

policies. Furthermore, Weinstock cites on his letter that his confidence of Ford's

sincerity and honesty was lost, saying that Ford's protocols for the Jewish world

conspiracy are clumsy forgeries and asked Ford to apologize for the attacks.

Woeste, Victoria Saker, author. "Insecure Equality: Louis Marshall, Henry Ford, and the

Problem of Defamatory Antisemitism, 1920-1929." The Journal of American History, no.

3, 2004, p. 877. EBSCOhost

An excerpt from The Journal of American History discussing the history of Henry

Ford and his antisemtic views, and their influence on American society. It also

goes into discussion about the lawsuits that were faced by Ford due to his

publications in the Dearborn Independent.