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In Better Perspective

Henry Ford's anti-Semitism is revisited by top-selling author.

BILL CARROLL

Special to the Jewish News

jr

ewish author Neil Baldwin, one of Ford
Motor Company founder Henry Ford's
harhest critics, came to West Bloomfield
Oct. 24 and enthralled a crowd of more
than 200 at Temple Israel with stories about the
anti-Semitism of the "man who put the nation on
wheels" and who was named by Fortune magazine as
the greatest businessman of the 20th century.
Baldwin was promoting the upcoming release (in
December) of the paperback version of Henry Ford
and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate (Public
Affairs; $15), his top-selling book of a year ago. The
speech was sponsored by Temple Israel, Adat
Shalom Synagogue and the Anti-Defamation
League. The original book stirred up memoreis
among many Jews nationwide about Henry Ford's
anti-Semitic sentiments. Ford Motor Company offi-
cials declined to comment then about the elder
Ford's activities and maintained the same position
with publication of the paperback.
A meticulously researched, four-year project, the
book is a revealing examination of America's most
notorious anti-Semite, who devoted immense finan-
cial resources to his anti-Semitic pursuits and other
biases.
Baldwin, 55, a fourth-generation New Yorker who
is executive director of the National Book
Foundation, which gives prestigious book awards
each year, came close to receiving a book award
himself. Henry Ford and the Jews was nominated for
a National Jewish Book Award for history, but lost
in the final competition.
Baldwin got interested in Ford while researching a
biography on inventor Thomas Edison, one of
Ford's cronies.
In his local presentation, Baldwin gave a synopsis
of the book and the pertinent facts of Ford's life,
punctuating the anti-Semitic episodes. He described
how Ford developed a hatred for Jews while growing
up near Dearborn and studying the old McGuffey's
Eclectic Readers, which contained Shakespeare's The
Merchant of Venice, relating the antics of the vilified
Shylock, a Jewish moneylender.
Baldwin told of Ford using his newspaper, The
Dearborn Independent, to publish 91 consecutive
weeks of anti-Semitic diatribes, including reprinting

11/15
2002

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the infamous The Protocols of
the Elders of Zion. The spurious
Russian document purports to
be the minutes of the first
Zionist Congress in
Switzerland in 1917, alleging
the planning of world domina-
tion by Jews.
"Ford really didn't hate the
Jews for religious reasons ...
because of their traditions, rit-
uals and holidays," said
Baldwin, "but he hated them
for economic reasons ...
because many Jews were eco-
nomically successful and chari-
table — and also because he
felt they were warmongering
and manipulative and tried to
use warfare as an economic
tool.
"Ford won the praise of
Hitler, who mentioned him in
his Mein Kampfbook, and
later tried unsuccessfully to
solicit funds from Ford to sup-
port the Nazi cause."
When,Ford and his newspa-
per were once sued for libel, he
issued an apology during the
trial — at the urging of aides
— rather than testify in his
defense. The thought was not
to dampen Ford Motor
Company publicity about the
launching in 1927 of the new Model A car to
replace the famous Model T.
The Ford apology resulted in a large headline in
the Forward Jewish newspaper that said: "End Of
Anti-Semitism In The U.S." Baldwin mused: "That
headline proved to be a bit premature for this coun-
try."
Curiously, Ford, who died at age 83 in 1947,
drew a certain measure of sympathy from some in
the audience.
"It's hard to completely condemn Henry Ford for
his actions ... we really should blame him for his
lack of knowledge of the Jewish people, whom he
seemed to have feared," commented Sheila Schiffer

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of West Bloomfield.
Neil Baldwin,
"It appears that Henry Ford
author of "Henry
was an anti-Semite out of igno-
Ford and the
rance, more than anything else,"
Jews," speaks at
stated Fred Erlich of Bloomfield
Temple Israel.
Hills. "After Mr. Baldwin's
remarks, I saw Ford in a more
favorable light."
Said Phyllis Levitt of West Bloomfield: "Mr.
Baldwin's talk verified my opinion about Ford, but
it looks like he really didn't hate the Jews for reli-
gious reasons, but for economic issues instead. He
was jealous of their economic and cultural success."
Steve Passon of White Lake Township asked
Baldwin if he thought Ford Motor Company profit-