That’s right folks, Mitt Romney is announcing his candidacy for president at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
Henry Ford, let’s recall, was a notorious anti-Semite who used a newspaper he had purchased — the Dearborn Independent — to peddle absurd and utterly bogus charges against Jews, even going so far as to publish excerpts from the notorious “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” Here’s the Library of Congress’ summary:
Henry Ford and the Dearborn Independent
On May 22, 1920, Henry Ford launched a series of attacks on Jews based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a scurrilous anti-Semitic work concocted by members of the Russian secret police. The series described Jews as secretly plotting world revolution and controlling the world’s financial markets. Ford’s anti-Semitic tirades found a ready audience, with circulation increasing tenfold from about 70,000 in 1920 to a peak of 700,000 in 1924; the articles were also compiled into a series of widely-circulated books. In 1927, as part of an out-of-court settlement of a damage suit brought against him, Ford offered an apology to the Jewish people and promised to cease his attacks.
The articles from the newspaper were later republished in book form:
The Dearborn Independent didn’t limit itself to the disclosure of the international Jewish conspiracy, also publishing articles like “Jewish Jazz — Moron Music — Becomes Our National Music: Story of ‘Popular Song’ Control in the United States.” There’s more on Ford’s very well-known anti-Semitism here and here.
Ford’s activities attracted the favorable attention of Adolf Hitler, who bestowed upon Ford the highest honor available to a foreigner:
Hitler was an admirer of American mass production techniques and an avid reader of the antisemitic tracts penned by Henry Ford. “I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration,” Hitler told a Detroit News reporter two years before becoming the German chancellor in 1933, explaining why he kept a life-size portrait of the American automaker next to his desk.
Although Ford later renounced his antisemitic writings [but only as part of a legal settlement, see the LOC excerpt quoted above –ed.], he remained an admirer of Nazi Germany and sought to keep America out of the coming war. In July 1938, four months after the German annexation of Austria, he accepted the highest medal that Nazi Germany could bestow on a foreigner, the Grand Cross of the German Eagle. The following month, a senior executive for General Motors, James Mooney, received a similar medal for his “distinguished service to the Reich.”
Ford, however clever an innovator he may have been, is hardly an appropriate figure to associate your 2008 presidential campaign with. Yet the ever-ridiculous Eric Fehrnstrom says that it’s full speed ahead for the big FordFest.
A fitting kickoff to the campaign of Mr. “Let them eat pork.”
…sublimely brilliant.
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I have never seen anyone attempt a preemption of Godwin’s Law on such a grandiose scale.
So by this logic what else might be anti-Semitic? Let’s see.
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The first and most obvious is driving a Ford vehicle. So all you contractor with Ford trucks are anti-Semites. Dam, according to your post, James Mooney of General Motors also supported the Nazis so GM is out to. That only leaves Dodge and I hate the way rams look. Guess I will just have to be a Nazi for driving my Sierra.
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Oh, using the assembly line, which Henry Ford invented, is also anti-Semitic. So no mass produced products or your an anti-Semite.
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Come on, this attempt to try and paint Mitt with some anti-Semitic brush because he is using the Ford Museum is just absurd.
Sure, this isn’t really that big of a story, but come on…there’s a big difference between driving a Ford (autos that are produced under different corporate leadership in any case) and intentionally choosing the Henry Ford Museum — which specifically honors Henry Ford himself — as THE place to begin a campaign for the Presidency.
Ford’s anti-semitism was by no means casual, not a secret and not disputed. He was a “virulent anti-semite” who was awarded The Grand Cross of the German Eagle by the Nazi party.
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I mean why go out of your way to associate yourself with any person with that backround. Me personally, even if the guy cured cancer and pitched a no-hitter in a game 7 Red Sox World Series win I would not associate myself with him. Call me crazy.
The Henry Ford Museum does not exist to “specifically honor[] Henry Ford himself”: it’s a general museum of American history, probably the largest after the Smithsonian. To the extent the museum has exhibits relating to Ford, it does point out that he promoted anti-Semitic views. Holding an event there does not endorse Ford’s anti-Semitism any more than holding an event at the Smithsonian endorses the views of James Smithson (whatever they might have been).
Was there something I never learned in school that was going on in the 1900-1930s that caused everyone and their father of the auto industry to be anti-semitic?
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I feel like I can’t read a book about that time period without tripping over someone who didn’t like the Jews.
was one of the lowest in race relations in the history of the nation. It improved dramatically after the Civil War, and then dropped precipitously after Reconstruction ended. The 1920s and 30s were the height of the KKK, of lynchings, of sundown towns, etc.
…were right in the middle of that period. I’m not all that knowledgeable on the topic, but iirc Protocols first got wide circulation in the aftermath as an explanation for why it happened, i.e. big Jewish conspiracy.
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There was a major red scare in the US contemporaneous with the revolution–and plenty of labor organizing and activity here throughout those decades. Occasionally with violence. Captains of industry were worried about workers becoming ‘infected’ with radical ideas.
…It was widely believed that the Socialists (SPD in Germany–your buddy Bismarck’s Nemises) and Communists were primarily supported by, organized by and led by Jews. Recall that Leon Trotsky was born of a Jewish family from the Ukraine.
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Recall also several other things. One, according to Niemoeller’s Rede, it wasn’t the Jews that the Nazis came for first, it was the trade unionists and the Communists. (In the “official” Niemoeller Stiftung version of the Rede, Jews aren’t even mentioned.) Ford hated trade unionists, and they were causing problems with his European (primarily German) business dealings. Ford supported the Nazis because of their opposition to the trade unionists and the communists, and, by extension Jews. Thomas J. Watson’s IBM Corp, did, too, but that’s a point for another time.
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Two, Ford wasn’t the “father” of the automobile industry, except possibly in American eyes. I would consider Daimler Benz to be the “father” of the auto industry, but probably it predated them. What Ford did was to make use of a manufacturing technique–the assembly line–that wasn’t even original with him. Quite frankly, the father of the american auto industry was Alfred P. Sloan (yes, he of the Sloan School at MIT), whose only claim to fame was that regarding corporate organization. On the other hand, I as a technologist would prefer to believe that the the gurus of corporate organization were TAEdison and his corporate partners.
ok then, i’ll make it! it is worth being OT for. read “IBM and the Holocaust” to learn how thengadget created to tabulate the US census became the mechanism for efficient extermination (not to mention efficient mgt of nazi materiel).
n/t
…I’ve seen my German mother-in-law’s passport from the 1950s. I was astounded to note that, even then, it listed her religion (ELKD–Evangelical Lutheranische Kirche in Deutschland). Given what the German government had done to the Jews during the Nazizeit, I was amazed that they were still recording that information.
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Amazed, until I learned about the Kirchensteuer–the church tax that church members are required to pay to the state and that the state disburses to the respective denominations based on membership. Of course, how would the state know how to dispurse the money, unless it knew who was a member of what? (Non-church members aren’t subject to the Kirchensteuer, of course.)
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Best to never tell the government what you can avoid telling them.
This stuff interests the heck outta me. I’ve never even heard of the IBM thing til now.
…is that much of that collusion was conducted through IBM’s Swiss subsidiary. (Switzerland was, of course, officially neutral (official deniability ring a bell?) but in reality it wasn’t.) IBM continued to service the machines that it had provided to the Nazi regime, and provide upgrades, despite the fact that it knew what the Nazi regime was doing with the machines. It is that last fact that is most despicable.
And don;t forget FOrd’s comportment during the Flint, MI sit-down strikes of 1936-7. He is notorious for pushing Gov Murphy to have the Nat’l Guard open fire on the strikers. Ford Co also hired thugs to attack union members, and set up a scheme of paying workers to spy on each other. Nice guy, our Henry! I’m sure Willard will feel right at home.
Ford was a union-buster as well as an anti-Semite. His expediency is sending not-so coded messages.
David, you’re right about the ever-ridiculous Eric Fehrnstrom. Curious, I clicked to his comment in the WaPo:
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Fehrnstrom makes it sound like Clinton praised Henry Ford, right?
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So I looked at the actual 1999 Clinton speech.
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I think a fair reading is that Clinton is quoting Ford praising other people, and then agrees with Ford’s praise. Clinton is not praising Ford in this speech.
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A small point except it’s a larger pattern.
…but it was then an interesting museum of transportation. It is extremely sad that Ford’s name attached to it has sullied the reputation of the museum as it has.
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Recognize, regarding Romney’s choice of venue, that he is merely doing what Republicans seem to appear to want to do. They seem to want to associate themselves with anti-semites (Ford) and racists and homophobes (BJ-U) so often. It’s almost enough to make it seem to be congenital.
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Don’t forget, though, that Mitt “the Snitt” Romney’s father complained about having been brainwashed. Maybe it’s all congenital.
David – Henry Ford was the person who, when asked why his workers wages were so high, responded that he wanted them to be able to buy his cars! He changed American culture by putting mobility into the hands of everybody.
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Before Henry Ford, you were likely to live and die within ten miles of where you wre born. Now, people are set free to explore and follow their own choices.
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OF COURSE he was wrong – about Jews, about blacks, about women. But he was a product of his environment and upbringing, as surely as Lindburgh and the scads of other anti-Semites in that era. Check out Joe Kennedy’s opinion, too! Does that make JFK a bigot by inheritance?
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To imply that Romney is an anti-Semite for recognizing a giant of American industry, to call him Mr. Let Them Eat Pork because of nursing home legislation you disagree with – David, that is hate speech and it is just beneath you.
Calling Henry Ford a Nazi-loving, virulent anti-semite is like calling me a Red Sox fan – it’s fact, not smear.
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Peter, what could it possibly benefit Romeny to so closely tie himself to a man who wrote a book proclaiming Jews as “The World’s Foremost Problems”? Romney and Co. are in the business of precise calculations and know every potential negative connotation that could be associated with Mr. Ford. Why, on such an importanct day, attach your name to such a loaded historical name?
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What do you think of Bob’s idea that Romney is sending not so coded messages?
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Romney’s choice, to me, is very unsetteling. I can’t get over the idea that smart people who are aware of Ford’s Nazi-loving past end up whole heartedly endorsing the spot to launch a campaign for President of the United States. Call me crazy for finding this repulsively innapropriate in 2007. If the Ford connection doesn’t bother Romney and Co., why not?
Because by this logic, your a bigot for supporting a team that was so bigoted all those many years ago.
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See how absurd this is?
No, I’m a Red Sox fan, not announcing my bid for higher office at the Shrine of Tom Yawkey. The two situations are totally and completely different.
No.
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As illustrated above, there is a difference between Henry Ford and the current Ford Motor Company. Just like there is a difference between Tom Yawkey and the current Boston Red Sox.
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I did not say that I am a Tom Yawkey fan.
That we put a man who had an extramarital affair with his slaves on our $20? He also wanted to emancipate them, though, so we don’t hold him in low regard for it.
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We can’t just choose to only remember people for their faults, because every last one of us will be remembered as terrible people. Henry Ford, from what I can see, was indeed anti-semitic, however his contribution to our society was immense.
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12 American Presidents owned slaves, 8 while they were in office. Do we sully their memory by calling them racists? Some, probably, but not all.
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Or is this post simply looking for every possible avenue to attack Mitt? I would say that’s probably the answer, and I would also say there’s better ways to attack him than this. I’d make more of a stink about the fact that he owns up to more Kerry-Clappers than the junior Senator himself.
Exactly how is Henry Ford’s name being sullied?
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Let’s not forget, there are hundreds of thousands of places to launch a presidential campaign, why choose a place with a name so closely tied to anti-semitism?
Anywhere outside of the blogosphere, it’s not closely tied at all. Average Americans don’t think Anti-Semite when they think Henry Ford. I doubt there’s an some anti-jew exhibit at the museum, but ask Raj, he’s been there. Plus, Mitt Romney is from Michigan. What is Michigan’s industry? What company catapulted that industry into the American driveway? Who founded that company?
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If you really think about it, it’s a perfectly natural place to do it. To Michigan, Henry Ford isn’t some jew-hating Nazi…he’s the reason that state has the industry he does.
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Mitt Romney’s launch is a helluva lot less insulting than the false humility displayed by the beloved John Edwards.
I doubt there’s an some anti-jew exhibit at the museum, but ask Raj, he’s been there.
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…I doubt there was an anti-jew exhibit at the museum. It’s been 40 years since I was last there–we were at the museum as part of the North-South Skirmish Association’s annual skirmish at Dearborn’s Greenfield Village, which houses the museum, but that’s another matter.
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As far as I’m concerned this thing about Mitt’s announcement at the Henry Ford Museum is a tempest in a teapot. If Romney had made the announcement at BJ-U (Bob Jones University) I would have a different opinion. On the other hand, I’m sure that Romney will be making the journey, obligatory of all Republican presidential candidates, to BJ-U, so it really doesn’t matter a whole heck of a lot. He’ll be there.
I read the rules and regulations for that place, and I can’t figure out why anyone would want to go there. It seems like the place where fun goes to die.
all the comments we hear about Soros.
I grew up in Michigan. When I was a child, there was still a swimming pool in our town with a “No Jews, dogs, or Negoes” sign in front of it. It was closed down about when I went to Junior High.
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Father Coughlin’s broadcasts, which were virulently anti-semitic were also still on the radio [note” I was bon in 1948]
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W. Mitt Romney attended Cranbrook, a private school, which at that time did not admit jews.
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Just for context. I don’t think he is consciously anti-semitic, but sensitive to these kinds of perceptions he is not.
…that flew from NYC to Paris. Someone was going to do it, sometime. So what’s the big deal about Lindburgh? Other than the fact that he milked his notoriety for all it was worth.
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Kind of like, um, say, all the people on Hollywood Squares.
if you want a serious answer to your question. Yes, he was wrong about one of the central issues of his lifetime, but an airhead celebrity he wasn’t. And he made some interesting decisions about how to deal with his fame, including making some non-trivial contributions to medical technology.
…you probably wouldn’t have heard of Lindy were it not for his transatlantic flight stunt. There would likely have been no biography written about him just because of his non-trivial contributions to medical technology.
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People whose claims to fame are based on one thing or one incident aren’t necessarily airheads. But it didn’t help the American effort during WWII that he lent his name to the anti-war effort. The US almost lost WWII in the Pacific (which war began in 1933, not 1939) in no small measure because of his efforts.
“Hate speech”? PUH-LEEEZ. To call my post “hate speech” strips that phrase of any meaning. Do I anywhere say or imply that Romney is an anti-Semite? Of course not. I do, however, question the wisdom, and the message that is sent (consciously or unconsciously — doesn’t much matter, “optics” are important in politics), by announcing his campaign at a museum honoring this guy, who was unquestionably a horrible anti-Semite. A product of his environment? Again, can you seriously believe that everyone back then hated Jews the way Ford did?
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I find your apologia for Henry Ford to be sad indeed.
I also cannot understand why there is so much angst over the vile anti-Semite remarks of Henry Ford some 80 years ago, and none over those of Cindy Sheehan, noticiable to the point where Stormfront (a neo-Nazi organization) came to demonstrate with her at Camp Casey last summer, attracted by her pro-Palestinian, anti-Isreal statements.
it’s because Romney is running for president, and Cindy Sheehan isn’t! How can that be so difficult?
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I accept your apology with respect to the “let them eat pork” post.
But whatever makes you happy.
Gather ’round, students! This is the favorite excuse of appologists for slavery, anti-semitism, and other tasty delights. It operates on the assumption that you, dear student, are too dense to realize that in any time and society there are shades of acceptance and rejection for any viewpoint or action. Purveyors of this tac want you to believe that, well, just everyone was anti-Semitic in Ford’s time, and so his views are no more blameworthy than those of your dear great aunt Gladys or great great grandpops Willy. Balderdash! Society then was every bit as nuanced as society now. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is not a 21st century discovery. I fully expect 22nd century appologists to look back on the homobigots of our time and wheeze the same old line: “they were products of their time”, as if you equality-minded folks weren’t.
I saw this Mitt comes to The Protocols story on RawStory last night, and was amazed by the turnout of Thugs in the comments section.
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Sample:
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When the Jews speak, you had better jump. They are the masters here in this country. America is a colony of Israel. Israel owns our Congress, Senate and our puppet president. Israel has us fighting and dying in their wars to save the precious Jews who might die if they had to fight their own wars. Henry Kissinger referred to you goy as “Useless Feeders”. You are expendable. Henry Ford was no fool. If he noted that Zionists are a problem, then they probably are.
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Yep, the MittFlopper just oozes the right kind of people… for a putsch. Nothing warms the cockles of my yiddishe heart like “Israel and AIPAC are controlling the US government and spying on us.”.
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Perhaps the choice of venue was not a mistake – perhaps it was carefully planned to attract the Thug vote. As the Middle-Class economy continues to scream south like an F-16 on afterburners, this could be a big pickup for Willard.
You guys are defending Mitt by trying to downplay the impotance of Henry Ford’s extremist views. But the fact remains Henry Ford is a strong symbol of anti-semitism. I am still very curious as to what advantage it is to Mitt to launch his presidential campaign at place so unavoidably connected to such a symbol (I am speaking, of course, of advantages outside the ones posited above that include Mitt sending not so subtle signals to anti-semetic, anti-union crowds.)
I’m wondering if he did this as much to ride his father’s coat tails as anything. His dad was prez of AMC for a few years. MI still prides itself on car manufacturing history, etc. Although if this was his thinking, it would still be questionable. Car manufacturers are leaving MI, and the labor force has been suffering for decades. If I’d worked the line, I’d wonder what koolaid WIllard was drinking if he thought idealizing the car industry would bring warm fuzzies to the barely employed rank & file.
I wonder?
certainly there are neo-nazis in MI, but as far as I know they’re not necessarily associated with any plant or dealer.
I see what you’re saying about Mitt wanting to associate with the Automobile industry. But I’m just wondering out loud – of all the automobile industry related places in Michigan, why does Mitt choose a place so stmbolically tied to a Nazi sympathizer? Couldn’t he find a non-Nazi related automobile-type place at which to launch his campaign? I know zilch about Michigan, but I have to imagine there is a more neutral site he could have chosen.
If Willard wasn;t himself ignorant of Ford’s viscious attitudes, I’m sure he is betting that most MI people are unaware of it. Having grown up in MI, I’d say it would be a fair bet on his part. When I was in public school (70s), you didn’t learn about the methods used by Industrial Gods to create Progress, you just learned that they were gods. I hope local history is taught more in depth now – I have no idea. ANyway, I know what I know about these thingks because of a few teachers who managed to squeeze it in around the edges of the official curriculum. SO, expect many/most Michiganders to be competely ignorant of Ford’s dark side.
Media Matters for America reports:
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The story goes on to say that the Times and the AP were the first to pick up the John Edwards/Bill Donahue “contraversy”.
…This little thing by Romney isn’t about Henry Ford, or about Ford’s anti-semitism or Ford’s work for the Nazis. The museum is a nice, albeit not overly ostentatious, museum, set in a nice, albeit not overly ostentatious park.
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Let’s put it in perspective–in Romney’s perspetive. What Romney did, by deciding to announce in Michigan, instead of in the only state in which he has ever held elective office–Massachusetts–is to diss the only state in which he has ever held elective office. Read between the lines, folks. Especially you Republican anhaenger out there. Your boy Romney deliberately intended to run away from the only state in which he has ever held elective office, and, in retrospect, did so from day one. Romney, if elected pResident, would wipe you off the floor and throw you away. Be careful what you wish for, bois.
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The man Romney is a viper, and he must be stopped. But, I suspect that he has wealthy contributors behind him. It’s up to you to stop him, you Republikaner. We mere plebians are ineffectual. I know what’s coming if Romney is elected. You don’t. And you will regret it at your peril.
I look forward to Mike Huckabee sweeping the primaries.