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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Henry Ford
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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Henry Ford
HENRY FORD II
Awarded by
President Lyndon B. Johnson
January 20, 1969
Henry Ford II symbolizes the concerned and enlightened business leader who holds much of the hope of our Nation's future. He has committed himself and his formidable abilities to leading the effort to find a place at industry's workbench for every American, and he has succeeded in arousing his fellow industrialists to that cause. In him, the genius of American enterprise meets a devotion to the cause of our country, setting a standard of enlightened service which will inspire business leadership for generations to come.
The first and the ten millionth Ford
Born on July 30, 1863, on his family's farm in Dearborn, Michigan, Henry Ford enjoyed tinkering with machines from the time he was a young boy. His work on the farm and a job in a Detroit machine shop allowed him many opportunities to tinker and experiment. By 1896, Ford had constructed his first horseless carriage, but he wanted to do even more!
"I will build a car for the great multitude," Ford proclaimed. At first the automobile had been a luxury item only for the wealthy. Henry Ford wanted to create a car that ordinary people could afford, and in October 1908, he did it. The Model T sold for $950. In nineteen years of manufacture, Ford lowered the price to $280 and sold 15,500,000 in the U.S. alone.
How did he make the Model T so inexpensive?
Ford invented the modern assembly line. He doubled his workers' wages and cut the workday from nine to eight hours. Ford did this to ensure quality work and allow a three-shift workday. As a result, the company was able to make Model T's twenty-four hours a day!
The automobile altered American society forever, changing where and how we lived. As more Americans owned cars, the organization of cities changed. The United States saw the growth of the suburbs and the creation of a national highway system. Americans were thrilled with the possibility of going anywhere, anytime. Ford witnessed many of these changes during his lifetime. In his later years, he spent most of his time working on Greenfield Village, a restored rural town modeled after his memories of Dearborn during his youth. Next time you are out on the road, try to imagine life without cars. Ask your family and friends how different they think the world would be.
Henry Ford's Hundred Million
Henry Ford
Henry Ford's is a fortune that even the most rabid socialist will admit has been made honestly. His income last year probably exceeded $25,000,000. There is a touch of irony in the circumstance that this man who belittles money and its place in life should be accumulating it faster than almost any other person in America with the exception of John D. Rockefeller. Mr. Ford's career is too well known to call for recapitulation.
Col. Green's $100,000,000 was, of course, left him almost in its entirety by his mother, whose total fortune reached that round figure. She left nothing to charity, only $5,000 to each of three friends, $3,500,000 to her daughter and almost everything else to her only son. Col. Green has not yet become a dominating power in the financial world, notwithstanding his enormous interests. The Green fortune was scraped together by Hetty's ultra-frugal mode of living, her shrewd real estate operations and her cautious banking activities.
Commodore Vanderbilt's enormous fortune has been well split up during the last two generations. William K., however, is stated by the best judges to possess about $100,000,000. His income of $5,000,000 a year, however, apparently has not made him exuberantly happy. It was this member of the Vanderbilt family who was quoted three or four years ago as snapping at the ship news reporters on his arrival from Europe: "I am disgusted with everything." Incidentally, the only Vanderbilt who is a familiar and busy figure in the financial district is young Cornelius--"Colonel" Vanderbilt now. It was he who was cut off with a paltry million, but financiers declare that had Cornelius been a poor boy he could still have made his mark.
Edward H. Harriman left one of the shortest wills and one of the largest fortunes in America's history. The railroad magnate in about a dozen words bequeathed everything he had to his wife. His fortune exceeded $70,000,000, and it is a fair estimate that the $80,000,000 mark has since been reached, as Mrs. Harriman lives in a quiet, unextravagant way and her investments are ably handled. Practically the entire Harriman fortune was made during the last dozen years of the railroad wizard's life.
Vincent Astor is put down as worth $75,000,000. This is the only fortune in the whole list made practically entirely from real estate. Since his ascendancy to the head of the Astor family, this young man has deported himself creditably. He has been in service abroad for months, as an ensign. His affairs are well managed.
Above, Will Rogers, one of the best friends aviation will ever have, is seen with Henry Ford. They were photographed at Greenfield Village when Rogers visited Mr. Ford in October, 1934
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Medal History
