Henry Ford

About the same time, he began collecting materials for his museum, which had a theme of practical technology. For example, he held that heresy should be punished by death, in ST II:II 11:3, an opinion now repudiated by the Catholic Church, but for many years held and practiced. It may have inspired the creation of Old Sturbridge Village as well. Some of Thomas's ethical conclusions are at odds with the majority view in the contemporary West. This plan never saw fruition, but Ford repeated it with the creation of Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. ("Bibliography", 1990). He moved the schoolhouse from the Mary had a little lamb nursery rhyme from Sterling, Massachusetts and purchased the historical Wayside Inn. Category (3): Thirteen commentaries on Aristotle, and numerous philosophical opuscula of which fourteen are classed as genuine.

In the 1920s, Ford began work to turn Sudbury, Massachusetts into an Americana-themed historical village. Also: Expositio in librum beati Dionysii de divinis nominibus; Expositiones primoe et secundoe decretalis; In Boethii libros de hebdomadibus Proeclaroe quoestiones super librum Boethii de trinitate. Ford had an interest in what today would be known as "Americana". Category (2):. [Detroit News, July 31, 1938.]. Numerous other works have been attributed to him. 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. Category (1) includes:.

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 writings of Thomas may be classified as:. In July of that year, Ford was awarded (and accepted) the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle (Großkreuz des Deutschen Adlerordens). Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica. In 1938, for instance, it opened an assembly plant in Berlin, the purpose of which was to supply trucks to the Wehrmacht. At the Council of Trent only two books were placed on the Altar, the Bible and St. 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 1319, the Roman Catholic Church began investigations preliminary to Aquinas's canonization; on July 18, 1323, he was pronounced a saint by Pope John XXII at Avignon.

Regardless of whether direct financial support was provided, Ford repeatedly voiced his overt approval of Hitler's theories. In the Divine Comedy Dante sees the glorified spirit of Aquinas in the Heaven of the Sun, with the other great exemplars of religious wisdom. However, a 1933 Congressional investigation into the matter was unable to substantiate whether contributions were actually sent. He was placed on a level with the saints Paul and Augustine, receiving the title doctor angelicus (Angelic Doctor). 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. Aquinas had made a remarkable impression on all who knew him. This can in part be traced to statements from Kurt Ludecke, Germany's representative to the U.S. He died at the monastery of Fossanova, one mile from Sonnino, on March 7, 1274.

There is also some evidence that Henry Ford gave Adolf Hitler direct financial backing when Hitler was first starting out in politics. He wished to end his days in a monastery and not being able to reach a house of the Dominicans he was taken to the Cistercians. Henry Ford spent years bestowing gushing praise on Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime, although this praise abated as the United States entered WWII. On the way he stopped at the castle of a niece and there became seriously ill. His writings continue to be used as propaganda by various groups, often appearing on anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi websites. Early in 1274 the Pope directed him to attend the Second Council of Lyons and, though far from well, he undertook the journey. Some claim that Ford neither wrote nor signed this letter and have questioned the sincerity of his apology. On the other hand, the consciousness of the insufficiency of his works in view of the revelation which he believed he had received was a cause of dissatisfaction for him.

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. Because of the keen grasp he had of his materials, in his writings Thomas does not, like Duns Scotus, make the reader his associate in the search for truth, but teaches it authoritatively. He later retracted the International Jew and the Protocols. The ideas he developed by such strenuous absorption he was able to express for others systematically, clearly and simply. Lawsuits in response to anti-Semitic remarks led Ford to close the Dearborn Independent in December 1927. When absorbed in thought, he often forgot his surroundings. None of this work was actually penned by Ford, though they required his tacit approval since he was the paper's publisher. His associates were specially impressed by his power of memory.

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. His tastes were simple. 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. In argument he maintained self-control and won over opponents by his personality and great learning. The American Jewish Historical Society describes the ideas presented in it as "anti-immigrant, anti-labor, anti-liquor, and anti-Semitic". His manners showed his breeding; he is described as refined, affable, and lovable. 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. Contemporaries described Thomas as a big man, corpulent and dark-complexioned, with a large head and receding hairline.

Henry Ford began publication of a newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, in 1919. When asked why he had stopped writing, Aquinas replied, "I cannot go on...All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me." He died on March 7, 1274. Under pressure from Edsel and his wife, Clara, Henry Ford finally agreed to collective bargaining at Ford plants, and the first contract with the UAW was signed in June 1941. Aquinas had a mystical experience while celebrating Mass on December 6, 1273, after which he stopped writing, leaving his great work, the Summa Theologica, unfinished. A sit-down strike by the UAW union on April 2, 1941 closed the River Rouge Plant. In 1272 the provincial chapter at Florence empowered him to found a new studium generale at such place as he should choose, and he selected Naples. Ford was the last Detroit automaker to recognize the United Auto Workers union (UAW). In 1269-71 he was again active in Paris.

The most famous incident, in 1937, was a bloody brawl between company security men and organizers that became known as The Battle of the Overpass. At the solicitation of Pope Urban IV (therefore not before the latter part of 1261), he took up his residence in Rome. Bennett employed various intimidation tactics to squash union organizing. In 1259 he was present at an important chapter of his order at Valenciennes. To forestall union activity, he promoted Harry Bennett, a former Navy boxer, to be the head of the Service Department. Ultimately, however, he received the degree and entered upon his office of teaching in 1257; he taught in Paris for several years and there wrote some of his works and began others. Conversely, Ford was adamantly against labor unions in his plants. In 1252 Aquinas went to Paris for the master's degree, but met with some difficulty owing to attacks on the mendicant orders by the professoriate of the University.

The "short week," as Ford called it in a contemporary interview, was required so that the country could "absorb its production and stay prosperous.". This long association of Thomas with the great philosopher theologian was the most important influence in his development; it made him a comprehensive scholar and won him permanently for the Aristotelian method. In granting workers an extra day off, Ford ensured leisure time for the working class. For several years longer he remained with the famous philosopher of scholasticism, presumably teaching. In 1926, Ford instituted the five-day, forty-hour work-week, effectively inventing the modern weekend. He accompanied Albertus to the University of Paris in 1245, remained there with his teacher for three years, and followed Albertus back to Cologne in 1248. Even with these requirements a large percentage of workers were able to qualify for the profit sharing. Finally the family yielded and the Dominicans sent Thomas to Cologne to study under Albertus Magnus; he arrived probably in late 1244.

The company established a Sociological Department complete with 150 investigators and support staff in order to verify this last point. According to his earliest biographers, the family even brought a prostitute to tempt him, but he drove her away. The wage was offered to men over the age of 22, who had worked at the company for 6 months or more, and, importantly, conducted their lives in a manner of which Ford approved. This change of heart did not please the family; on the way to Rome, Thomas was seized by his brothers and brought back to his parents at the castle of San Giovanni, where he was held a captive for a year or two to make him relinquish his purpose. Ford labeled the increased compensation as profit sharing rather than wages. However, after studying at the University of Naples, Thomas joined the Dominican order, which along with the Franciscan order represented a revolutionary challenge to the well-established clerical systems of early medieval Europe. The program called for a reduction in length of the workday from 9 to 8 hours and a raise in minimum daily pay from $2.34 to $5 for qualifying workers. In his fifth year he was sent for his early education to the monastery.

On January 5, 1914 Ford announced his five-dollar a day program. Landulf's brother, Sinibald, was abbot of the original Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, and the family intended Thomas to follow his uncle into that position; this would have been a normal career-path for a younger son of the nobility. Henry Ford had very specific thoughts on relations with his employees. He was probably born early in 1225 at his father Count Landulf's castle of Roccasecca in the kingdom of Naples. By 1945 Henry Ford's senility was quite evident, and his wife and daughter-in-law forced his resignation in favor of his grandson, Henry Ford II. He was born into a family of the south Italian nobility and was through his mother Countess Theadora of Theate related to the Hohenstaufen dynasty of Holy Roman emperors. Roosevelt considered a federal bailout for Ford Motor Company so that wartime production could continue. The life of Thomas Aquinas offers many interesting insights into the world of the High Middle Ages.

President Franklin D. . The company saw hard times during the next two years, losing $10 million a month. Thomas University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Aquinas College in Stockport, England, Aquinas College in Perth, Western Australia, and the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, the Philippines. Henry Ford II was released from the navy and became an executive vice president, while Harry Bennett had a seat on the board and was responsible for personnel, labor relations, and public relations. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, the University of Saint Thomas, Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California St. The issue was settled for a period when Henry himself, at the age of 79, took over the presidency personally. Louis, Missouri, St.

Edsel's widow Eleanor, who had inherited Edsel's voting stock, wanted her son Henry Ford II to take over the position. Thomas in Houston, Texas, Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Henry Ford advocated Harry Bennett to take the spot. Institutions of learning named for him are the University of St. On May 26, 1943, Edsel Ford died, leaving a vacancy in the company presidency. He is considered by the Catholic Church to be its greatest theologian and one of the thirty-three Doctors of the Church. The design never caught on. He gave birth to the Thomistic school of philosophy, which was long the primary philosophical approach of the Roman Catholic Church.

Furthermore, it ran on grain alcohol (ethanol) instead of gasoline. Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – March 7, 1274) was an Italian Catholic philosopher and theologian in the scholastic tradition. It weighed 30% less than a standard car of the same size, and was said to be able to withstand blows ten times greater than could steel. New York: Funk and Wagnalls. This project culminated in 1942, when on January 13 Ford patented an automobile made almost entirely of plastic, attached to a tubular welded frame. 38-40. Soybean-based plastics were used in Ford automobiles throughout the 1930s in plastic parts such as car horns, in paint, etc. 2, pp.

Henry Ford long had an interest in plastics developed from agricultural products, especially soybeans. In The Jewish Encyclopedia, v. During the thirties, Ford also overcame his objection to finance companies, and the Ford-owned Universal Credit Company became a major car financing operation. Toy, Crawford Howell and Broydé, Isaac (1906), "Aquinas, Thomas". Subsequently, the company adopted an annual model change system similar to that in use by automakers today. New York: Funk and Wagnalls. The result was the highly successful Ford Model A, introduced December, 1927 and produced through 1931, with a total output of over four million automobiles. 422-427.

Edsel also managed to prevail over his father's initial objections in the inclusion of a sliding-shift transmission. 11, pp. The elder Ford pursued the project with a great deal of technical expertise in design of the engine, chassis, and other mechanical necessities, while leaving it to his son to develop the body design. In Samuel Macauley Jackson (Ed.), The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, v. By 1926, flagging sales of the Model T convinced Henry of what Edsel had been suggesting for some time: a new model was necessary. "Thomas Aquinas" (1908). Half of these were Ford Model Ts. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica.

By 1928 there were about 30 million cars world wide. 987-988. Henry Ford's assembly line was so unique that it turned the Ford Motor Company into a Giant, (and became a tool for every other industry that creates merchandise in the assembly line, of course the assembly line does not use people anymore, but uses robots) while the other car companies were still stuck with the technologies of the earlier days. 2, pp. But that's what made it unique. Adler (Ed.), Great Books of the Western World, 2nd ed., v. One screw held 10 or 20 parts. In Mortimer J.

The Model T was a very simple car, as simple as it could be made. "Bibliography of Additional Readings" (1990). For the first time everyone could own a car, the downside was that every Model T produced after 1913, (the year the assembly line was created) was painted black because the paint dried a lot faster than any other color. Commentary on the Logic of Aristotle. The cars sales triggered the modern era of vehicles. First Treatise on Univerals. The Model T's key to success was the fact that it had been made in the assembly line, which allowed for many different cars to be made consecutively, identically and much faster than other hand made vehicles. Catena aurea.

Despite urgings from Edsel, Henry steadfastly refused to incorporate new features into the Model T or to form a customer credit plan. De Natura Verbi Intellectus. Other auto makers offered payment plans through which consumers could buy their cars, which usually included more modern mechanical features and styling not available with the Model T. De Natura Materiae et Dimensionibus Interminalis. By the mid 1920's, sales of the Model T began to decline due to rising competition. Two Precepts of Charity, 1273. The company remained privately held by the family until 1956, when the family allowed a public offering of a portion of the company without ceding control. De Mixtione Elementorum ad Magistrum Philippe, 1273.

Also at this time, Henry and Edsel purchased all remaining stock from other investors, thus becoming sole owners of the company. Compendium of Theology, 1273. On January 1, 1919, after unsuccessfully seeking a seat in the United States Senate, [1] Henry Ford turned the presidency of Ford Motor Company over to his son Edsel, although still maintaining a firm hand in its management—few company decisions under Edsel's presidency were made without approval by Henry, and those few that were, Henry often reversed. De Substantiis Separatis, 1272-1273. Ford said, "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black." (See References at bottom). The Unicity of the Intellect, 1270. This was a record which would stand for the next 45 years. De Aeternitate Mundi Contra Murmurantes, 1270.

The design, fervently promoted and defended by Henry Ford, would continue through 1927 (well after its popularity had faded), with a final total production of fifteen million vehicles. Contra Pestiferam Doctrinam Retrahentium Homines a Religionis Ingressu, 1270. By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model Ts. De Perfectione Vitae Spiritualis, 1269. Wills. On Spiritual Creatures, 1266-1269. Sorensen, and C.H. Summa Theologica, 1265-1272.

"Ed" Martin, Charles E. On Kingship: To the King of Cyprus, 1265-1266. Although Ford is often credited with the idea, contemporary sources indicate that the concept and its development came from employees Clarence Avery, P.E. Summa contra Gentiles, 1258-1264. It was in this year that Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly belts into his plants, which enabled an enormous increase in production. Super Boethium de Hebdomadibus, 1258. Racing was, by 1913, no longer necessary from a publicity standpoint because the Model T was already famous and ubiquitous on American roads. On the Trinity of Boethius, 1257-1258.

Ford dropped out of the race, and soon thereafter dropped out of racing permanently, citing dissatisfaction with the sport's rules and the demands on his time by the now-booming production of the Model Ts. Contra Impugnantes Dei Cultum et Religionem, 1257. In 1913, Ford attempted to enter a reworked Model T in the Indianapolis 500, but was told rules required the addition of another 1,000 pounds (450 kg) to the car before it could qualify. On the Power of God, 1265-1267. From 1909 to 1913, Ford entered stripped-down Model Ts in races, finishing first (although later disqualified) in an "ocean-to-ocean" (across the USA) race in 1909, and setting a one-mile oval speed record at Detroit Fairgrounds in 1911 with driver Frank Kulick. Concerning the Teacher. In 1908, the Ford company released the Model T. On Truth (De Veritate), 1256-1259