My Life and Work by Henry Ford

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was anAmericanindustrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, andsponsorof the development of the assembly line technique ofmassproduction. His introduction of the Model Tautomobilerevolutionized transportation and American industry. Asowner ofthe Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest andbest-knownpeople in the world. He is credited with “Fordism”: massproductionof inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers.Ford hada global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. Hisintensecommitment to systematically lowering costs resulted inmanytechnical and business innovations, including a franchisesystemthat put dealerships throughout most of North America and inmajorcities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth totheFord Foundation but arranged for his family to control thecompanypermanently. Ford was also widely known for his pacifism during thefirstyears of World War I, but also for being the publisherofanti-Semitic texts such as the book The International Jew.