A few days ago I read an article by an Egyptian writer, Dr. Hazem Al-Beblawi, on various aspects of Semitic relations in the US and Europe. I found the article both informative and interesting. Perhaps his findings might explain the reason why a member of the Ford family made public statements more than twenty years ago attacking the Palestinian cause and violating the Arab boycott regulations that the Ford company had followed for years.
Dr. Al-Beblawi says that Henry Ford who established his fame with the introduction of ‘mass production” set up the “Dearborn Independent”, a newspaper to enlighten the public and provide valuable information on the growing dangers of the mischievous power of Jews in American society. Most of the writings were translated into German and in 1938, Ford was awarded the Grand Cross of the German Eagle by the German government.
According to Dr. Al-Beblawi, Henry Ford was a remarkably complex personality. Apparently he was obsessed in his life with two things: his Ford Model T and cautioning Americans about the dangers of international Judaism and its desire to dominate the world.
The writer states that Henry Ford was not an ordinary capitalist who simply ran after wealth but that he was concerned all his life with human and moral issues. He was brought up with traditional Christian values and the Bible was his preferred reading. He neither drank nor smoked. His conservative rural upbringing was reflected in his style of management. He even persuaded a friend who was a preacher to leave his church and join the company in order to guide the workers. Contrary to other capitalists, Ford cut the working hours in his factory to eight hours and increased their daily pay from $3 to 5. Furthermore he was an outstanding peace activist and detested war to the extent that he organized an anti-war sea demonstration. He hired a ship and invited peace-loving people from America and Europe to cross the Atlantic in pursuit of peace.
To the writer, Henry Ford’s love of peace explains his reservations about the intention of the Jews who have always been, in one way or another, behind all European wars. The writer maintains that perhaps because of his rural upbringing, Henry Ford developed a hatred for international banks and the big financial corporations of Wall Street because, to his mind, they dealt in usury, manipulated the stock market, controlled prices and were run mostly by Jews. Apparently these views were not only held by Henry Ford in private and public conversations but he also established a newspaper that featured a full page entitled: “Mr. Ford’s Own Page”. The articles were collected in a book in 1920 entitled “The International Jew — The First Problem for the World”. This book was translated into German in 1921 and was followed by 21 different versions. At the same time, Henry Ford maintained that he was not against the Jews, many of whom were in fact employed in his company.
Understandably he was targeted, attacked and put under undue pressures that lasted until 1926 when he reversed his stand. This was done mainly because of the influence of his family, friends and numbers of business and court cases. He closed down the newspaper and published a signed apology — which he never read — prepared for him by the president of the American Jewish Committee.
Dr. Biblawi states that he wishes in his article to highlight aspects Henry Ford’s life which are not known to the public and also his contributions to humanity. Furthermore he felt it worth noting that at the beginning of the twentieth century, the American attitude to Jews in most cases was one of suspicion, doubt, fear or animosity. By the end of that century, it had been transformed into complete harmony and sympathy towards both the Jews and Israel.
Now at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the writer sees the US Government view Islam and the Arabs with suspicion, doubt, fear and animosity. He wonders if such will still be the case at the end of the present century.
Arab News Opinion 3 February 2003
