Henry Ford: The American Dream
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  • Life of Henry Ford
    • Humble Beginnings
    • Trial and Error
    • The King of Detroit
    • Troubles Ahead
    • End of an Era
  • Leadership
    • Ford Motors
    • Philantrophy & Humanities
  • Legacy
    • Ford Automobiles
    • Detroit
    • Assembly Line, Model T, 5 Dollars
  • Sources
    • Process Paper
    • Annotated Bibliography
    • Photo Credits
Left: A crowd of workers at the Highland Parks Factory, birthplace of the Assembly Line  Source: dailymail.co.uk   Right: Henry Ford posing with an 1921 Model T.  Source: makered.org    

  King of                   "Every business is a monarchy with, not a man, but an idea as king."       Detroit                                      -Henry Ford 1929   (thehenryford.org Henry Ford Quotations)

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Above: 1925 Ford Model T Coupe. The Model T sold 10,000 in it's first year and over 15,000,000 over it's lifetime. Click to enlarge.Source: pbase.com

In 1908 Ford Motors created the first evreyday consumer car with the Model T. 

"The Model T blazed the way for the motor industry 
& started the movement for good roads everywhere.
It is still the pioneer car in many parts of the world which are just beginning to be motorized."
- Henry Ford 1927 
(thhenryford.org Henry Ford Quotations)
"Any customer can have a car painted in any color that he wants so long as it's black."
-  Henry Ford (My Life and Work p.72) 
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Above: Ford Assembly Line in Dearborn 1928. Ford Motors could pump out the popular Model T every 90 minutes. Click to enlarge. Source: komplexauto.hu
"Mass production is craftsmanship with the 
drudgery taken out of it." -Henry Ford 1937
(thhenryford.org Henry Ford Quotations)

Ford created the modern moving assembly line cutting production time to an eighth of the original time.

"The principles of assembly are these:
1) Place to tools and the men in the sequence of the operation so that each component part shall travel the least possible distance while in the process of finishing.
2) Use work slides or some other form of carrier so that when a workman completes his operation. he drops the part always in the same place- which place must always be the most convenient place to be his hand- and if possible have gravity carry the part to the next workman for his operation.
3) Use sliding assembling lines by which the arts to be assembled are delivered at convenient
distances."
-Henry Ford(My Life and Work p.80) 
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5$ Wages were unheard of during Ford's times and were nearly double the wage of a working class citizen. Click to enlarge. Source: archive.freep.com
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Henry Ford's offer caused workers all around the country to travel to Detroit stimulating it's economy. Click to enlarge. Source: blog.thehenryford.org
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Ford often gave incentives to his workers and created thousands of jobs in Detroit helping it become the center of automobiles. Click to enlarge. Source: henryford150.com

Henry Ford introduces the 5$ workday on 1914 revolutionizing business forever.

"See what a 25-cent raise will do to us," said Mr. Ford. So they figured the daily & monthly cost of a 25-cent increase. "Put on another quarter & see what that will cost," he said. And so they went on,25 cents a step...Finally the wage of $2.34 stood at $4.75--more than 100 percent increase. One of the associates--a good financial head--remarked rather sarcastically that if they were going to be fools, why not be first-class fools & make it $5..."All right," said Mr. Ford, "let's make it $5."                                                              -Ford News 1935 (thhenryford.org Henry Ford Quotations)
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National History Day Senior Division 2015 - William Guo and Zachary Toth
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