I came across this while reading the book NeoDB Book | Life After Cars by by Sarah Goodyear, Doug Gordon, and Aaron Naparstek. Found it interesting as this is a guy that a lot of car enjoyers look up to.
From the book: “Henry Ford was, of course, the man most responsible for inaugurating mass production of the automobile—the man who refined the car as the ultimate expression of American consumer culture. He was also a man who had some exceptionally repellent ideas about “bloodlines.” As Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League said on Twitter at the time of Trump’s remarks, “Henry Ford was an antisemite and one of America’s staunchest proponents of eugenics”
The book is great ! Would recommend. This is from a chapter called “Power Likes Horsepower”, which explores the deep political and cultural ties between cars, power, and extremist ideologies in the U.S. and beyond. It traces how figures like Henry Ford used the automotive industry to promote divisive, often racist and anti-Semitic beliefs, and how modern politicians- like Donald Trump and JD Vance - continue to weaponize car-related rhetoric to fuel culture wars, resist climate action, and stoke fear over policies like electric vehicles or urban planning.


Thanks for giving a more balanced perspective.
If you want to know more about a REAL bad man, look into Harry Bennett. Bennett was Ford’s right hand man. He was going to give the company to Bennett, but Ford’s wife convinced him to give it to Edsel Ford, his son, even though he didn’t want to. He was essentially a mobster and criminal.
The automotive industry, which I currently work in, is full of a rich history of back door meetings and under the table deals. Hell, I live down the road from Jimmy Hoffa’s house. It’s all VERY interesting stuff.