| Ford, Henry 1863-1947. American automobile manufacturer who developed a gasoline-powered automobile (1896), founded the Ford Motor Company (1903), and mass-produced the Model T (1908-1927), the first generally affordable and widely available automobile. His son Edsel Bryant Ford (1893-1943) ran the company from 1919 to 1943, as did his grandson Henry Ford II (1917-1987) from 1945 to 1980. |
An American industrial leader of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Ford perfected the assembly line technique of mass production, by which the Model T automobile and its successors were made available “for the multitude.”
Note: Ford said, “History is bunk,” and was often considered a man of extreme conservatism and hardheaded practicality. The Ford Foundation, which he established in the 1930s, has funded a great number of educational projects.