Henry Ford

Hi folks,
I don't know whether or not this is a spurious story, but it has been alleged Henry Ford had a framed picture of Hitler on his desk and thought the Nazi party worth contributing too.
Hitler also had a framed picture of Ford in his possession.
We are odd, we humans, in our hero worship!
Regards
Derek

As I understand it, Mr. Ford was also a rabid anti-semite. I suppose that would fit, wouldnt it?

The term that comes to mind that they both had in common is 'efficiency'.

I think the concept of efficiency did terrible things to society. I'm not just thinking of Nazi efficiency, but also industrial efficiency that reduced human individuals to robots.

YEP.

Speaking of 'efficiency', take a look at the book "IBM and the Holocaust"

http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/

"IBM and the Holocaust is the stunning story of IBM's strategic alliance with Nazi Germany -- beginning in 1933 in the first weeks that Hitler came to power and continuing well into World War II. As the Third Reich embarked upon its plan of conquest and genocide, IBM and its subsidiaries helped create enabling technologies, step-by-step, from the identification and cataloging programs of the 1930s to the selections of the 1940s.

Only after Jews were identified -- a massive and complex task that Hitler wanted done immediately -- could they be targeted for efficient asset confiscation, ghettoization, deportation, enslaved labor, and, ultimately, annihilation. It was a cross-tabulation and organizational challenge so monumental, it called for a computer. Of course, in the 1930s no computer existed.

But IBM's Hollerith punch card technology did exist. Aided by the company's custom-designed and constantly updated Hollerith systems, Hitler was able to automate his persecution of the Jews. Historians have always been amazed at the speed and accuracy with which the Nazis were able to identify and locate European Jewry. Until now, the pieces of this puzzle have never been fully assembled. The fact is, IBM technology was used to organize nearly everything in Germany and then Nazi Europe, from the identification of the Jews in censuses, registrations, and ancestral tracing programs to the running of railroads and organizing of concentration camp slave labor.

IBM and its German subsidiary custom-designed complex solutions, one by one, anticipating the Reich's needs. They did not merely sell the machines and walk away. Instead, IBM leased these machines for high fees and became the sole source of the billions of punch cards Hitler needed."


Punch cards.

Imagine what is possible NOW that most people think is just "lunatic-paranoid-fantasy"?

Hi Derek,

That's a lovely photo! Is it yourself, your daughter and your grandson?

Regards,
Brendan.

Hi Brendan,
Yes, thanks, its one Marjorie took with us on a park bench recently down country.
Regards
Derek

brendan wrote:

Hi Derek,

That's a lovely photo! Is it yourself, your daughter and your grandson?

Regards,
Brendan.

Derek wrote:

Hi Brendan,
Yes, thanks, its one Marjorie took with us on a park bench recently down country.
Regards
Derek

brendan wrote:

Hi Derek,

That's a lovely photo! Is it yourself, your daughter and your grandson?

Regards,
Brendan.

You look great! I hope I look that good in 30+ years.

Hello guys,

I was very surprised at the amount of interesting information that Wikipedia had on Ford.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford

Some things I remember:

Ford seemed very much into world peace and organised a Peace Ship to campaign again WW1.

He believed that the sinking of the Lusitania was a trick to get the U.S. into the war.

He believed the solution to global violence was consumerism.

He believed that high wages were the best method to ensure that he got the best workers, and just as importantly, kept them. But he seemed to be very much against the trade unions, who he believed used enforced low productivity as a means to increase employment.

Regards,
Brendan.