Henry Ford's Influence on Society

A detailed Summary of Henry Ford's Influence on Society


In E.L. Doctorow's, Ragtime, a classic novel set in the early years of the twentieth century, Henry Ford appears for only one chapter, but in that chapter it becomes clear that Doctorow saw him as a democratic industrialist. In that chapter, J.P. Morgan invites Ford to have lunch with him at his Manhattan mansion. In this meeting of the two industry giants, Morgan invites Ford to go on an expedition to Egypt with him. Ford declined because he believed that Morgan's whole purpose for the trip had to do with reincarnation. Ford told Morgan that his belief of reincarnation came out of a book that he purchased for twenty-five cents, instead of a trip halfway around the world to find his beliefs. From this chapter we can conclude that Doctorow sees Ford as a simple man and someone who is concerned about not only himself but his workers as well.

Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863 in Dearborn, Michigan. His father, William Ford, and his mother, Mary Litogot Ford, lived and worked on their family farm. Henry also had three brothers, John, William, and Robert, as well as two sisters, Margaret, and Jane. Henry was the oldest of all the kids. As Henry grew up he was assigned chores to do aro


In the years following Henry continued tinkering with different variations of his car. He was finding ways to make it go faster and be more reliable. During this time Ford was making his money by racing his car. He won his first race, which earned him an unbelievable amount of prestige. The backers who had earlier dropped Ford soon came back to him and The Henry Ford Company was born. In the years after the company was formed the Model A was produced. At this point Ford was gaining more and more support and financial backing.

Another thing that Ford did to help make his cars more appealing to the public is, he pushed for gas stations to be built everywhere. This way people didn't have to drive too far to fill up their brand new Model T's. This too has played a major role on society because in this day and age if you can go ten miles without seeing a gas station it is pretty amazing.

Henry Ford was indeed a great industrialist, just as Doctorow had portrayed in his classic novel Ragtime. While he enjoyed making money he also in tune with his

und the farm just like all his brothers and sisters. Henry came to the conclusion that he didn't like farm life while he was still a young boy. He was more interested in mechanical things. He was always pulling things apart to see how they

At this point in history cars were still very expensive. Only the upper class was able to afford such a luxury. Ford wanted to build a car for the general public. It would have to be a car that was designed for everyday wear and tear. Meaning that it had both durable and have a long life expectancy. This car would also have to be affordable so that the general pubic would be able to buy one. Thus the Model T was born. The Model T was a very simple car. There weren't too many accessories that were available with it. The colors that it was available in were either black or black. When the Model T was released it debuted for seven hundred and fifty dollars. This car not only changed American Society forever but also had a great affect on the rest of the world. If Henry Ford was able to produce a car for such a low price why couldn't other companies do the same? At the time the Model T became the most successful vehicle ever produced in America. More than 15.5 million were manufactured during its nineteen-year run.

coming from all over the country to try and get a job from Ford causing a housing shortage. This caused the city to become unsanitary because there was trash pilling up in the stree

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Approximate Word count = 1700
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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