Preview

How Did Henry Ford Impact The Economic Landscape Of The 1920s

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
608 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Did Henry Ford Impact The Economic Landscape Of The 1920s
Henry Ford, an American inspiration, engineering prodigy, and business magnate, is the founder of Ford Motor Company, and guarantor of the development of mass production. Despite popular belief, Ford did not invent the automobile or assembly line, but established the first automobile that many middle-class Americans could rationalize purchasing. Transforming the luxe transportation into a practical conveyance, Ford profoundly impacted the economic landscape of the 1920s. Born in 1863 into a farm family in Dearborn, Michigan, Ford says, “It was life on the farm that drove me into devising ways and means to better transportation” (22). At an early age, Ford held an interest in mechanics, constantly thinking of new ways to improve an object’s

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Henry Ford, born on July 30, 1863, in Wayne County, Michigan, was an American industrialist who founded the Ford Motor Company. When he was just thirteen years old, Henry Ford received a pocket watch from his father, which he promptly took apart and put back together again. Everyone was impressed with his talent. At age 16, he apprenticed as a machinist and learned important skills that would help him in his chosen career path. Years later, he became an engineer. In 1908, he created the Ford Model T car (Biography.com. 2015, par.1-3). Although he accomplished all this, he is widely known for his invention of the assembly line, which revolutionized the industry and would still be…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    BUS 401 Week 5 FInal Paper

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Company in the year 1903 at Dearborn, Michigan, USA and is known to have adopted practices that were not popular in those days. Henry Ford is popular for his practices that were unique in those days as he believed in revolutionary ideas and building revolutionary leadership. He practiced worker friendly policies, innovative methods of large scale car manufacturing and management of huge workforces. He designed a unique mechanism of flexible assembly lines with interchangeable parts that ensured that same part can be fitted in multiple models of the products.…

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Henry Ford born on July 30, 1863 on a farm in the Greenfield Township of Michigan lived and worked in one of the most fraudulent and problematic times in the history of the United States, the Gilded Age. Throughout all the greed and wrongdoing of the wealthy leaders of industry, Ford stayed true to his roots and virtues of caring for the average person. Henry Ford impacted the entire production industry by designing the assembly line and incorporating the ideas of standardization and interchangeable parts, which allowed the Ford Motor Company to mass produce vehicles. This in turn led to Ford’s greatest contribution to the United States, his dedication to his employees and the common man. This dedication led to the creation of the middle class, which began to balance the spread of the countries’ wealth. Henry Ford’s determination for improvement and innovation while…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The 1920s was the Golden Age of spending and newfound prosperity. Newfound prosperity was represented by the automobile. Automobiles “in the first decade of the twentieth century, were considered rich men’s playthings. They were handmade and expensive.” (Kunstler 88). Soon, Henry Ford created the Model T, “a very reliable machine that ‘the great multitude’ could afford to buy… and by the summer of 1916… Ford offered the same models for $345 and $360. That year he produced 738,811 cars.” (Kunstler 89). The rise of the automobile changed American life in the 1920s because it created new architecture, altered…

    • 1781 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Although automobiles existed before Henry Ford created his model, he was still a great influence on the country. Ford Motor Company was established in 1905 and "by 1929, half of all Americans owned a car" (Foner, 612). One of the most important thing that Ford had done was adopt the moving assembly line in 1913. This contributed to more people owning cars, which in turn stimulated the economy and increased the need for supplies. Spurring consumerism within the nation, Henry Ford and the automobile were great for a number of things in the economy.…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Henry Ford, American industrialist, greatly influenced production, wages, working conditions, and daily life. With his development of the assembly line, a technique used for mass production, Henry Ford made cars faster and cheaper than ever before. He allowed both wealthy and non-wealthy to afford cars. Today, thanks to automobiles, people are able to live farther from their jobs and the demand for car parts or necessities has fueled the economy by an…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Secondly, new technologies such as buying on credit and the use of cars had been introduced to the US during the 1920s. These new technologies were so high in demand that it enabled that mass production of products and goods which led to the need of more advanced infrastructure and industries. However, the expansion of infrastructure and industry resulted in many Americans losing their jobs which increased the poverty rate drastically. The last sector is that of the Stock Exchange.…

    • 543 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    One of Ford’s greatest achievements in the consumer society was the adaptation of the moving assembly line in his factories. In this process, the frames of the car would continuously move along the assembly belt and be brought to the worker. Because of this innovative idea, Ford was able to heighten the efficiency and cost effectiveness in his factories. More Model T car being built faster allowed for an affordable car for the everyday citizen. Other car companies could not compete. Also adding to the industrial and consumer society, Ford raised the wages in his factories to nearly double of their original pay. With higher wages a constant flow of skilled workers flooded to the factories. Before long, the mass production and practices of raised wages concepts used by Ford created a huge economic system which became known as Fordism.…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the early 1900’s Henry Ford developed the idea of “a wagon that will run without a horse”.1 This idea and Ford’s success changed America and its people forever. The development of the automobile played a tremendous role in the economy, labor unions and society. Generally, when most people think of Henry Ford they reflect upon his wealth and contributions to the transportation industry as an infinitely positive phenomenon. It is thought that aside from just allowing consumers to purchase and use his inventions, he provided thousands of people with jobs and the promise of prosperity. The tale of Henry Ford’s legendary business and remarkably effective assembly line is unparalleled in American History. But when it comes to Henry Ford it is impossible to think in terms of black of white. He may have made an awesome amount of money distributing a product loved by almost everyone, but at what cost? Upton Sinclair addresses this question in The Flivver King. The Flivver King tells the story of Henry Ford and his massive business from the perspective of his workers. Contrary to popular belief, the relationship between Mr. Ford and his workers became much more frustrating and upsetting as his business progressed. World War 1 and the Great Depression damagingly effect Ford and his workers. Upton Sinclair’s story of the Shutt family depicts the changes that occurred between Henry Ford and his workers and how his growing wealth and the nations declining economy had a negative impact on his approach as a boss and business man. Abner Shutt is a loyal character and a hard worker for Henry Ford. But as the reader follows experiences he and his family encounters while working with the Ford Motor Company it is easy to realize that Henry Ford’s story of success had more tribulations than most people would have expected.…

    • 1571 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    To start off with we have Henry Ford. Technically Ford never invented the assembly line, but he was a sponsor who used it to the point where it became important. A car was a luxury for America before Ford came along, his company soon started to develop cars the average middle-class American could afford. This practice is now known as Fordism as Henry Ford was the first to make use of the tactic of mass production and low costs. Ford was a pioneer when it came to fair wage going as far as to pay his workers 5$ a day. The work week was also reduced to forty hours, five eight hour work days a week. Ford’s companies was also responsible for producing a number of war materials in World War Two at a rate that could rival the production of their Model T. When it came to the B-24 Bombers Ford’s factory at Willow Run was able to produce one bomber every 58 minutes, and ended up making about half of the total bombers. In the end Ford has been known to be a producer in American history, the first producer to make automobiles accessible, something many…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Henry Ford used the assembly line and incorporated his own ideas to revolutionize the auto industry and make cars a reality for the average American. “That efficiency of mass production enabled him to reduce the cost of the Model T Touring car from $950 in 1908 to just $290 in 1925 while increasing production during that time from just more than 10,000 to nearly 2 million cars per year”. (1) This obviously changed America as the average person was able to afford an automobile, but also began a dangerous standard in the auto industry of cost cutting and finding the cheapest way possible to manufacture their products. Finding the cheapest or most inexpensive way to produce their products has not only caused the auto industry, but…

    • 1946 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the 1920’s, the Henry Ford automobile became popular with the average family. It changed the lives of Americans and everyone that wanted a better form of transportation. The most appealing part of this automobile was the affordability for the average family. In the next few years, most families had a car or were getting ready to buy one. Ford cars became more and more popular. They were creating a group of cars made for mass production and selling. The Ford company influenced many other people, and in the next few years there were many companies involved in making cars. The sale of the car effected technology in many ways. One way is because it led to the advancement of mass production of the car and many other products. It also led to the development of the motorcycle. Its technology showed that they could apply it to a bike.(2)…

    • 1897 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The automobile drastically altered the way people lived and worked by allowing Americans the freedom to travel where they wanted. Henry Ford was responsible for the mass production of the automobile by two methods. First he priced his car to be as affordable as possible and second he paid his workers enough to be able to purchase the cars they were manufacturing. This system helped push wages and auto sales upward and…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1920's Economic Changes

    • 2123 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Throughout history, economics have changed drastically. The Roaring 20’s and Great Depression defined our country, The United States, and impacted everyone differently. The Roaring 20’s, otherwise known as the Age of Intolerance, was an age of social and political change. It was only the beginning of many inventions that sent American into the modern age. America was very prosperous during the 1920’s, but Europe was still feeling the devastation from World War I and fell into an economic decline. America was considered the world’s banker, and Europe was defaulting on their loans and participating less in consumption of American goods. This was the beginning of the Great Depression that soon spread. During The Great Depression, a period that…

    • 2123 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Tragedy In Detroit

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Although Mr. Ford has legendary status in our society, it is interesting to know what he did, and just as interesting to know what he did not do. He did not invent the gasoline engine. He did not invent the automobile, and he did not build the first fully operational automobile. What he did do took far more genius. He recognized the potential of the automobile as the future mode of transportation, replacing of course the horse and carriage, and he also envisioned the mass production of this “horseless carriage” as a means to put it within economic reach of the average worker. In short, Henry Ford put the world on…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays