'The Men And The Machine' An Intriguing Look The Fords

July 20, 1986|By Reviewed by Anthony Young, Special to The Sentinel

The list of books on Henry Ford in particular and the Ford family business in general is a long one. So why another book?

For starters, the Ford story has evolved with each decade and each generation. Ford Motor Company is not some hydra-headed corporate giant like General Motors, but the world's largest family-controlled business. The Ford story is a multi-generational saga of family wealth amassed from heavy industry.

Secondly, Robert Lacey wanted to sift fact from fabrication. Henry Ford's own two-volume autobiography in the 1920s was somewhat self-serving. During his research, Lacey found the autobiography vague on several rather crucial points. It also contained some actual lies constructed in an effort to obscure familial relationships.

By interviewing more than 200 friends, enemies, employees and relatives of the Fords, Lacey was able to corroborate or refute the works of previous authors, including Henry Ford himself. Lacey also secured access to previously secret Ford documents through the Freedom of Information Act.

For these reasons, Lacey's book, Ford: The Men and the Machine, is the definitive history of both the company and the family. It is the story of a dynasty.

Henry Ford was in the right place at the right time to exercise his young mechanically intuitive mind. The post-Civil War era marked the birth of the machine age and industrial expansion in America. Ford succeeded not so much through his engineering ability -- he had no formal education -- but through his knack of finding the right men to help him achieve his goals.

But Ford was selfish with his success. His only son, Edsel, never was permitted to run the company with a free hand. Henry Ford so intimidated and oppressed his son that Edsel died a premature death at age 50.

Henry Ford II, Edsel's eldest son, brought the most sweeping changes to the company. He also has led the most colorful life and has been married three times, currently to a woman 23 years his junior.

Other powerful men figure in the Ford story. Harry Bennett used organized crime leaders to break the unions for Henry Ford I. Bunky Knudsen was given the presidency of the company by Henry II, only to have it later taken away and given to Lee Iacocca. But Iacocca lost his grip on the presidency when Henry II gave it to Phillip Caldwell, who heads the company today. Henry Ford II is retired, but 40 percent of the company stock is still owned by the family.

Lacey's book has all the ingredients of a best-selling novel. A man of humble beginnings becomes a captain of industry and a multimillionaire. There are engineering successes and marketing failures, corporate power struggles and embarrassing private affairs. Wives, ex-wives and lovers all play a part. Ford is all the more engrossing because it's all true.

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