Ford, the American Legend | Teen Ink

Ford, the American Legend

March 23, 2017
By Anonymous

                      
        
          Henry Ford is the founder of Ford Motor Company and an American industrialist with a legacy that will never die out. Although he has this legacy today, Henry was not always lookin forward to being well known. In fact, he  would not even be known if it were not for one huge action that affected so many different types of people.Basically without Henry Ford, a lot of middle class Americans from back then and even today would look at the automobile as an expensive toy instead of an affordable practical convenience for transportation.

         This legacy did not just come out of nowhere.It always begins in the same place starting with being born. According to PBS“Henry’s birth date and birthplace are known as July 30, 1863 near Dearborn, Michigan” (“PBS”).  As a child living in his hometown, Henry had almost no idea that he was only living a few miles from his future wife, Clara Bryant. In a biography about Henry Ford, “Henry and Clara apparently married each other on April 11, 1888.Only few years later on November 6, 1893 they had their first child, Edsel Bryant Ford while living in a rental house in Detroit” (“Henry Ford Biography”).  These are the personal reasons that lead Ford to become a leader and learn to be a father, and these small things would later become some of the biggest pieces of inspiration to him and his company.

        In the many minds of Americans it takes more than just personal reasons to become inspirational and famous in America. A lot of Americans think that you must also find a way to get an audience to follow you, and to most people that is what Henry did except for one thing. He affected more groups of people than one.“His first task in his company was to create an affordable car that could be mass produced and sold all across America, A.K.A the Model-T. Mr.Ford accomplished this by using the mass production technique known as the assembly line, but in doing so henry created more than just an affordable car, he created thousands of jobs in his factories all across America” (“Henry Ford and the Model T”).  “In the process of him creating thousands of jobs and workplaces, Henry too revolutionized the automotive industry forever” (“Henry Ford Biography”). When Henry accomplished this he became even more important to American history and a lot of ordinary middle class Americans.

        In America it also takes even more then all of that.It also took personal reflection from his acquired audience, and in people’s opinion he did just that. After Mr.Henry accomplished the Model-T “he started a long pattern of affordable transportation for everyone throughout the 20th century all across America” (“PBS”).  This really spoke to his intended audience by showing them that Ford was creating inexpensive, but yet durable vehicles for middle class Americans.  Although people will disagree “Ford will always be one of the greatest American Industrialist to ever live” (“Henry Ford Biography”).  Just the fact that someone would say this shows that a lot of people know that Henry Ford did something that really affected America as we know it.

         There are many reasons that Henry Ford goes down in America’s history as a legend.Nearly none of them are them same, but one thing is for sure Ford change the way people think of moving around in transportation by showing people that it is not just about creating cars.It is about how you affect the people using them. Henry did this in so many ways, but the one biggest is how he change the car from an expensive show boat into what is now known as the modern cars we drive today.


The author's comments:

I wrote this peice to show people that even the things you don't know about people from America's past can realy affect the way that we live now.I also wrote this article becuse of the huge impact that Henry Ford had on the automobile and American history.


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