The cover of The latest issue of The Dearborn Historian, which is city owned. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called on Dearborn, Mich. Mayor John O’Reilly Feb. 4 to reconsider his decision to withhold publication of a local historical journal, which contains well-documented anti-Semitism of industrialist Henry Ford, according to a press release.
Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, is also the inventor of the Model T car and the assembly line system of mass manufacturing.
In the 1920s Ford used a variety of platforms to promote anti-Semitism, including his newspaper, “The Dearborn Independent,” and his publication of a four-volume work titled “The International Jew,” which was based on the notorious 19th-century anti-Semitic documents, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
“There is no disputing Henry Ford Sr.’s bitter and prolific anti-Semitism, and there is no reason to hide this sordid moral flaw in his character,” ADL Michigan Regional Director Carolyn Normandin said in a statement. “Particularly in light of the fact that anti-Semitism has risen dramatically in the past few years, it is more important than ever that the public understand the roots of this most virulent form of hate and the historical underpinnings of its recurrent resilience in America.”
Last week, The Dearborn Historical Museum tried to publish the 3,700-word examination of the auto pioneer’s campaign to foster anti-Semitism beyond his hometown. Nonpartisan paper The Bridge, along with Deadline Detroit, reposted the story on the historian editor Bill McGraw’s behalf Feb. 4 after O’Reilly discovered the article would run and “ordered the issue recalled and fired McGraw” according to the Bridge editor’s note.
“The mayor called the article a ‘distraction’ that lacked ‘a compelling reason directly linked to events in Dearborn today,’” the note added. “Bridge Magazine supports efforts to ensure that serious journalism finds a broad audience in Michigan. McGraw, a former Bridge writer and member of the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, offers a fascinating portrait of an iconic Michigan figure, warts and all. Bridge is proud to follow Deadline Detroit in republishing McGraw’s account.”
In November 2018, the ADL partnered with The Jewish Historical Society of Michigan and The Henry Ford museum in a program to discuss Ford’s negative rhetoric about the American Jewish community.
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