Medford mail tribune., March 22, 1959, Image 45

TTMIS
6
The Russian delegate, Georgy Arka
diev, watched young Henry Ford
II enter the UN committee room with
the predatory satisfaction of the Yan
kees about to devour the Washington
Senators. This was an unexpected
and delightful opportunity to the
Russian. Ford, who was filling in for
another American delegate, was green
and inexperienced; he had yet to make
his maiden speech at the UN, and
thought he was merely filling the seat
for a routine meeting.
But the Russians had other plans.
Ever since the Soviet delegation had
learned that Henry Ford II had rather
reluctantly accepted an appointment
as alternate United States delegate to
the UN, they had been waiting for an
opportune moment to embarrass him.
To the Soviets, Ford symbolized all
the evils of American capitalism.
Arkadiev asked for the floor. In
stead of the perfunctory speech the
other delegates were expecting, he
began a vituperative attack on the
United States. Soon he was focusing
his fire on capitalism, the impending
economic collapse of the U. S., the
automotive industry, and even the
Ford Foundation. Ford, then just 35,
sat next to him, listening impassively.
After 40 minutes of scathing attack,
the Russian sat down, enveloped in
the embarrassed silence.
Ford whispered to the State Depart
ment advisor beside him: "I suppose
I'd better answer him?"
"Yes," he was told, "you'd better."
Henry had been scratching notes on
the back of an envelope. He asked
for the floor and for a half-hour
effectively rebutted every point the
Russian had made speaking mildly
but bluntly in the slight nasal tone he
has since discarded. He said many
things a diplomat would not say. He
was straightforward and completely
disarming; and when he finished, some
of the other committee members and
the gallery applauded, an almost unheard-of-occurrence.
Later, skittering through the rain
drenched dusk of a New York Novem
ber evening, this symbol of American
capitalism couldn't find a cab and had
to walk several blocks before he
finally cornered one. As he hopped
inside, fresh from his Russian con
quest, he told his companion worried
ly: "I'm going to catch it from my
mother-in-law; I'm an hour late for
Thanksgiving dinner."
This is the new captain of the Ford
empire a fascinating amalgam of
Midwestern folksiness and interna
tional intellectualism; of hardheaded
business administration and farsighted
idealism. With his two younger broth-
IFOMIO
capitalists with a conscience
j r I m rj it
Henry II, Benson, and
William continue build
ing their grandfather's
fabulous empire; but
they work for social
betterment, too.
by Joseph N. Bell
Capitalist and commissar meet as
Red boss Anastas Mikoyan tours
Ford plant with host Henry Ford.
ers, Benson and William, Henry Ford
II has reasserted the Ford dynasty,
but in a far different sense than his
famous grandfather. Henry II, who
had to grow into the job of president,
and his two brothers symbolize the
combination of big-business acumen
and social and ideological leadership
which America must have to face the
challenges of a changing world.
Henry put it to me this way when
I talked with him in his spacious
modem office atop the new Ford
Building in Dearborn, Mich.: "It used
to be said that the businessman's pri
mary responsibility was to make a
profit. That's still true today, but in
a very different sense. The business
tycoon is dead. New pressures, new
forces are at work, and unless the
businessman is alert to them and
accepts the responsibilities of indus
trial citizenship, he'll fail economically
as well as socially. The qualities of a
successful businessman to organize
people and things, appraise risks,
make decisions, and carry out actions
are now being recognized and ex
ploited for the good of all society."
Nowhere is there a better example
of this than among the Fords. In
1957, when the Ford Foundation gave
$260 million to 630 privately endowed
colleges and universities, a sizable
portion to be used for increasing
faculty salaries, the entire nation was
made dramatically aware of the des
perate need in this area. Only an act
of comparable size and suddenness
could have produced such impressive
results. And only the vast resources
available to our large corporations
could originate such a program.
"Our educational system," says
Benson Ford, who sits on the board
of trustees of the Ford Foundation,
"badly needs jacking up. When the
Foundation gave money to raise teach
ing salaries, it was intended as a pump
primer and that's the way it has
worked. It alerted millions of Ameri
cans to the need for raising academic
salaries at every level." ,
To which Henry added: "Industry s
growing demands on our educational
system make direct help not just de
sirable but almost obligatory. We in
business should get together with our
local educators and legislators to see
what needs to be done and wajL'e"
sources are available for the job. Then
we ought to meet those needs.
The Ford brothers don't just tauj
about these things; they do something
about them. And the action is some
times taken at the risk of retaliation
against Ford products or the ow
family. This can sometimes be the un-
family Weekly, March 22, 1939