Of the three brothers, Henry (right,
with wife, Anne) is decidedly the
family leader in all Ford operations.
Benson (below, with family) directs
most of his energies toward company
problems and philanthropic activities.
( Continued )
lane, to the University of Michigan
and the Fund added $6 million to con
vert it into an extension of the uni
versity. Activities will start this year
and ultimately the enrollment is ex
pected to reach 2,700 students. The
Ford Fund also sponsors the Atoms
for Peace Award, which annually
gives $75,000 tax-free to the individual
making the greatest contribution to
ward finding new ways in which
atomic energy can be used for the
welfare of mankind.
"We hope," says young Henry Ford,
"that the Atoms for Peace Award will
help stimulate private business and
professional men throughout the world
to find new ways that science can be
used beneficially."
Dr. James Killian, who heads Presi
dent Eisenhower's Science Advisory
Committee, described the award as a
"bold and imaginative act on the
agenda of world peace."
More and more, these three young
men of the Ford family are finding
the confidence and courage for the
"bold and imaginative" acts of which
they are capable, both intellectually
and financially.
Of the three, Henry is decidedly
the leader in social thinking and
political affairs, as well as in business.
This is a natural outgrowth of the
situation which brought the Ford boys
into the family business. Thrust into
a position of almost unparalleled re
sponsibility when he was only 28,
Henry either had to grow into the job
or permit it to sink him. He grew
and he's still growing.
The story of Henry's rise to power
in the Ford Motor Company is one of
the great business-adventure stories
of all times. Called home from the
Navy on the death of his father, Edsel,
in 1943, Henry found his grandfather
on the verge of senility and under the
ml - .--Vy;
I)
influence of a tough and unscrupulous
ex-plant protection man who was
steering the Ford Company down a
one-way track to bankruptcy and ob
livion. In September, 1945, his grand
parents asked him to take over the
company, and he was elected presi
dent at a board meeting that month.
Then he began to build the manage
ment team which in the last decade
has again made Ford a pre-eminent
name in the automotive industry.
When he first took over, he had little
but the Ford tradition and the courage
and tremendous social sensitivity of
his father to guide him. But he was
sharp enough to know this and to
bring in the administrative talent
headed by Ernest Breech, now board
chairman needed to do the job.
Henry's naivete in the early years
was both disarming and refreshing.
In his first year as president, the Ford
Company announced a program of
"human engineering" a fancy label
to designate a broad allocation of
authority and responsibility to make
maximum use of the talents of Ford
workers at every level. A newspaper
reporter asked Henry what was meant
by "human engineering."
Henry looked honestly puzzled.
"Darned if I know," he said. And he
turned to one of his new associates
and asked: "What do we mean by
that, anyway?"
Contrast this with the self-assured
young industrialist who early this
year said: "The present challenge to
business leadership in the free world
shouldn't be looked on as a burden.
Rather, it's a call on the imagination
and energies of free men to meet the
poverty and misery that breed despot
ism and war. We" must stop defining
our day-to-day actions in terms of
rigid absolutes."
Henry is the tallest of the three
Ford boys, measuring about six feet
on a rugged torso that tends to be
portly. He is built along the lines of
an Ivy League Babe Ruth, with a
heavy, barrel -like body mounted on
a pair of rather thin legs. He dresses
impeccably and talks in a voice pitched
slightly above normal which has been
carefully trained for his frequent
speaking engagements.
He is genial and good-natured, but
not flip; he cuts short conversations
which aren't going anywhere. He
knows what he's talking about before
he tackles a subject, be it in a meeting
or a private conversation, and he
expects the same of others.
Henry and his wife, the former
Anne McDonnell of New York City,
have three children: Charlotte, 17;
Anne, 16; and Edsel, 11. They live in
comfortable but not baronial luxury
in the plush Detroit suburb of Grosse
Point, about an hour's drive from the
Ford plant. Henry makes only a few
concessions to his wealth. One is a
vast new Summer home on Long
Island, New York, just completed this
year. Like his brothers, Henry is
jealous of his week ends, and tries
not to take work home with him. He
regards his private life as private, and
wants it kept that way.
Although the two younger Ford
brothers are equally adamant on this
point, they are somewhat more tract
able. Benson, who will.be 40 in July,
is shorter than Henry and more trim
of figure. He wears a built-in grin
which is reflected in his amiable eyes.
As vice president and chairman of
Ford's dealer policy board, Ben Ford
presides over dealer relations.
Ben doesn't share his older brother's
strong international inclination; his
thoughts and activities tend to be di
rected more at company problems and
domestic issues. Even so, his outside
activities are impressive. He heads up
the board of trustees of the huge
Henry Ford Hospital and the United
Foundation of Detroit. He also serves
on the board of the Ford Foundation,
the Edison Institute (which operates
the famous Henry Ford Museum and
Greenfield Village), and the Ford
Fund, and is active in a number of
other philanthropic organizations.
Ben recently bought a 7Vfe-acre
estate on the shore of Lake St. Clair
about an hour's drive from his office.
He lives there with his wife, Edith,
and their two children, Benson, Jr.,
9, and daughter Lynn, 7. He also
owns a Winter home in Palm Beach,
Fla., where he indulges as frequently
as possible in his greatest joy and
chief avocation: boating. Edsel Ford
was also devoted to boating, but Ben
was the only one of his three sons to
share this love.
(Continued on page 19)
Family Weekly, March 22, 1959
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