Henry Ford: The Man Who Put the Steering Wheel on the Twentieth Century

If you’re wondering who forged the identity of the twentieth century—who among countless figures can claim its paternity—know this: part of the credit unquestionably belongs to Henry Ford. The man who revolutionized automobile manufacturing amassed a fortune of $199 billion over his career, a figure that would rank him ninth among the richest people in history. But there’s more. Ford’s ideas didn’t just change industry; they reshaped an entire society, marking its definitive leap from rural life to a vastly more industrialized era.

He embodies the archetype of the young dreamer who fights to make that dream real—the very essence of a life lived with purpose. Born in Michigan in 1863 to Irish immigrant parents, Henry’s first act of courage came in 1888, when he left the family farm for Detroit. It was a revolutionary move at a time when only two in eight Americans dared embrace city life. That boldness paid off: the next three years laid the groundwork for a passion that would drive him for the rest of his days.

All it took was an old mower and a homemade engine to launch his experiments with an agricultural locomotive. Nine years later, he became chief engineer at Detroit Edison Company’s main plant. “Follow where your heart leads,” reads Susanna Tamaro’s book title—and in Ford’s case, his heart led him to Rosabella. No, not a woman, but his first gasoline-powered car: a simple frame with four bicycle wheels, fueled by an inventor’s pride and thirst for experimentation.

Thomas Edison’s support perhaps emboldened him further. With a group of partners, Ford founded the Detroit Automobile Company—a meteoric venture that collapsed under internal disagreements. No matter: the astute businessman turned to auto racing, then all the rage, spotting in it a clever stage on which to showcase his machines. Thus began his conquest of motor enthusiasts everywhere.

With the new century came Ford’s readiness to market the automobile. “The machine that changed the world” was built to overturn the industry. In 1908, the Ford Model T became—and strove to remain—the people’s car. The middle class finally hit the road, and over the next nineteen years, fifteen million Model Ts were sold.

How to supply half the cars on American roads? Ford’s revolutionary, ingenious answer was the moving assembly line. Borrowed from the British navy but perfected for automobiles, it standardized production, slashed costs, and massively boosted worker efficiency.

Reform always comes with a cost—and Ford’s bitter feud with labor unions is no surprise. Determined to sideline what he saw as meddling middlemen, in 1914 he introduced a program doubling workers’ pay—provided they behaved impeccably. His next stroke against union power came in 1926 with the shorter workweek, the prototype of our modern weekend.

Ford’s aim was to create a vast “consumer fleet,” targeting the very class who, in their leisure time, could sate their thirst for freedom behind the wheel. This seduction of the middle class powered the process of urbanization and laid the groundwork for the world’s most advanced highway system.

Henry Ford remains a deeply divisive figure. Even his endorsement of Nazi Germany—voiced through his own publication, The Independent—casts a long shadow. In fact, Germany honored him with the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, an award rarely granted to non-Germans.