Henry Ford was a popular businessman, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and aspiring politician in the first half of the 19th century. Today, he is best remembered as the founder of Ford Motor Company, but in his time, he was a serious outsider political candidate for the presidency. However, he failed to garner significant support because major party gatekeepers rejected him.
Get the entire How Democracies Die LitChart as a printable PDF.
Henry Ford Character Timeline in How Democracies Die
The timeline below shows where the character Henry Ford appears in How Democracies Die. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: Gatekeeping in America
For instance, Henry Ford —the wealthy, popular, politically inexperienced businessman and antisemitic conspiracy theorist—repeatedly tried to run for public...
(full context)
Chapter 7: The Unraveling
...proponent was Donald Trump, who learned how intolerance could win him political support. Extremists like Henry Ford and Father Coughlin have challenged presidents’ legitimacy throughout U.S. history, but the attacks on Obama...
(full context)
