Evening star., 1943-05-26


1t may have been coincidence or
just force of circumstances" but
the major progress of the Ford Mo-
tor Co. dated from the time Edsel
became its president and treasurer.
1t was Edsel who persuaded his
father to abandon the old Model r
car for one with a conventional
gear shift: during the World War
he had charge of the construction
of Eagle boats. the submarine
chasers the company undertook to
build on a volume basis. He was
responsible also for the company's
initial venture into aviation in the
late twenties, and developed the
Ford Co.'S Mercury auto.
Big Donor to Charity.
Edsel was devotee of motor
boating, automobile racing, golf and
photography and an ardent base
ball fan.
His annual contributions to char
ity ranged from $4,000 to more
than s150,000. In 1925 Edsel and
Eleanor Ford contributed s75O,0OO
to match a like gift by his parents
to local YMCA building program
Two years later they subscribed
s400 900 to a fund for construction
of Women's Building in Detroit.
Edsel, as the only child of Henry
and Clara Bryant Ford, was sole
heir to one of the largest and most
rapidly accumulated fortunes ever
amaSSed.
President of the Ford Motor Co.
since the age of 25. Edsel was one
of the most talked-of but least
known figures IN an industry in
which his name was byword.
Edsel grew up apart from the
ordinary walks of life. reared by
his father with the objective of
fitting him to manage the Ford in
duStrieS when the elder Ford might
have to shed these responsibilities.
He was so reserved, taciturn and
aloof that for many years one of
the common questions asked con-
corning him was whether he was
real or an adopted son of Henry
Ford.
Entered Plant Early.
He began work in the old High
land Park plant of the Ford Co. in
1912 when the company already was
a f1ourlshlng institution with an
annual output of about 10000 cars.
Edsel Ford saw this production in
crease to 100000 cars year and
the Ford interests expand to center
at the Rouge plant in Dearborn
which became the worlds largest
single industrial unit. Branches
were operated on every continent
EdSel was elected e-president of
the company after five years of fac
tory work, and in 1919, after the
Ford family had bought out all mi
nority stockholders, he was made
president. After another three years
he was also made treasurer of the
company
He headed the company through
the period of unionization of the
traditionally open-shop automobile
industry during the sit-down strikes
of 1887, which did not directly in
volve the Ford company although
some union leaders we're beaten dur
ing May fight at Rouge plant
gates. Not until April, l94l, did the
CLOS United Automobile Workers
finally strike at the Ford company:
this strike was settled with an
agreement for bargaining election
and when the UAW-CIO won a ma
jority, the Ford company signed a
closed-shop contract with the union
Was "a in World War.
Edsel was not quite "a when the
United States entered the World
War.
When the general drafts of the
Nations manpoWer were made
counsel for the Ford company ap-
peared before the draft board and
asked exemption for Edsel on the
ground that his presence at home
was essential to war industry
Many men close to him pictured
Edsel as wanting to go overseas with
the AEF but staying at home at the
stern dictation of his father. After
being made more or less of an issue
in Congress, the exemption was
granted
Edsel Ford was born on Novem-
ber 6, 1893. in two-story, red brick
house in Bagley, now the heart OF
Detroits downtown district His
father at the time was employed at
$50 week in the engineroom OF
the Detroit Edison plant and had
just completed. in his off hours, his
first gasoline-d driven "horseless car
riage"
When Edsel became old enough
he was sent to the public schools
He finished grade schools at IA, and
was then sent to the Detroit Uni
versity School, Graduated from the
latter institution he took up his
training in his fathers plant instead
of going to college.
Edsel was married November
1916, to Miss Eleanor Clay. a niece
of j. L. Hudson, one of Detroit s
leading merchants and a philan-
thropist.
Edsel was largely responsible for
the interest taken by his father in
aviation, and persuaded him to un-
dertake the development of airplane
manufacturing at Dearborn, site of
the parent plant of the Ford COM
pany. He offered the Edsel B. Ford
prize for the annual national all
tour, and sponsored and contributed
voyy oroo1u to tho oYpodifior, of l.
miral Richard E. Byrd to the South
Pole in l929-30.
He was a member of Detroit's Art
Commission, made a number of no.
table gifts to the Detroit Art Insti-
tute and was a member of numerous
Detroit clubs and the New York
Yacht Club.
Stories are told how. in the cours.
of training he had mapped out fol