Trump praises ‘good bloodlines’ of anti-Semite Henry Ford
Henry Ford receives award from German diplomats in 1938.
By Aiden Pink May 22, 2020
President Trump on Thursday praised the “good bloodlines” of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford, a notorious anti-Semite, during Trump’s tour of a Ford factory in Michigan.
The remark about good bloodlines, an apparent ad-lib in his speech, was criticized by Jewish leaders.
“Henry Ford was an antisemite and one of America’s staunchest proponents of eugenics,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted. “The President should apologize.”
President Trump: “The company founded by a man named Henry Ford — good bloodlines, good bloodlines.” pic.twitter.com/faCEBwDpwN
— The Hill (@thehill) May 21, 2020
In the 1920s, Ford was the owner of the Dearborn Independent, a newspaper that was distributed in Ford dealerships nationwide and frequently published screeds and conspiracy theories against Jews, including several under his own name, as well as copies of the the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious anti-Semitic forgery.
“In some places, the dealership would actually put copies of the newspaper in the car, so that when you drove off with your Model T, there you had on the seat next to you a copy of The Dearborn Independent,” Hasia Diner, a professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies and history at New York University, recounted in a PBS documentary about Ford.
The newspaper’s articles were republished in Germany under the title “The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem.” Ford was frequently praised by Nazi leadership, and was awarded the Grand Cross of the German Eagle in 1938.
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
