Dare to Ask: Jews had reason to shun Fords

By Phillip Milano

Question

Is it true that Jewish people don't buy Fords?

O.S., Jacksonville

Replies

While most Jews would buy a Ford if that was the car they preferred, they are also aware that Henry Ford was a vicious anti-Semite. Many Jews will not buy a Volkswagen (Hitler's "People's Car"), although most Jews would not shy away from going to Disneyland, even though we know now that "Uncle Walt" was anti-Semitic.

Marianne, 54, Jewish, Portland, Ore.

Henry Ford was an outspoken anti-Semite. Still, I don't know any Jews who avoid buying Fords. Some avoid buying German cars because of the Holocaust, though.

Shirley, 50, Jewish, Missouri

I have never heard of this issue. The subject came up when I was a teenager in 1970, and my grandpa said he would not buy a German car. My dad said around that time that it did not matter to him. However, I would worry about some guy at work if he started quoting Henry Ford regarding the way the world worked.

Burt, 48, Jewish, Irvine, Calif.

Experts say

You can still watch Mickey, Donald and the rest of the Disney bunch and feel OK. There's no evidence Walt was a virulent anti-Semite. However, early Disney cartoons contained some "unpleasant Jewish caricatures" (Disney's own Web site even admits it), as did toons from other studios of the day.

Henry Ford, though ... that guy had some serious anti-Semitic stuff going on.

In "The People's Tycoon," Steven Watts' 2005 bio, he outlines how Ford liked the nasty book "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," which among other things claimed a Jewish cabal was trying to take over the world.

Ford owned The Dearborn Independent and in 1920 put forth a series titled "The International Jew: The World's Problem," which Watts wrote "examined a purported conspiracy launched by Jewish groups to capture social, cultural, and economic power and achieve domination around the world."

That light reading was just the beginning. More malicious articles followed, and after much public outcry, Ford finally apologized, though his sincerity was questioned. In 1938, he even accepted "The Order of the Grand Cross of the German Eagle," the highest honor given a foreigner by the Reich. Holy beyond-PR mess.

Thus, many Jews in the 1920s-1940s opted to stay away from Fords, said Aviva Astrinsky, head librarian at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York.

"It was an individual choice," she said. "Maybe some synagogues or organizations said to not buy Ford cars, but it was not an organized effort. Nobody can speak for all Jewish people."

Times changed, as they often do. By the '50s, a Ford subsidiary had opened a car assembly line in Israel, and the Ford Foundation now espouses multiculturalism.

"There's no prejudice against Ford now, it's water under the bridge. It's historical," Astrinsky said. "I'm Jewish and have friends who are Jewish who drive Fords."

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Phillip Milano, author of I Can't Believe You Asked That! (Perigee), moderates cross-cultural dialogue at Y? The National Forum on People's Differences. Visit www.yforum.com to submit questions and answers. Send general column comments to phillip.milano@jacksonville.com. You can also hear his podcasts or watch his TV spots.