The Heir Henry Ford Broke: Edsel Ford and the Dark Story of America's Car Dynasty | Documentary

On May 26, 1943, the president of the Ford Motor Company died at 49, in a stone house on Lake Saint Clair. His name was Edsel Ford. He had held the title for twenty-four years, and, as Time magazine wrote days later, his father never permitted him to rule alone. This documentary follows Edsel and his father Henry Ford from the farm and the Model T to the Rouge, the Rivera murals, the Battle of the Overpass, the war bomber plant at Willow Run, Harry Bennett, and the women who finally forced the old man to hand the company to his grandson. It ends with the car that carried Edsel's name, and the question nobody can answer. CHAPTERS 0:00 The house on the lake 1:51 A farm boy and a machine 4:06 The car for everybody 6:04 The son who went to the factory 8:17 The ship, the draft, and a quiet son 10:29 The Dodge brothers and six cents 12:28 Twenty-five years old 14:21 The newspaper 16:05 The president who could not rule alone 17:51 The end of the Model T 21:50 The other world 25:28 March 1932 28:22 The depression 30:24 The overpass 32:05 Sign or I leave 33:28 Two kingdoms 35:59 A bomber every hour 38:11 January 1942 39:39 Gaukler Point 41:02 The old man comes back 42:08 The women 44:11 The flood 46:38 A name on a car Everything comes from published sources (Wikipedia and the works it cites, Time magazine archive 1927-1953, The Henry Ford museum, Ford Motor Company history articles, American Heritage, Business History papers, the Detroit Institute of Arts). Where accounts differ or rest on a single memoir, the narration says so ("according to", "reportedly", "some accounts"). Disputed or unverified stories (the red prototype, Henry's reaction to the murals, the milk and undulant fever, the gun scene with Harry Bennett) are told as such. Edsel's own stance on the Dearborn Independent is not documented, and the film does not claim to know it. IMAGES AND FOOTAGE Archival photographs from Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress, NARA and Deutsche Fotothek (public domain, CC BY, CC BY-SA). Archival film: US National Archives, Ford Motor Company Collection (rights conveyed to the US Government in 1962), Wikimedia Commons, Open Beelden (CC BY-SA). Full credits in the pinned comment. #documentary #fordhistory #edsel #henryford #americanhistory #truehistory edsel ford, henry ford, ford family, ford dynasty, ford motor company documentary, harry bennett, model t, willow run, rivera detroit industry murals, battle of the overpass, edsel car, american car dynasty, true history, history documentary