I didn’t know he was a drunk. But I do know, and this one thing unimpresses me the most, is that Ford would send company men into the homes and into the lives of his factory workers. And if they did not measure up personally at home, they were fired.
I don’t know that Henry Ford drank. If I had to guess, I would say he was probably a teetotaler.
He was pretty straitlaced, favoring square dances for example. He was picky about who he hired, and I don’t really have a problem with that too much, I guess. $5 a day doesn’t sound like much today but it went a long ways then. So many people showed up to apply, they had to turn fire hoses on them to drive them off. In January. Rival automakers and businessmen called him a “Socialist” and were incensed. Ford thought that his workers should be paid well enough to be able to afford a car.
Working on an assembly line in those days was not easy. At the time the River Rouge plant was the most up to date operation utilizing the latest materials, machines and processes. Vanadium steel for axles for example, the list is extensive.