This past week, like promised I did some more extensive research on Henry Ford. Previously there was not much about Ford that I knew about. My dad works for GMC so I did know they are rival companies. I did, however, find some pretty interesting facts about Ford that I didn’t know before. One of the facts that I did vaguely remeber before I started researching him more is that he is responsible for the assembly line and mass production. Also, that he was credited with mass production of inexpensive goods with high wages for workers.
Some things that I didn’t realize about Ford was how big his impact was on dealerships in the country and on other continents. I also didn’t realize that Ford worked so closely with Thomas Edison. I think I had a little knowledge of Ford and Edison having some sort of connection but I did not realize that Edison was the person who approved of Ford’s automobile experimentation. Also, I don’t believe that I was very aware of how in power Ford needed to be. Even after he turned his presidency over to his son, he still had final decision authority and overturned some of his son’s decisions. He tricked the stockholders into selling their shares so that the buisiness could stay in the family. Also, Ford was responsible for raising the wages. After Ford raised the wages, other companies were forced to raise their wages since they were losing some of their best workers. It also benefited Ford because it saved him money with training, and the employees were also able to afford the cars they were helping to produce.
Since I have did my research on all three legendary Americans, I can honestly say that I am more interested in Billy the Kid than I am in any of the others. What draws me more to Billy the Kid is the fact that there are more legends about him than there are facts about him. I know for some people that would really bother them, but it’s actually more enjoyable for me. I know, for me at least, that I would be more interested in learning more about him and the myths and I think that the myths about him would stem more questions. Al Capone and Henry Ford seemed not to have many legends behind them. If they did, I did not reach a point in my research where I could find them. After Billy the Kid I would be interested in Al Capone because I feel that Henry Ford is more of a well known person and it would be more beneficial to learn about somebody that we are less familiar with.