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[QUOTE]Originally posted by FasterDamnit: [QB] From Wikipedia- "Ford became interested in politics and, as a successful and powerful business leader, was sometimes a participant in world affairs. In 1915, he funded a trip to Europe, where World War I was raging, for himself and about 170 others. His group went to meet with German and other European leaders--without U.S. government support or approval--to seek peace. The war lasted another three years.[6] In the years between the wars, Henry Ford supported Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. His support abated as the United States entered World War II. There is also some evidence that Henry Ford gave Adolf Hitler direct financial backing when Hitler was first starting out in politics. This can, in part, be traced to statements from Kurt Lüdecke, Germany's representative to the U.S. in the 1920s, and Winifred Wagner, daughter-in-law of Richard Wagner, who said they requested funds from Ford to aid the National Socialist movement in Germany. However, a 1933 Congressional investigation into the matter was unable to substantiate whether contributions were actually sent. Regardless of whether direct financial support was provided, Ford repeatedly voiced his overt approval of Hitler's theories. Ford's indirect financial backing of the Nazis was also undeniable, as Ford Motor Company was active in Germany's military buildup prior to World War II. In 1938, for instance, Ford assisted to construct an assembly plant in Berlin, the purpose of which was to supply trucks to the Wehrmacht. Forced labor was employed to produce 78,000 trucks and 14,000 track vehicles. In July of that year, Ford was awarded (and accepted) the Grand Cross of the German Order of the Eagle (Großkreuz des Deutschen Adlerordens). Ford was the first American and the fourth person given this award, at the time Nazi Germany's highest honorary award given to foreigners. The decoration was given "in recognition of [Ford's] pioneering in making motor cars available for the masses." The award was accompanied by a personal congratulatory message from Adolf Hitler.[7] A portrait of Ford was hung at the Nazi party's headquarters in Munich. In Max Wallace's 2003 book, The American Axis, he recounts how a Detroit News columnist named Annetta Antona arrived at the headquarters to interview Hitler in 1931. When she asked the future Führer about the portrait, he told her, "I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration." Drawing on Ford's long-standing involvement with Nazi causes and anti-semitism, Philip Roth imagined him as Secretary of Interior in an imaginary (and Nazi-aligned) Lindbergh administration in his bestselling 2005 novel The Plot Against America." [/QB][/QUOTE]
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