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Great Lakes Books Series
Independent Man: The Life of Senator James Couzens
Now back in print, this is the only book-length biography of a major Michigan figure who served as Detroit’s mayor and contributed to the early success of the Ford Motor Company.
376 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 5, 2019
James Couzens is one of those people more people ought to know about. A regular Horatio Alger this
Canadian immigrant might just be considered one of those illegal aliens some are so hot and bothered
about today. Yet he was the center of an industrial and business revolution and that was before he
began a political career that took him to the US Senate.
Born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada in 1872 Couzens was a poor kid who worked in a soap works factory as soon as he was able to help support his English immigrant family. Seeking a better life as did so
many he went to America where he got various jobs working on railroads. He was bright kid with a
head for figures and coal merchant Alexander Malcomson took him in and made him a bookkeeper.
Around that same time he married.
Malcomson was the original financial backer of Henry Ford and his new automobile contraption.
Couzens went into the Ford Company as the business manager. When Ford forced Malcomson out,
Couzens stayed with Ford and until 1915 ran the business end of the company. When Ford decided
he wanted to run the business himself he and Couzens parted with Couzens one of the richest men
in Michigan if not the country.
In order he was police commissioner of Detroit, then elected Mayor in 1918 and then when Truman
Newberry resigned from the Senate in 1922 Couzens was appointed and then elected in his own
right twice.
As police commissioner he was something of a rarity in that he was one of the few who did not use
his force as strikebreakers. When Bill Haywood of the International Workers Of The World spoke
at a rally in Detroit and the American Legion threatened to bust up the meeting, Couzens stood for
free speech not easy in those Red Scare days.
As mayor he was a pioneer, one of the first who thought about municipal housing as a concept and
put Detroit in that business. During the short post WW1 recession he pioneered relief for the homeless, starving, and unemployed, a practice carried on later by one of his successor mayors
Frank Murphy during the Great Depression.
Couzens was not a man who suffered fools gladly. He had a temper and a blunt way of speaking.
He told off at some point every president he served under which was 4 of them. In the Senate he
was a member of the Progressive bloc of mostly midwest and western Republicans led by Robert
LaFollette of Wisconsin. One thing he did not do was form any kind of personal machine in Michigan. His wealth may have scared off the right wing of his party, but not forever.
Maybe he should have been a Democrat all along who's to say. He supported most of the New Deal
legislation of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He had a particular soft spot for the Civilian Conservation
Corps which put a lot of urban unemployed youth to work beautifying America because he remembered where he came from.
In 1936 the regular GOP put up a former governor named Wilber Brucker as a primary opponent.
When Couzens came out for FDR's re-election he lost the Republican primary to Brucker. But by
that time he was dying of a host of ailments brought on by diabetes. He died about two weeks
before the general election in 1936.
The one thing I remember about Couzens was when he was criticized for his relief program while
Mayor of Detroit he replied to his conservative critics that he didn't think it was right for people
to starve for a political theory. We could use more of that common sense today.
Harry Barnard's book is aptly titled. James Couzens was indeed one independent man.
Canadian immigrant might just be considered one of those illegal aliens some are so hot and bothered
about today. Yet he was the center of an industrial and business revolution and that was before he
began a political career that took him to the US Senate.
Born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada in 1872 Couzens was a poor kid who worked in a soap works factory as soon as he was able to help support his English immigrant family. Seeking a better life as did so
many he went to America where he got various jobs working on railroads. He was bright kid with a
head for figures and coal merchant Alexander Malcomson took him in and made him a bookkeeper.
Around that same time he married.
Malcomson was the original financial backer of Henry Ford and his new automobile contraption.
Couzens went into the Ford Company as the business manager. When Ford forced Malcomson out,
Couzens stayed with Ford and until 1915 ran the business end of the company. When Ford decided
he wanted to run the business himself he and Couzens parted with Couzens one of the richest men
in Michigan if not the country.
In order he was police commissioner of Detroit, then elected Mayor in 1918 and then when Truman
Newberry resigned from the Senate in 1922 Couzens was appointed and then elected in his own
right twice.
As police commissioner he was something of a rarity in that he was one of the few who did not use
his force as strikebreakers. When Bill Haywood of the International Workers Of The World spoke
at a rally in Detroit and the American Legion threatened to bust up the meeting, Couzens stood for
free speech not easy in those Red Scare days.
As mayor he was a pioneer, one of the first who thought about municipal housing as a concept and
put Detroit in that business. During the short post WW1 recession he pioneered relief for the homeless, starving, and unemployed, a practice carried on later by one of his successor mayors
Frank Murphy during the Great Depression.
Couzens was not a man who suffered fools gladly. He had a temper and a blunt way of speaking.
He told off at some point every president he served under which was 4 of them. In the Senate he
was a member of the Progressive bloc of mostly midwest and western Republicans led by Robert
LaFollette of Wisconsin. One thing he did not do was form any kind of personal machine in Michigan. His wealth may have scared off the right wing of his party, but not forever.
Maybe he should have been a Democrat all along who's to say. He supported most of the New Deal
legislation of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He had a particular soft spot for the Civilian Conservation
Corps which put a lot of urban unemployed youth to work beautifying America because he remembered where he came from.
In 1936 the regular GOP put up a former governor named Wilber Brucker as a primary opponent.
When Couzens came out for FDR's re-election he lost the Republican primary to Brucker. But by
that time he was dying of a host of ailments brought on by diabetes. He died about two weeks
before the general election in 1936.
The one thing I remember about Couzens was when he was criticized for his relief program while
Mayor of Detroit he replied to his conservative critics that he didn't think it was right for people
to starve for a political theory. We could use more of that common sense today.
Harry Barnard's book is aptly titled. James Couzens was indeed one independent man.
July 1, 2020
I came into this biography expecting not to like the man, James Couzins. In the many biographies of Henry Ford that I have read, Couzins is always portrayed as a jerk.
Having read this bio of the man, I still think he was a jerk, but he also had a side that I did not understand. He was a New Deal Republican and a friend and public supporter of FDR. He took stands that were not popular.
I also got the impression of what it must have been like to take on Henry Ford, that dynamic man who knew what he wanted and was willing to fight to get exactly that. Couzins was as oppressed by Ford as were the other men who fell into his sphere. Couzins, in short, was an alright guy.
Having read this bio of the man, I still think he was a jerk, but he also had a side that I did not understand. He was a New Deal Republican and a friend and public supporter of FDR. He took stands that were not popular.
I also got the impression of what it must have been like to take on Henry Ford, that dynamic man who knew what he wanted and was willing to fight to get exactly that. Couzins was as oppressed by Ford as were the other men who fell into his sphere. Couzins, in short, was an alright guy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews