Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism

by Rachel Maddow

The German edition of Ford’s book had landed in the hands of one particularly gifted propagandist. When Adolf Hitler’s political-treatise-wrapped-in-an-autobiography, Mein Kampf, was published in 1925, the author appeared to lift not just ideas but entire passages from Ford’s own publications. The Mein Kampf first edition extolled Ford by name, singling out the American automobile baron for his steadfast courage in the face of ongoing assault by strikers, or commies, or bankers, or media moguls, or some combination thereof. Jews all, no doubt. “It is Jews who govern the stock exchange forces of the American Union,” Hitler wrote. “Every year makes them more and more the controlling masters of the producers in a nation of one hundred and twenty millions; only a single great man, Ford, to their fury, still maintains full independence.” Hitler had already mulled sending some of his “shock troops” to major American cities to aid in Ford’s possible run for president in 1924.