Ford remained true to his word and never publicly criticized Jews again. That isn’t to say that he necessarily abandoned his beliefs, however. Just over a decade later, on his seventy-fifth birthday, he accepted one of Nazi Germany’s highest civilian honors—the Grand Cross of the German Eagle—which came garlanded with praise from Adolf Hitler. Only one other prominent American of the period was so admired and honored by the Nazis (or so openly admired them in return): Charles Lindbergh.
