Ford Hunger March

During the Great Depression, as millions went hungry without jobs, workers led a hunger march to Henry Ford’s residence asking for bread. Ford fed them bullets. Under his approval, the Dearborn Police Department carried out a massacre, shooting five workers dead and wounding more than 60. A few years later, in what became known as the Battle of the Overpass, Ford approved the bloodying of Walter Reuther’s face, as he distributed flyers to support workers’ rights. Henry Ford has the unique distinction of being the only American thanked by Adolf Hitler in his infamous Mein Kampf. For Ford’s 75th birthday, the Nazis bestowed upon him the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, the highest honor awarded to citizens outside of the Reich. Despite his collaboration with the police to violently suppress his workers and his vitriolic publications that garnered praise from architects of genocide, Ford continues to be revered in his home state of Michigan: sports stadiums, roads, hospitals, foundations, museums, and colleges alike all bear his name and honor his legacy.