People think of Henry Ford as one of the great Americans, but few are aware of the fact that he was instrumental in promoting Anti-Semitism in the USA. So vocal and powerful were his efforts that they influenced Hitler himself. Through a company produced a newspaper called The Dearborn Independent, Ford promoted and reprinted writings from a work from 1903 called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This work was a hoax that showed how Jews controlled the world’s gold supply, and even contained far-fetched claims that Jewish leaders met with The Devil himself in a Prague cemetery to discuss their plains for world domination. Though the work was easily condemned as fraudulent, it was shared with many throughout the world. Henry Ford began publishing a series of articles titled “The International Jew.” Though he was legally forced to admit they were false 7 years after he began publishing them, his influence and reach already caused enough damage. Hitler was an avid fan of “The Protocols” and Ford himself. Hitler reportedly had a painting of Ford in his office and even awarded Ford The Grand Cross of the German Eagle in 1938, the highest honor given to a non-German. There’s an interesting piece on PBS about Ford’s Anti-Semitism that you can read here and another well-researched piece HERE. You can read about how both Ford Motor Company and GM were instrumental in assisting the German war machine in 1939 if you CLICK HERE.