"The Silent Partner: How the Ford Motor Company..." Topic
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Tango01 | 07 Dec 2020 4:58 p.m. PST |
…Became an Arsenal of Nazism Of possible interest? Free to read link
Amicalement Armand
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Extrabio1947 | 07 Dec 2020 6:37 p.m. PST |
This is disturbing. It is well known that Henry Ford was notoriously anti-Semitic. link |
John the OFM | 07 Dec 2020 9:48 p.m. PST |
Germany paid Ford royalties for the license to produce the Opel. They were placed in escrow in a Swiss bank account to be paid on conclusion of the war. It's bizarre how "legalistic" Hitler and the Nazi party could be. Of course they followed the Law! Do you think they're Communists? Barbarians? And the Soviet Union could also be that legalistic, paying for licenses and royalties. Until they decided they didn't want to, of course. |
rmaker | 07 Dec 2020 10:11 p.m. PST |
And the Japanese put royalties for the DC-3 into escrow as well. This did not make Donald Douglas a Japanese agent. This is more of the nonsense that saw IBM sued for the use by the Nazis of IBM data processing equipment (bought by the Weimar government) to run the Final Solution. As to the immediate subject, note the lack of any mention of Ford's dealings with the Soviet Union. I can only hope that this young man received a resounding "F" for this effort. |
Cerdic | 08 Dec 2020 12:19 a.m. PST |
John – why was Ford paid royalties to produce Opels? Or have I read that wrong? With Opel being a German motor manufacturer (owned since 1931 by General Motors), surely Ford should have been paying Opel to produce their vehicles under licence? I haven't read the guy's paper, but does he also accuse Ford of being a supporter of Monarchy because their British factories were used to produce stuff for the British war effort? |
Extrabio1947 | 08 Dec 2020 4:54 a.m. PST |
Ford's views were not just a private matter—they influenced company policy too. Back in the 1920s, Ford and GE had been competing to buy the German carmaker Opel, which both saw as a great way to enter the German market. GE won the bid and bought Opel, and in return Ford opened an auto plant in the German city of Cologne. This proved to be a lucrative move, and by the start of the war Ford's interests in Germany were estimated to be worth around $8.5 USD million. The above was taken from "The History Reader," 02/18/2018 |
Tango01 | 08 Dec 2020 12:15 p.m. PST |
Thanks!. Amicalement Armand
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R Leonard | 08 Dec 2020 2:22 p.m. PST |
And so would our learned student have been disturbed to learn that the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation produced both rigid and non-rigid airships for the USN from 1924 to 1941? All under US Navy contract at the Goodyear Airdock in Springfield Township, Ohio. Goodyear-Zeppelin was a joint venture formed in 1924 capitalized 2 thirds by Goodyear and 1 third by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin. This arrangement allowed Goodyear to use Zeppelin's patents in construction of rigid and non-rigid airships. There were more than just a few Germans who came over to work on these projects and, at least from my reading, remained in the US to become Goodyear employees and even occupy executive positions. The corporation was dissolved in 1941 and absorbed into the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation which had been established in 1939. Goodyear-Goodrich, Goodyear-Zeppelin and Goodyear Aircraft from circa 1917 to 1957 supplied some 230 or so non-rigid airships to the USN. Does this translate into Lufschiffbau Zeppelin aiding the US in it's war with Germany? Supporting the defense of the USA? After all, USN blimps, non-rigid airships, sank at least one UBoat I can think of. And, jeez, he's just now discovering Ford's international, and pointedly, pre-war business dealings. Someone mentioned IBM. Yup, them, too, and don't forget AT&T, they had their fingers in pies all over Europe, including Germany. All business arrangements made BEFORE the Nazis came to power. For those with a little reading behind them, none of this is a surprise and not all that different from international business dealings in today's world. The fact that Henry Ford was a class one ass has nothing to do with it. How many aircraft and vehicles were supplied to US forces by the Ford Motor Company and its subsidiaries? Was all that also in support of the Nazis? |
HMS Exeter | 08 Dec 2020 6:32 p.m. PST |
Read up on the history of Fanta. I remember hearing a story, one of those tales that ought to be true, even tho it may not be. When Khruschev visited the US and had his kitchen debate with Nixon, some enterprising booster handed Khruschev a cup of Pepsi. In no time the Russian ended up downing 6. Not super surprising. Marshall Zhukov had been having a clear Coca Cola clone smuggled into the USSR for years, Khruschev wanted a steady supply of Pepsi, but there was no common currency exchange to enable payment. As an in kind trade Pepsi was granted the license to market Stoli in the west. When the Russians invaded Afghanistan, this fell apart. In order to keep it going, the Russians started transferring obsolete warships into a dummy company, which sold them for scrap and passed the proceeds to Pepsi. In the end 1 cruiser, a destroyer and a half dozen frigates changed hands. Of course the US government knew all about this but decided to look the other way. At some Washington function a Pepsi rep kidded with a DoD official that Pepsi was disarming the Russians faster than the US govt. |
Tango01 | 09 Dec 2020 12:29 p.m. PST |
Thanks also!…. Amicalement Armand
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