Since Henry Ford Apologized to Me

One of my fondest childhood memories comes from the occassional trips my family made to visit my grandmother in Iowa, starting back when I was about 8 years old. She owned a gramophone and lots of 78 RPM records from the early 1920s. I used to listen to them for hours -- it was fun and there was absolutely nothing else to do!

I recently discovered an Internet link to a song that I used to listen to (and still own) way back then. It's funny and odd and was once very topical (at the time). I didn't know the wealth of history behind it until recently. Here's some of it:

• Why would Henry Ford apologize to the Jewish tailor in this song? Ford was the consummate anti-Semite. For several years in the early 1920s he published a newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, (mentioned in the song). It was distributed to every Ford dealership in American and made available to customers. It was a nasty rag all about the "international Jewish conspiracy" that was trying to take over the world...you know, Jewish bankers and Jewish Communists...never mind the fact that THAT combination makes no sense. The newspaper articles were eventually compiled into a book titled The International Jew. It is still in print -- Google it!
• At one point, a group of prominent Jews pressed Henry Ford to apologize for the virulent hate-speech published in his newspaper. An apology was issued and then almost immediately denounced by his representatives as fraudulent This is the apology that the song refers to.
• The song says of Henry Ford, "He's got an aviator for his new machine / Instead of Charlie Lindbergh he's got Charles Levin." Sad to say, Charles Lindbergh was another prominent American anti-Semite. I recently learned from an NPR story that Charles Levin was the first passenger to cross the Atlantic; for this he enjoyed 15 minutes of fame in the middle of an otherwise rather sad life.
• The "Happiness Boys" sang this in what one archivist of Yiddish theater told me is known as "a thick sour cream accent." The song is pretty much equivelent to performing in black face.

I hope you enjoy this strange little bit of history:

For his full commentary, go to: Since Henry Ford Apologized to Me