When Titans Play Politics
Someone asked me the
other day if I had watched the first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary
Clinton. I replied that I watched the whole thing--but then couldn't fall
asleep the rest of that night. Yes, mark me down as one of those U.S. citizens
who is fearful for our country no matter which of the two candidates
prevails. I will also admit to having met each of them one time
in my life. I had dinner with Trump in Philadelphia in 1994 when he
presented me with a national teaching award before a large crowd sponsored by
the Freedom Foundations at Valley Forge. I met Hillary when she came to
our town to speak against Mr. Obama in his first run for President.
My thoughts for this
piece come from a comparison of how two American Titans found themselves as
political candidates. The two Titans emerged from different eras and
backgrounds. Donald Trump is a self-proclaimed mogul in real estate first
in New York City and now worldwide. His properties are exclusively for
the high end market even though one of his first properties was a massive low
to middle income apartment operation in Cincinnati. Its success depended
on attracting Kentuckians, new to Ohio as long term tenets. When the
march of southerners slowed he sold out before the new buyers knew that the
game had changed. Good for Trump. After that he moved his ownership
to upwardly mobile tenants in the densest apartment market in the
world. To succeed in that rich environment, it was only necessary
to find undervalued properties, tear them down and replace them with
higher end buildings While many leasers in the older buildings felt
secure with rental contracts that could not be increased under NYC law they did
not envision the day that Trump would buy up their building and the one
beside it and the next one to it and the next one to that
one and raze them all to make room for a new luxury housing
unit usually with the Trump brand across its face.
The other titan that ran
for political office was Henry Ford. Ford quit school in the 8th grade
but never stopped learning. His goal was to help farmers have
a better life. He grew up on a Michigan farm and knew how
remote they were from other farms and towns. He didn't invent
the car or the assembly line but he developed both from their infancy to full
maturity. He made the Model T famous by manufacturing 15 million of
them. He did this by keeping the assembly line running night
and day. He put car ownership within reach of farmers who could now
take their crops and families to town. Many of those farmers figured out
how to remove the back wheels and attach a belt to the running car that would
then power their logging saws and other labor saving devices. "They
can have them in any color they like", he said, "as long as they want
black". Nothing could change on his assembly line for years, which
allowed Ford to continually lower his cost and the price of his cars to the
eagerly awaiting public. Later, Ford would be pushed by his son and other Ford
executives to change the Model T because of competition from Plymouth and
Chevrolet. After the 15 th million T rolled off the assembly line they
closed the doors and began retooling to produce the bigger, better Model A,
with more colors and options. Ford did sell 5 million of the newer design
but the competition was knocking at his door which would demand changes in
his business that he fought all of his life. As the nation prepared for
World War I Ford pleaded for the United States to stay out of the conflict.
His pacifist stance was
practical, for a man who by that time was manufacturing cars, trucks, planes
and other vehicles throughout the world. A war would decimate Ford
sales for years to come. The U.S. did , however, enter the first world
war under President Woodrow Wilson. The war was long and expensive in all of
the resources used to fight the enemy. When it came time to wind down our
efforts and our boys were coming home "from over there," Wilson
offered up his dream of A League of Nations which many saw as taking power
and choices away from the United States We would have less power
in future world decisions. Many also felt that we had
sacrificed too much to just give away these new powers. Wilson was
a Democratic President whose party controlled only 47 per cent of the vote in
the 66th Congress. The election was approaching and Wilson was
pulling out all the stops to swing Congress back to his party having the
majority to ensure passage of his Peace Plan. In that effort, he
asked Henry Ford to change parties and run as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate
seat from Dearborn, Michigan. Surely with all of his prominence and
number of employees, Henry Ford would be a shoo in to increase the
Democratic edge in Congress. The first thing Ford did was, however,
was to purchase the local Dearborn newspaper. Think about what a
powerful candidate Henry Ford had just become. He employed more voters,
by far, than anyone else in the race, he had millions of dollars to spend if he
wanted to and now he controlled the local press. Sounds like a
one-sided election, I know. But just as Donald Trump would do about
100 years later, Ford began picking on people because of their heritage.
It would be hard to find any group of immigrants that weren't beholding to
Henry Ford because his companies encouraged mass movement from many
European countries to Michigan or Ohio. Cities that produced glass for him in
Toledo or tires and rubber products in Akron, besides all the auto parts
and cars in Michigan.
Today Trump complains about many nationalities
based upon their perceived threat to our way of life. His "Make
America Great Again" slogan captures that sentiment along with other
ends he desires that will change the way we approach our daily lives.
Henry Ford chose to attack all Jews as our enemy in his
campaign. After buying the Dearborn paper he wrote and published enough
anti-Semitism editorials to fill a four volume set of books that he called The
International Jew. Taking another page from both titans actions, they chose to
like and support dangerous anti-social strongmen. Trump upholds the
powerful Russian leader, Vladimir Putin--a former KGB spy and
currently the iron fisted Ruler of Russia--still a demigod in a nation
that disagrees with just about every U.S. policy worldwide. Henry Ford chose to support Adolph Hitler,
another anti Jew enthusiast. In 1938, Ford accepted the Grand Cross of
the German Eagle award from Hitler, it was the highest medal Russia could
present to Her supporters. So, what happened to Henry Ford, the
politician? Because of all the enemies he managed to make during the
election he lost in a close election to Truman Handy Newberry by about two per
cent of the vote. Just as now, voters were torn between not voting at all
or voting for one candidate or the other--both with unsightly warts. Even
though Newberry beat Ford he would later have to step down for election
irregularities. The Republicans held power and denied President
Wilson the honor of creating the League of Nations.
What is my take on these
two titans running for public office? First, it is very interesting that
the country was split asunder in both cases. The two equally
powerful national parties were strong enough to resist any success the other
party might gain. When these groups resemble two ice bergs pushing
against each other with no progress being made by either, it frustrates our
citizens who want progress to be made for their benefit. Just
checking--has congress acted yet on our current Zika health threat--didn't
think so. Shouldn't they show more urgency in ridding our nation of
such a potential threat to mothers and babies?
My final thought on
titan politicians is this, politics is a game of compromise played to make
incremental improvements in the lives of American citizens. Being a titan
seems to mean that strong personalities can enrich themselves by controlling
all aspects of their companies. One doesn't replace the other and if
progress is to be made we need both skills but in different arenas.
