Born July 30, 1863 (Springwells, Michigan)
Died April 7, 1947 (Dearborn, Michigan)

Industrialist

The important role of the automobile in contemporary U.S. culture really began in the Roaring Twenties. It was during this decade that owning an automobile began to seem like a necessity, for it allowed freedom and convenience and affected such issues as where people worked and lived and what they did for fun. The man who was largely responsible for this trend was Henry Ford. Rising from a Michigan farm boy to become one of the richest people in the world, Ford was a popular hero to millions. He revolutionized the infant automobile industry by producing a reliable car that a wide variety of people could afford to buy. Yet Ford was a man of personal contradictions. He paid his workers more and cut their hours, but he also forced them to follow his own rules...