Driven by a relentless ambition to revolutionize the automobile industry, Henry Ford battles labor challenges and his own controversial beliefs. His quest for increased productivity leads to unprecedented success but also unleashes a reign of terror on his employees. As he grapples with his son's contrasting ideals and his own antisemitic tendencies, Ford's legacy becomes a complex tapestry of innovation, controversy, and wealth preservation.

SYNOPSIS:

Henry Ford’s underlying goal in life is to create a better automobile for the masses. After becoming overwhelmingly successful, Ford faces the challenge to manufacture more cars, but with the same labor force. The moving assembly line is then implemented to increase manufacturing. But it creates boredom, which elevates worker turnover and dampens profits. He then incentivizes work by doubling the daily wage and shortening the workweek. At a time when Ford Motor Company only supports “paternalistic” welfare capitalism, i.e., company unions and not trade unions, he learns that labor expansion demands additional structure in the workplace. Operating in a vacuum, Ford then spawns a Service Department comprised of 2,000 pugilistic roughnecks to maintain order and proliferate productivity. His conspiratorial beliefs facilitate creation of the Sociological Department that introduces compulsory after-hours English courses to “Americanize” workers, since he equates lower productivity with foreign languages. The department also inspects workers’ homes to identify signs of boarding laborers, employed spouses, gambling and drinking, and not having a savings plan. Ruling by fear, he attains the greater productivity needed for his own enrichment. While seemingly advantageous for his own wealth preservation, the effort to defend against organized labor transforms into a reign of terror on his own employees. Meanwhile, the tectonic rift between Henry and his jazz-loving Gatsby-esque son Edsel deepens with the growth of popular music, which is a “Jewish monopoly” since jazz is a “Jewish creation.” Ford then goes all-in to support country and folk music concerts and dance parties. After losing a US senate race, and throwing in the towel on a presidential bid after learning he’d get few votes from New York and other midwest states, he purchases the Dearborn Independent newspaper and publishes weekly antisemitic rants and his tome “The International Jew.” The book is translated into several languages and becomes an inspirational read among Hitler youth. Ford then receives the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, which is Nazi Germany's highest decoration for foreigners. The newspaper is distributed to hundreds of Ford dealers throughout the US, hoping that customers will open a subscription. As a pacifist, Henry offers his "entire fortune" to European nations to cease fighting in WW1, and rebuffs more than $700m in government contracts, while Edsel establishes manufacturing ties with the war effort during WW2.