This Day in Business History (Ford’s Model T Goes on Sale)

October 1, 1908—Henry Ford’s Model T went on sale, creating the automobile industry as we know it, launching a revolution in American mores and culture, and leaving the nation a far different place.

Paul Ingrassia’s Wall Street Journal article this weekend sums up the impact of this bit of technology very well. But there is one aspect that he did not comment on: how the popularity of his machine made Ford, at least for awhile, the prototype of the businessman-folk hero that became increasingly prominent in the last century, and even into our own.

At one point, Ford’s star had risen so highly that he was even talked about as a possible Presidential candidate. Never mind that, for all his technical prowess and business know-how, that Ford’s social beliefs (including anti-Semitism) were positively antediluvian, or that in later years he would even be willing to hire thugs to break the unions he detested.

Probably until the rise of Dwight Eisenhower, success on the battlefield was the best means for a non-career politician to move upward politically. As wars became less popular and winnable, the vogue of the soldier-politician waned. His place was filled by the businessman-politician.

The belief, evidently, was that a success running a big corporation would translate into success running the big enterprise of government. This year, attention has focused on Republicans Mitt Romney and Mike Bloomberg (okay, Bloomberg is now an independent) as examples of this, but Democrats have also had Senate examples of this phenomenon, including Herbert Kohl of Wisconsin and the late Sen. Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio.