Adolf Hitler Quotes
I wish I could send some of my shock troops to Chicago and other big American cities to help in the elections. We look on Heinrich Ford as the leader of the growing fascist movement in America. We admire particularly his anti-Jewish policy which is the Bavarian fascist platform.
At the time Ford was considering running for President and some of the American right wing extremists were encouraging him to do so. Hitler had demonstrated how his fascist storm troopers would intimidate a major city as he had done it first in Munich and later in most other German cities. At the time, Ford and his supporters were delighted to have the support of such an important modern world leader as Hitler. The American Nazi Party's first president, Heinz Spanknoebel, was an employee at the Ford Motor Company. Fritz Julius Kuhn, leader of the pro-Nazi German-American Bund, worked at Ford off and on. As Hitler’s practices and policies were more and more exposed, and WWII began, this quotation made any political role for Henry Ford very difficult. Ford was the only American named in Hitler’s maniacal book Mein Kampf. He describes Ford as the only American who is not controlled by Hitler’s paranoid view of the Jewish conspiracy. Ford himself was an anti-Semite. See related quotes. Hitler awarded Ford the German Eagle Order Medal—the only American to have ever received it. It was reserved for those who assisted the Nazi Party outside of Germany. Benito Mussolini was another recipient.
Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945, Fuhrer of the Third German Reich, Fascist Chancellor of Germany, Statement endorsing Henry Ford for the President of the United States, Interview in Berlin with the Chicago Tribune, March 8, 1923
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The “fool” was Neville Chamberlain, 1869-1940, the British Prime Minister who refused to stand up to Hitler and instead negotiated a peace pact, returned home declaring that he had preserved peace. (See {585941}.) Then Hitler invaded more of Europe and WWII was begun. Ford was a Hitler admirer and pro-German (Hitler supported him for the American Presidency--{586988}—and awarded him a medal) but he thought that England had bungled the negotiations by sending someone who was very weak. In this sense his views were the same as most who were anti-Hitler.
Frau Wagner was one of several agents of Nazi Germany sent to the United States to develop good will for Germany and funds for Hitler. Anti-German feeling was still high from the First World War but America had its share of right wingers like Ford. Hitler and Ford were mutual admirers. See {586988} for Hitler’s view of Ford.
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming Chancellor in 1933 and then assuming the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934. During his dictatorship from 1933 to 1945, he initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland on 1 September 1939. He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust, the genocide of about 6 million Jews and millions of other victims.
