Most of us Hebraic types know that carmaker Henry Ford was not our biggest fan. He published dozens of booklets and newspaper articles about The Jewish Menace. But then he apologized! Please read this statement he released in 1927, reprinted at the Berman Jewish Policy Archive (BJPA). It is so very modern!

Out taking the fresh air, no time to hate Jews.

1. Although both publications [The Dearborn Independent newspaper and The International Jew pamphlet series] are my property, it goes without saying that in the multitude of my activities it has been impossible for me to devote personal attention to their management or to keep informed as to their contents… I’m a busy dude! I can’t keep up with everything my staff writes, you know? I am VERY DISAPPOINTED IN THEM.

2. Had I appreciated even the general nature, to say nothing of the details, of these utterances, I would have forbidden their circulation without a moment’s hesitation… I am SHOCKED, SHOCKED.

3. I deem it to be my duty as an honorable man to make amends for the wrong done to the Jews as fellow-men and brothers, by asking their forgiveness for the harm that I have unintentionally committed, by retracting so far as lies within my power the offensive charges laid at their door by these publications, and by giving them the unqualified assurance that henceforth they may look to me for friendship and good will… It was totes accidental. I am a “mensch,” as I believe you people say.

So how’d that go?

Look at my beautiful eyes. How could I hate Jews?

The President of the American Jewish Committee, Louis Marshall, replied in a rather lukewarm way.  “The statement which you have sent me gives us assurance of your retraction of the offensive charges, of your proposed change of policies in the conduct of The Dearborn Independent, of your future friendship and good will, of your desire to make amends, and what is to be expected from any man of honor, you couple these assurances with a request for pardon,” Marshall summarized, in “now let me get this straight” manner. “So far as my influence can further that end, it will be exerted, simply because there flows in my veins the blood of ancestors who were inured to suffering and nevertheless remained steadfast in their trust in God. Referring to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, Israel Zangwill once said that we Jews are after all the only Christians. He might have added that it is because essentially the spirit of forgiveness is a Jewish trait. It is my sincere hope that never again shall such a recrudescence of ancient superstition manifest itself upon our horizon.”

Would that we could swing that kind of chilly graciousness today.

If Marshall had raised an eyebrow at Ford’s protestations of clueless innocence, it wouldn’t have been surprising. The Dearborn Independent published a “Jewish Menace” story every week for 91 weeks. That’s a long time not to read your own newspaper. And really, Ford would’ve only had to read the headlines, not even the full stories! Some of the pieces were called “The Historic Basis of Jewish Imperialism,” “An Introduction to the ‘Jewish Protocols’,” “Does Jewish Power Control the World Press?” “How Jews in the U.S. Conceal Their Strength,” “The Scope of Jewish Dictatorship in the U.S.,” “Jewish Copper Kings Reap Rich War-Profits,” “‘Jewish Rights’ Clash With American Rights,” “Jewish Degradation of American Baseball,” “How the Jewish Song Trust Makes You Sing” “Jew Wires Direct Tammany’s Gentile Puppets,” “Jewish Power and America’s Money Famine,” and “How Jews Gained American Liquor Control.” (Ah, I remember my Bubbe’s tales of singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow while using her evil copper cookware and chugging Jewish gin while controlling the press and government as Hank Greenberg frolicked in her backyard! Good times.)

Ford was clearly psychic, predicting Ryan Braun’s steroidal fall from grace.

As BJPA points out, Marshall may have responded so dryly because of the cover letter accompanying the statement, addressed to two colleagues of Ford’s, authorizing them to deliver the statement to Marshall and saying “I hearby approve of the attached tatement [sic].” (I’m Henry Ford, and I approved this message!) How much clearer could it be that Ford didn’t actually write the thing?

Basic rule of asking forgiveness: At least PRETEND you’re the one asking, not your pawns and handlers.

Surely Ford’s timing had nothing to do with a libel lawsuit filed that very same year, 1927, by a San Francisco Jewish farm cooperative organizer, Aaron Sapiro. The International Jew contained a section called “Jewish Exploitation of the American Farmer’s Organizations: Monopoly Traps Operate Under the Guise of Marketing Associations,” that talked about Sapiro’s shady doings, along with those of various and sundry other Jews in law, banking, farming, advertising and business, designed to run co-op farms and hurt America. During the trial, Ford’s editorial page editor, William John Cameron, testified that Ford didn’t know anything about his newspaper’s editorials, even though they ran under his byline. Nevertheless, Sapiro won the lawsuit. In December 1927, Ford closed the Independent. But his vision has lived on in The International Jew, still quoted all over the Internet today. (Don’t Google. Take my word on this one.)

In 1938, Nazi Germany gave Ford this pretty medal. Yay!