Henry Ford and the American Dream

FAIN: TR-50286-11

Filmmakers Collaborative, Inc. (Melrose, MA 02176-3933)
Sarah Colt (Project Director: January 2011 to present)

Production of a two-hour film that explores the life of Henry Ford, America's pre-eminent businessman and one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century.

This is a request to the NEH for funds to support the production of "Henry Ford and the American Dream", a two-hour film to be produced by Sarah Colt with the FILMMAKER’S COLLABORATIVE and a commitment for a national PBS broadcast from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. The film explores the life of America’s pre-eminent businessman, and one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century. It tells the story of Ford’s role in the creation of the Model T; the assembly line, which revolutionized the industrial world; and the Five Dollar Day, which laid the foundation for a prosperous American middle class. It examines Ford’s role in shifting the American understanding of “the pursuit of happiness” to embrace consumption, and as a master publicist who transformed the uses of celebrity. It also explores the dark side of Ford, including his vehement anti-Semitism, ill-treatment of workers, militant anti-unionism, and his devastating cruelty to his son.