The Reminiscences of Mr. H.S. Ablewhite From the Owen W. Bombard interviews series, 1951-1961 Accession 65 Interview conducted: November 1951 Transcript digitized by staff of Benson Ford Research Center: November 2011 OCR: Please note that this file has been made searchable through the use of optical character recognition. However, the quality of the original materials is such that full text searching is only moderately reliable. Copyright: Copyright has been transferred to The Henry Ford by the donor, and is made available through a “Creative Commons License BY-NC-ND,” indicating that you may make certain noncommercial uses of this material, provided that you give attribution to The Henry Ford without further adaption or modification. 20900 Oakwood Boulevard · Dearborn, MI 48124-5029 USA [email protected] · www.thehenryford.org T h © I«ilDli@e&@«s © f MB. H. S. A B h i V ft I f 2 ford Motor History Section f 1951 The Rasiniscencea of . S. ' Tbwtm f«Btai««ae«s «r* th# result of a s®ri«# of l»t«r- with Mr. 11, S. Ablewhlte by !%•» Oweu Bc^bard on 16 May, 1951 at the .Sdtson Institute, this interview HAS held under th© auspices of the Oral Scotiao of the Ford Motor Ca^^f Irsh£v««« fh® ini«rri#i«*» «p8stloo« hav© bMo <»dtt«d' froa tlui. • fit* q»®ationi^ w»« prljwrily .In the torn of toples »M®«> gested to Mr. Ablevhlte concerning which he might have some ictiiaat© knowledge. Mo editorial insertions have been made other than th@ brief synopsis of the donor's activities and the index. Th© language of the narrative Is entirely that of the donor, 1® has rwiewei aad a©rr«et«d tli« aan^oript «^ %• hit clgnattxrel l»lov lndieatod that it 1® a o©n*»et ©opy of his resdni a eencea. Thi# №.e»olr la depositad Sn th® Ford Motor Iwlth th« •uadsrstandiag that it my b8 m®& lay ^ i» aee«dano« with ace«pfc«d arehlml praetie* mm tey tb,« Archivist. ii MB. I. 8. ABUSWHI7S - CH«WOW»I IBS? Sera* GlsmlmA, Qkto 1907-1909 iest«i*» 8»®«r* 1915 A»B», Esnyon Collet©, %£»o©i»l Seiaiaary, Gftafoiwr, 1915 Dwaeon, Prot»*tan% ^AiMiopdl Ctaroli 1916 191?-1919 Bector, Churoh of Good Shepherd, Colveabos, Ohie 1919-1926 Rector, St. James Church, Piqua, Ohio 1926~192t Bestor, Ctaireh &t St* ftilip the Apostlt, St. Louis, 1928-1930 D<MUkv 9t. Paul** Qath«4nat'Marqwtte, Utehigws 1930 0-.0., I«nyoa College 1930*19JW) Cioees© of lfeqw®fcte» Miohigaa 1940 * Sesiolsgieal D»parfci»iit# Ford Motur 1944 M»aa. B, Soelologioal Stepftrtanit* fm?& Motor 1946 Ifeparfcwsnt H«ai B» SooiologloaL Bopurfcwsat, ford Motor I94S P®rsoim®l ®»pf®s«RtatiT» A, Sftlariod Persona©!» Ford Jfotor Cem^ay 1949 Cirector of Interpretaticaa, Edison Institute Museum - 3320 Dearborn, Michigan lit HEL i. 8. ABLSHHETB - GQMStfS Early Life and Bduoation....................................... 1 WLatlcmshlp between Mr, Issry Ford and ftp. Ablmrisit*. ••••«..•• 2 Hint ory of the 8*e£<ftogiml ftflpwrtawn*» 1914-1940 »,..•..«.».•.* .9 Function and Methods of the Sociological Department............ 12 Organisation and Administration of the Personael Problems of the Ford Motor Company . during World ifer'H...,,,.,,..*.. 22 Labor Belatlons ani th« 1941 Strtk®,.,.,.**...•..,...•....,.....,. / 30 Reorganisation of the Sociological Department 1945..*.......... 42 Termination of the Sociological Department..................... 50 Cbaract«r Skstcli of H, H. B«nn#tt*...,•«..»,.<,»..,,....,.«...«.•. 58 Relationship between Mr, Henry Ford and Mr. Sdael Ford......... 72 Bglationshlp of Mr. Henry Ford, Mrs,. H*soy Fos«d and Mr. Msel ford as illustrated In the Organization and Supervision of the Mison lastitwfce.......*.« 77 I was bow* 'In SlmmMxAt Ohio (la what is now a purt of to 1«8?. Far iiwi ft»t five y«ars§ I attandMl a p*li© school. After those five years, I went to the University School is Cleveland, which owra«^onds to: th© Sal*«r*ity Seii«©l h«re in Dstrolt* I graduated frwi tfoiTOFftity Setae! and s®»t <m t» e<jll#g*». W#at#ra tteserve University in Clevel&oi, for about & ysmr and ft half and then i decided, because of the death of ay father, I would go to work. ^! I started to work In a bank in Cleveland. From there I went to the telephone company for about two and a half years. fifcen I decided, because some of ®y old teachers got hold of m, I eould i go back to college, I went bask to college for about asm year and tile© ci«eid«d to go into the nlaifltyy* I fial^uM i^r ©®ll#f« and vent to tfa® %laeopal S#aiaary« I gr®diat«d tn 1915. I had always been sotsavhat iiiterested to social work. In fact, first of all while I was In college, 1 thought I would go into social work, but was persuaded, sad decided, to make tb# switch, which I did. I, vust -№ ^id ftal®h®d. After I graduated, I v@nt to CJjaeta- nati and was assistant is a church In Cineinn&ti for about a year and a half} firom *th«ra to Coliaibtts, Ohioj froa ttor« to a snail tona, j Plqua (about 18,000 psoptL«}f fr«» there to St. Louis, memmrlf and from St. Louis, Missouri to Marqtjette, Michigan. ! Aft«r b»iog ia Mtgcquerlt* iu eii«?g® af tb© Cathedral there -1- for atoms* i« year and a half, 1 ma elected Bishop of the Bioeese of Marquette, which coiBprises the Upper Peninsula of Michigan* this was in 1929* t brown© bishop la the spring of 1930* % first eoatoet with Mr. Ford was In this way* 2 was down here In Detroit visiting Bishop Page. 3a»bo«ly asked «« a question (I don*t rentea©©:? ubo 1% was now) Aether J&*» Fort had ef#r <tone anything for th« tHoe«8® ia th« m^«p country. , I said, "No.* Dies® people said,fi w'sll, it would appaar h© should, vith the large holdings th« FoM Hotor haa tip there," . I said9 "Well, I thong^t so too, bat I k»ow other people have tried to eooiaet bia and had very great difficulty doing so, so that I hmt® navwr tried as y»t.* . they adviaei ne to try to get In contact with Mrs. Ford, I sai<4 thut at the first opportunity I weald try to do so. I am not quit© -sura -of th© tints sequence hers, but It was probably aloag in *34 ©r *35» 1 saw in the paper that fctr» and Jft»s« ford w»i*e ap at the Ewoa Mountain Slab, So 2 wrot© a letter to Hrs. Ford., telllag. her I taww s&m friend® of hars «nd what have yotif «a3 that I voali like verjr wieh to have a talk with her and .see her. ;X& the courts of a day or so, rather to ^f surprise, I got a gr&eloua letter frou hmr saylag she hsA ^en ill «ith a bad cold, and would, igylta me M a day or so and ask m to e®a» owt, It mi a very graeious letter. -a- ,Two or thr#« days went by, and I didnH bear anything. Finally, 1 picked tip the paper ooo aorning and sew wtiere 14r» and- Mrs. Ford bad returned to Dearborn on the *Heary Ford II* or the WB®H»«B Ford." S®, I thought to ajjrself* that is j»st a nice- easy letdown and that's that. At least, I had. tried, fh&i. was oss summer, if he following BWmart 1 saw again where they v@r© at the Huron MowitAln CltA», I- diiaH j»k® any attempt to s«© h«r because I f«lt it vai their ao1**. One afternoon a friend of mine was In to see %s when ths family was out, H« were sitting out on the sun porch of our house. I heard th© doorbell ring, I losm the said was out, and my wife was out, so I .walked around to the door. A yowng wafi was standing at th» door. I looked behind hi«» and there was Mr. Fori. li»ediately the young MB faded out of the picttare. Mr. ford ca»e towards the door, »ad I "said, "tell, J6r» Ford, hm do you do?"' n ,He iaid» 0ht you toow ne^ do you?* 1 said, "lellj, »ost ^©iO.# toow yom frcm yow piot*ffir»»»* I He mM, "Well, I haft mmm to apoXc^ise> to you.* So h»- Q«B© right in the im&m Had sat down. He said* Birs. fort and I both feel vm ow© yoa. a -wiry great apology.* I aaid, nl don't feel that way about it, tat it la wry* very aice ;©f you to em»p and I appreoiate it wry w^i." .He sat down and stayed with ®e about as hour fmd a half. He talked about everything under the am, I couldn't g«t him ©a tte conversation I was imrticu-larly wnxtmm in getting him 012, I told htm seno things, and he had a habit of carryiiie a little pad in his vest pocket with a little, short, stubby pencil. £v»ry once in a while ho would t&ke out this pad and pencil, and jot something down. 2 don't know whstiiar it was nervousness 03? just & habit m what it but anyway he did if.* We talked quit© ft long ttn*» and he said he wasted m to down to D®arbora s«et *3fl» «®1 visit bin* He showed (although 1 didn't realize 1% tiwtt) qxiite an interest id old fwmltta** because ve had some old pieces ami ose or two rather aids ones.