US & Mexico were engaged in a border war in 1910-1919.
By 1916, the situation had become dire, so, the US President Woodrow Wilson, called up the National Guard to join armed forces.
National Guard is a reserve military force that is made up of people who are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military.
Henry Ford had always been against war and said he would not hold jobs open or continue the pay of employees who, as members of the National Guard, had been called to the war.
Disturbed by Ford’s stance, Chicago TribuneA renowned newspaper which had announced it would save positions and pay salaries of any of its guardsmen who were called up. ran an editorial under the headline: “Henry Ford is an AnarchistOne who believes in a society without a government or order”.
This column accused Ford of being ignorant, an enemy of the country, and a person with no common sense.
Ford was mad at this article and filed a defamation case seeking $1 million in damages.
The lawsuit went to trial in the summer of 1919.
At one point, the advocate of Chicago Tribune asked a series of basic questions to prove how well deserved the label “ignorant” was.
Ford was asked about the date of America’s war of independence & he didn’t know.
He was asked who Benedict Arnold (a Senior Army Officer) was and Ford said, “a writer”.
He was asked what ‘chili con carne’ (a dish) was and he said, “an army”.
Eventually, Ford got irritated and said something to the tune of: “I don’t know the answers to those questions, but I could find a man in 5 minutes who does. Why should I clutter up my mind with general knowledge when I have men around me who can supply any knowledge I require?”
Ford won the case, but only 6 cents were paid to him in damages.
Thousands of postcards & letters came in support of Ford & small-town newspapers also rose to Ford’s defense.
“A few less smart-aleck attorneys and a few more Henry Fords, and the world would have fewer troubles and more to eat,” one of them wrote.
In 1941, the owner of Chicago Tribune Robert R. McCormick apologized to Ford in writing.
