Henry Ford

Born Wayne Country, Michigan

In the 1926 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Henry Ford coined the term "mass production" to characterize the manufacture of the Model T automobile. Ford's efficiency reduced car prices from around $900 in 1908 to $290 in 1927, when the last of 15 million units rolled off the assembly line. Although Ford's mass production doubled industrial workers' pay rates and shortened their work day by two hours, he bitterly opposed labor unions, spied on his employees, and even investigated their personal lives. Ford's anti-Semitism was a major stain on a man who many believed could have been president of the United States.