The Dearborn Independent
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The Dearborn Independent was a newspaper published by Henry Ford from 1919 through 1927. It was noted for its sensationalist content, including many anti-Semitic references, and its publication of the fraudulent Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
In 1918, Ford negotiated to buy the Independent from Marcus Woodruff, who had been running it unprofitably. The initial staff of the newspaper included E.G. Pipp, previously managing editor of the Detroit News, writers William J. Cameron (also formerly of the News) and Marcus Woodruff, and Fred Black as business manager.
The paper was printed on a used press purchased by Ford and installed in Ford's tractor plant in the Rouge. Publication was inaugurated in January 1919. The paper initially attracted national attention in June 1919 with coverage of the libel lawsuit between Henry Ford and the Chicago Tribune, as the stories written by Pipp and Cameron were picked up nationally.
The paper began publishing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in 1920, along with other articles reflecting some of Ford's reactionary views. Ford objected to immigration, banking, liquor, and labor unions as well as Jews. They published a collection of some of the articles relating to Jews under the title The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem.
Ford did not write, but expressed his opinions verbally to his executive secretary, Ernest Liebold, and to William Cameron. Cameron replaced Pipp as editor in April 1920 when Pipp left in disgust with the planned anti-semitic articles, which began in May. Cameron had the main responsibility for expanding these opinions into article form, although he did not agree with them. Liebold was responsible for collecting more material to support the articles. In researching his 2003 book [The American Axis], (St. Martin's Press, 2003), investigative journalist Max Wallace discovered newly declassified documents in the US National Archives proving that Liebold was identified by the American government as a German spy and later appears in FBI files as a known Nazi agent. Drawing on this new material, Wallace identifies Liebold as the figure responsible for convincing Ford to launch his crusade against the Jews and later to support Hitler and the Nazi cause.
The paper reached a circulation of 900,000 by 1925, largely due to promotion by dealers due to a quota system. Lawsuits regarding the anti-Semitic material caused Ford to fold the paper, the last issue being published in December 1927.
References
- Henry's Lieutenants, Ford R. Bryan, 1993 ISBN 0-8143-2428-8
- THE AMERICAN AXIS - Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich. Max Wallace (St. Martin's) 2003. ISBN 0-3122-9022-5
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