by Jeff Guinn
Edison’s response was disingenuous: Ibid.
he sent a warm note of thanks to Ford: Benson Ford Research Center, Acc. 1630, Box 5.
Edison fired off a congratulatory telegram: Thomas Edison National Historical Park archives.
Firestone wrote “Mr. Ford”: Ibid.
Edison developed a 146-question test: After the New York Times published the questions, some of them were replaced by new ones. But many of these new questions were still bizarre. Edison never explained why he chose the original questions, or the replacements, either.
all Edison would say was, “Maybe”: New York Telegram, 4/10/1921.
His proposal in 1921: Thomas Edison National Historical Park archives.
Harvey Firestone described a surefire one: Ibid.
a four-page typed report: Ibid.
Edison found them all unacceptable: Ibid.
Meadowcroft made a written request: Ibid.
he used a chummy, informal greeting: Ibid.
the president’s typed, tone-deaf reply: Ibid.
This was reflected in his formally worded letter: Ibid.
Ford made a formal purchase offer: Wik, “Henry Ford and the Agricultural Depression of 1920–1921”; Preston J. Hubbard, pp. 195–212; Tennessee Historical Quarterly 18, no. 3 (September 1959).
Firestone found himself far more preoccupied: Firestone with Crowther, p. 229.
Harding would permanently replace Burroughs among them: Santa Ana (California) Register, 7/22/1921.
Clara Ford was appalled: Brauer, p. 153.
President Harding and his entourage: My description of Harding’s sojourn with the Vagabonds is drawn from many newspapers. The diverse locations of the newspapers confirm the breadth of coverage. I list here only those newspapers that I used for reference among the several hundred available. Publications include: Gettysburg Times, 7/23/1921; Bridgeport (Connecticut) Post, 7/24/1921; Kansas City Post, 7/24/1921; New York Times, 7/24, 25, 29, and 31/1921; New York Telegraph, 7/24 and 7/25/1921; Baltimore Sun 7/24 and 7/25/1921; Washington Post, 7/24/1921; Washington Herald, 7/24/1921; Charlotte Sunday Observer, 7/24/1921; Charlotte News, 7/24/1921; St. Louis Star and Times, 7/24/1921; Memphis Journal-Appeal, 7/24/1921; Pittsburgh Press, 7/24/1921; Palm Beach (Florida) Post, 7/24/1921; Oregon Daily Journal, 7/24/1921; Chicago Tribune, 7/24/1921; Fitchburg (Massachusetts) Sentinel, 7/24–25/1921; Kansas City Times, 7/25/1921; Newark Star-Eagle, 7/25/1921; Des Moines Register, 7/25/1921; Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Evening News, 7/25/1921; Minneapolis Tribune, 7/25/1921; Houston Post, 7/25/1921; Boston Telegram, 7/25/1921; Akron Beacon Journal, 7/25/1921; Utica (New York) Press, 7/25/1921; Albuquerque Journal 7/25/1921; Bridgeport (Connecticut) Telegram, 7/25/1921; (Wilmington, Delaware) Morning News, 7/26/1921; Wheeling News, 7/29/1921; Wilkes-Barre Journal 7/29/1921; Mattoon, Illinois, Journal-Gazette, 7/30/1921; Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/28/1921; Oakland (California) Tribune, 7/28/1921; Atlanta Constitution 7/31/1921; Brooklyn Citizen 8/7/1921.
Ford loathed alcohol: Halberstam, p. 69.
Firestone wrote: Firestone with Crowther, pp. 230–31. In his memoir, Firestone specifically noted that “Mr. Ford had already made his offer for Muscle Shoals [to Congress], but that we did not talk about—we kept away from everything personal.”
Clara Ford, Mina Edison, and Idabelle Firestone received a typed, polite message: Thomas Edison National Historical Park archives.
They’d been invited to camp: My description of the Swallow Falls camp and the Vagabonds’ experiences there is drawn from “Edison, Ford and Firestone Travel Through Allegany County in the Summer of 1921,” an excellent eight-part series by Francis Champ Zumbrun posted on the Maryland Department of Natural Resources website (dnr.maryland.gov). I also interviewed Zumbrun in person.
Mina Edison wrote a letter to her son: Thomas Edison National Historical Park archives.
Ford discussed his hopes for Muscle Shoals: St. Paul News, 7/29/1921; Boston Herald, 7/29/1921.
Edison also spoke with the press in Oakland: Bismarck Tribune, 8/4/1921; Portland (Maine) Herald, 8/8/1921.
a third member of the party asked to speak with them: Paterson (New Jersey) Press-Guardian, 8/1/1921; Freeport (Illinois) Journal-Standard, 8/1/1921; Portsmouth (Ohio) Daily Times, 8/4/1921.
Two Scouts, Macon and Joseph Fry, decided to see: Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Morning Herald, 8/6/1921.
Bickel described the scene: Baltimore Sun, 8/2/1921; Franklin (Pennsylvania) News-Herald, 8/2/1921.
The Chicago Tribune wrote a new editorial about its old antagonist: Chicago Tribune, 8/4/1921.
CHAPTER EIGHT: INTERLUDE: NOVEMBER 1921–JUNE 1923
I found intriguing information about Ford’s bid for Muscle Shoals, and his interest in the presidency, in Ford: The Men and the Machine by Robert Lacey. I recommend it to everyone interested in Henry Ford.
I’m aware that this chapter is almost entirely Ford-centric, with Edison only briefly mentioned and Firestone just once. But in this interlude between the 1921 and 1923 trips, Ford was the most active.
Henry Ford and Thomas Edison took another trip together: New York Times, 11/23/1921, 12/3/1921.
Ford ordered his publicity department to conduct: Lacey, pp. 211–13.
Ford began privately mentioning his intentions: Ibid., p. 213.
Ford’s employment philosophy had been: Robert Casey interview; Watts, pp. 199–214; Baldwin, Henry Ford and the Jews, pp. 36–43; Bryan, pp. 27–81; Brinkley, pp. 169–75; Benson Ford Research Center, Acc. 423, Box 1.
Ford was more hands-on: Baldwin, Henry Ford and the Jews, pp. 164–65.
Ford was also preoccupied: Lacey, pp. 210–11.
Edison was in regular touch: Thomas Edison National Historical Park archives.
Edison spent considerable time: Benson Ford Research Center, Acc. 1630, Box 5; Israel, pp. 457–59; DeGraaf, pp. 207–9; interviews with Leonard DeGraaf and Paul Israel.
Only three years earlier: Pete Davies, American Road: The Story of an Epic Transcontinental Journey at the Dawn of the Motor Age, p. 2.
Products like Coleman stoves: Sutter, Driven Wild, pp. 32–33.
Fortune magazine would conclude: Ibid., p. 37.
Beginning in 1922, the free camps: Belasco, pp. 105–13.
another form of traffic became common: Guinn, pp. 18–19.
just over 44 percent of American residences had electricity: Historical Statistics of the United States, p. 510.
registered Klan membership in Indiana: Leonard J. Moore, Citizen Klansman: The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, 1921–1928, p. 27; James H. Madison, A Lynching in the Heartland: Race and Memory in America, pp. 38–39.
in early 1923 there were the first exposures: John Dean, Warren G. Harding, pp. 138–44.
Even without him announcing his candidacy: Albion, p. 108; Russell, p. 564; Baldwin, Henry Ford and the Jews, p. 165.
CHAPTER NINE: 1923
Much of this chapter is based on newspaper articles. If the dates of some stories follow by several days (or even more) the events being described, bear in mind that wire service reports were often received and printed by far-flung publications as late as a week after being initially written and filed by correspondents. I also drove the Vagabonds’ route in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and can vouch that the weather there in August is usually blisteringly hot. From President Harding’s death to the unseasonably rainy, chilly weather, everything seemed to go against them on this, their next-to-last trip.
In a July 19 letter, he urged Edison: Thomas Edison National Historical Park archives.
Some articles speculated about destination and duration: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Evening News, 7/31/1923; Lancaster, Ohio, Eagle-Gazette, 7/31/1923; Washington Post, 8/1/1923; St. Louis Star and Times, 8/1/1923.
Some wire service reports speculated: Akron, Ohio, Beacon Journal, 8/4/1923.
Edison was in a fine mood: Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, 8/3/1923.
The inventor was still cheery: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Evening News, 8/3/1923; Harrisburg
(Pennsylvania) Telegraph, 8/3/1923.
“As the first dismay at the news”: Francis Russell, The Shadow of Blooming Grove: Warren G. Harding in His Times, p. 594.
Florence Kling Harding was receiving friends: Pittsburgh Press, 8/8/1923; Modesto (California) Evening News, 8/8/1923; Logansport (Indiana) Pharos-Tribune, 8/10/1923; Detroit Free Press, 8/10/1923; Lincoln Evening Journal, 8/10/1923; Belvidere (Illinois) Daily Republican, 8/10/1923; Waxahachie (Texas) Daily Light, 8/10/1923; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/11/1923; Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/11/1923; Louisville Courier-Journal, 8/11/1923.
Ford spoke more seriously to a reporter: New York Times, 8/11/1923; Franklin (Pennsylvania) News-Herald, 8/11/1923; New Castle (Pennsylvania) News, 8/11/1923; Wall Street Journal, 8/13/1923.
Edison was more philosophical: Battle Creek Enquirer, 8/11/1923; New York Times, 8/11/1923; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/11/1923.
The next day, birth rather than death: Cincinnati Enquirer, 8/12/1923; New York Times, 8/12/1923; Port Huron, Michigan, Times Herald, 8/13/1923.
it was far from Ford’s description: Hamilton, Ohio, Journal News, 8/10/1923.
Ford didn’t say he wouldn’t run: Rochester, New York, Democrat and Chronicle, 8/19/1923; Alexandria, Louisiana, Weekly Town Talk, 8/25/1923.
Ford briefly spoke to the media again: Decatur (Illinois) Herald, 8/21/1923.
Coolidge and his advisors were just as aware of Ford: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/21/1923; Helena, Montana, Independent Record, 8/22/1923; Waco (Texas) News Tribune, 8/27/1923.
His nickname for Clara was “the Believer”: Benson Ford Research Center, Acc. 1117, Box 1.
Clara waved the girls away: Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern, 8/21/1923; Washington Post, 8/22/1923; New York Times, 8/22/1923; Indianapolis Star, 8/22/1923; Battle Creek Enquirer, 8/22/1923.
there was a follow-up story: New York Times, 8/25/1923.
Mina Edison composed another letter: Thomas Edison National Historical Park archives.
Edison’s brief observations about his best friend’s interest: Akron Beacon Journal, 8/9/1923; Detroit Free Press, 8/10/1923.
Two months after the August 1923 trip: New York Times, 10/18/1923.
The headlines expressed more urgency: Battle Creek Enquirer, 8/22/1923; Santa Ana (California) Register, 8/22/1923.
On Thursday, the New York Times assured readers: New York Times, 8/23/1923.
Other publications were less optimistic: Ironwood (Michigan) Daily Globe, 8/23/1923; Arizona Republic, 8/23/1923; Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal-Gazette, 8/23/1923.
On Friday, August 24, the party toured Ford’s lumber mill: Lebanon (Pennsylvania) Semi-Weekly News, 8/23/1923; Brauer, pp. 205–6.
At the Sault Ste. Marie locks: Mattoon, Illinois, Journal-Gazette, 8/27/1923; Detroit Free Press, 8/27/1923; Los Angeles Times, 8/27/1923.
Firestone sent a chatty letter to Edison: Thomas Edison National Historical Park.
It happened quickly: DeGraaf, pp. 118–19.
In his return letter, he told Firestone so: Thomas Edison National Historical Park.
Radio flourished at such a rapid rate: Robert Dallek, Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life, pp. 102–3.
He would not seek the presidency: Baldwin, Henry Ford and the Jews, p. 185; Amity Shlaes, Coolidge, p. 274. Shlaes writes that Ford’s decision disappointed the Democrats, who hoped to match him against Coolidge. I believe that if Ford had run for president in 1924, he would have done so as a Republican.
CHAPTER TEN: 1924
Again, newspapers account for the majority of the information in this chapter, but those stories are supplemented by interviews with William Jenney, director of the President Calvin Coolidge Historic Site at Plymouth Notch, Vermont; Matthew Powers, director of the Woodstock Historical Society in Woodstock, Vermont; and Richard Candee, director of the Portsmouth Historical Society in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. One additional observation—after visiting the town, I really want to live in Woodstock.
Henry Ford was mostly disdainful of books: Halberstam, p. 72.
Ford fixated on even the smallest details: I learned of Ford’s pocket notes during my interview with Ford Motor Company historian Robert Kreipke. I subsequently found them in an apparently unnumbered file folder at the Benson Ford Research Center. If you ask to see them, the very efficient staff there will locate them for you.
Clara Ford said she “would not be up to it”: Edison Research Park archives.
He scribbled his approval in the margin: Ibid.
Edison applied for and received 1,093 patents: edison.rutgers.edu/patents.htm.
in February 1924, a much discussed study: New York Times, 2/17/1924.
Every Ford dealer in the nation received: Houston Chronicle, 7/18/1924.
Ford’s stubbornness gave competitors: Brinkley, pp. 339–43; Robert Casey interview; Watts, p. 246; Halberstam, p. 97.
the Model T was no longer the near-exclusive vehicle of choice: Belasco, pp. 113–19.
It would be a Wednesday, August 13, gala: Brauer, pp. 215–17; Firestone with Crowther, pp. 234–35.
The gathering was hugely successful: New York Times, 8/14/1924; Detroit Free Press, 8/14/1924.
after-dinner entertainment was provided: Firestone with Crowther, pp. 235–36.
Firestone’s son Russell drove to Plymouth: William Jenney interview; New York World, 8/19/1924.
the worrisome spread of Ku Klux Klan influence: Ibid.
The inventor sent a succinct, heartfelt telegram: Edison Research Park archives.
On Monday, Edison, Ford, and Harvey and Russell Firestone drove: Brauer; pp. 218–19; Firestone, p. 236.
they drove on to Plymouth Notch: Detroit Free Press, 8/19, and 8/20/1924; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Evening News, 8/19/1924; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 8/19 and 8/20/1924; Monroe, Louisiana, News-Star, 8/19/1924; Hamilton, Ohio, Journal News, 8/19/1924; Los Angeles Times, 8/19 and 8/20/1924; Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin Daily Tribune, 8/19 and 8/20/1924; Bryan, Texas, Eagle, 8/19/1924; Arizona Daily Star, 8/19/1924; Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/19/1924; Washington Post, 8/19 and 8/20/1924; Corsicana, Texas, Daily Sun, 8/19/1924; Burlington, Vermont, Free Press, 8/19 and 8/20/1924; Dunkirk, New York, Evening Observer, 8/19/1924; Elwood, Indiana, Call-Leader, 8/19 and 8/20/1924; Anniston (Alabama) Star, 8/19/1924; Cincinnati Enquirer, 8/19 and 8/20/1924; Chicago Daily Tribune, 8/19 and 8/20/1924; New York Times, 8/19, 20, and 24/1924; Santa Ana, California, Register, 8/19/1924; Medford, Oregon, Mail Tribune, 8/19/1924; Baltimore Sun, 8/19/1924; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/19–20, 22/1924; Pittsburgh Daily Post, 8/20/1924; Boston Morning Globe, 8/20/1924; Wall Street Journal, 8/20/1924; Indianapolis News, 8/23/1924; William Jenney interview; Novick, p. 358; Conot, p. 341; Shlaes, p. 307; Firestone with Crowther, pp. 236–37; Brauer, pp. 219–25. Brauer gives George Chalmers’s age as twelve, but according to newspapers the boy was nine. The oaken sap bucket given to Ford by Coolidge was displayed for a time at the Wayside Inn. It is now part of the collection at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.
they stopped at a hotel in Woodstock, Vermont: Matthew Powers interview.
They weren’t expected in Portsmouth until the next morning: This is my personal opinion.
Ford spoke instead: Portsmouth Herald, 8/20/1924.
Around eleven on Wednesday morning: Brauer, p. 225.
the glory of its benefits: Hubbard, “Henry Ford and the Agricultural Depression of 1920–1921,” pp. 195–212.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: JEP BISBEE IS FAMOUS
Firestone called on Edison in New Jersey: Bryan, pp. 39–40.
In it he declared that the Vagabonds had mutually decided: Firestone with Crowther, p. 188.
There is some discrepancy regarding the amounts: Israel, pp. 451–52; Stross, pp. 378–79.
called Firestone “a goddamned lightweight”: Stross.
for the first time since its 1908 introduction: Watts, p. 246; Halberstam, p. 97; H. W. Brands, Reagan: The Life, p. 16.
another car for the great multitudes: Watts, pp. 366–75; Brinkley, pp
. 346–62; Baldwin, Henry Ford and the Jews, pp. 224–26; Bryson, p. 251.
Ford also parted ways with the Dearborn Independent: Baldwin, Henry Ford and the Jews, pp. 214–22; Watts, pp. 390–97; Bryson, p. 242.
he wrote the inventor a chatty letter: Edison Research Park archives.
Ford selected a site in Dearborn: Brinkley, pp. 365–67; Watts, pp. 404–15.
Edison was guest of honor: Benson Ford Research Center, Acc. 1630, Box 6; DeGraaf, pp. 226–27; Stross, pp. 281–82.
he gave public credit for the first time: Conot, pp. 444–45.
There was to be no official Edison memoir: Ibid., p. 462.
Edison’s family held a lingering grudge: Smoot, pp. 232–33; Stross, p. 257.
The media described the bloody melee: Watts, p. 444–46, 455; Brinkley, pp. 383, 390–92.
the mayor of Fort Myers withdrew a proposal: Washington Post, 10/10/2014.
Ford’s physicians detected signs of dementia in him: Watts, p. 502.
One observer recalled Ford: Ibid., p. 528.
It had been nearly two months: Battle Creek Enquirer, 8/18 and 23/1923; Paul Gifford, “Jasper E. ‘Jep’ Bisbee—Old-Time Michigan Dance Fiddler,” The Old-Time Herald, Winter 2004–2005; New York Times, 10/13/1923, 8/11/1935; Big Rapids (Michigan) Pioneer, 11/22/1923.
Thanks to the internet, it is possible to listen to some of the 1923 recordings made by Jep Bisbee in Edison’s New Jersey studio. As they once did for Henry Ford, these tunes will set your toes a’tappin’.
Bibliography
BOOKS
Albion, Michele Wehrwein. The Florida Life of Thomas Edison. University Press of Florida, 2008.
Amero, Richard W. Balboa Park and the 1915 Exposition. History Press, 2013.
Baldwin, Neil. Edison: Inventing the Century. Hyperion, 1995.
———. Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate. PublicAffairs, 2008.
Barrus, Clara. The Heart of Burroughs’s Journals. Kennikat Press, 1928.
Barry, John M. The Great Influenza. Penguin, 2009.
Belasco, Warren James. Americans on the Road: From Autocamp to Motel. MIT Press, 1979.
