Henry Ford and The Fall of Fordlandia

America in the 1920’s is marked for its booming industrialization and rise in societal changes led by Henry Ford and his automobile company. Ford’s name was globally well-known and he was deemed the richest man alive at this time, which enabled him with much societal influence and international trading abilities. His business generated a wealthy economy and was known for the fair treatment of workers. Henry Ford was well-recognized and respected in America for his introduction of the assembly line which revolutionized car production and created his business into one of the largest companies in the world. Ford’s reputational downfall came after his business-oriented expansion to Brazil, which was hindered by his American ideology and lack of worldly and historical knowledge. Fordlandia is a prime example of how American capitalism is an agent of foreign policy and without proper knowledge on expansionism, can easily lead to the destruction of foreign economy and harmony in civilization. As proved again and again throughout history, the American ideology of expansionism aimed to replicate an American society is not successful and leads to disasters overseas.

In 1928, Henry Ford’s lucrative automotive business was lacking a crucial component to the monopoly overall auto parts, which was rubber. Britain held the leading export of rubber which inflated costs on Ford’s new Model A cars that were produced that year. After a previous failure to expand his business in Alabama, Ford came in contact with Dionísio Bentes, the governor of the Brazilian state of Pará when he was visiting the United States. Ford was interested in the Amazon jungle that previously led global rubber production and contained easy exports through the Amazon River. For what he saw to be a great business deal, Ford acted on this opportunity and after negotiations, purchased an area named ‘Boa Vista’ of around two and a half million acres. Ford had two main interests in Brazil with this deal – a cheap source of latex that would allow the Ford Motor Company to produce Ford brand tires and the creation of an American- style utopian city in his new land of Brazil, named from then on Fordlandia.

Upon arrival, the realities of the Amazon jungle hit Ford’s skilled team of conquers. They were tasked with months clearing the Amazon to reach their site, which was pestered with foreign diseases, insects, animals, and world-realizations. Problems arose due to the geography of the site and the lack of botanical knowledge of the Amazon. The land was rocky and infertle and the lumber of the Amazon was unusable for their tasks. They needed to build a water source and pipes to obtain it miles away. Diseases struck most of the workers upon arrival. Supplies arrived weeks after arrival. After dealing with the initial problems, Fordlandia was attempted to be built with everything Ford believed it would need to be successful based on his functioning well-oiled Machine back at home in Detroit, Michigan. The site was equipped with large industrial buildings, water tanks, even a large bell tower to signal workers of the beginning and end of their workday. They built American-style homes as commodities to its employees. The amazonian landscape was torn to shreds and was overwhelmed with insects which were detrimental to the growth of rubber trees. Furthermore, the buildings were not built to be suitable for Amazonian weather and contractors were on the hunt for new materials to sustain the intense heat and humidity. After this, the company quickly hired an army of workers based on false promises of home accommodations and a high pay rate.

Although Ford’s industry prided itself on fair treatment of workers and high pay rates, the realities of segregated work, racism, mistreatment of workers, and serious authoritarian-style management became apparent in the new Ford industry of Fordlandia. The Brazilain workers were forced to live in American-style homes yet had different designated social scenes and privileges than the American workers. In the worker’s cafe, their place of eating, skilled workers and supervisors were separated from manual laborers, which was a clear power imbalance and high degree of segregation which upset most employees. Furthermore, Brazilian men were blinded by the promise of healthcare, which turned out to be scheduled medication for pesticides or worms which doctors did not check for before prescription – probably based on their racist determination of the men as diseased. There were apparent privileges for skilled American workers with high-rank status, such as alcohol and prostitutes funded by the Ford corporation. In 1928, riots broke out for the first time at Fordlandia, but were overturned leaving the site militarily equipped and fear-struck. The most significant uproar due to the mistreatment they faced was in 1930. Preceding this detrimental riot, the workers café underwent a large change from waiters serving their food to a cafeteria-style dinner, which upset many employees and may have been the last straw. On December 20th in the workers’ café, an argument between supervisor Kaj Ostenfield and Manuel Caetano, ahead Brazilian worker emerged. Kaj Ostenfield and his support of American employees fled the scene back to America with the help of the Brazilian military. This argument escalated into an overthrow of the corporation by the Brazilian workforce and $25,000 worth of damages to the site.

Back at home, the Ford Company was also declining and the American economy was in shambles. The Ford industry’s automotive profits were almost cut in half by 1945. More in-depth and personal, Henry Ford’s real persona emerged, validating his racist actions with his support for Antisemitism in World War II Germany and his continuous mistreatment of workers at home. Again, Ford promised increased pay for workers only to then cut their hours in half. He belittled Brazilian employees and American policymakers on news channels and even spoke against a change in foreign policy by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the newly elected American President. The Great Depression was in full effect in the 1940s, where employment was at an all-time low, people were starving, and suicide rates skyrocketed. Even in the 1940s, Ford attempted a few times more to rebuild his utopian fantasy. After continuous failure, in November 1945, the Americans picked up and left. Without surprise, they existed with the same cowardly behavior they arrived with, without a prior notice of leaving and without cleaning up their mess. In attempts to bring light and support to society, a notable restoration to society stemmed from a man named Diego Rivera, a muralist who captured the feelings of American society at that time. Funded mainly by Edsel Ford in attempts to repair the damages to society’s morale, Rivera’s murals changed the negative perspective on industrialization that most Americans held at this time. His artwork “revealed an appreciation for the millennia it took to produce both the raw materials and the human labor needed to make a Ford car”. Along with this subconscious change in perspective for the Ford industry, the murals brought beauty back to Michigan.

In conclusion, much can be learned from the American corporation advancements in Brazil. The first lesson is that American ideology and viewpoint on how life “should be” conducted does not work in other cultures. The people of Brazil resented the Americans for their pretentious attitudes and racist attitudes. They were forced to live in American- style homes, eat American-style food, and work on American time. They resented all management for these cultural impositions. On top of that, they were fed false promises by Ford’s corporation and were worked and treated like slaves day in and day out. Another lesson to be learned is that extensive research must be done in the geology and geography of a new area before attempting to revolutionize it. Ford lacked the agricultural knowledge to build rubber cultivation plants in the Amazon, which led to disaster from the start. Third, a language barrier creates a power imbalance in other societies. Because the American employees were ignorant of the Brazilian language, they mocked them for their language and never obtained proper communication. Henry Ford’s ideas about capitalism and American Society completely exploited both the land and culture of Brazil. He stripped them of their natural landscape and functioning way of life. By imposing foreign societal values and norms in another country, they resist American influence. Felisberto Camargo, a progressive agronomist who was tasked with cleaning up the mess of Fordlandia stated, “...the place was an ‘object lesson in applied science and a proof of human capacity in the face of a demanding and ill-understood task on the largest scale’”. Even with the most skilled workers, this plan was a recipe for disaster. For American corporations to work harmoniously with other nations, they must work together and accept their differences.