Thursday 9th September 1982

Henry Ford II retired from all involvement with the Ford Motor Company. When Henry Ford II, grandson and namesake of Henry Ford, succeeded his father as president of the Ford Motor Company in 1945, the firm, still recovering from the unexpected death of its president Edsel Ford, was crumbling, losing money at the rate of several million dollars a month. Fortunately for the company, Henry Ford II proved out to be an outstanding at industrial management. He quickly set about reorganising and modernising the company, firing the powerful Personnel Chief Harry Bennett, whose strong-arm tactics and anti-union stance had made Ford notorious for its bad labor relations. He also brought in new talent, including a group of former U.S. Air Force intelligence officers, among them Robert McNamara, who quickly became known as the “Whiz Kids.” During his tenure as president, Henry Ford II nursed the Ford Motor Company back to health, greatly expanding its international operations and introducing two classic models, the Mustang and the Thunderbird. But, by 1982, the industrial management genius had become tired of the schedule that was demanded of the corporate president.