Henry Ford II (September 4, 1917 – September 29, 1987), known as "Hank the Deuce," was an American businessman who worked in the automotive industry. He was the oldest son of Edsel Ford I and the oldest grandson of Henry Ford. He was president of the Ford Motor Company from 1945 to 1960, chief executive officer (CEO) from 1947 to 1979, and chairman of the board of directors from 1960 to 1980. During his leadership, Ford Motor Company became a publicly traded corporation in 1956. From 1943 to 1950, he also worked as president of the Ford Foundation.

Early life and education

Henry Ford II was born on September 4, 1917, in Detroit, Michigan, to Eleanor Clay Ford and Edsel Ford. He grew up with his brothers Benson and William and his sister Josephine in a wealthy environment. He graduated from The Hotchkiss School in 1936. He attended Yale University, where he worked on the business team of The Yale Record, the campus humor magazine, but left in 1940 before graduating. During this time, he became a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity.

His niece, Sheila Ford Hamp, who is the daughter of William Ford, is the current owner of the National Football League's Detroit Lions. His brother, William Ford, was the principal owner of the team from 1963 until his death in 2014. After William's death, his wife, Martha Firestone Ford, managed the franchise until she passed it to Sheila in 2020.

Career

When Henry Ford II's father, Edsel Ford, who was president of Ford Motor Company, died of cancer in May 1943 during World War II, Henry Ford II was serving in the U.S. Navy and could not immediately take over as president of the family-owned business. At the time, Henry Ford I, the company's founder, was old and unwell. He decided to return to the presidency, even though many directors believed he was no longer mentally capable of leading the company. For 20 years before this, Henry Ford I had not held an official executive title, but he still had real influence over the company. The board of directors and managers had never challenged him, and this situation did not change. The directors elected him as president, and he remained in that role until the end of the war. During this time, the company faced financial difficulties, losing more than $10 million each month (equivalent to $230,000,000 in 2025). The U.S. government considered buying the company to ensure continued war production, but the plan was never carried out.

Henry Ford II left the Navy in July 1943 and joined the company's management a few weeks later. He became president on September 21, 1945. It was expected that Edsel Ford would remain president for many years, so Henry Ford II had not received much training for the role. He inherited the company during a difficult time: European factories had been heavily damaged during the war, the company was losing money, and sales in the United States were declining.

Henry Ford II quickly took charge of the company. One of his first actions was to appoint John Bugas to lead management and to remove many of his grandfather's close advisors, including Harry Bennett, who had been in charge of security at Ford's large Rouge Plant since 1921. Bennett had also been involved in efforts to prevent unionization of Ford workers, sometimes using force. Henry Ford II also hired experienced executives to help him, such as Ernest Breech and Lewis Crusoe from the Bendix Corporation. Breech became a key mentor to Henry Ford II, and together with Crusoe, they formed the foundation of Ford's business expertise.

Ford also hired ten young, promising individuals known as the "Whiz Kids," who were selected from a team of statisticians in the Army Air Forces. Ford hoped they would help the company innovate and stay modern. Two of them, Arjay Miller and Robert McNamara, later became presidents of Ford. Another, J. Edward Lundy, held important financial roles for many years and helped build Ford Finance into a major global operation. The "Whiz Kids" are best known for designing the 1949 Ford, which was produced in just 19 months and helped restore Ford's reputation as a strong automotive company. On the day it was introduced, the company received 100,000 orders for the car.

Henry Ford II became president and CEO of Ford Motor Company in 1945. In 1956, the company became a publicly traded corporation and built a new world headquarters. During his time as CEO, he lived in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. In 1960, he became chairman of the company and later resigned as president and CEO in 1979 and 1980, respectively. His nephew, William Clay Ford Jr., eventually took over the positions after 20 years of non-Ford family leadership. During this time, Henry Ford II's brother, William Clay Ford Sr., his son Edsel Ford II, and his nephew William Clay Ford Jr. represented the Ford family on the company's board.

In the early 1960s, Ford tried to buy the Ferrari company to expand Ford's presence in motorsports, especially at the Le Mans 24 Hours race. However, the deal failed because of disagreements over control of Ferrari's racing division. After the failed deal, Ford started the Ford GT40 project to challenge Ferrari's success at Le Mans, where Ferrari had won six times in a row from 1960 to 1965. In 1966, after two difficult years, the GT40 Mark IIs achieved top-three finishes at both the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours before winning Le Mans for the first of four consecutive years.

In the late 1960s, Ford personally supported the development of the Lincoln Continental Mark III. He approved the final design of the car's exterior and interior, which helped make Lincoln profitable and sparked a long competition between Lincoln's Mark series and Cadillac's Eldorado series. Ford also reorganized the company's European operations by combining the British and German subsidiaries into a single entity called Ford of Europe, with shared products and manufacturing. In the 1970s, Ford of Europe expanded with new factories in Saarlouis and Valencia, the latter becoming one of Ford's largest plants outside the United States.

In 1973–74, as the U.S. car market began favoring smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, Ford's president at the time, Lee Iacocca, wanted to buy engines from Honda Motor Company to help develop a small Ford car for the North American market. Ford II rejected the idea, saying, "No car with my name on the hood is going to have a Jap engine inside." Although Ford had sold a Mazda pickup truck as the Ford Courier since 1971, Ford II did not want flagship passenger cars to follow that path. Despite Ford II's resistance, Ford Motor Company eventually adapted to the global automobile industry, working closely with companies like Mazda. However, Iacocca believed Ford lagged behind competitors like General Motors and Chrysler due to Ford II's influence.

Henry Ford II's leadership caused the company's fortunes to rise and fall. For example, the company's initial public offering in 1956 raised $650 million (equivalent to $7.7 billion in 2025), but the "Edsel" car program, launched during his time, nearly cost the company half that amount. Ford II also hired Lee Iacocca in 1964, who played a key role in the success of the Ford Mustang, but fired him in 1978 due to personal disagreements. Iacocca later said Ford II had said, "Sometimes you just don't like somebody," and Iacocca responded, "If a guy is over 25 percent a jerk, he's in trouble. And Henry was 95 percent."

Henry Ford II officially retired from Ford Motor Company on October 1, 1982, when he reached the company's mandatory retirement age of 65. However, he remained the ultimate authority at Ford until his death in 1987.

Awards and achievements

• In 1969, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon B. Johnson
• In 1983, was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame

Personal life

Henry Ford II was married three times:

• Anne McDonnell (1919–1996), a child of James Francis McDonnell. They married in 1940 and ended their marriage in 1964. The Fords had three children, including Edsel Ford II.
• Maria Cristina Vettore (1929–2008), previously married to Robin Willoughby Merivale Austin, a Canadian who served in the British Royal Navy. She and Ford married in New York City in 1965 and ended their marriage in 1980.
• Kathleen DuRoss (born Kathleen Roberta King, 1940–2020). She and Ford married in Carson City, Nevada, in 1980. Through this marriage, Ford became the stepfather to two daughters.

Ford died from pneumonia in Detroit at Henry Ford Hospital on September 29, 1987, at age 70. After a private funeral service at Christ Church Grosse Pointe, his body was cremated, and the ashes were scattered.

Legacy

• The Henry Ford II World Center is the official name of the Ford World Headquarters located in Dearborn, Michigan.
• The Henry Ford II Honors Program is the official name of the honors program at Henry Ford College.
• Henry Ford II High School, located in Sterling Heights, Michigan, is named in his honor.

Filmography

• The Ford 50th Anniversary Show (1953) – Broadcast live on CBS and NBC. Described as an important event in television history and an important moment in the culture of the 1950s.
• Thunderball (1965) – Extra at the Nassau Casino (not credited in the film).

In popular culture

In the 2019 movie Ford v Ferrari (known as Le Mans '66 in some European countries), Henry Ford II is played by actor Tracy Letts. He appears in a few scenes in the 2002 film Monday Night Mayhem. Images of him are also shown in the documentary television series The Cars that Built America.