Introduction
The film, The Men Who Built America, demonstrates the manner in which five excellent innovators engaged in the betterment of America with their inventiveness, in addition to business undertakings. The five characters that the film concentrates on for dissimilar industrial involvements encompass Henry Ford, John Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie (The men who built America).
The character of Henry Ford in the film is evident after 1896; a time when Theodore Roosevelt disbands the extant monopolies in the era of William McKinley, the United States president who suffered assassination in 1901. Henry Ford, an engineer, devises an automobile prior to venturing in the automobile trade when the rest of the group had ventured in other sectors such as transport, petroleum, steel, and electric power. The film ends with a section where Henry is extending his automobile firm and setting a good example for other businesses.
Character of Henry Ford
The role of Henry Ford in the film is evident since from his early life, he was seen as a repairperson following the reassembly of a watch he broke apart. Such zeal in engineering is apparent all through the progression of the film. Henry, along with his colleague trailblazers, saved America from a deteriorating political situation subsequent to the civil warfare and led to its being a triumphant entrepreneurial country.
The undertakings of Henry are dissimilar from that of the others since he gets into the trade at a time that monopoly was being faced out. Even though Henry encountered some difficulties while seeking the registration of the firm, he afterwards found a way of campaigning for a free market in the automobile industry (The men who built America).
Henry had a vision for a secure and inexpensive mode of transport for the people of America. He could dedicate all his efforts in the experimentation and research of the most excellent resolution for the middle class individuals in America. Being an engineer, Henry had adequate time and skills to design and experiment his initial automobile, the Ford Quadricycle, in 1893 at Edison Illuminating Company. Attributable to the motivation from his employers and his determination to offer a cheap way of transport for the Americans, he designed another automobile in 1898.
In 1899, Henry got the opportunity to join Detroit Automobile Company, but did not stay there for long as he considered the type of automobiles made by the company very expensive and that could have hindered him from actualizing his dream. Henry’s decision was completely in line with the market policies of that time, which permitted a free market where any trader or customer could enter and leave at will.
Henry ventured into the automobile sector fully in 1901 at a time that he joined hands with a number of stakeholders from Detroit Automobile Company to form the Henry Ford Company. From 1903 to 1908, Henry Ford Company designed nine dissimilar models of automobiles, where model N emerged as the most suitable of all (The men who built America). This led to the designing of Model T, also called Tin Lizzie.
In the final section of the film, Henry made the most reasonably priced vehicle and founded the Ford Motor Company. The automobile got into records as the highest purchased by the majority of the middle class people in America due to its low cost. During its designing, the target market of Henry was the middle class residents of America, and he did everything possible to reduce the production prices of the automobile such as having his assembly line. Attributable to the great demand for Model T, the vehicle assembly line of Henry turned into the initial moving assembly in the United States (The men who built America).
Ford’s assembly line generated many employment opportunities for the Americans and even doubled the existing compensation for the workers. Job creation is as well a section of developing the economy because it contributes constructively to the national revenue. The actualization of Henry’s ideas played a key role in boosting the Gross Domestic Product of the United States. A working nation at all times has the capacity of controlling its resources with the citizens paying taxes, decreasing overdependence, and improving the living conditions of the residents.
With other automobiles in the market, the Model T by Henry was named the most influential automobile across the globe in the twentieth century with respect to its availability and low-cost. The triumph of Ford in the transport industry was backed by his approach to business where he encouraged competition amid the automobile businesses. This resulted in Ford being the most conspicuous of all players in the sector. In the starting sections of the film, there are other innovators seen doing everything within their means to predominate the sector after venturing in it.
This is evident when a number of the businesspersons finance the presidential campaigns to benefit from monopoly trade. While working in other automobile businesses, Ford was not satisfied due to his partners and employers targeting high profits irrespective of the orders they could receive. Their aim was to make as much money as possible, but this could deter Ford from realizing his dream.
The Men Who Built America evidently illustrates Henry Ford as a person who had a dream and who was determined to do anything achievable to realize it; this encompassed resigning and separating himself from other automobile innovators stimulated by money. Because of the great demand for electric power, steel, petroleum products, and employment opportunities, it was the prime time for America to arise and develop thanks to the five highly regarded innovators.
The rates of production in every sector improved and innovative methods of production kept being achieved after Ford setting the trend for them. To the American citizens, transportation no longer posed difficulties since Ford offered the most excellent and affordable automobiles. Building America was simple with the efforts of the five innovators since their endeavours cut across every sector. Ford is deemed a great builder of America since he made transportation for the American citizens achievable; transportation is a major aspect of development for any nation (The men who built America).
Conclusion
The role of Ford was a major and determined contributor towards the building of America. The affordability of automobiles offered American citizens ease in travelling, transporting their products, and carrying out businesses. Ford generated job opportunities for many American citizens in his company, in addition to his assembly line. Employment is a critical aspect in the development of a country because it contributes to the revenues of the country via taxation, in addition to personal income via the paid remuneration and wages.
Ford solved a great problem of movement and transportation for the American residents as portrayed in the film since transportation greatly aids development. The film is significant to the Americans due to its inspiration as from the efforts of the five innovators America developed to the present super power. The lesson learned is that it is not merely the responsibility of the government to develop a nation as the efforts and determinations of the citizenry have greater reaching positive impacts.
Works Cited
The men who built America 2012. Web.