By Don Sherman
Guest Writer
The name “Independent” is a favorite for newspapers because it implies freedom from government and corporate influence. The Belleville-Area Independent began 30 years ago and has thrived with Rosemary Otzman as editor for more than 1,500 issues.
Another Detroit suburb previously used the same name. The Dearborn Independent was founded in 1901 as a weekly paper edited by Marcus Woodruff. In 1918, that publication was purchased by Ford Motor Company’s Ernest Liebold to establish what was called the Dearborn Publishing Company. Liebold’s boss and the president of this new enterprise was none other than Henry Ford.
The Ford Motor Company, founded in 1903, was Henry Ford’s third attempt at building automobiles. Considered by many to be the auto industry’s spiritual father, Ford invented the five-day work week, the $5-per-day salary for his employees, and the Model T, a car practically everyone could afford.
In January 1919, the Dearborn Independent became the Ford Motor Company’s official organ. On its masthead it was dubbed The Ford International Weekly. A regular column was titled Mr. Ford’s Page. Ford dealers were required to promote this newspaper, driving circulation to a claimed 700,000-900,000 copies. It had a 16-page format and cost five cents per issue or $1 per annum.
Unfortunately, Henry Ford had an ulterior motive: espousing antisemitism. The front page of his May 22, 1920, issue shrieked “The International Jew: The World’s Problem.” He also blamed what he called German-Jewish bankers for starting World War I.
This provocative stance prompted fervent reactions. In 1921, 100 notables including President Woodrow Wilson and ex-president William Howard Taft signed a statement titled “The Peril of Racial Prejudice,” denouncing the Dearborn Independent as un-American because of its antisemitic stance. In addition, a few large cities forbade the paper’s sale.
Following a $1-million libel suit brought by attorney Aaron Sapiro, the Anti-Defamation League, and B’nai B’rith, a Jewish service organization, the Dearborn Independent ceased publishing in 1927.
Henry Ford lived 20 more years. His great-grandson William Clay Ford Jr. is now the Executive Chair of the Ford Motor Company, the world’s sixth-largest automobile producer. Many Ford employees reside in Van Buren Township and enjoy the Belleville-Area Independent every week.
(Information for this story was sourced from Central Michigan University’s Clark Historical Library.)