Question

Did Henry Ford admire Hitler?

Answer 1

Ford is something of a controversial character. On one hand, he's the automaker who created a revolution in his factories for his workers and in making the automobile available to everyone. From his pioneering efforts, he created what became the "middle class" by making it so that workers could actually afford what they were making.

On the other, and the answer to your question, he probably did respect Hitler and what he stood for at the time and was one of Hitler's early donors in the '20s.

Like Hitler, he also had very antisemitic views and had published a number of articles denouncing the Jews in the early years of his company (though he later recanted those views, but not everyone believed he was sincere). For his economic contributions to German industry, he was later awarded the Third Reich's highest honor for foreign citizens in 1938.

If you need more reading material, here's an article that covers this topic in more detail with source citations at the bottom:

http://www.traces.org/henryford.html