Fordlandia (63 page)
Authors: Greg Grandin
Tags: #Industries, #Brazil, #Corporate & Business History, #Political Science, #Fordlândia (Brazil), #Automobile Industry, #Business, #Ford, #Rubber plantations - Brazil - Fordlandia - History - 20th century, #History, #Fordlandia, #Fordlandia (Brazil) - History, #United States, #Rubber plantations, #Planned communities - Brazil - History - 20th century, #Business & Economics, #Latin America, #Planned communities, #Brazil - Civilization - American influences - History - 20th century, #20th Century, #General, #South America, #Biography & Autobiography, #Henry - Political and social views
4
. Dean,
Struggle for Rubber
, p. 97; BFRC, accession 134, box 4, Camargo to Stallard, December 1, 1944; BFRC, accession 74, box 12, Plantation Reports, January 1942–December 1943; BFRC, accession 7, box 5, Belterra Monthly Progress Reports, 1941 to 1945. See also the reports in accession 74, box 13, related to Belterra.
5
. Steve Mannheim,
Walt Disney and the Quest for Community
, New York: Ashgate Publishing, 1983, p. 26; Barbara Weinstein, “Modernidade tropical: Visões norteamericanas da Amazônia nas vésperas da Guerra Fria,”
Revista do IEB
45, September 2007, pp. 153–76; “Film to Cite Riches of South America,”
New York Times
, December 30, 1941.
6
. BFRC, accession 285, box 2629.
7
. André Luiz Vieira de Campos, “International Health Policies in Brazil: The Serviço Especial de Saúde Pública, 1942–1960,” PhD dissertation, University of Texas, Austin, 1997, p. 75; BFRC, accession 6, box 74, Johnston to Wooley, October 26, 1942.
8
. Columbia University, Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection, “James G. McDonald,” “Confidential memorandum of McDonald-Ford Negotiations in Dearborn,” April 1, 1941.
9
. Brinkley,
Wheels for the World
, p. 501; Collier and Horowitz,
The Fords
, p. 161.
10
. Bennett,
We Never Called Him Henry
, p. 285; Brinkley,
Wheels for the World
, p. 478.
11
. Howard Segal, “What Bill Ford Is Learning from Great-Grandpa,” History News Network,
http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/20940.html
, January 23, 2006; Earl L. Doyle and Ruth MacFarlane,
The History of Pequaming
, Ontonagon, Mich.: Ontonagon County Historical Society, 2002, p. 167; Cleven, “Pequaming and Alberta,” p. 109.
Epilogue: Still Waiting for Henry Ford
1
. “Amazonia—A Granary Out of the Jungle,”
New York Times
, July 31, 1949; Felisberto Camargo, “Report on the Amazon Region,”
Problems of Humid Tropical Regions
, Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 1958, pp. 11–22; “Wait for the Weeping Wood,”
Time
, July 26, 1948.
2
. Dean,
Struggle for Rubber
, pp. 102, 115.
3
. Ibid., p. 115.
4
. “Brazil’s Famous City of Folly,”
Washington Post
, February 15, 1914.
5
. “Brazil’s Famous City of Folly”; Joseph Novitsky, “Boom, Bust, and Now Boom Again in Amazon Town,”
New York Times
, July 1, 1969.
6
. “Jungle Trade Zone Tries to Survive, Far from Markets in a Changing World,” Associated Press, July 5, 2005; “Brazil’s Resurgent Amazon Powerhouse,”
BBC News
, August 29, 2006.
7
. “Race to the Bottom: Mexico Lowers Wages to Snag International Auto Production,”
International Herald Tribune
, June 8, 2008; “Half of World’s Population Will Live in Cities Next Year, UN Report Says,”
International Herald Tribune
, June 27, 2007.
8
. Jeb Blount, “Ford’s Dream Lies in Decay,”
Los Angeles Times
, March 9, 1993.
9
. Rhett A. Butler, “Deforestation in the Amazon,”
http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html#cattle
(accessed May 8, 2008).
10
. “Amazon’s Rescue Reversed,”
Guardian
, January 25, 2008; Alexei Barrionuevo, “With Guns and Fines, Brazil Takes on Loggers,”
New York Times
, April 19, 2008.
11
. Monte Reel, “Brazil Pursues Crackdown on Loggers,”
Washington Post
, March 21, 2008; Tim Hirsch, “Brazilian Town at Centre of Crackdown,”
Telegraph,
March 3, 2008.
12
. Michael Smith and David Voreacos, “The Secret World of Modern Slavery,” Bloomberg.com, December 2006,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/marketsmag/modern_slavery1.html
(accessed May 12, 2008).
13
. Woods Hole Research Center Press Release, “World’s Largest Rainforest Drying Experiment Completes First Phase,”
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/whrc-wlr032105.php
.
14
. Heidi Sopinka, “Spilling the Beans on Soy,”
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/26/4832/
.
15
. Alex Bellos, “Blood Crop,”
Telegraph
, October 13, 2007,
http://
www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml/earth/2007/10/13/sm_soya.xml
&page=1
(accessed May 12, 2008).
16
. Scott Wallace, “Last of the Amazon,”
National Geographic
, January 2007, p. 70; Bellos, “Blood Crop”; Indira Lakshmanan, “Amazon Highway Is Route to Strife in Brazil,”
Boston Globe
, December 27, 2005.
17
.
http://cps.aena.br/cps_arquivos/fg/provasanteriores_arquivos/provadiscursivaturismo.pdf
(accessed May 8, 2008).
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following individuals and institutions for permission to publish images from their collections: Stephanie Lucas, Carol Whittaker, and Jim Orr of the Benson Ford Research Center at The Henry Ford (Dearborn, Michigan); Melanie Bazil of the Henry Ford Hospital; Silvia Inwood of the Detroit Institute of Arts; Matthew Westerby of The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Karen Hass of The Lane Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Jill Slaight of The New-York Historical Society; Jim Detlefsen at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum; James Dompier at Baraga County Historical Society (Michigan); John Brunton of the Devon County Council Devon Record Office (UK); and Leonardo F. Freitas.
The material appears on the following pages:
From the collection of The Henry Ford: 36, 59, 129, 137, 139, 141, 154, 172, 174, 184, 187, 190, 195, 197, 200, 207, 221, 224, 231, 255, 270, 271, 273, 274–75, 281, 282, 283, 284, 287, 288, 297, 317, 321, 322, 326
Conrad R. Lam Archives & Historical Collections of the Henry Ford Hospital: 297
Daniel Schoepf,
George Huebner 1862–1935: Un Photographe à Manaus
: 27, 29
Collection of the The New-York Historical Society: 67
Devon Record Office (reproduced by permission of the owners of the Luxmoore papers [D.5121M]): 91, 131, 215
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with permission from the Lane Collection: 248
Diego Rivera,
Detroit Industry, North Wall (detail, 1932–1933)
; Gift of Edsel B. Ford, photograph © 2001, The Detroit Institute of Arts: 250
James R. Weir,
Pathological Survey of the Para Rubber Tree
: 328
Baraga County Historical Society: 352
Leonardo F. Freitas: 368
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum: 24
First thanks go to Sara Bershtel, as ruthless a rationalizer of words as Henry Ford himself of movement. It’s a privilege, and enormous fun, to work with her. I’m also grateful to Riva Hocherman for helping to make all the right decisions and to Roslyn Schloss for her impressive copyediting skills. Megan Quirk was wonderful shepherding the book through editing and production. I want to thank Barbara Weinstein, Tom Rogers, Joel Wolfe, Seth Garfield, Bryan McCann, Karl Jacoby, Tom McCarthy, Karen Robert, Betsy Esch, and Joe Jackson for helpful discussions, leads, corrections, and suggestions. Michelle Chase, Rosalind Leveridge, Daniel Rodríguez, and Lindsey Gish assisted with key research. Susan Rabiner helped give shape to the project at its early stages and has been supportive throughout. Thanks also to the children of Fordlandia, as well as others who have memories of the project, for taking time to share them with me, including Charles Townsend, Leanor Weeks, Einar Oxholm, Raymundo Miranda, Diogo Franco, Eimar Franco, Roger Rogge, Douglas Riker, and David Riker. Gil Serique provided indispensible help navigating around the Tapajós, and for sharing the history of his family. I’m thankful for the support librarians and archivists gave me along the way, including Carol Whittaker of the Benson Ford Research Center, Melanie Bazil of the Henry Ford Hospital, and Jamie Myler of the Ford Motor Company Archives. Much appreciation also to friends and colleagues, including Marilyn Young, Sinclair Thompson, Jack Wilson, Ada Ferrer, Bob Wheeler, Steve Fraser, Molly Nolan, Corey Robin, Maureen Linker, Scott Saul, Robert Perkinson, Jolie Olcott, Laura Brahm, Deborah Levenson, Liz Oglesby, Gil Joseph, Harry Harootunian, Kristin Ross, Kieko Matteson, Carlota McAllister, Linda Gordon, Mark Weisbrot, Diane Nelson, Di Paton, Frank Goldman, Peter Brown, Gordon Lafer, Matt Hausmann, Rachel Kirtner, Debbie Poole, Gerardo Rénique, Toshi Goswami, and Tannia Goswami, for support in different ways. And Manu, who deserves thanks for this and everything. I’d like to dedicate the book to Emilia Viotti da Costa, who continues to be a wonderful teacher.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GREG GRANDIN is the author of
Empire’s Workshop, The Last Colonial Massacre,
and the award-winning
The Blood of Guatemala.
A professor of history at New York University and a Guggenheim fellow, Grandin has served on the United Nations Truth Commission investigating the Guatemalan civil war and has written for the
Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The New Statesman, The London Review of Books, Harper’s,
and
The New York Times.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION: Nothing Is Wrong with Anything
PART I: MANY THINGS OTHERWISE INEXPLICABLE
1: Under an American Flag
2: The Cow Must Go
3: Absolute Americanisms
4: That’s Where We Sure Can Get Gold
5: Fordville
6: They Will All Die
7: Everything Jake
8: When Ford Comes
PART II: LORD FORD
9: Two Rivers
10: Smoke and Ash
11: Prophesied Subjection
12: The Ford Way of Thinking
13: What Would You Give for a Good Job?
14: Let’s Wander Out Yonder
15: Kill All the Americans
PART III: RUBBER ROUGE
16: American Pastoral
17: Good Lines, Straight and True
18: Mountains of the Moon
19: Only God Can Grow a Tree
20: Standard Practices
21: Bonfire of the Caterpillars
22: Fallen Empire of Rubber
23: Tomorrow Land
EPILOGUE: Still Waiting for Henry Ford
