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Henry Ford is mostly remembered for the
Model T, mass production and the five-dollar day, which doubled his
worker’s pay. But he should equally be remembered for his extensive
soybean experimentation and research into plastics – his last great
achievement and the work that delighted him most.
Ford grew up on a farm near Detroit and
developed a lifelong interest in improving the lot of the farmer. As
early as 1907 he experimented with a motorized tractor that he called an
"automobile plow." During the 1910’s and 1920’s Ford
designed and built the Fordson tractor.
In early 1928 Ford became interested in
a new agricultural concept – farm chemurgy, which put chemistry and
allied sciences to work for agriculture. The auto king was chiefly
interested in finding new industrial uses for farm crops, although he
also hoped to find new ways to use crops for food.
In 1929 Ford established a laboratory
in Dearborn and began experiments to determine which plants or legumes
offered the most promise. After extensive research, he decided in 1931
to focus attention on the soybean, rich in versatile oil, high in
protein and with a residual fiber amenable to many uses.
Simultaneously, Ford directed Eugene
Richards, a company representative in China, to investigate Chinese
soybean processing methods. After visiting a Dalien bean factory,
Richards reported on the factory’s equipment and procedures, noting
that its workers toiled in the nude. Ford’s subsequent River Rouge
Soybean Processing Plant borrowed ideas from the Chinese, although not
their casual dress policy.
In 1932 and 1933 Ford planted three
hundred varieties of soybeans on some eight thousand acres of his farms.
He also urged Michigan farmers to follow suit, assuring them that the
Ford Motor Company would provide a market for soybeans. By 1933 his
experimentation-on which he spent $1.2 million – was rewarded with the
discovery of a soybean oil that made a superior enamel for painting
automobiles and for oiling casting molds and a soybean meal that was
molded into the horn button.
The discoveries excited Ford. "By
now," Fortune magazine reported in late 1933, "he is as much
interested in the soya bean as he is in the V-8. "Two years later,
a bushel of soybeans went into the paint, horn button, gearshift knob,
door handles, window trim, accelerator pedal and timing gears of every
Ford car. Numerous other small parts of the Ford car eventually were
made of soybean-derived material.
By late 1937 Ford’s research
laboratory, under the direction of youthful, self-trained Robert Boyer,
had developed a curved plastic sheet Ford hoped would replace steel in
automobile bodies. A few weeks later the magnate called in reporters,
jumped up and down on the unbending sheet and triumphantly exclaimed,
"If that was steel, it would have caved in." He added
"Almost all new cars will soon be made of such things as
soybeans" and that the most prosperous era in American history was
"just around the corner" because industry was opening up a
"whole new field for agricultural by-products."
 By 1940 Boyer installed a plastic trunk
lid on one of Ford’s personal cars. The industrialist delighted in
walloping the lid with an axe for the benefit of skeptics who questioned
its dent resistance. He then invited onlookers to swing the axe against
their own cars. In November 1940 Ford again startled reporters with his
axe demonstration and predicted that his company would be mass-producing
"plastic-bodied" automobiles within one to three years,
"I wouldn’t be surprised," he declared, "if our
[soybean research] laboratory comes to be the most important building of
our entire plant."
Carrying his dream a step further, on
13 August 1941, at the climax of Dearborn’s annual community festival,
Ford dramatically unveiled a handmade car with a complete plastic body.
This he did at a time when Americans were just becoming aware of
plastics and simultaneously being alerted to a metal shortage. The new
car generated tremendous publicity and stirred the imagination of
editorial writers all over the country.
Many newspapers regarded the
experimental Ford vehicle as revolutionary. The New York Times thought
it "may have a great influence on the automobile industry."
The Wheeling (West Virginia) Intelligencer predicted it "will
revolutionize the automobile industry." The San Diego Union
predicted it "may well bring about something in the nature of a
highly desirable and peaceful agricultural revolution." The
Indianapolis Star declared the car was an "outstanding industrial
achievement…an artistic triumph, no matter what the future may
bring."
Other newspapers, noting the National
Defense Advisory Committee’s "intense interest" in the
vehicle, emphasized the possibility that Ford’s plastic might be
substituted for steel and other metals used in cars.
"Obviously," the Decatur (Illinois) Herald Review stated,
"here is something an America on wheels has been waiting for.
Please hurry it, Mr. Ford; hurry, hurry!" The Saginaw (Michigan)
News dismissed Ford’s statement claiming the car was {"purely
experimental." "Shucks," it drawled, "who doubts
that our motorists, or some of them at least, will soon be riding around
in plastic car bodies."
Observing that Ford’s plastic was
molded from soybeans, along with a mixture of other crops, including
wheat, hemp, flax and ramie and that other commodities could also be
used to make plastic, dozens of newspapers speculated on what
large-scale plastic production could mean to the economy of their
communities.
A new market for cotton was anticipated
by publications throughout the South. The Tampa (Florida) Times happily
observed "many of the products that Ford plans to put into
automobiles are produced in Florida…including sugar cane, beeswax,
tung oil, pine pitch, jute and ramie." The Tacoma (Washington)
Sunday Ledger and News Tribune hoped for the Northwest’s sake that a
process might soon be found to turn sawdust into plastic. The Tupelo
(Mississippi) Journal assumed this had already been done, assuring
readers, "the forest and woodlots of the South will be worth more
than any single resource that we have." The Elmira (New York) Star
Gazette longed for the day when casein, a milk derivative, might find its
way into cars.
A few newspapers regrettably reported
the depressing news that their areas could contribute little to the cars
of the future. "It is hard to get soybeans to mature here," The Cheboygan
(Michigan) News mourned, but added, "Planting earlier
might prove the solution."
A few newspapers were less interested
in growing the ingredients for Ford’s plastic than in putting the new
substance to better use than as automotive components. The Bristol
(Connecticut) Press, noting that the plastic was "dent
resistant," suggested it might be used for battleship armor, while
the Spartanburg (South Carolina) Herald proposed Ford "might find
greater profit in the manufacture of coffins than in automobile
bodies." "Plastic coffins," the paper declared,
"would be lighter, more durable and as attractive as the present
metal coffins, and they could be made at far less cost."
Soy Jokes
A humorous vein, most of it relating to
the Ford car’s vegetable content, appeared in many editorials. The
Cleveland Press wondered why Ford did not strengthen his plastic by
adding spinach. The Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette recommended that the
auto slogan of the future might be "Ask the man who grows one"
and The St. Louis Glove Democrat stated that the new vehicle, "part
salad and part automobile," marked the triumph of the vegetable
over the steel industry.
Jokes about edible cars sprang up on
all sides, including
Mother (to recalcitrant small son): Now
eat your succotash, Freddy, like a good boy.
Freddy: I say it’s a Ford, and I say
the hell with it!
Farmer Corntassel: What crops ye
growing this year, Zeke – Fords or Chryslers?
Farmer Hayseed: Wall, if this corn don’t
git some rain pretty soon, the best I’ll be able to do will be a crop
of Baby Austins.
The new car, it was said, would not
need gas. Just sprinkle a little salt, pepper, and vinegar on it, and it
will go to beat hell.
A man need not buy a new car every
year; he could have last year’s car warmed over.
A man could eat his car and have it
too.
In 1943 several of these jokes were
resurrected when a goat ate an Illinois license plate made of a
soybean-derived fiberboard.
Praise
Henry Ford was heavily praised for his
vision and achievement in building a "plastic car" out of
soybeans and other crops. Many newspapers compared his research into
plastics favorably to his past achievements. The San Diego Union
regarded Ford’s intention to convert farm products to industrial uses
as "more revolutionary than that which gave birth to the
flivver," while The Detroit Legal Courier felt "When history
is written and the achievements of Henry Ford are chronicled, the Soy
Bean victory will stand out as his foremost contribution to
mankind."
"While it may seem funny to say
‘Let’s take a ride in our new vegetable car," The Arkansas City
(Kansas) Tribune summed up, "the world has only admiration and
respect for Henry Ford, who like Edison, will leave so many testimonies
of greatness and gifts to the masses by having put within their reach
pleasures that otherwise would have been denied them."
The United States’ entry into World
War II and the suspension of automobile production forced Ford to
abandon his efforts to mass-produce plastic car bodies. Until 1943,
however, he maintained that he would build them as soon as the war
ended.
Regardless, others carried forward Ford’s
work. In 1953, the Corvette, the first mass-produced car with a
fiberglass-reinforced plastic body, was introduced by Chevrolet. By the
same year, the Ford Company was using an average of 29 pounds of plastic
in its cars, by 1968, 50 pounds; by 1971, 120 pounds; and today 258
pounds.
During the same period in which Ford’s
laboratory developed plastic panels for cars, it also developed a fiber
from soybean protein that resembled a soft wool. Because of its high
resilience and natural crimp, it was used for car upholsteries in seat
filing and for clothing.
 By 1938 Ford often sported a tie made
from soybean fiber. Three years later he made a public appearance in a
"soybean suit." The Detroit Times reported, "H is as
delighted as a boy with his first pair of long pants."
Early in World War II Ford tried
unsuccessfully to interest the armed forces in making uniforms out of
soybean fabric. Ford persisted in his research until mid-1943, hoping to
develop a textile that could sell at prices competitive with wool.
Unable to do so, he sold his fabrication process and machinery to the
Drackett Company of Cincinnati in November 1943. Neither the Drackett
Company nor any other firm has been commercially successful in producing
textile fibers from soybean protein.
Soy as Food
Ford also devoted great effort to
develop palatable foods and popularize soybean-based recipes. To develop
the bean’s nutritional possibilities, he set to work his boyhood
friend, Dr. Edsel Ruddiman, former dean of the School of Pharmacy at
Vanderbilt University. Ruddiman prepared a soybean biscuit, described by
one Ford secretary as "the most vile thing ever put into human
mouths" (but which white rats found palatable and Ford professed to
like) and various other recipes.
On at least three occasions between
1934 and 1943, Ford, seeking to publicize his soybean experimentation,
summoned wary reporters to a soybean luncheon.
1934 World's Fair Menu
Every course was
partially or wholly made from soybeans. The chief items were tomato
juice with soybean sauce, celery stuffed with soybean cheese, soybean
puree, soybean croquettes with green soybeans, soybean bread and butter,
apple pie with soybean sauce, soybean coffee, soymilk, soybean ice cream
and soybean cookies and candy.
"Nothing we newsmen ate that
day," a guest wrote years later, "led us to foresee that
soybeans were destined to become an ingredient in many popular food
products…
We accepted as reasonable the
possibility that the bean might become a leading cattle feed or
industrial material." Yet soon after the war, soybean oil became a
leading source for cooking fats, margarine and salad oil. It still is
and for other food products as well.
 Ford encouraged the great African
American scientist, George Washington Carver, to utilize edible weeds in
what one Ford employee called "grass sandwiches." They were as
unpopular as the soybean biscuit. "It was just like eating
hay," some said. One youngster, asked if he would like to make a
trip with Ford and others, replied bluntly "Not if I have to eat
another of those [grass] sandwiches."
Ford advanced his ideas about the
soybean and chemurgy with exhibits and a film. In 1934 he planted a
small plot of soybeans and displayed soybean-processing machinery in his
company’s exhibit area at the Chicago World’s Fair. 
Similar Ford
exhibits were shown at various state, regional and world fairs during
the 1930’s. In 1935 the Ford Company produced and distributed Farm of
the Future, an audio-slide film illustrating Henry Ford’s views on the
importance of chemurgy.
Ford’s frequent declaration,
"Soybeans will make millions of dollars of added income for farmers…and
provide industry with materials to make needed things nobody even knows
about now" Proved correct over time. In addition to their use in
cooking and as a livestock supplement feed, soybeans are used in ink,
plastics, varnishes, enamels, adhesives, coatings, sizings, lubricants
and industrial resins.
By 1959 North American soybean
production-only 1 million bushels in 1920-had grown to 550 million
bushels, making it fifth in importance in all North American crops.
By 1973 U.S. farmers were devoting one
acre in seven to soybean cultivation, growing 1.5 billion bushels of
beans and converting them into the country’s number one cash crop. By
then soybeans were outpacing jet aircraft, computers and all other
products and crops to become America’s most valuable export.
U.S. Treasury Secretary George P.
Shultz facetiously suggested at a business conference that soybeans
might replace gold as a standard of international wealth if the price
– 45 cents per bushel in the 1930’s, $2.60 in the mid-1960’s and
$12.12 in the mid-1970’s – continued to climb. "When the price
of soybeans reaches the price of gold, we’ll be set" said Shultz.
"We could go over to the soybean standard." Actually, soybean
prices reached their all-time high during Schultz’s term; in March
1995 they were in the $5.70 range.
Until 1994 soybeans were grown on three
hundred of the twenty-three hundred Ford-owned acres surrounding the
Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn. From the late 1950’s until his
death in 1989, the land was farmed by Victor Morrie of Erie, Michigan,
near the Ohio border, who claimed to have obtained his first soybean
seeds from Henry Ford himself. Morrin’s son, Terry, stopped farming
after Ford Motor Land Corporation set aside eighty of the three hundred
acres for a shopping complex, saying there was not enough remaining land
to warrant commercial tillage.
At least one Ford enthusiast, George
Anderson, manager of corporate real estate for Ford Land, decries the
end of the company’s soybean-growing era. "It created an economic
value and saved us from weed control," he observed, adding,
"You watch the wind gently flowing the fields, and it’s like an
ocean. When you see a soybean field, it’s a thing of beauty."
Henry Ford would have agreed. Through
his experimentation and the soybean publicity, he made substantial
contributions to the increased utilization of the soybean. This endeavor
he began in his late sixties was the outstanding achievement of his
declining years. Even at eighty, Ford found boyish delight in helping
prove that there was industrial and culinary magic in a beanstalk.
Soybean farmers and millions of
consumers are beneficiaries of that magic. If soybean growers,
processors and marketers ever memorialize a champion of the soybean,
Henry Ford would be a prime candidate; it is difficult to imagine any
form of recognition that would have pleased the auto magnate more. Had
he been so honored during his lifetime, it is reasonable to expect that
he would have driven to the ceremony in a soybean-derived car wearing a
soybean suit and expecting every banquet dish to be soybean based.
For a little more on Henry Ford visit: A
Random Look at Henry Ford's World
Visit Henry Ford's Soybean Laboratory - The Henry Ford Invites Visitors to Rediscover the 'New' Greenfield Village
About the Author
David L. Lewis has been a
professor of business history at the University of Michigan since 1965.
Dr. Lewis was a member of Ford's Public Relations Staff from 1950-55,
and an assistant to two General Motors presidents from 1959-65. He
is the author of eight books and more than 450 articles on the Ford
family, the history of Ford Motor Company, and on the automobile and
American culture. He is a past president of the Society of
Automotive Historians. Since 1952 he has been collecting Ford
literature, some of it on Henry Ford and the soybean and plastics.
He has written a monthly column, "Ford Country," for Cars
& Parts magazine since 1974.
Home address: 2588 Hawthorn
Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48104;
email address: lewisdl@umich.edu
.
This article first appeared in the
May/June 1995 issue of Michigan History Magazine."
Republished by permission © 1995
Michigan History Magazine & David L. Lewis
1-800-366-3703 www.sos.state.mi.us/history/mag
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