Skip to main content

1947 Fifty Years Ago

March 2023
1min read

End of the Road


On April 7 Henry Ford died of a cerebral hemorrhage at his estate in Dearborn, Michigan. The eighty-three-year-old Ford and his wife, Clara, were just back from their winter home in Georgia, and although he had been plagued by intermittent senility since a stroke in 1938, he was unusually active and chipper on what proved to be his last day on earth. He began by downing a hearty breakfast, visited his River Rouge plant, Greenfield Village, and two cemeteries, and then inspected flood damage on his estate. Heavy rains had submerged his private power plant, and the foreman suggested that he check into a hotel for the night. Ford, perhaps remembering his rural Michigan boyhood, laughed off the suggestion with “My gracious, we have fireplaces.”

That evening the electricity came back on long enough for Ford to listen to his favorite radio programs. Then it went out again. Around nine o’clock the couple went to bed. Two hours later Ford complained of a headache and a dry throat. His wife sent the chauffeur to fetch a doctor, but before one could arrive, Ford died. Power had not yet been restored in his mansion at the time of his death, and thus the greatest of all machine-age giants, whose genius had transformed American industry and brought the benefits of technology to millions of ordinary citizens, drew his final breath in a dim, chilly room heated only by fire and lit with flickering candles.

We hope you enjoy our work.

Please support this 72-year tradition of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to American Heritage.

Donate

Stories published from "April 1997"

Authored by: Frederic D. Schwarz

“Why Harvard Does Not Win”

Authored by: Frederic D. Schwarz

The Teapot Starts to Boil

Authored by: Frederic D. Schwarz

End of the Road

Authored by: J. M. Fenster

All across America there are restaurants that serve up the spirit and conviviality of eras long past

Authored by: Dan Baum

POISONED, RUINED, AND self-cannibalized, this city is still the grandest of all boomtowns

Authored by: Jane Colihan

Amid a hundred mountains and a thousand lakes, a fascinating institution tells the story of America’s engagement with its Eastern wilderness

Authored by: Lisa Blumberg

A LIFELONG FASCINATION with the stories of a famous pioneering family finally drove the writer to South Dakota in hopes of better understanding the prairie life Laura Ingalls Wilder lived there and later gave to the world.

Authored by: Frederic D. Schwarz

Hannah Dustin’s War

Featured Articles

The world’s most prominent actress risked her career by standing up to one of Hollywood’s mega-studios, proving that behind the beauty was also a very savvy businesswoman. 

Rarely has the full story been told about how a famed botanist, a pioneering female journalist, and First Lady Helen Taft battled reluctant bureaucrats to bring Japanese cherry trees to Washington. 

Often thought to have been a weak president, Carter was strong-willed in doing what he thought was right, regardless of expediency or the political fallout.

Why have thousands of U.S. banks failed over the years? The answers are in our history and politics.

In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln embodied leading in a time of polarization, political disagreement, and differing understandings of reality.