Henry's Lieutenants

William John Cameron

William John Cameron 1878-1955 "Cameron, for instance, had a personality of his own, but he was one man that Henry Ford absolutely trusted. If it hadn't been for Cameron, Henry Ford would have gotten into some of the damnedest holes you can imagine, politically and nationally, and Cameron saved him time after time.,, —H. M. Cordell* Aspokesman for Henry Ford, William Cameron translated Ford's thoughts into coherent statements suitable for press and radio releases to the public. His voice on the "Ford Sunday Evening Hour,, was heard as gospel by millions during radio's heyday. William John Cameron was born in Hamilton, Ontario, on December 29, 1878. He went to school in Hamilton, and when he was nine years old his family moved to the United States, to Detroit, where his Scotch father worked as a molder in a foundry. William had five sisters and three brothers. He attended Webster School in Detroit, working during vacations as delivery man for a grocery store, driving a wagon and taking orders. For college, he went back to Hamilton to the Collegiate and also took courses at the University of Toronto. As a boy, William had listened to phonograph records of famous orators such as William Jennings Bryan and Robert Ingersoll. He greatly admired these men and felt he would like to be a great speaker himself. His first real position, however, was as timekeeper for the engineers and firemen at the Michigan Central Railroad yards in Jackson. Not far from Jackson was the little town of Brooklyn, where a relative invited him to speak at the local People's Church on Sunday mornings. He readily accepted this opportunity, giving many people the impression he was indeed a minister. It was in Brooklyn that he met Eleanor Maud Clough, whom he married in 1900. Back in Detroit, Cameron did some "preaching," although he later insisted, "I was never a minister, never ordained.,. He also insisted he was "not a natural speaker, and while speaking is easy enough, the preparation is killing.,, Nonetheless, Cameron was in considerable demand as a speaker in the Detroit area at a relatively early age. *From the oral reminiscences of H. M. Cordell, a secretary to Henry Ford. 53 Henry's Lieutenants In Detroit, Cameron began to write editorials for the Detroit News. By 1904, he had become a reporter and staff writer. He started at fifteen dollars per week, and when he left fifteen years later he was getting eighty-five dollars, a high salary for a newspaper writer. His early assignments were the usual reporting tasks—fires, accidents, murders, and so on. He later wrote a column, "Reflections,,, which was of a thoughtful nature. On May 17, 1909, Cameron wrote his famous editorial , "Don't Die on Third.,, Cameron left the Detroit News shortly after his managing editor, E. G. Pipp, had taken a position in 1918 as editor of the new Fordsponsored weekly newspaper, the Dearborn Independent. Pipp needed Cameron as a writer. Henry Ford was then embroiled in a lawsuit with Robert McCormick of the Chicago Tribune. A Ford news agency was set up at the site of the trial in Mt. Clemens, Michigan, and Cameron became the ghost writer who provided the Ford viewpoint. Thus, he became well acquainted with Henry Ford. When Pipp left the Dearborn Independent in 1920, Ford named Cameron editor. Cameron and his family of six had moved into a Ford-built home on Nona Street in Dearborn. In 1922, Ford furnished the Camerons with a larger home at 262 Morley Avenue (now 22362 Morley), built of cypress from the plantations of Richmond Hill, Georgia. Three of the Cameron children—Donald, John, and Jean—attended Dearborn public schools. The oldest child, Marian, was married by that time. As editor of the Dearborn Independent, Cameron had the duty, under general manager Ernest Liebold, to express Ford's beliefs. It was Cameron's task to interpret and present Ford's offhand remarks in much expanded form in a manner agreeable to Ford and likewise acceptable to the readers of the Independent. One particular page in the newspaper was reserved as "Mr. Ford's Page," which Cameron wrote, Liebold reviewed, and Ford may or may not have seen prior to publication. The Dearborn Independent got into trouble because of anti-Semitic articles. When Ford was sued for libel in the Aaron Sapiro case, Cameron testified as Ford's chief witness, taking full responsibility and stating that Ford did not receive...