The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich (review)

This is a provocative examination of the roles played by Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh in the growth of American anti-Semitism and the rise of Nazi Germany. It is flawed, however, in its reliance on conjecture, its lack of historical depth, and its blurred argument, and I cannot recommend it either for academic or popular audiences.

The American Axis is best understood by beginning with author Max Wallace's conclusion, wherein he decries contemporary admiration for Lindbergh and Ford: "The detrimental sociopolitical consequences of their actions . . . have been largely downplayed, rationalized, or ignored." This book is Wallace's corrective, an exposé of ostensibly new information that draws an arc between these two figures and Nazi Germany, between this history and contemporary attitudes about race and genocide. In truth, Wallace's account retells much of what historians have already observed, though Wallace goes further in speculating about their links to Nazi Germany. Through a network of less-well-known figures, Wallace attempts to uncover a trail of influence that, if substantiated, would make Ford and Lindbergh pivotal actors in Hitler's conquest.

The American Axis begins with the familiar story of Ford's Dearborn Independent newspaper and his publication of anti-Semitic articles and tracts. Wallace focuses especially on the role played by Ernest Gustav Liebold, Ford's general secretary. It is Liebold, Wallace suggests, who manipulated Ford's anti-Semitism to the benefit of Germany for the better part of four decades. Woven into the story of Ford's persistent support for inflammatory publications and broadcasts through the 1920s and 1930s are suggested and actual links between Ford and Hitler, among them financial support for the nascent Nazi party and the harboring of profascist individuals within Ford's firm. More substantially, Wallace examines the operations of Ford-Werke, detailing the Cologne factory's contribution to Nazi mobilization, its complicity in exploiting slave labor, and postwar attempts to cleanse the Ford Motor Company's public image. This is arguably the most important part of the book, yet many multinational firms were guilty of similar crimes. Rather than place the Ford Motor Company within the context of this broader and more disturbing pattern, Wallace argues that Ford-Werke was different from the likes of General Motors and IBM because it was motivated by anti-Semitism.

Interleaved with the story of Henry Ford and his company is the more personal trajectory of Charles Lindbergh from heroic aviator to scorned isolationist. Wallace attempts to locate Lindbergh's beliefs through a series of influential figures: Lindbergh's father, an anti-Catholic congressman from Minnesota who opposed U.S. involvement in World War I; Alexis Carrel, a eugenicist who served as Lindbergh's mentor in the 1930s; Truman Smith, an anti-Semitic army officer and foreign military liaison with a fascination for Germany; and, of course, Henry Ford. It is not until the late 1930s that Lindbergh fits into Wallace's larger arc. By arrangement of Truman Smith, Lindbergh began a series of visits to Germany to inspect the state of aviation there. Welcomed by hosts who lost no opportunity for propaganda, Lindbergh developed a fascination with Germany and the fascist order, all the while ignoring the atrocities committed against German Jews. Wallace strongly attacks Lindbergh's antiwar activities in England and the United States, finding not only that his isolationism was indistinguishable from his anti-Semitism and fondness for fascism but that his estimates of German airpower were instrumental in Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement.

Wallace's ungainly pairing of Ford and Lindbergh fails for a number of reasons. In spite of conducting primary research in both the archives of the Henry Ford Museum and in the Lindbergh Papers at Yale University, his use of evidence shows either a lack of historical understanding of the topic or a calculated attempt to surround Ford and Lindbergh in a swirling...