Henry Ford’s Five-Day Week
History Daily
History Daily
4.4 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2025
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
May 1, 1926. Henry Ford implements the five-day week at his car factory in Detroit, Michigan, kickstarting a workplace reform that’ll be adopted across the country.
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Transcript
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| 0:30.0 | Oh. It's the morning of June 4, 1896, in Detroit, Michigan. |
| 0:35.1 | The sun's rising into a clear sky, promising yet another beautiful summer day. |
| 0:39.3 | What 32-year-old inventor, Henry Ford, isn't interested in the weather. |
| 0:43.2 | He's been up since dawn preparing to test out his latest creation. |
| 0:49.6 | Eleven years ago, German engineer Carl Benz built the world's first gasoline-powered car. |
| 0:55.5 | This invention caught Henry's imagination, and he decided to see if he could build his own automobile. |
| 1:02.9 | For the last six months, Henry spent every spare moment he has working on a motorized vehicle that he's calling the quadrucycle. |
| 1:05.9 | Now it's finally ready for its first test drive. |
| 1:08.9 | But a few moments ago, Henry discovered a problem. |
| 1:12.4 | The doors of the shed he's built the machine in are too narrow, |
| 1:16.8 | and the only way to get the quadricycle out is to take a sledgehammer to the doorframe. |
| 1:21.3 | After one final swing, the doorframe falls to the floor, and Henry wipes his brow exhausted. |
| 1:24.6 | But then he gathers himself to push the quadricecle out of the building, then takes a |
| 1:29.3 | moment to admire his creation in the sunlight, a wooden chassis supported on four large bicycle wheels. |
| 1:35.5 | Strapped in the middle is a two-cylinder internal combustion engine with an upholstered seat and a steering |
| 1:40.9 | tiller perched on top. It's a simple-looking machine, but to Henry, it's the most beautiful sight in the world. |
| 1:47.4 | And now he has to see if it works. |
| 1:49.5 | Henry fires up the engine, he climbs into the seat. |
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