Quote: Henry Ford the banking system and a revolution tomorrow

[Garson O'Toole]

A journalist asked me about a saying attributed to the quintessential
industrialist Henry Ford that is currently being tweeted. Here is an
example:

If the people understood the banking system, there would be a
revolution tomorrow. Henry Ford

Versions of this quotation have been used by occupy people, tea party
activists, trade unionists, and people that dislike the Federal
Reserve System.

It is not in the Yale Book of Quotations or the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

It is difficult to trace because the wording is highly variable. A
preliminary incomplete search is all that I can perform at this time.
Maybe a list member can find something better, e.g., something
earlier, more direct, or more entertaining.

There are variants starting by 1938 attributed to Henry Ford. I have
not yet found any direct evidence of Ford making this statement in an
interview. All the instances located so far are indirect and do not
provide solid support. Henry Ford died in 1947, so it was in
circulation while he was still alive. By 1974 (GB date and data not
verified) a version was reassigned to Andrew Jackson in the American
Mercury.

Here are selected citations starting with a variant in a letter
written to the Hartford Courant in 1938:

Cite: 1938 October 11, Hartford Courant, The People's Forum [Letters
to the Editor], Not Un-American: Townsend Plan Alleged To Have Support
of Many Communists, [Letter from M.E.D of Hartford], Page 8, Column 6
and 7, Hartford, Connecticut. (ProQuest)
[Begin excerpt]
It is strange that the newspapers fail to give us some good editorials
on this money racket of which Henry Ford said: "There would be a
revolution overnight if the people understood it." It may take another
depression or two before they do wake up to the cause, namely private
control of money by the twelve privately-owned Federal Reserve banks.
[End excerpt]

Here is an example from a union publication published by railroad
workers. The date of 1939 is probably ok based on date probes. Some
snippets show monthly issues in 1939. This citation must on examined
on paper in a library. (I might be able to verify it this week.)

Cite: 1939, The Railroad Trainman, GB Page 535, GB Volume 56,
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, (Google Books snippet; Must be
verified on paper; Data may be inaccurate)
[Begin excerpt]
Henry Ford is credited with the statement that if the people knew the
truth about banking there would be a revolution over night. What has
been said about banks goes more or less for many other concerns, the
railroads included.
[End excerpt]

In 1941 a letter written to a Florida newspaper contained a loose
version of the expression attributed to Ford.

Cite: 1941 August 26, Miami Daily News, [Miami News], Express Your
Views [Letters to the Editor], Money Menace, [Letter from William
Richard Twiford], Page 6-A, Column 7, Miami, Florida. (Google News
Archive)
[Begin excerpt]
What will happen when we are taxed 50 to 75 cents of each of our
dollars to get this 200 billion bank graft? Revolution and chaos is
the only answer, ending up with something far worse than
totalitarianism. Henry Ford said that if the people knew of the
skulduggery being practiced by high finance there would be a
revolution over night.
[End excerpt]
In 1958 a version was placed into a report from a Congressional
Hearing based on a newsletter and testimony from Herbert C. Holdridge
a former Brigadier General in the U.S. Army. Holdridge actually
presented two slightly different versions of the saying. Below is the
second version from his testimony.

Cite: 1958, Hearings Before the Committee on Ways and Means, House of
Representatives, Eighty-Fifth Congress, Second Session, On Topics
Pertaining to the General Revision of the Internal Revenue Code,
January 7-20, 1958, Part 1, [Reprint of Holdridge News Notes, Sherman
Oaks, California, Dated December 1, 1957, From Herbert C. Holdridge,
Brigadier General, United States Army (Retired)], Quote Page 256,
Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. (HathiTrust)
[Begin excerpt]
Henry Ford stated:
If the American people knew the corruption of our monetary system
there would be a revolution before morning.
[End excerpt]

By the 1970s apparently a version of the saying was assigned to Andrew Jackson.

Cite: 1974, The American Mercury, GB Page 9, Publisher American
Mercury. (Google snippet; Data not verified; Volume also contains 1975
issues)
[Begin excerpt]
In his veto message Jackson charged that "if the people only
understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system there
would be a revolution before morning."
[End excerpt]

Garson

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