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The brothers all attended Connecticut's Hotchkiss School, and in summer, worked in the Rouge or other plants getting their hands greasy. They kept up this apprenticeship during college. None was an outstanding scholar. Henry quit Yale in his senior year ('40) with insufficient credits to graduate, and Benson, a sophomore, quit Princeton the same year. Only Billy (Yale '50) graduated.
The brothers had creditable, if unexciting, war records. At 17, Billy volunteered for the Naval Air Force, spent 2½ years "trying to get into an airplane but washing them instead," came out a naval cadet. Ben, turned down by his draft board because of defective vision, also volunteered, served in Newfoundland with the Air Force and emerged an administrative captain. As a naval lieutenant, ., Henry was stationed at the Ford company, where he taught mathematics to sailors until released from the service to rejoin the company after his father's death.
The Brothers. The three Ford broth ers not only differ markedly in looks but in personalities. Henry, now 35, is tall (6 ft.) and plumpish, has an air of casual charm, a ring of earnestness in his voice, and an articulateness that makes him an ideal spokesman for the company. As the grandson of a man whose every pronouncement used to be Page One and free advertising, Henry has worked hard at his own role as the headline-winning industrialist. He has the pragmatic common sense of his grandfather, his father's even temper. Like Old Henry, he reads little. He is a "tell it to me" man who learns by ear, and has his grandfather's same sharp-eyed way of looking about him and asking, "What's the good of this?" While his family is Protestant (Episcopal), Henry became a Roman Catholic before his marriage in 1940 to the former Anne McDonnell, granddaughter of famed Inventor Thomas E. Murray, once an associate of Thomas E. Edison.
Benson, 33, is shorter (5 ft. 9 in.) and chunkier than Henry, and more of a desk man. For a while he liked nightclubs more than the office. But now he is the hardest worker of the three. He puts in long hours as boss of the Lincoln-Mercury division, has not had time for a round of golf in two years. But he finds time to cruise on Lake St. Clair on weekends in his 42-ft. cabin cruiser with his wife, the former Edith McNaughton of Detroit, and their two children. Like Henry, Ben has also developed into an able speaker. "When we decided it was time for him to make a speech to the Washington dealers," Ernie Breech recalls, "he stammered and stumbled, and I think he would have fallen on his face if he hadn't been holding on to the podium." Now Ben has plenty of confidence on his feet.
The 3 a.m. Call. Billy Ford, 28, is the irrepressible kid brother. He is the smallest (5 ft. 7 in.), and his wiry, 150-lb. frame is full of bounce. He not only has Old Henry's mechanical flair but his passion for collecting (he owns 200 old-fashioned guns). He is married to Martha Firestone, granddaughter of Harvey
Firestone, his grandfather's close friend.