The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America

The hostess of the dinner party faces a social conundrum: Ford is the son of a farmer, a “plain American” (222) unlikely to appreciate her chef’s refined cooking and probably unable to pronounce the names of French dishes. Since Ford is there to teach her and her guests old-fashioned American dances, it seems appropriate to serve rustic, old-fashioned American food. However, doing so may seem like a comment on Ford’s (as opposed to the hostess’s) class origin, and thus as an obvious affront.

The hostess compromises by offering dishes whose main ingredients have some “early American credentials” (223): alligator, pears, terrapin, and quail. She feels anxious about Ford’s response throughout the meal, but Ford seems to enjoy his meal without noticing anything amiss.

Meanwhile, Tom addresses his audience. He explains that “the year’s work was jammed into two or three months [and] the men were driven like racehorses during that period, and the rest of the time were turned out to live on the breadlines” (223) as a result of competition among the three big auto manufacturers. The companies wait until the last moment to start production because they are afraid their corporate spies might have missed one of the competitor’s innovations and allowed a rival company an advantage.

Tom cannot see his audience because they are sitting in the dark, but they respond to his speech enthusiastically. According to Tom, “the only way out of misery and despair for the producing masses” (224) is a democratically-run union, whose 200,000 members have the power to match Ford’s billion-dollar empire and demand better working conditions and higher wages.

The dinner-party guests continue to enjoy delicacies served on heirloom china. Ford mentions that he would like to buy the hostess’s china set and she “weigh[s] the value of these heirlooms against the power of the Ford banks, and the possibility of a family alliance with one of the Ford grandchildren; then with a sudden burst of generosity she presented the treasures to her guest” (226).

Meanwhile, Tom is presenting the case to his audience that old-fashioned craft unions cannot accomplish the task of negotiating higher wages. A large number of small unions does not have the same bargaining power as one union with enormous membership. Tom exhorts his audience: “Organize! [...] Make up your minds that you are going to demand and win your full share of the products of high-speed machinery” (226). He tells the workers that the US has the capacity to produce as many goods as its people needs, and that they can escape poverty by demanding what is due to them. At the end of the meeting, Ford spies push their way through the crowd, trying to identify faces.

The dinner-party guests move into the ballroom to begin the evening’s dancing. They dream about their pioneer ancestors while dancing to “Turkey in the Straw” and:

knowing themselves the most important people in this part of the world; perfectly nurtured, perfectly groomed, the ladies with shining bosoms and arms, clad in silks and satins and filmy fabrics of bright hues, the gentlemen vigorous and capable, now in a mood of gallantry, some of the younger ones in white coats, quite decorative (228).

Tom and Dell hurry through a heavy rainstorm to their car, and their friends to the car behind them. When Tom starts the car, he soon realizes he has a flat tire. He and a friend get out to fix the flat, while Dell watches nervously. Once they are again on their way, she tries to determine whether they are being followed, but cannot see because of the rain.

At 10:30 p.m., the dancers are enjoying the Lancers, a social dance that involves 32 people. The mood is one of relaxed fun, “kindness and fellowship” (230).

At the same time, Tom and Dell arrive at the intersection where their friends plan to part with them. The friends offer to follow them all the way home for safety, but Tom refuses. Dell, who tries to avoid constantly frightening him, remains silent.

As Tom and Dell turn onto some quiet side roads, Dell is preoccupied, “looking behind her, trying to see out of the little rear window with the rain streaming down” (230).

The party guests prepare for the “big treat which had been promised” (230), a quadrille, “a minuet which the old kings and emperors danced” (231), demonstrated by four elderly couples (including the Fords) for the benefit of the young. Mrs. Ford is moved by her husband, “the best of men, and the wisest,” his rediscovery of “this charming form of diversion,” and his “power for good” (231). Henry “knew that this was a grand world which he had helped to make, and that no one stood higher in it than himself” (232).

At that moment, a car speeds toward Tom and Dell’s, forcing them off the road: “Dell’s heart gave an agonized leap; she knew what it was—the hideous thing of which she had been living in terror” (231). Five men from the other car set upon the helpless, unarmed couple. Tom and Dell fight back, Dell screaming loudly and biting her assailant until he chokes her and holds her down with his knee. Tom strikes a few good blows to his assailants, but one of them kicks him in the groin and regains control.

The men handcuff Tom and begin to beat “every inch of his body systematically, so that it would be black and blue” (232). They avoid his head so that he remains conscious throughout the beating. They beat him severely, “kicking him in the small of his back to loosen his kidneys” and “in the groin, so that he would not be of much use to his wife for a while” (233). When they have beaten Tom thoroughly, they remove the handcuffs and drive away.

The quadrille ends and the hostess and her guests congratulate Henry Ford on having provided them with an excellent evening’s entertainment. He “beamed; for these were people who counted, what they said had weight” (233). Ford and his wife leave the party, wrapped by their chauffeur in warm robes and guarded by an armed man.

Dell regains consciousness: “Her head was ringing, her teeth chattering, her hands and feet were like ice” (234). She crawls through the mud toward Tom, who is lying unconscious and has been beaten perhaps nearly to death: “He felt cold, but not so cold as the rain and the mud. His face was upturned and his mouth open; she managed to turn him onto his side, fearing that he might choke and be drowned” (235). She staggers toward the boulevard to seek help.

As they sit in the limousine, Mr. and Mrs. Ford discuss the possible financial motives that inspired their hosts to hold the party. The chauffeur and the guard catch sight of Dell coming toward them: “She appeared to be staggering, and as they came near she began waving, and running faster, as if to intercept them, and they had to swerve to avoid her” (236). They determine that she must be drunk, and do not stop: “They had their orders, they stopped for nothing. They were carrying a billion dollars, and such a sum of money cannot manifest either sympathy or curiosity; it has enough to do to take care of itself” (236).

Henry Ford and his wife, sitting in the back of the limousine, are completely unaware of Dell. Mrs. Ford congratulates her husband: “You have done a great deal of good in the world” (236). Ford responds: “Have I? [..] Sometimes I wonder, can anybody do any good. If anybody knows where this world is heading, he knows a lot more than me” (236).