Henry Ford's Secret Security Chief: Harry Bennett's Rise

[00:00:00]You see, Henry Ford had a problem. He was insanely rich, and thus he was concerned with safety. Kidnapping of the rich and their family members was on the rise, and Henry was looking for someone to handle personal security. Harry and Henry met at Ford's hotel room, and after hearing about the heroic street fight, Henry Ford asked Harry Bennett only one question. Can you handle a gun?

[00:00:26]It turned out that Harry was much more than Henry Ford's personal security. In the early days of Ford Motor Company, Henry was churning out Model Ts as fast as he could, and Ford had instituted a policy called speed-up, which meant that each week the speed of the assembly line was increased slightly. And the factory employees were starting to feel the strain. Henry was afraid of labor unrest and needed to keep it under control, so it didn't get out of hand and cause a stoppage at the assembly line, or even worse, union organizing. Ford created a secret security team operating as the Ford Service Department, and Harry Bennett was placed into that department by Ford. And by 1921, Harry became head of the Ford Motor Company Service Department. On any given day, Bennett's job was to check in with Henry to see if anything needed handling. It didn't matter what it was, Harry would handle it. Harry knew nothing about making cars, but he didn't need to. Bennett's close relationship with Henry Ford and his ability to get things done was all he needed. All Henry had to do was ask, "Can you take care of that, Harry?" and it was handled.