Beyond Ford's accomplishments in the area of mass production of vehicles for private buyers, his factories played a major role during World War II. During World War I, Ford had built engines for airplanes that were just beginning to be used in combat and also produced antisubmarine "Eagle boats." The Ford plant at Willow Run, Michigan, became a major supplier for the U.S. war effort in World War II. The huge plant, together with an adjoining airfield, was constructed in 1941, specifically for the production of B-24 bombers. Its main building, in which an army of workers used rapid assembly-line procedures similar to techniques Ford had developed for automobile production, was reputed to be the largest enclosed factory area in the world. By 1944, the Willow Run installation was capable of producing over four hundred B-24s over a year's time. Following the war, ownership of the factory went to Kaiser Motors. It was later taken over by General Motors for production of specialized automobile components, while the wartime airfield at Willow Run continued to function for cargo flights.

Facets of Henry Ford's career less directly related to his world-famous skills as an industrial innovator should be noted. Ford seems to have been convinced that the labor union movement produced more negative effects than benefits for workers. His own company could claim that the variety of benefits and special programs offered in his shops (through a managerial branch called the Service Department) were proof that labor and factory owners could and should look after the best interests of both parties. This philosophy, however, was probably considered by labor unions as an atypical case that did not necessarily carry over to the automobile industry as a whole.

Attempts by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union to organize the Ford plants were staunchly opposed by Harry Bennett, the head of the company's Service Department in the late 1930's. Bennett gained a reputation for intimidating any workers who might lobby for a contract with the UAW. A bloody confrontation between union organizers and company security forces in 1937, known as the Battle of the Overpass, may have influenced Ford's son Edsel (who in 1919 had become president of Ford Motor Company) to try to convince his father to consider a collective-bargaining agreement. Ford senior held out until he was confronted, in the spring of 1941, with a successful UAW strike at the River Rouge Plant. Differences within the family, and apparently the insistence of Ford's wife, Clara, finally induced Henry to approve a contract with the UAW in June, 1941. The importance of this decision cannot be overstated. Ford Motor Company was the last Detroit automaker to recognize the UAW, and the contract turned out to be one of the most favorable union agreements for U.S. autoworkers.

The timing of the agreement was also important: U.S. entry into World War II (and Ford's subsequent involvement in producing for the war effort) came only six months later. Edsel's death in 1943 would require that the family be unified in major decisions like the 1941 UAW contract. Edsel's son, Henry Ford II, succeeded as head of Ford Motor Company just as the war ended, guaranteeing this unity.

Ford and his company transformed American society by creating the assembly line, revolutionizing the nature of work. Ford's mass-production methods would serve as a model for a number of other basic industries both in the United States and abroad. His success in "cutting frills" in Model T production would have an important effect on business patterns. Ford's sales agencies became familiar sights in a number of key towns; investment by private businessmen to obtain such franchises would, in many cases, stimulate local economies throughout the country. Determined to make his automobiles accessible to the average American family, Ford introduced the inexpensive Model T in 1908, democratizing the automobile and dramatically changing American social patterns. Such changes ranged from extended commuting distances to new opportunities for recreation and vacations.

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