America in the 1920s was marked by its booming industrialization and the rise of societal changes led by Henry Ford and his automobile manufacturer. Ford's name was known worldwide and he was considered the richest man in the world at that time, allowing him to wield great societal influence and international business capabilities. His company generated a wealthy economy and was known for the fair treatment of workers. Henry Ford was well known and respected in America for his introduction of the assembly line which revolutionized automobile production and made his company one of the largest companies in the world. The fall of Ford's reputation came after his business expansion in Brazil, hampered by his American ideology and lack of worldly and historical knowledge. Fordlandia is a prime example of how American capitalism is an agent of foreign policy and, without proper knowledge of expansionism, can easily lead to the destruction of the foreign economy and the harmony of civilization. As has been proven time and time again throughout history, America's expansionist ideology aimed at reproducing an American society fails and leads to disasters abroad. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIn 1928, Henry Ford's lucrative automobile business lacked a crucial element of the global auto parts monopoly, namely rubber. Britain had the largest export of rubber, which inflated the costs of the new Ford Model A cars produced that year. After a previous failure to expand his operations in Alabama, Ford made contact with Dionísio Bentes, the governor of the Brazilian state of Pará, during his visit to the United States. Ford was interested in the Amazon jungle, which previously led the world in rubber production and contained easy exports via the Amazon River. For what he considered a great deal, Ford seized this opportunity and, after negotiations, purchased an area called "Boa Vista" of approximately two and a half million acres. Ford had two main interests in Brazil with this deal: a source of cheap latex that would allow the Ford Motor Company to produce Ford-branded tires and the creation of an American-style utopian city in its new country of Brazil. now named Fordlandia. Upon arrival, the realities of the Amazon jungle hit Ford's team of skilled conquerors. They had to spend months clearing the Amazon to reach their site, which was plagued by foreign diseases, insects, animals, and worldly achievements. Problems arose due to the geography of the site and the lack of botanical knowledge of the Amazon. The land was rocky and infertile and the wood from the Amazon was unusable for their work. They had to build a water source and pipes to get it from miles away. Illness struck most workers as soon as they arrived. The supplies arrived weeks after they arrived. After ironing out the initial problems, an attempt was made to build the Fordlandia with everything Ford believed he needed to succeed, based on his well-oiled machine running at home in Detroit, Michigan. The site was equipped with large industrial buildings, water tanks and even a large bell tower to signal workers the start and end of their workday. They built American-style homes as amenities for their employees. The Amazonian landscape was reduced totattered and infested with insects harmful to the growth of rubber trees. Additionally, buildings were not built to be suitable for Amazonian climatic conditions, and contractors were looking for new materials to withstand the intense heat and humidity. After that, the company quickly hired an army of workers based on false promises of housing and high salaries. Although Ford's industry prided itself on fair treatment of workers and high pay rates, the realities of job segregation, racism and mistreatment of workers, and serious authoritarian-style management became evident in the new Ford industry of Fordlandia. Brazilian workers were forced to live in American-style homes, but enjoyed different social scenes and privileges than American workers. In the workers' cafe, their eating place, skilled workers and supervisors were segregated from laborers, representing a clear imbalance of power and a high degree of segregation that bothered most employees. Furthermore, Brazilian men were blinded by the promise of health care, which turned out to be drugs programmed for pesticides or worms that doctors did not check before prescribing – probably based on their determination racist that the men were sick. There were apparent privileges for skilled American workers with high status, such as alcohol and prostitutes financed by the Ford company. In 1928, riots first broke out in Fordlandia, but were suppressed, leaving the site militarily equipped and fear-stricken. The largest outcry due to the mistreatment they faced occurred in 1930. Prior to this damaging riot, the workers' cafe underwent a significant change from waiters serving their food to cafeteria-style dining, which upset many employees and may have been the straw that broke the camel's back. On December 20, in the workers' cafe, an argument broke out between supervisor Kaj Ostenfield and Manuel Caetano, the future Brazilian worker. Kaj Ostenfield and his supporting American employees fled the scene to America with the help of the Brazilian military. This dispute escalated into an overthrow of the company by Brazilian labor and $25,000 worth of damage to the site. Back home, the Ford Company was also in decline and the American economy was in ruins. The profits of the Ford automobile industry were almost cut in half in 1945. Deeper and more personal, Henry Ford's true personality emerged, validating his racist actions through his support of anti-Semitism during World War II in Germany and his continued mistreatment of workers in his country. Once again, Ford promised an increase in workers' wages, only to cut their hours in half. He belittled Brazilian employees and American decision-makers on news channels and even spoke out against a change in foreign policy by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the newly elected American president. The Great Depression hit in full force in the 1940s, where employment was at an all-time low, people were starving, and suicide rates were skyrocketing. Even in the 1940s, Ford repeatedly attempted to reconstruct his utopian fantasy. After continued failure, in November 1945, the Americans left. Unsurprisingly, they existed with the same cowardly behavior with which they arrived, without notice to leave and without cleaning up their mess. With the aim..