Henry Ford: Madman, Socialist, or Smart Capitalist?
On January 5, 1914, Henry Ford announced that he was paying workers on his famously productive Model T assembly line in Highland Park, Michigan, $5 per eight-hour day. Â That was almost three times what the typical factory employee earned at the time. Â In light of this audacious move, some lauded Ford as a friend of the American worker; others called him a madman or a socialist, or both. Â The Wall Street Journal termed his action “an economic crime.” Â Ford thought it a cunning business move, and history proved him right. Continue Reading »
Was Henry Ford a Socialist?
Squeezing the Middle Class
Last week, I discussed a bit about Marriner Eccles, prominently featured in Robert Riech’s new book Aftershock. While most people believe the problem with the Great Recession and Great Depression was the fault of Americans relying on too much debt, Reich believes the reason Americans went into dept is the symptom of a much larger problem. From pages 23-25, Continue Reading »
A Mormon Rescue From the Great Depression
caption id=”attachment_1455″ align=”alignright” width=”300″ caption=”Eccles, FDR, and James Roosevelt (FDR’s son)”]
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The Great Depression lasted from the stock market crash in 1929 until World War 2. In the middle of this economic crisis, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed Utahn Marriner Eccles to become the Fed Chair. Robert Reich has high praise for Eccles in his latest book Aftershock, even going so far as to rate both Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan as “no Marriner Eccles.” Frankly, I was astonished at Reich’s praise for Eccles throughout the book. From chapter 1 to the end of the book, Reich repeatedly referred to Eccles. On page 11, Reich gives a bit of background on Eccles, Continue Reading »
Where are you Greenland?
I’ve had Google Analytics installed since June 2009. In that time, I’ve had visits from all over the world. The largest (by land mass) country that has never visited my site is Greenland. Obviously I’m not a big hit there. So, if you have a friend in Greenland, tell them I’d love to welcome them to my blog, (they don’t even have to comment!)
I’ve been visited by nearly every country in South America– Continue Reading »
Stapley/Wright Discuss Healings by Mormon Women
Last October, I wrote a post titled, Mormon Women Blessing the Sick, as a follow up to my post on Women with Priesthood in Ancient Christianity. Jonathon Stapley was the first to comment, saying
Equating early Mormon female healing with evidence of female priesthood is folly. Kris’ and my paper on female ritual healing is finally coming out in January (JMH). We treat most of your questions and clean up the historiography a bit.
In the interim here is our paper on the development of Mormon healing to 1847, including the role of women.
Well, I didn’t actually equate healing with female priesthood, but there is an interesting connection. I am finally getting around to reviewing Jonathan and Kristine Wright’s (abbrev SW) paper which was published in the Journal of Mormon History in the summer of 2009. Continue Reading »
Who was St. Valentine?
That’s a really good question, because very little is known about him. He seems to be a real person, because archaeologists have discovered an ancient catacomb in Rome and church dedicated to him. In 496 Pope Gelasius set up his feast day as February 14 (along with other martyrs) “… whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God.” That’s the facts of what we know.
Debunking the Jockers Study
I really appreciate a comment by Chris Spencer on my previous post Dueling Wordprint Studies. In that post, I had discussed a controversial study completed by Stanford researchers Mathew Jockers, Daniela Witten, and Craig Criddle who concluded that 57% the Book of Mormon was authored by Sidney Rigdon and Solomon Spaulding. (There was an interesting discussion at Mormon Matters as well.) Part of the reason they had Rigdon and Spaulding as candidate authors was due to the Spaulding Theory. Here’s a bit of background.
Strang’s Letter of Appointment
Just 9 days prior to Joseph Smith’s death, he sent a letter to James Strang. Strang believed that this letter showed Joseph’s intentions that Strang would be the next prophet of the church. This letter was originally published in a pamphlet by Strang’s followers known as “The Diamond.” I have always wanted to read the actual letter, and I received an email from Tim Hansen, a high priest in the Strangite church with a copy of the letter. He graciously said I could re-print it here, and also noted that it is available as a PDF on their website, along with the rest of “The Diamond”.
Kirtland Temple History and Worship
Kirtland Temple
There was a fascinating interview about the Kirtland Temple over at Mormon Expression. It was so interesting that I decided to transcribe it here. John Larsen interviews historian John Hamer, and Barbara Walden, former Executive Director of the Kirtland Temple. Both Barbara and John Hamer give some really cool information about the Kirtland Temple, and I wanted to share this with you all.
Mormon Heretic 