Sapiro v. Ford: The Jew Who Sued Henry Ford

He was both the wealthiest man in America and notoriously antisemitic. But automobile tycoon Henry Ford met his match in 1927 when a Jewish lawyer named Aaron Sapiro brought a lawsuit against him. Ford had launched a smear campaign, accusing the nationally renowned lawyer, who was organizing farming cooperatives, of being a communist and part of an international “Jewish conspiracy.” Sapiro’s subsequent libel case against Ford’s hate speech—a landmark moment in our nation’s judicial history for being the first time a Jew fought antisemitic slander in an American court—forms the center of this enlightening documentary, which tells the ultimate American David and Goliath story. Featuring Ben Shenkman voicing the words of Aaron Sapiro. The film’s originating director was Michael Rose (1952–2020).