Fallout continues to rain down on Dearborn, two years after city officials were rattled by a piece of history journalism about the antisemitism of its most famous resident, Henry Ford.
Mayor John O'Reilly, Henry Ford
The chairman of the Dearborn Historical Commission was not reappointed to another three-year term, even though he asked to be. Commissioner Jonathon Stanton had clashed with Mayor John O'Reilly Jr. in 2019 over publication of a lengthy article about Ford's anti-Jewish activities in the city-published magazine, the Dearborn Historian.
That article, by Deadline Detroit co-founder Bill McGraw, was simultaneously published here and was the most-read story of 2019. O'Reilly stopped distribution of that issue of the Dearborn Historian, garnering national coverage and criticism for censorship. McGraw was editor of the quarterly magazine and his contract was terminated.
Stanton defended McGraw and the article, and criticized O'Reilly for trying to suppress it. The mayor's decision this week to remove Stanton from the commission appears to be payback for that criticism.
Stanton told the Free Press on Friday: "I think it's important to tell the truth. Henry Ford is the most consequential figure in Dearborn's history, and his failings are consequential. To omit or obscure them is to lie by omission. The mayor wanted to subordinate the museum's historical journal's editorial decisions to public relations priorities."
In 2019, O'Reilly defended his decision to pull the quarterly issue, which featured a cover photo of Henry Ford alongside an antisemitic quote from Ford disparaging Jewish people. O'Reilly said he was concerned that Dearborn and its residents would be associated with those views.
"I wanted to distance the city from possible criticism for being seen as a source of despicable viewpoints," O'Reilly said in 2019. "I felt in a city publication, these viewpoints could interfere with people's understanding of our commitment to inclusion and respect. I felt they could potentially undermine our efforts, and those of our community and business partners, to promote Dearborn as a welcoming place. ... In a world where negativity is so prevalent, I thought they could lead people to link the city of Dearborn of today with hateful messages repeated from 100 years ago."
Stanton and O'Reilly have also disagreed over the statue of former mayor Orville Hubbard, who also had racist views. In recent years, the statue has been relocated from Dearborn's city hall to its historical museum, before being placed in storage.
In a statement to the paper Friday, O'Reilly made no mention of the controversy, saying only, "Many factors go into this process. I’d like to thank Mr. Stanton for the time and effort he committed to the Historical Commission."
