if there was anything he could do for him. By the time the Model A production was in full swing in 1928–29, the morning meetings had become a habit. For the better part of 20 years, Bennett spent his days at Henry Ford's side. Bennett led Ford's opposition to the Ford Hunger March of unemployed workers on March 7, 1932. Dearborn police and Ford service department men including Bennett opened fire on the protesters as they advanced toward the Ford River Rouge Complex. Four marchers were shot to death, and Bennett himself was hospitalized after being hit by a rock. By the beginning of 1938 Bennett was receiving phoned and mailed threats. His daughter Gertrude abruptly disappeared; the most recent prior threat had been "particularly nasty in its implications". A search run by federal agents was launched and abandoned once it was discovered she had eloped to Florida. Upon the 1943 death of company president Edsel Ford, the founder's overshadowed son, Bennett was Henry Ford's choice to succeed Edsel. However, Edsel Ford's widow blamed Bennett for her husband's early death and effectively vetoed the appointment. Instead, Henry Ford appointed Bennett to the Ford Motor Company board of directors. After some attempted shenanigans with Henry Ford's will which would have given Bennett control over the company, the Ford women stepped in and demanded Bennett's ouster. In September 1945, Henry Ford II was summoned to Ford's estate and informed that he would be the new president of Ford Motor Company. As his first act, Henry Ford II, then 28, had John Bugas hand Bennett his walking papers (after which Bennett and Bugas drew pistols on each other). Bennett told the younger Ford, "You're taking over a billion-dollar company that you haven't contributed a thing to." That afternoon, on September 21, 1945, Bennett departed, ending his 30-year career with the Ford Motor Company. The ruthless Bennett era was finally over. Afterward, Henry Ford II went to Ford to tell him of his first executive decision: "I went to him (Henry Ford) with my guard up. I was sure he was going to blow my head off." Ford quite nonchalantly said, "Well, now Harry is back on the streets where he started." Residences Bennett's Pagoda Boathouse The Ford PagodaHouse / Harry Bennett Boathouse on Grosse Ile, Michigan is probably the best known of Bennett's residences and has been a Great Lakes Landmark since its