Andrew Higgins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Andrew Jackson Higgins August 28, 1886 |
| Died | August 1, 1952 (aged 65) |
| Education | Creighton Prep High School |
| Occupation(s) | Owner of Higgins Industries, boatbuilder |
| Spouse | Angele Colsson Higgins (1889-1965) |
| Children | 6 |
Andrew Jackson Higgins (28 August 1886 – 1 August 1952) was an American businessman and boatbuilder who founded Higgins Industries, the New Orleans–based manufacturer of "Higgins boats" (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel, or LCVPs) during World War II. The company started out as a small boat-manufacturing business, and became one of the biggest industries in the world with upwards of eighty thousand workers and government contracts worth nearly three hundred fifty million dollars.[1] General Dwight Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. ... If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different." Adolf Hitler recognized Higgins war efforts in ship production and bitterly dubbed him the "New Noah".[2][3]
- ^ Neushul, Peter. "Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Mass Production of World War II Landing Craft". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association 39, no. 2 (Spring 1998): 133–166. JSTOR, accessed April 6, 2015.
- ^ Brinkley, Douglas, The Man Who Won the War for Us, American Heritage, 20000101, Vol. 51, Issue 3
- ^ Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 204–6, Random House, New York, NY. ISBN 978-1-4000-6964-4.