Andrew Higgins
| Andrew Higgins | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Andrew Jackson Higgins August 28, 1886 Columbus, Nebraska |
| Died | August 1, 1952 (aged 65) New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Education | Creighton Prep High School |
| Occupation | Owner of Higgins Industries, Boatbuilder |
Andrew Jackson Higgins (28 August 1886 – 1 August 1952) was the founder and owner of Higgins Industries, the New Orleans-based manufacturer of "Higgins boats" (LCVPs) during World War II. The company started out as a small boat-manufacturing business, but later 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. At the end of the war, more than ninety-six percent of US Navy ships were "Higgins boats". 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 his heroic war efforts in ship production and bitterly dubbed him the "New Noah."
Andrew Higgins was born on 28 August 1886 in Columbus, Nebraska, the youngest child of John Gonegle Higgins and Annie Long (O'Conor) Higgins. His father was a Chicago attorney and newspaper reporter who had relocated to Nebraska, where he served as a local judge, but died after an accidental fall when Andrew Higgins was seven years old.
Higgins was raised in Omaha and completed three years at Creighton Prep High School before being expelled for brawling. He also served in the Nebraska Army National Guard, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant, first in the Infantry, and later in the Engineers. He gained his first experience with boat building and moving troops on the water during militia maneuvers on the Platte River.
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