Dwight Eisenhower described him as “the man who won the war for us.” Hard-drinking, hard-fisted and profane, Andrew Jackson Higgins was an Irishman from Nebraska who was thrown out of school and drifted to New Orleans in the 1920s, where he discovered a need for boats that could navigate the bayous. He developed shallow, flat-bottomed crafts that were ideal both for hauling bootlegged liquor and chasing after rumrunners during Prohibition.

His boat would completely transform coastal warfare. Before its use, capturing a defended port city meant chaotically unloading troops under fire. But the shallow craft with a ramp meant whole armies could quickly land along any stretch of beach, making the port irrelevant. Used throughout the war, it gave the US huge tactical advantages, most famously on D-Day.

In 1939, Higgins Industries had 75 workers. By the end of the war, it had 20,000, and 92% of the US Navy’s vessels were designed by Higgins Industries. The Higgins workforce was the first in New Orleans to be integrated, including black workers, women, the elderly, and the handicapped. All were paid equal wages according to their job rating. They responded by shattering production records, turning out more than 20,000 boats by the end of the war.

An obsessive perfectionist whose motto was “The Hell I Can’t,” Higgins was an outsider to New Orleans elite social circles. But he was a production genius when his nation needed him. During the war, even Hitler was aware of him, calling him “the new Noah.”

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Special thanks to Norman Reynolds for suggesting the Higgins Boat.

Links:

• The Invention That Won World War II – David Kindy, Smithsonian Magazine, June 3, 2019

  
  

• The Higgins Boat: 9 Things You Might Not Know About the Landing Craft That Changed History – Military History Now, June 2, 2019

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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