[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 54 (Thursday, May 4, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H2599-H2600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           INTRODUCTION OF THE HIGGINS GOLD MEDAL RESOLUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jefferson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to announce that I have 
introduced a resolution on behalf of the entire Louisiana delegation 
that will honor some long-forgotten and overlooked heroes of World War 
II.
  These heroes were not soldiers or sailors or aviators. These silent 
heroes were hard-working men and women from Louisiana. However, 
according to President Dwight Eisenhower who served as Supreme 
Commander of the Allied Forces, the ingenuity and hard work of these 
unsung heroes played an enormous role in winning World War II.

[[Page H2600]]

  Mr. Speaker, this legislation will award a Congressional Gold Medal 
to the late Andrew Jackson Higgins and another Congressional Gold Medal 
to his workforce of 20,000 at Higgins Industries in New Orleans, 
Louisiana. These medals will recognize their contribution to the 
Nation, to the Allied victory in World War II and to world peace.
  Let me briefly explain why the late Mr. Higgins and the employees of 
Higgins Industries deserve this long-overdue recognition.
  Andrew Jackson Higgins designed and engineered high-speed boats and 
various types of military landing craft, later to be known as ``Higgins 
boats.''
  Higgins boats were constructed of wood and steel and transported 
fully armed troops, light tanks and other mechanized equipment 
essential to all Allied amphibious landing operations, including the 
decisive D-Day attack at Normandy, France.
  Mr. Higgins also designed, engineered, and constructed four major 
assembly plants in New Orleans for mass production of Higgins landing 
craft and other vessels vital to the Allied forces' conduct of World 
War II.
  Higgins Industries employed more than 20,000 workers at his eight 
plants in New Orleans. They worked around the clock over 4 years. At 
peak production, they built 700 boats per month. By the end of the war, 
they had built 20,094 landing craft of all types, and trained 30,000 
Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard personnel on the proper operation of 
these boats.
  The slogan at Higgins Industries was: ``The guy who relaxes is 
helping the Axis.''
  Beyond his genius in the design and engineering of the ``Higgins 
boats,'' Andrew Jackson Higgins possessed a foresight and a social 
conscience unheard of more than half a century ago.
  Long before the United States had entered World War II, the late Mr. 
Higgins began to stockpile the materials needed to produce the 
thousands of landing craft and PT boats. His foresight contributed 
greatly to America's readiness when it finally did enter the war.
  For example, Higgins bought the entire 1940 Philippine mahogany crop, 
anticipating a need for a stockpile of wood to build landing craft when 
American entered the war.
  Besides his foresight and ingenuity, Higgins instituted a progressive 
social policy at Higgins Industries, where he employed a fully 
integrated assembly workforce of black and white men and women. His 
policy was equal pay for equal work decades before integration and 
racial and gender equality became the law of our land.
  Mr. Speaker, after review of Mr. Higgins' contributions and the 
output of Higgins Industries during the early years of World War II, it 
is easy to understand Eisenhower's admiration and praise. On 
Thanksgiving, 1944, then General Eisenhower reported home, ``Let us 
thank God for Higgins Industries' management and labor which has given 
us the landing boats with which to conduct our campaign.''
  Then again in 1964, President Eisenhower said of Andrew Higgins: ``He 
is the man who won the war for us. If Higgins had not produced and 
developed those landing craft, we never could have gone in over an open 
beach. We would have had to change the entire strategy of the war.''
  Mr. Speaker, the time has come for our Nation and this Congress to 
recognize Andrew Jackson Higgins and his employees for their 
unparalleled contributions to our country, to victory in World War II, 
and to world peace.
  Indeed, this tribute is just in time for June 6, 2000, the 55th 
anniversary of the Allied landing at Normandy, when the National D-Day 
Museum will be dedicated and opened in New Orleans.
  There are not adequate words to describe the vision and patriotism of 
Andrew Jackson Higgins and his employees. He understood what is needed 
to win World War II long before America was a participant, and he went 
beyond the call of duty to be prepared to serve his country. Then, his 
employees undertook the Herculean task of building the boats that won 
the war.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask all of our colleagues to join me and award a 
Congressional Gold Medal to the late Andrew Jackson Higgins and a 
second Congressional Gold Medal to the employees of Higgins Industries. 
These forgotten heroes of World War II provided a decisive and 
essential contribution to the United States and the Allied victory in 
World War II, blacks and whites, men and women, working side by side, 
equal pay for equal work, building the boats that won the war.
  Mr. Speaker, these silent heroes must be honored and should always be 
remembered and the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to them is 
highly in order at this time.

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