[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 77 (Wednesday, June 6, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1034-E1035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONOR ANDREW HIGGINS AND HIS WORKERS FOR BUILDING BOATS THAT WON WORLD 
                                 WAR II

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. WILLIAM J. JEFFERSON

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 6, 2001

  Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today, as I did on D-
Day last year, to

[[Page E1035]]

introduce a resolution that is long overdue. On behalf of the entire 
Louisiana delegation, I would like to honor the forgotten heroes of 
World War II--the late Andrew Jackson Higgins, who designed the Higgins 
landing craft and his 20,000 employees who built the 20,000 boats that 
won the war.
  Once again, I ask Congress to recognize these heroes--who contributed 
so greatly to the war effort, but never left the Louisiana shores.
  Mr. Speaker, I stand here to reintroduce a resolution to award the 
late Andrew Jackson Higgins and the 20,000 plus men and women of 
Higgins Industries that supported the war efforts abroad with a 
Congressional Gold Medal. This medal will serve as long-overdue 
recognition for their patriotic contributions to our country, to the 
world--to peace and to freedom.
  Briefly, let me explain again why then late Andrew Higgins and the 
employees of Higgins Industries deserve this most prestigious honor.
  Andrew Jackson Higgins designed the landing craft, now dubbed ``the 
Higgins boats,'' used to land troops across open beaches during all 
amphibious assaults in World War II. The most famous, of course, was 
the D-Day invasion of Normandy; but other landings, like Leyte Gulf, 
Guadalcanal and Sicily were equally important.
  The 20,000 Higgins boats were built at eight plants in New Orleans, 
the city that I represent and that is home to the National D-Day 
Museum. These plants produced most of the vessels and equipment that 
were essential to the war efforts. Higgins employed more than 20,000 
workers around the clock for over four years. They built over 20,000 
landing craft and trained over 30,000 military personnel on the 
operation of the boats. At their peak, Higgins Industries produced 
about 700 boats per month.
  Beyond his dedication during the war, Higgins possessed qualities 
that were far beyond his years.
  Even before America entered the war, Higgins anticipated the possible 
need for his boats, and he purchased the entire 1940 Philippine 
Mahogany crop.
  Higgins displayed a social conscience that was unimaginably 
progressive in the 1940s. He employed men and women, blacks and whites 
with an ``equal pay for equal work'' policy decades before integration 
and gender equality in the workforce.
  Mr. Speaker, Andrew Jackson Higgins was a man of great insight and 
ingenuity. His accomplishments were recognized by President Eisenhower 
on more than one occasion. On Thanksgiving, 1944, Eisenhower boasted, 
``Let us thank God for Higgins Industries' management and labor which 
has given us the landing boats with which to conduct our campaign.''
  Again, in 1964, Eisenhower praised Andrew Higgins by saying, ``He is 
the man that won the war. 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.''
  The time has come for the Nation to honor the contributions of the 
people of Higgins Industries: men and women, blacks and whites, working 
side by side, equal pay for equal work, to build the boats that won 
World War II. Mr. Higgins went above and beyond the call of duty for 
his country and worked in a way that was far beyond his years. His 
progressive and aggressive policies before and during the war should 
serve as a member to all of us who serve our country, and should thus 
be duly recognized.
  Mr. Speaker, I reiterate, the recognition of the late Andrew Jackson 
Higgins and the employees of Higgins' Industries is long overdue. I 
believe these forgotten heroes should now be honored and always 
remembered. A Congressional Gold Medal will honor them, just as their 
work helped to keep us free.

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