Henry J. Kaiser

Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882—August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding.

Early life

Beginning as a cashier in a dry-goods shop in Utica, New York, Kaiser moved many times as he pursued the photographic and hardware businesses, finally settling in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 1906, he moved to the West Coast. In 1912, he began a road paving business in Spokane and Skagit, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia. The Henry J. Kaiser Company, Ltd. was established in Vancouver, B.C., in 1914. Early successes included one of international scope, building the first concrete paved roadways in Cuba in 1915. In 1921 Kaiser won his first California paving contract and established headquarters in Oakland, California. He then profited by building the expanding public road network.

In 1923, he started [http://www.baycrossings.com/archives/2002/05_June/cover_story.htm Kaiser Sand and Gravel] . Kaiser made the unique move of painting the trucks pink since that was his wife's favorite color. Through an unusual management structure stressing good pay for workers, Kaiser was able to bring the road paving contract in under budget and earlier than deadline. Kaiser partnered with Bechtel Corporation to form one of the Six Companies which collectively bid on and completed the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. The success of this massive project, which was completed two years early, led to more government roadbuilding and other infrastructure contracts such as the building of the Bonneville, Grand Coulee, and Shasta Dams, natural gas pipelines in the Southwest, Mississippi River levees, and the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge underwater foundations.

World War II

He became most famous for the Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California during World War II, adopting production techniques that generated one cargo ship every 30 days. These ships became known as Liberty ships. He became world renowned when his teams built a ship in 4 days. The keel for the 10,500 ton "Robert E. Peary" was laid on Sunday, November 8, 1942, and the ship was launched in California from the Richmond Shipyard #2 on Thursday, November 12, four days and 15 1/2 hours later. [ "Richmond 'Wonder Ship' To Test Pre-Fabrication Work," "Oakland Tribune" November 11, 1942, p1; "Kaiser Claims Second Record", "Oakland Tribune", November 17, 1942, p1 ] The previous record had been 10 days for the Liberty ship "Joseph M. Teal".

Other Kaiser Shipyards were located in Ryan Point (Vancouver) on the Columbia River in Washington state and in Portland, Oregon. A smaller vessel was turned out in 71 hours and 40 minutes from the Vancouver yard on November 16, 1942. [ "Kaiser Claims Second Record", "Oakland Tribune", November 17, 1942, p1 ] The concepts he developed for the mass production of commercial and military ships are still in use today. It was at the Richmond Kaiser Shipyards where he financed the pioneering idea of [http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/summer06/recollect.html Dr. Sydney Garfield] , the Kaiser Permanente HMO. The Kaiser hulls also became America's escort carriers, over one hundred small aircraft carriers which sailed into harm's way in both the Pacific and the Atlantic Wars. Hollywood made a movie (title?) about liberty shipbuilding showing the new innovations such as electric welding and assembly of major ship sections that were later brought together.

One of the problems with the pioneering use of welded hulls, not known at that time, was the issue of 'brittle fracture.' This caused the loss of many liberty ships in cold seas as the welds would fail and the hulls of the ships would crack - sometimes completely in two. Constance Tipper was one of the first people to discover why the liberty ships were breaking in two. Minor changes in design and more rigid welding control enforced in 1947 eliminated liberty ship losses until 1955. [Construction Failure By Jacob Feld, Kenneth L. Carper]

Post-World War II

As a real estate magnate, Kaiser was the founder of the Honolulu suburban community of Hawaiokinai Kai in Hawaiokinai (where there is a public high school named in his honor) and Panorama City near Los Angeles.In 1945, Kaiser partnered with veteran automobile executive Joseph Frazer to establish a new automobile company from the remnants of Graham-Paige, of which Frazer had been president. It would use a surplus Ford Motor Company defense plant at Willow Run, Michigan originally built for World War II aircraft production by Ford. Kaiser Motors produced cars under the Kaiser and Frazer names until 1955, when it abandoned the U.S. market and moved production to plants in Brazil and Argentina. In the late 1960s, these South American operations were sold to a Ford-Renault combine. In 1953, Kaiser purchased Willys-Overland, manufacturer of the Jeep line of utility vehicles, changing its name to Willys Motors. In 1963, the name was changed again to Kaiser-Jeep, which was ultimately sold to American Motors Corporation in 1970. As part of the transaction, Kaiser acquired a 22% interest in AMC, which was later divested.Kaiser entered the aluminium industry in 1946 with Kaiser Aluminum.

In 1948, Kaiser established the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, (also known as Kaiser Family Foundation), a U.S.-based, non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the nation. The Foundation, not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries, is an independent voice and source of facts and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public. Henry Kaiser spent much of his later years in Honolulu and developed an obsession with perfecting its urban landscape. He founded the Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel, now one of the most famous Hilton resorts in the world. Kaiser also constructed one of the first commercially practical geodesic domes at this resort. Kaiser was involved in building civic centers, roads and schools. He was part of the consortium that constructed the Hoover Dam and Grand Coulee Dam. Kaiser is also noted for advancing medicine with the development and construction of several hospitals, medical centers and medical schools. His mining town of Eagle Mountain, California, part of the West Coast's first integrated mining/processing operation linked by rail to his mill in Fontana, California, was the birthplace of Kaiser Permanente, the first health maintenance organization. Fontana is now home to another public high school named in his honor. His grandson,Edgar F. Kaiser, Jr. was the former President of Kaiser Steel. From 1981–1984, he also owned the Denver Broncos NFL franchise. Another grandson, also named Henry Kaiser, is a widely known experimental guitarist.In 1967, Kaiser died at the age of 85. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.

In 1984, the Oakland Auditorium was renamed the Kaiser Convention Center in honor of Kaiser after a renovation that year.

References

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External links

* [http://www.kff.org Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation]
* [http://home.earthlink.net/~peterferko/keweb/aboutke/history.htm Detailed biography]
* [http://www.kaiseraluminum.com/about-us/history History of Kaiser Aluminum]