II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2689

To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of Congress

to Andrew Jackson Higgins (posthumously), and to the D-day Museum

in recognition of the contributions of Higgins Industries and the more

than 30,000 employees of Higgins Industries to the Nation and to

world peace during World War II.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 7 (legislative day, JUNE 6), 2000

Ms. LANDRIEU introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

A BILL

To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf

of Congress to Andrew Jackson Higgins (posthumously),

and to the D-day Museum in recognition of the contributions of Higgins Industries and the more than 30,000

employees of Higgins Industries to the Nation and to

world peace during World War II.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Andrew Jackson Hig5 gins Gold Medal Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress makes the following findings:

3 (1) Andrew Jackson Higgins was born on Au4 gust 28, 1886, in Columbus, Nebraska, moved to

5 New Orleans in 1910, and formed Higgins Indus6 tries on September 26, 1930.

7 (2) Andrew Jackson Higgins designed, engi8 neered, and produced the ‘‘Eureka’’, a unique shal9 low draft boat the design of which evolved during

10 World War II into 2 basic classes of military craft:

11 high speed PT boats, and types of Higgins landing

12 craft (LCPs, LCPLs, LCVPs, LCMs and LCSs).

13 (3) Andrew Jackson Higgins designed, engi14 neered, and constructed 4 major assembly line

15 plants in New Orleans for mass production of Hig16 gins landing craft and other vessels vital to the Al17 lied Forces’ conduct of World War II.

18 (4) Andrew Jackson Higgins bought the entire

19 1940 Philippine mahogany crop and other material

20 purely at risk without a government contract, antici21 pating that America would join World War II and

22 that Higgins Industries would need the wood to

23 build landing craft. Higgins also bought steel, en24 gines, and other material necessary to construct

25 landing craft.
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1 (5) Andrew Jackson Higgins, through Higgins

2 Industries, employed a fully integrated assembly line

3 work force, black and white, male and female, of up

4 to 30,000 during World War II, with equal pay for

5 equal work.

6 (6) In 1939, the United States Navy had a

7 total of 18 landing craft in the fleet.

8 (7) From November 18, 1940, when Higgins

9 Industries was awarded its first contract for Higgins

10 landing craft until the conclusion of the war, the em11 ployees of Higgins Industries produced 12,300

12 Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP’s) and

13 nearly 8,000 other landing craft of all types.

14 (8) During World War II, Higgins Industries

15 employees produced 20,094 boats, including landing

16 craft and Patrol Torpedo boats, and trained 30,000

17 Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard personnel on the

18 safe operation of landing craft at the Higgins’ Boat

19 Operators School.

20 (9) On Thanksgiving Day 1944, General

21 Dwight D. Eisenhower stated in an address to the

22 Nation: ‘‘Let us thank God for Higgins Industries,

23 management, and labor which has given us the land24 ing boats with which to conduct our campaign.’’.
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1 (10) Higgins landing craft, constructed of wood

2 and steel, transported fully armed troops, light

3 tanks, field artillery, and other mechanized equip4 ment essential to amphibious operations.

5 (11) Higgins landing craft made the amphib6 ious assault on D-day and the landings at Leyte,

7 North Africa, Guadalcanal, Sicily, Iwo Jima,

8 Tarawa, Guam, and thousands of less well-known

9 assaults possible.

10 (12) Captain R.R.M. Emmett, a commander at

11 the North Africa amphibious landing, and later com12 mandant of the Great Lakes Training Station, wrote

13 during the war: ‘‘When the history of this war is fi14 nally written by historians, far enough removed from

15 its present turmoil and clamor to be cool and impar16 tial, I predict that they will place Mr. (Andrew Jack17 son) Higgins very high on the list of those who de18 serve the commendation and gratitude of all citi19 zens.’’.

20 (13) In 1964, President Dwight D. Eisenhower

21 told historian Steven Ambrose: ‘‘He (Higgins) is the

22 man who won the war for us. If Higgins had not de23 veloped and produced those landing craft, we never

24 could have gone in over an open beach. We would

25 have had to change the entire strategy of the war.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

2 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized,

4 on behalf of Congress, to award a gold medal of ap5 propriate design to—

6 (A) the family of Andrew Jackson Higgins,

7 honoring Andrew Jackson Higgins (post8 humously) for his contributions to the Nation

9 and world peace; and

10 (B) the D-day Museum in New Orleans,

11 Louisiana, for public display, honoring Andrew

12 Jackson Higgins (posthumously) and the em13 ployees of Higgins Industries for their contribu14 tions to the Nation and world peace.

15 (2) MODALITIES.—The modalities of presen16 tation of the medals under this Act shall be deter17 mined by the President after consultation with the

18 Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Major19 ity Leader of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the

20 Senate, and the Minority Leader of the House of

21 Representatives.

22 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the

23 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary

24 of the Treasury (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec25 retary’’) shall strike 2 gold medals with suitable emblems,
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1 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec2 retary.

3 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

4 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in

5 bronze of the gold medals struck under this Act, under

6 such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, and at

7 a price sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including

8 labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead ex9 penses, and the cost of the gold medal.

10 SEC. 5. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.

11 The medals struck under this Act are national medals

12 for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

13 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; PROCEEDS

14 OF SALE.

15 (a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is

16 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint

17 Public Enterprise Fund an amount not to exceed $60,000

18 to pay for the cost of the medals authorized by this Act.

19 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the

20 sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 4 shall be

21 deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise

22 Fund.

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