Henry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who founded over 100 companies; he is perhaps most well known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. His companies included Kaiser Aluminium, Kaiser Steel, and Kaiser Cement & Gypsum. Many recognize the name Kaiser Permanente, the healthcare maintenance organization Kaiser founded for his workers.
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| Henry J. Kaiser, an American industrialist |
Henry Kaiser was born in New York in May 1882 to ethnic German immigrants. In 1906, Kaiser moved to Washington State to start a construction company, using up his savings.
In 1914, Kaiser founded his paving company, Henry J. Kaiser Co., Ltd. Until 1930, he built dams, levees, and highways, supplied by his own sand and gravel plants. He also benefited from being one of the first paving companies to use heavy construction machinery. His firm expanded significantly in the late 1920s, and he moved into directing larger projects like the Hoover, Bonneville, and Grand Coulee dams.
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| The Hoover Dam, constructed between 1931 and 1936. |
Kaiser was an early advocate for ending the foreign policy of neutrality - he wanted to help those suffering under the Nazi regime. He is most famous for the Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California. Kaiser adapted production techniques to build cargo ships; these ships, known as Liberty ships, had an average construction time of 45 days, but his team was able to build a ship in as little as four and a half days.
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| A Liberty ship prepared for launching |
In 1942, Kaiser established the first healthcare maintenance organization for his shipyard employees. The Kaiser Foundation Medical Care built 19 hospitals to provide health care for over a million people, and later became a model for federal programs. At the war's end, the Health Plan was extended to include workers' families.
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Kaiser Permanente, a healthcare organization
that is still running today. |
Kaiser died at 85 in Honolulu; he is interred in the Mountain View Cemetry in Oakland, California. Kaiser is most well known for the Kaiser Shipyard and Kaiser Permanente, although he founded many other companies. Kaiser Permanente is still in operation today, the largest managed care organization in the United States.
3 comments:
Interesting post! I didn't know that the founder of Kaiser Permenante also helped build the Hoover dam!
It was interesting to learn about Kaiser and how he was an advocate for neutrality and what he did and built. It's interesting that this heavily relates to today's world because Kaiser Permanente is still important and still used today.
I know! I was surprised to find that he had contributed to such large projects, given his primary legacy was the healthcare organization Kaiser Permanente. Thinking about it, though, it made sense to me - Kaiser Permanente was founded to give the workers (in his construction companies) health care.
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