Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 428 - Andrew Higgins: D-Day's Secret War Hero

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

Happy Veteran's Day! On D-Day, June 6th, 1944, over 150,000 Allied troops stormed Nazi-defended beaches in northern France in the largest military amphibious assault operation the world had ever seen. D-Day led directly to Allied forces pushing the Nazis back into Germany and winning the war. And D-Day would have never worked without the troop and supply transport boats designed by a colorful boat builder in New Orleans named Andrew Higgins. If you are able to give extra support this holiday season, please consider supporting the annual Bad Magic Giving Tree by purchasing a digital amazon gift card and sending it to [e-mail] are accepting gift cards starting now through November 21st!Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [e-mail] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. 

When you think of D-Day, I imagine you, like me, picture thousands of preposterously courageous soldiers storming the beaches of France's Normandy amid a hail of Nazi machine gun and artillery fire. You picture paratroopers bravely and brazenly dropping from the sky, also encountering enemy fire as they float so incredibly exposed down onto European soil, hoping their hearts will still be beating when they land. Overall, you picture a bunch of young men sacrificing literally everything to stop Hitler's aggression and the Axis powers. What you probably don't typically think about are the boats that took the overwhelming majority of soldiers to those beaches.

Boats that made D-Day possible. Or at least those boats aren't the first thing that come to mind. Perhaps the imagery just isn't as sexy. And yet, many World War II historians, politicians, and soldiers don't believe that a D-Day victory would have been possible without the naval ingenuity of one man and his remarkable mind. Andrew Higgins. If his name sounds familiar,

well, you're probably a bigger WWII historian than I am or most of the people who listen to Time Suck are. I'd heard of his boats before this week's research, but only because of previous research for this show and a trip to the WWII Museum in New Orleans. I certainly was not familiar with the man behind the name of the Higgins boat. Higgins was a boat manufacturer and one hell of a colorful character based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Prior to working for the U.S. military, he had owned a successful wood import business, Higgins Lumber and Export Co., a business that required a lot of boats to be profitable.

He'd acquired a fleet of sailing ships said to have been the largest in America at one time, and to service his massive fleet, he'd established a shipyard and to improve his fleets he'd figured out how to design and manufacture his own boats. Boats that turned out to be a lot better than the ones he was previously buying. Higgins loved boats. He had been obsessed with designing them since he was literally in grade school. He was also brilliant, inventive, and ambitious and after making a lot of money importing a whole lot of hardwood, he wanted to do something different, something more important. He wanted to work with the U.S. military. Through a combination of stubborn persistence and having incredible designs for boats that

were just flat out better than anyone else's, Higgins persuaded the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps to purchase his boats, lots and lots of his boats, and his superior products, innovation, willingness to quickly work through any problem, and sheer determination to succeed. A true failure is not an option mentality just made his life so noteworthy. He was able to make the best amphibious assault boats in the world, boats that could and did turn amphibious missions like Operation Overlord's D-Day into a massive success. President Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Military Forces, the man who gave the green light for D-Day after leading planning on it, called Higgins, the man who won the war for us.

And that was not hyperbole. Without Higgins' votes, not only D-Day, but hundreds of lesser known operations just would not have been possible. They would not have succeeded. Even Nazi Fuhrer Adolf Hitler jealously recognized Higgins' war efforts and ship production and design and bitterly dubbed him as America's new Noah. Despite this level of recognition during the war, Andrew Jackson Higgins doesn't have a lot of name recognition now. He's a far cry from being a household name. He's largely become a hidden figure in World War II history, with his work being part of one of the

most important missions in worldwide military history, but the man behind that work remaining largely unknown. Let's try and change that just a bit with this week's episode. Who was Andrew Higgins? How did a boy from Columbus, Nebraska turn into one of the most successful businessmen in the world, at least for a few years? Higgins' story is equal parts inspiring and entertaining. A pattern emerged in Higgins' life. Try, fail, succeed, and persist. Higgins truly embodied the classic American rags-to-riches story. This week in honor of Veterans Day, we'll take a short break from cults, murders, and similar subjects and discuss just how important Higgins was to D-Day's success, his life, and his boat-making journey, and all the drama and his dealings with the U.S. government and military in this week's. Let's take a break from the current cultural polarization in America and look back at when

we as a nation were at our best, when people of all races and creeds came together for a common cause addition of time suck. This is Michael McDonald and you're listening to time suck Well, happy Monday, happy Veterans Day, happy birthday to Lindsay Cummins, Queen of the Suck, born on Veterans Day. My beautiful wife who just turned 41. And welcome to the Cult of the Curious. I'm Dan Cummins, the master sucker, seeker, wanderer, bike rider, and you are listening to Time Suck. Hail Nimrod, Hail Lucifina, Praise be to Goodboy Bojangos and Glory be to Triple M.

Recording this episode on November 6th, and I know a lot of people are celebrating, and a lot of other people are hurting. I'll share more sentiments via answering some updates at the end of the episode, but for right now I just want to say to those of you who had your candidates win, please be gracious in victory. Gloating only adds to the divisiveness that has come to dominate modern politics and just American culture. A divisiveness that only serves politicians and their most strident acolytes and hurts literally everyone else. Divisiveness that pushes people into extremism. The kind of extremism that

most of us have come to hate. That is good for no one. And for those of you whose candidate is lost, let me just share a quote I really liked from John Stewart. He said, We're gonna come out of this election and make all kinds of pronouncements about what this country is and what this world is, and the truth is, we're not really gonna know shit.

This isn't the end. And he's right. It's not the sun will rise tomorrow. There will still be noble fights to be fought. There will still be problems. So keep fighting. Don't give up or give in. Hope that you're wrong about your worst fears.

Don't think those who voted differently than you did are evil and needlessly add further to the polarization that again serves only politicians and their most rabid fans and no one else and Do the best you can to enjoy the days you have before they're gone and to everyone Root for things to get better for all of us Let us all come up together be the light you want to see in the world talk to people who do not share your opinions Be open to their opinions try to understand them have them understand you stay curious keep learning keep sharing what you learn

Keep believing that knowledge is power keep looking to the past to avoid the mistakes We've already made keep voting and that's all I got for this Opening little segment you beautiful bastards little more at the end a couple quick more things and then we are off into the content another annual bad Magic Giving Tree reminder. I'll again share details about when and where to apply for help later, right now asking for people to help others. We want to help as many families as we can again around the holidays as made possible by your donations.

Every little bit helps us achieve our goal of donating 40 grand to our community members in need as we've done in the past. If you're able to give extra support this holiday season, please consider doing so by purchasing a digital Amazon gift card and sending it to givingtree2024 at badmagicproductions.com. I will include that email in the episode description. We are accepting gift cards starting now through November 21st. All that info can be found in today's episode description or email us. We'll point you in the right direction. Also congrats to Crystal G Williams for winning this year's Bad Magic Street Team Sticker

Contest. Oh boy! Ding. Yippee! Crystal put a bunch of stickers in a bunch of creative places advertising both Time Suck and Scared to Death and we are so grateful for her efforts to bring us some extra exposure and having fun doing so. She won a $200 merch credit to the Bad Magic store and our gratitude. Big thanks as well to long time Bad Magic fan Austin Andrade who took second place.

He won a $50 merch credit as did at MythicalHuman for taking third. Thanks to everyone else who joined in the fun. Thanks mythical for doing this a couple of years in a row now. I look forward to doing it again next year. One last thing, 2024 holiday collection part one, live in the Bad Magic store includes Bob and Yoko's holiday album T, Bob Dylan and Yoko Ono, two of history's greatest vocalists bring you home

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Visit BadMagicProductions.com to shop the 2024 Holiday Collection today. And now it's topic time. It was in a 1964 interview with historian Stephen Ambrose when Dwight Eisenhower called Andrew Higgins the man who won the war for us. Two decades after the fighting was done, Eisenhower had not forgotten how large Higgins' contribution was. So let's muster up a little and examine that contribution in detail today Nimrod demands

it. Going to begin by taking a few moments to further establish just how important Higgins was to the war effort before we talk about D-Day and how his boats made D-Day possible. Then we'll spend a lot of time, like a lot, most of the episode really, reading diary entries written by his wife, Mrs. Higgins, entries that really focus on what an incredible lover Andrew was. Entries that go into graphic, hardest stomach in moments detail regarding the length,

weight, shape of his genitalia, the power and flexibility of his hips. Entries that scientifically break down the force of his thrusts, how the shape of his penis interacted with Mrs. Higgins' vaginal wall, how a certain callus on his pointing finger interacted with her clitoris in a way she described as, quote, ethereal, magical.

It was as if he injected his very soul directly into my nervous system, to my clitoris as the orgasm produced left my entire body quivering and convulsing. I would lose consciousness, leave my body, watch myself shaking and crying out in ecstasy, weep at the beauty of it all with the angels in heaven, then re-enter my body, grab his shaft and, well, for any other entries like that, you're just gonna have to wait.

It's too much to share now. We need to build up to it. And I understand you might need time to find a place to listen to it in private, because, well, you and I both know what you're gonna do when you hear it. And I would say but as you know if you've listened to the show for any length of time I try and keep these episodes G-rated because I mostly do these shows for the kids. This is for the kids you guys. Okay sorry what just happened? I blacked out for a minute or two. What I was trying to say before I rudely interrupted myself. Let's begin by taking a few moments to further establish just how important Higgins was to the war effort before we talk about D-Day and how his boats made D-Day possible. While we're going to a timeline of Higgins life, how he got his business started, how he became involved with the military

and his boats, and maybe, maybe share some of his wife's dietary entries. We have to be good. It'd be good to hear those. You had to go pee-pee in a potty, like good boys and good girls. Can't stress that enough. Don't care what fucking side of the election you were on. You can't be fucking naughty if you want to hear the entries.

Anyway, Higgins mostly made a name for himself, building the boats that delivered thousands and thousands and thousands of allied soldiers to the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Higgins designed and produced an assembly of all kinds of different amphibious boats during the war. These were very innovative because they could deliver soldiers and supplies from ship to shore.

No heavily fortified port access needed and that was something very new. His boats eliminated the need for traditional harbors, which Hitler and his allies had heavily guarded. They could carry troops right up onto the beach, right up onto damn near any beach. Higgins built several types of specialty watercraft for the Marines in the Navy. Don't worry about remembering these terms on the list now. I just want to illustrate how many different types of boats he was making for the military. He had LCTs landing craft tank LCA's landing craft assault LCPLs landing craft personnel large

LCM's landing craft mechanized Did I say mechanized correctly if I didn't I just did LCUs landing craft utility LCVs landing craft utility, LCVs, landing craft vehicle, motor torpedo boats aka PT's, supply vessels, and a variety of other specialized lesser-used watercraft. Just a shit ton of boats. Out of all of his boats Higgins was best known by far for designing and manufacturing thousands of LCVPs. Landing craft vehicle personnel crafts, over 20,000000 the LCVP combined two previously existing types of boats the LCPL and the LCV to make a boat designed

to carry soldiers jeeps and supplies to virtually any shore in the world again no port needed Higgins adapted some shallow water boats he had already designed for private use down in the bayous of Louisiana to new military specifications he'd initially designed separate landing craft for soldiers and designed for private use down in the bayous of Louisiana to new military specifications. He'd initially designed separate landing craft for soldiers and vehicles, LCPLs and LCVs. The LCPL had no ramp, so soldiers had to jump over the sides, but that exposed them to additional gunfire. So Higgins combined the LCP and LCV to form a new revolutionary 36-foot LCVP, new revolutionary 36-foot LCVP. A boat that became commonly known as the Higgins boat. A boat that became famous during the war. A boat that literally might have turned

the tides of the war into the Allies favor. Each of Higgins LCVPs could carry up to 36 dudes or a Jeep, a small truck, and equipment with less soldiers. It featured a front ramp for both people and vehicles designed to descend really almost directly onto the beach. The big wooden metal boat could still float in just three feet of water and the bow of the boat, the front, could float in just over two feet of water and maybe even in shallower water than that according to some sources. According to an article in the Smithsonian, pretty damn good thorough source in my experience, it featured a protected

propeller system that rested inside the hull that enabled the boats to maneuver in as little as 10 inches of water which is fucking wild for a big boat carrying 36 troops. No other boat in the world at that time could haul that many troops and or equipment in a boat that could still float that close to shore. Not even close. Higgins and Sines way ahead of anybody else's. His boats would be used in nearly every American amphibious operation in both the Pacific and European theaters of the war for the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Without them, both the Navy and the Marine Corps would have had to have directly attacked heavily defended ports to get large numbers of troops onto the ground.

And that might have easily would have likely prevented the US military from supplying the nearly 2 million infantrymen who fought on the ground in Europe. Troops needed to win the war against the Germans would have also, that's one time they had that many. They actually had many more troops in Europe overall throughout the war allies did Would have prevented the Marines from a siege in the many many islands They stormed in the South Pacific to help beat the Japanese With the Higgins boat military personnel had infinitely more access points to get troops onto the ground

Knowing that allies had these boats change the defense strategy of the access powers tremendously now They had to defend far far far more shoreline than they otherwise would have, which stretched out and thinned their resources considerably, did not allow them to amass large concentrations of troops and fortifications in just any one defensive position. Taking away the Axis powers ability to heavily fortify a very limited number of ports and then use excess troops in order to continue taking over more territory dramatically changed the way the entire war was fought. They had to be far more defensive minded, the Axis powers did. And again, Higgins boats instrumental to this change.

What makes Higgins story extra interesting is that the Navy was initially very uninterested in his products, but Higgins was persistent, doggedly so. He knew he was a better lover than other boat builders. We know that now thanks to his wife's diary entries. But seriously, he did know that his products were superior to existing military naval technology at the time and better than boats produced by more established shipyards. Truly no one understood how to build a big boat that could operate in shallow, debris-filled water like Andrew Higgins.

With the U.S. Navy, he just had a hard time proving that. They were incredibly reluctant to lean on his comparatively small company, a company that became huge when they finally awarded him some big government contracts. In 1938, Higgins owned a single boatyard with less than 75 employees. Five years later, by the end of 1943, after some big government contracts, he owned seven big manufacturing plants that had over 25,000 employees. That's insane growth. The war turned the small Louisiana boat builder

into a massive industrialist, with annual sales exceeding $120 million. Higgins employees would end up building over 20,000 boats for the allies. Over 12,500 of them were Higgins boats and that's according to one source. According to some other sources he built over 20,000 Higgins boats alone. Sources for his boats specifically as far as like the numbers built vary a little more than I was expecting. Higgins built all kinds of boats by the time the war was over.

He built PT boats that contained anti-aircraft machine guns, smoke screen devices, depth charges, and compressed air fire torpedo tubes. He also made anti-submarine boats, dispatch boats, 170-foot freight supply vessels, and more. And he designed a lot of that stuff himself. By the time he died, less than a decade after the war's conclusion, Higgins held 30 amphibious landing craft and vehicle patents, and his name was known around the world. For his and his company's efforts, Higgins Industries received an Army Navy E, the highest award a company could get from the military.

Raymond Molley, an FDR advisor, as in the FDR, the president, President Roosevelt, wrote in Newsweek in 1943, it is Higgins himself who takes your breath away. Higgins is an authentic master builder with the kind of willpower, brains, drive, and daring that characterize the American empire builders of an earlier generation. Okay, now that we've established just how important Higgins was to the war effort, let's talk specifically about D-Day and how his boats made D-Day possible. D-Day was part of a military mission known as Operation Overlord, the largest land, air, and sea operation ever conducted, as in ever in the history of the world's warfare. The maneuvers that occurred specifically on D-Day were codenamed Operation Neptune. And Operation Neptune is considered one of the greatest

military achievements of all time. On June 6, 1944 an Allied force consisting of over 150,000 soldiers, 5,000 ships, and 800 aircraft attacked 50 miles of Normandy coastline in northern France. When it was all over more than 4,000 Allied soldiers died and additional 6,000 plus were injured but the Allies had succeeded in breaching France's coastal defenses. D-Day was the very beginning of the Allied invasion of northwest Europe. Without it Hitler would have almost certainly launched a ground invasion of the UK and then after that who knows what he would have done. In total on that one day almost or about

73,000 US troops made it onto European soil. The Allies landed more than 150,000 troops in total including a significant number of both British and Canadian forces all in one day. And that day led directly to the Allies pushing the Nazis further and further east all the way to Berlin and to the Allies pushing the Nazis further and further east, all the way to Berlin, and to the death of Hitler and the end of Nazi fascism. And here's what led up to D-Day. In May of 1940, Germany invaded and began to occupy northwestern France. Just two years later, 1942, the Nazis were at the height of their power. Germany and its Allies now controlled large portions of both Europe and Northern Africa.

German armies had set up their brutal police states everywhere, imprisoning and murdering millions of innocent people. But two more years later, by 1944, Hitler had lost his hold on Stalingrad, and the Axis powers began losing their control of North Africa and Italy. They'd expanded too fast in too many directions, stretched their resources too thin, it did not account for how brutal a Russian winter could be, or how reckless Stalin would be when it came to sacrificing the lives of millions of Russia's young men just throwing troop after troop after troop carelessly recklessly at the Nazis to make sure that Hitler did not take Moscow. And now seeking to ride newfound momentum, Allied military leaders began planning a

full invasion of Western Europe, with the intention of spreading Germany's defenses even thinner, and ideally turning the war decisively in their favor. By the summer of 1944, the Allies had decided to concentrate their efforts on Western France to fight Hitler. The D-Day invasion was planned for over two years. History.com described it as, "...a full-scale invasion designed to push the Nazis back into Germany. No amphibious mission of its size had ever been attempted.

Britain's Winston Churchill pleaded with allied supreme commander Dwight Eisenhower and President Roosevelt to pursue a less dangerous strategy, emphasizing placing soldiers in Italy and southern France instead. He was worried that the defensive perimeter Hitler had had his men build on the shores of western France would be too difficult to penetrate, that it would be a bloodbath if soldiers tried to storm those beaches. But future US President Eisenhower, the Allied Forces' supreme commander in Europe, would not be swayed. He felt that Normandy provided the best, most straightforward path east into Germany. Eisenhower knew that his biggest obstacle to D-Day's success was that Germany had already

built an Atlantic wall defense system consisting of roughly 2,400 miles of heavily fortified bunkers, landmines, beach and water obstacles. Over 260,000 laborers, most of them prisoners, had built this so-called wall over two years' time. This defensive wall comprised roughly 6.5 million mines, thousands of concrete bunkers and pillboxes containing heavy and fast-firing artillery, tens of thousands of tank ditches, and other formidable beach obstacles. And the German army would be dug in on the cliffs overlooking the American landing beaches. Also, Eisenhower knew that Hitler was waiting for him to attack. By Novemberhower knew that Hitler was waiting for him

to attack. By November of 1943, Hitler was well aware of the threat of an invasion of northern France. He had put Erwin Rommel, the infamous desert fox, who had made a name for himself and as a very successful tank commander in northern Africa, in charge of leading defense operations in the area. Rommel was tasked with overseeing the completion of the Atlantic Wall. And the Allies knew that they would have to overcome Rommel's widely respected brilliant military mind with Operation Overlord. And what was Operation Overlord? The operations planned at its core was very simple. It was described as distract and attack. If all went according to plan, heavy aerial bombing would first take out key Nazi gun positions and destroy important roads and bridges. That would

cut off a possible Nazi retreat and prevent incoming reinforcements. Allied paratroopers would drop in and secure important inland positions. Then over 150,000 amphibious infantrymen, primarily from Britain, Canada, and the United States, would land on the shore to overwhelm the German defenses. They would storm five beaches they had named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juneau, and Sword. But then during the invasion, Allied bombers failed to destroy important Nazi artillery bunkers, especially on Omaha Beach. Most of the paratroopers missed their marks because of the clouds. Many ended up getting stuck in lagoons or shot midair by German snipers.

The seas were far rougher than anticipated, and many boats landed off course or sank before they even reached land. And yet overall, Operation Overlords, Operation Neptune, was a massive success. How? Let's walk through D-Day step by step. Big steps. Broad strokes, but still. The Allies had been preparing a deception campaign for months ahead of storming France's beaches. That campaign, known as Operation Fortitude, would convince the Nazis that the real landing site would be along the Pas-de-Calais, the narrowest point between Britain and France.

Pas-de de Calais. General George Patton led a dummy army of hundreds of inflatable decoy tanks and airplanes to trick spy planes. I love that deception. The Allies also faked radio transmissions and planted German double agents. They did all of this so successfully that when the soldiers invaded Normandy, Hitler thought they were faking them out to distract him from a real invasion in Calais. Why would they do this to me? So tricky, so naughty. What a bunch of naughty boys. Why won't this fight fair? A clean fight does what I want.

Yeah, they fucking got him good. In early June of 1944, just a few weeks before the invasion, over 2 million American and 250,000 Canadian soldiers arrived in England to prepare for the mission. The U.S. military shipped 7 million tons of supplies to the staging area. Over two million, two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, man! And that doesn't count all the tens of thousands of British troops that would also be involved. A limited number of troops from Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, even from Poland, be involved in some way or another.

And then after years of planning, after the accumulation of a couple million military personnel, Mother Nature almost ruined D-Day for the Allies. He just can't really plan for weather. And a big storm nearly threw everything off. D-Day was supposed to take place on June 4th. On that day in 1944, the Allied commanders gathered in England for a meeting. It was just a few hours before they were supposed to launch. And then Captain James Stagg, Chief Meteorological Officer, we just learned about meteorology in the military a few weeks ago with some cool updates, urged a last-minute delay. The Royal Navy British Meteorological Office,

the US Strategic and Tactical Air Force, responsible for monitoring and predicting the English Channel's weather. And on May 29th, observations from Newfoundland indicated that a storm was going to arrive on invasion day. Stag knew the storm was just a few hours away and he got Allied Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower to agree to a 24-hour delay and move the invasion to June 5th. Allied forces were nervous to move the invasion at all. They only had a three-day window for the invasion in June, so any delay was beyond stressful. They needed optimal weather conditions,

but paratroopers also needed the light of the full moon or a moon close to the full moon to see their marks and amphibious soldiers needed a low tide to expose the Germans underwater defenses. So they couldn't delay things for long. Nevertheless, Eisenhower was eventually persuaded to push back the invasion an a low tide to expose the Germans underwater defenses. So they couldn't delay things for long. Nevertheless, Eisenhower was eventually persuaded to push back the invasion an additional day to the edge of their availability window to June 6th. Even then, the weather was still a long ways from perfect, but he decided in the end that was a good thing.

He believed the Nazis would never expect an attack during a storm. A Nazi meteorologist had predicted that the rough seas would not abate until mid-June, so they definitely were not expecting an invasion attempt for at least a few more weeks. However, the Allies had better meteorologists and a more advanced weather detecting system. Their station in Blacksod Point, Ireland detected a brief lull in the storm that would allow for a June 6th invasion. Captain James Stagg, the chief meteorological officer, informed Eisenhower of this opportunity. Eisenhower approved Operation Overlord for June 6, and it was all like Donkey Kong. Despite all the weather problems on the day of the invasion, Stagg later informed Eisenhower

that if they would have waited an additional few weeks for their next supposed good weather window, low tide and full moon, they would have been forced to operate in the worst weather conditions in the English Channel in two decades. Eisenhower later thanked the gods of war for acting when they did. And by gods of war I am 99% sure he was talking about Nimrod and Bojangles specifically. In the early morning hours of June 6, 18,000 American and British paratroopers attempted to drop behind the beachfront bulwarks to cut off supply roads, bridges, and inland defenses. Due to a dense fog, high winds, and intense enemy gunfire, many of them were forced to

jump at high speeds from low-flying planes. And a lot of the soldiers missed their landing marks. Some of them were carrying over 200 pounds of equipment and drowned in marshes that were created by Nazi engineers. Others were shot out of the sky. Luckily, most lived and were not wounded. Of the more than 23,000 allied paratroopers and glider troops that landed in Normandy on D-Day, some 800 were casualties. Over 22,000 might not have landed in the exact right spots, but landed alive and well. Most divisions did land successfully and were able to destroy some strategic bridges. Now it's time for the Operation Neptune part of Operation

Overlord, largest amphibious invasion in history. At 630 a.m. nearly a hundred and sixty thousand soldiers, six thousand ships and landing vessels made by renowned lover Andrew motherfucking Higgins and around 13,000 supporting aircraft made their invasions of the five beaches But then many of the landing crafts were pushed off course and many of the nearly 300 amphibious tanks deployed were swamped by high waves And because some bombers had failed to take out German artillery Juno and Omaha still heavily defended by the Nazis Omaha soldiers suffered heavy casualties as they stormed into direct fire, just popping out of those boats into heavy gunfire. Approximately 2,400 allied troops would die on Omaha Beach on D-Day alone.

At Juneau, the first waves of Canadian soldiers were shot down en masse. 340 Canadian troops would die trying to take that beach that day. At Utah, golden sword, soldiers faced rough seas and gunfire, but fewer casualties. Wave after wave of soldiers died, but there were still more waves of soldiers behind them, and they did manage to push forward and win all of the beaches. All of them. In total, there were over 12,000 casualties at D-Day, a number representing all those

killed, wounded, or missing. Americans suffered 8,230 of that total. Between 4,000 and 9,000 German troops were killed, wounded, or went missing that day and a fucking bunch of them retreated. Rommel the Desert Fox, not one of the casualties, he was not there. He was on leave. He just was that unfazed about an Allied invasion in early June. Just didn't think it was even a possibility. And Hitler still believing it was a fake attack, he refused to release nearby soldiers to join the counter-attack. He called in reinforcements from much further away instead a big blunder because it gave the Allies time to get their bearings,

transport more troops and equipment onto the beaches. By June 30th the Allies will have landed over 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies in Normandy. Within five days of D-Day, by June 11th, all the beaches were secured. In total, D-Day involved more than 326,000 military personnel, 50,000 vehicles, and 100,000 tons of equipment. They did it. They breached Hitler's wall and were taking back territory for the Nazis in mainland Europe. And this was huge.

Major, major crucial step towards an allied victory against the Nazis and the Axis powers. Eisenhower said in that same 1964 interview, I referenced a quote from earlier, if Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different. That's crazy. The whole strategy of the war would have been different. The Battle of Normandy led directly to the end of the war. Mainly because of that successful mission, the Allies will eventually put around 8 million Allied troops into Europe during World War II.

Following D-Day, Germany would dedicate most of their soldiers and supplies to Western France, which led to their defenses being weakened elsewhere in Europe, which was huge. Less than three months after D-Day, on August 25th, 1944, the Allied soldiers, with the help of the French Resistance, led by General and future President of France, Charles de Gaulle, freed Paris from four years of Nazi occupation. Huge crushing blow to Hitler's global domination ambitions. And that symbolic victory marked a massive turning point in the war. On December 16th, 1944, just over six months after D-Day,

the Allies fought in the Battle of the Bulge, which was the last major German offensive effort fought on the Western Front. Hitler had sent roughly 250,000 men across Luxembourg to fight the allied forces. They advanced 50 miles into allied lines creating the so-called bulge in their defenses, but then they got fucking crushed. On January 16th, 1945, the Battle of the Bulge was over,

and Germany, after suffering over 100,000 casualties, retreated once again. Now they began to lose more and more supplies while the Allies advanced and slowly encroached on more and more supplies while the Allies advanced and slowly encroached on more and more of their recently conquered territory. By March of 1945, German forces were finally retreating all the way back into Germany, and US soldiers on the Western Front were crossing the Rhine River. On April 30, 1945, less than a year after D-Day, Soviet forces from the Eastern Front had encircled Berlin, and inside a bomb-proof bunker, Hitler

poisoned his mistress Eva Braun and then shot himself. His body was quickly cremated in the garden. On May 7, 1945, still less than a year from D-Day, General Dwight Eisenhower accepted Germany's unconditional surrender at Reims, France. At midnight May 8, 1945, the war in Europe was officially over. The Allied forces, while they still had Japan to contend with, celebrated a monumental victory against Nazi hate and aggression. And it all started, really, with D-Day. And D-Day would not have worked without the new and improved troop and supply hauling technology, the boats designed by Andrew Magic Callus Finger Higgins.

You get it. So now with this important context established, let's take a good long detailed look at Andrew Jackson Higgins life from beginning to end in this week's Time Suck Timeline. Right after today's first of two mid-show sponsor breaks. Thanks for listening to those ads. If you don't want to hear anymore, get the entire catalog ad free of more by signing up to be a spacer on patreon for five bucks a month and

Now it is time line time Shrap on those boots soldier. We're marching down a time suck timeline On August 28th, 1886, Andrew Jackson Higgins, born in what was the little town, now the small city, of Columbus, Nebraska, located 90 miles west and slightly north of Omaha. Columbus had about 2,500 people when Andrew was born there. The city has close to 45 million people now. I was shocked to come across that number. No, it has about 25,000 people. Sorry, I often confuse. The number is 25,000 and 45 million people now. I was shocked to come across that number. No, that's about 25,000 people.

Sorry, I often confuse the numbers 25,000 and 45 million. I'm sure that's super common. Andrew is the most notable of Columbus's notable people, but not the most known in recent years. Not even close. Lucas Kruikshank, who created the Fred series on YouTube, where he played the interesting, I'll say that, character of Fred Figglehorn. Born and raised in Columbus, Nickelodeon made three separate movies based on Fred. My wife, Lindsay, actually worked as the set customer

on Fred 2, Night of the Living Fred. Here's a little taste of Fred from a video from 16 years ago. They got 80 million views, a video shot in Columbus, Nebraska. So that's how you get 80 million views. That's, that's Fred. That's the guy who overtook the man who did more than any other

private citizen to defeat Hitler. To become the most famous person from Columbus, Nebraska. Okay. Andrew's parents were John Higgins and Annie Long O'Connor Higgins. John Higgins was a quote staunch Democrat. So much so that he named his son after President Andrew Jackson. He was also a prominent lawyer, judge, editor of the Columbus Dispatch, and even a friend of President Grover Cleveland at one time. Andrew's father John had been born on April 2nd 1841 in Marcellus, Marcells, Illinois. Not Marseille, of course not. No, it's gotta be Marcells. He went to law

school at Chicago University and was admitted to the bar in Ottawa, Illinois. And he married Annie Long O'Connor in October of 1869, more on Annie in a bit. In 1870, John left a Chicago law firm with the intention to start his own practice in California. But while traveling along the Union Pacific Railroad, he passed through Columbus because the Chicago Times had requested he stop in Columbus

to interview retired Indian Scout Major Frank North. John worked for the Times as a part-time reporter during school and still took assignments from them for some extra money. And John intended on only spending a few days in the bustling little town of Columbus, a town that was small, but growing rapidly. And then he fell in love with the town.

And I love curve balls like that, right? Something unexpectedly just dramatically changes the course of someone's life. John loved Columbus so much, he convinced his wife his wife Annie that they should abandon their dreams in California and stay in Nebraska instead and she agreed. So instead of opening a law practice somewhere along the beaches of the West Coast, he opened one in the cornfields. And after serving as a lawyer for several years, Higgins Sr. built up enough of a good reputation in the area that he was appointed as a judge. And his previous journalism experience led to him getting a job as an editor of the Columbus Democrat. He'll never leave Columbus

dying there in 1893 at the age of 52. I'll explain how he died in a bit. Right now let's just meet his Andrew's mom Annie Long Mary O'Connor Higgins quite quite the name, born in 1850 in LaSalle County, Illinois. She will leave Columbus later in life, but be buried in Columbus next to her husband after passing away in New Orleans on November 2, 1924. Annie is described as having been courageous, gifted, and versatile. She was skilled in the arts and sciences and ensured her children received a classic education. And he was reportedly a descendant of O'Connor of Connacht, who in 1848 was a major player in an Irish rebellion against the British. O'Connor escaped and fled to America and Higgins always said he got his

determination, strong will and building skills from his mom's side of the family. Andrew was the youngest of 10 children. Not surprised for a guy born in 1886, since that was the norm back then, but still makes me squirm to hear about a family that big. Man, raising two kids in a co-parenting situation no less is just so much work. Ten? Guess mom and dad weren't going to all their games. Also, I guess they probably didn't have a lot of games to go to, since American football wasn't quite yet being played in high school. Little League wasn't a thing yet. For

baseball, basketball still a few years away from even being invented. Volleyball a few more years away from being invented and kids were dying left and right back then. Still even if half of them you know died. That's a lot of mouths sitting around the dinner table. Andrew's siblings were Bessie, Joy, Edward B, Frank, Pansy, Mammy, John, Andrea, and Kathleen. And he really did have a sister named Pansy. Pansy Anna Higgins. She'd go by Pat. She would live to the age of 84. She'll also end up like her brother and mother in New Orleans. Little John, born January 24th, 1871, and sadly he died at the age of 3 on July 21st, 1874 of inflammatory dysentery, which was his quote first and only serious illness.

Kathleen born October of 1887, sadly died as an infant June 24th 1888 when Andrew not quite two years old. Joy Montgomery born December 13th 1874 also will end up in New Orleans died there at the age of 84. Frank born October 5th 1878 he also will end up in New Orleans and die at the age of 78. Mary Campbell aka Mammy born December 24th 1883 died at the age of 73 also buried in the family tomb in New Orleans Eddie born September 16th 1876 will die when Andrew was just eight years old in 1894 at the age of 18. He was buried in Columbus next to his father and what a super weird death he had If I hadn't been able to find an old newspaper article from Columbus from 1894,

I would have thought this was like some kind of weird joke. Some barking dogs woke him up the night he died, woke him up again by the sounds of it. And he was real irritated about this. He was so irritated he grabbed a revolver he had on a shelf in his closet, intent on shooting said dogs. Being half asleep and grabbing the gun in the dark, he grabbed the gun backwards with the barrel pointed at himself, accidentally pulled the trigger, shot himself right in the damn forehead. And maybe this makes me a terrible person, but I laughed really hard when I first read that and so

did Bojangles. What a crazy sequence of events! He died almost instantly. He fell down, tried to grab the shelf, pulled a bunch of shit down on top of his dead crouching body. That's a fucking crazy early memory for Andrew. Just wait, wait, what? How did your brother die? Poor Andrea died as an infant two years before Andrew was born. And Bessie, Andrew's much older sister, born in 1872 when he was 14, she'd lived until the age of 80, die in Miami, Ohio. Big, big family. And Andrew grew up as the baby of the family. Since his only younger sibling, his younger sister Kathleen, she died as an infant. August 27th, 1946, almost exactly a year after the conclusion of World War II, Higgins would return to Columbus with three of his sisters and be the featured

speaker for the city's 90th birthday. In a speech, he would say, The town where I was born, no matter how long the absence. When a man utters these words his heartstrings are touched. Whether the town be the habitat of generations or chosen by his parents as in my case, it makes little difference. My parents chose and loved Columbus. I was a young child when I left Columbus,

but my heart warms at the thought and mentions of its name. Here in this sod my parents and brothers and sisters lie in that growing community of valiant pioneers their sons and daughters pretty cute that he still cared about Columbus that much considering he didn't really live there that long a Tragedy would lead to him moving away a tragedy with his dad on November 7th night November 7th 1893 Andrew's father John fell down a flight of stairs and died of a head injury. Just a random freak accident. Columbus Journal wrote, He and his son Edward had been rooming together for some time. The son had been engaged in writing during the whole evening and into the night,

and went out to see where his father was, and was horrified to find him lying on the fourth step from the bottom of the iron stairway, his head downward, his face toward the wall, and his feet protruding through the balustrade on the south side of the stairway. The only marks upon his person were slight bruises on the left cheek and the left ear. Damn. Andrew's seven when that happened. His brother Eddie, you know, he was with his dad, he'll die just over a year later, November 26, 1894. As a kid both his dad and older brother died in the house in freak accidents. How is that gonna affect your view on

life? I would guess it could push you to do everything while you still can because you truly understand that it can all go away just just in an instant. That even when you're home and not sick, the reaper can still swing through at any moment. Following her husband's death, Annie moves her five children still living at home to Omaha, Nebraska. And now life for Annie is pretty tough. The Andrew Jackson Higgins Memorial Foundation wrote, money was scarce and

times were hard. Nevertheless, Annie still gave little Andrew and her other children a good childhood. Higgins loved growing up in Omaha. Decades later, in 1943, he spoke to the Omaha Chamber of Commerce and he said if it had not been for the Missouri River at Omaha, there would have been no Higgins industries of New Orleans, turning out ships, planes, engines, guns, and what-have-you for the Army and Navy. Looking at the Missouri shallows, it snags and driftwood, he says, led him to think up his first shallow draft boat. Everything else came from that.

In 1895, when Higgins was nine, he got his first job to help his mom support the family. That's so fucking crazy to me. Kids did it all the time in the 19th century. Just started working at the age of nine. 1800s were so different than now in so many ways His mom bought him a sickle and he walked around town looking for grass cutting jobs And that that's wild imagine mowing an entire lawn at any age with a sickle

And he did at the age of nine God, I just picture a little nine-year-old with fucking shredded shoulders, just jacked. How'd you get those big shoulders, Andy? I'm being sickling. Mm-hmm. Doing a lot of sickling. Some folks call it a swing blade. I call it a sickle blade. Did he always dress up like the grim reaper when he cut the grass? Grim reaper loves to sickle. Andrew eventually saved up enough money to buy a lawnmower, but not one with an engine like we have now. Now this is late 1800s, just a bunch of spinning blades

he had to push to make spin, still sucked. Then showing the business acumen that would later make him an important historical figure. He reinvested, he's a fucking nine year old, and he reinvested some of his initial profits back into his business. And over a few years time, he would purchase 17 lawnmowers and hire numerous older boys to do the labor for him while he managed the jobs and their clients. That's like something out of a movie. Imagine having a 10-year-old boss.

Imagine being fired by a 10-year-old if you're like 16 or 18. Jerry, can you come into my office, please? I guess it wouldn't be that voice, right? He's a 10 year old if you're like 16 or 18 Jerry can you come into my office please I guess it wouldn't be that voice right he's a 10 year old Jerry can you come into my office please uh sure Andy yeah I gotta say I'm really disappointed in your effort lately for work keep showing up late we've got several complaints shoddy work you don't seem to care about doing a sub-par job I was thinking about you a lot when I was at weSex today and when Mrs. Norberg was showing me how to do my fractions And I'm just gonna have to let you go. Please Andy! No, give me another chance! I got kids to feed! One of them's in your class, I think!

In 1898, Andrew started another business. Of course he did. He's 12 now. It's time to expand his horizons. He started organizing paper routes for the Omaha Daily News. At first, like with his lawn mowing business, he delivered the papers himself. Then he quickly moved on to selling subscriptions and collecting payments. And then he hired workers to do the running around for him while he took on a supervisory role.

I feel like a piece of shit. I was doing nothing. 12, what was I doing, 12? I don't know, starting to jerk off. doing nothing. Twelve. What was I doing? Twelve. I don't know. I was starting to jerk off. Trying to watch as many cartoons as I could. Still secretly playing with my G.I. Joes a lot.

He reportedly earned about $100 a month from this business venture and then in 1899 when he's 13 he sells his paper business to an adult for $1,700. The equivalent of $65,000 today. He's a child prodigy He accomplished more by the age of 13 than I think I did by the age of 35 He accomplished more by the age of 13 than a lot of people accomplished in their whole life Backing up a year when Andrew was 12. He designed and built his first boat in the basement of his house. Yeah, fuck it Why not? You know like your typical 12 year old. he built a working boat in his family's basement. Higgins had bought a small wrecked sailboat from a lake near his house,

and decided he was going to figure out how to repair it himself. He named the boat Patience, because he figured he would need a bunch of patients to complete his project. And when he was done, he wasn't quite happy with how slow Patience was though. He wanted something more fun. So now he decides to convert Patience into a bobsled so he can sail her across the ice. And then he gets bored with that. And now he decides to build himself a motorboat. He began constructing this motorboat in his basement and he named it Annie O after his mom. And then when he was finished he realized he couldn't get the boat out of the basement. It was too big. And then check out what he did next. I've never heard of a kid doing anything like this. He gathered up some friends,

borrowed jacks and timbers from a wrecking yard, built supports for his basement's front wall, then removed an entire section of his mother's basement wall, brought the boat out, relayed the bricks, returned the equipment, and apparently did a great job. And did all of that before his mom returned home from a trip And then the NEO huge success she could reach speeds up to 60 miles an hour on Lake Carter allegedly near Omaha Which is absurd that is hauling ass on a boat Fastest I've got on a boat is about I don't know 45 50 miles an hour Felt like the equivalent of doing 90 in a car on the freeway

1900 now 14 year old Andrew enrolls in Omaha's Creighton High School prep or Creighton's high high prep school that's how it's written in the source after already having lived a full life but it's a it's a prep high school. By this time he has two kids that was his ex-wife he's a recovering alcoholic he's gone prematurely bald he's the world's oldest 14 year old. No, that feels possible. He hadn't done all that, but he had gotten into a lot of fights. He was a scrappy dude.

Before enrolling, Higgins had already been expelled from other schools for fighting and skipping classes. Andrew always hated school. Never tried much. He did like to read and learn, but only on his own terms. He was that rare kid who was actually too smart for school. Got bored easily. He first attended Farman School, the Central High.

Excuse me, Farman School, then Central High. When he quit Central High, Annie enrolled him in the Father Williams Episcopal School in St. Barnabas Church. He got in trouble there for more fighting and skipping. When he was in class, he was extremely disruptive. One neighbor reported that she often saw Annie marching Andrew to school. Eventually, his teachers expelled him from Father Williams Williams and then he gets to Creighton and he hates Creighton just as much as his previous schools. But he did like playing

on the varsity football team. He later said he played rather indifferent football thanks to a hernia about as big as a plug hat. He would eventually earn an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Creighton in 1943, but only because he'd become a big deal in the boat building world and now they chose to honor the man who they didn't think much of when he was a student. He dropped out of Creighton after his junior year to join the 2nd Nebraska Infantry, a National Guard regiment previously commanded by a man named William Jennings Bryan. His mother Annie admired Bryan and Higgins, who adored his mom, joined the Nebraska militia mostly because of her. As part of the Nebraska militia regiment, Higgins received amphibious training on the Platte River.

He and his fellow troops had to cross the Platte by pontoon. The young boat builder loved it. This focus on fighting on or in the water combined with his interest in reading led to Higgins becoming fascinated with military history. the water combined with his interest in reading led to Higgins becoming fascinated with military history. Higgins gathered dozens of books on military strategy and cited John Paul Jones, a Scottish-born American naval officer, then referred to as the father of the American Navy who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War as his hero. Higgins quickly worked his way up to the rank of Sergeant Major, and in 1904 his battalion drill team won a national competition at the St.

Louis Fair. They won an $800 national prize. 1904, Higgins, now 18, quit his part-time work in Wyoming logging camps. Oh yeah, did I mention that? Did I mention that he's also been logging for years? Oh yeah, he started logging at the age of 15 in his free time. From 1902 to 1904, he spent his summers in Wyoming working as a logger. Of course he did. This work instilled in him a love of wilderness and learned the basics of the timber industry. But after a few summers doing that, Higgins wanted to work closer to home. So then he got a job as a truck driver for M.E. Smith & Company, a dry goods wholesaler based in Omaha. And within seven months, the teenager became house superintendent. He's now in charge of much older men.

And in less than two years under his watch the company's business doubled. His employer would attribute the success directly to Higgins. In 1906 Higgins now a 20 year old who's had more jobs than some 60 year olds. He moved south to pursue a career in the lumber industry. Higgins said, I came south because I loved boats and forestry. He would work in the lumber industry until 19iggins said, I came south because I loved boats and forestry. He would work in the lumber industry until 1928. He became known as a lone wolf.

He would work for people just long enough to learn something new, find something else, find something to entertain himself. Once he kind of figured that out, he'd move on to something else. This guy will just build up a resume that'll read like a book. When he first moved south,

the young man bought a farm in Timber Acre timber acreage in Mobile County, Alabama with the savings. He also enrolled in a three-month farming course at Auburn University. Then he opened his own sawmill to process his own timber. Higgins would frequently go into Mobile to sell his lumber and buy more supplies and on one of these trips he went with a friend to a band concert at the Bienville Square, which is still there at Mobile. There he was introduced to a quote, beautiful young brunette named Angèle Lyonna Colson. According to a biography on Andrew written by Jerry E. Strahan,

Angèle was the daughter of a rancher and furniture store owner. Higgins was smitten with her immediately and now rode his horse into town to see her a few nights a week. Yeah, Angèle, A-N-G-E-L-E is French name. I doubt it was pronounced like it would be in France here in the States. But I can't find a video of anybody saying it in American English.

So rather than possibly just continually butchering it or mispronouncing it, I'm going to call her Angie going forward. October 16th, 1908. Now a 22 year old Higgins marriesyear-old Angie, moves her into his farm. They will go on to have six kids together and she will spend most of the next 40-plus years of her life writing in her very smutty, I guess, maybe is way we could be described diary. October 17th, 1908. How, how do I truly describe the carnal bliss and sensual heights that Andrew, sweet, sweet, strong, rough yet gentle, firm but forgiven Andrew,

took me to on our first night in our new home? Oh, his penis is like a rattlesnake. me to on our first night in our new home. His penis is like a rattlesnake. You never know when it's going to strike. But it's a strike with a bite that while scary is what you want, you want to be bitten. It's what you crave. It's what you start to need. And this snake isn't cold, it's warm, it's hot, it's comforting, it's slightly painful,

but a good kind of pain, a full, fulfilling, throbbing, joyous pain. And this snake spits not venom, but a salty laugh, creating sweet syrup. I just wanna rub it all over my body. I wanna impregnate not just my ovaries, but my skin, all of it. My stomach, my thighs, my breasts.

Oh God. I hear my lover approach for yet another round. The only thing Andrew is better at than building boats and chopping down trees is making me cum and weaken my knees. That's fucking crazy that people start like that in 1908. I mean Angie didn't. I wrote that but maybe somebody else wrote like that back then. I don't know. Higgins wanted to expand his business after he got married. Of course he did. That's what he does. This

dude's clearly never content just to coast. So he purchased an old schooner. He was planning to use it to import unfinished tropical woods and transport finished lumber to different markets. He repaired the ship himself and he named it Angier. Wish he would have named it Angie. Damn it! Now still just 20 years old. Higgins owned and operated a profitable lumber business and farmed down on the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately a hurricane

swept through the area just a few months later, destroyed most of his equipment. Then an economic depression forced him to sell his farm, and Andrew and Angie moved into Mobile, arriving in town with only 16 cents and a mandolin, according to his biography. Son of a bitch! Dude has done nothing but work, his ass off, just kick ass entrepreneurially, since he was literally nine years old. Then mother nature colludes with economic forces to wipe him out. And sometimes despite your best efforts to avoid pitfalls, life just decides you're getting kicked in the dick.

McCarthy, of course, did not just lay down and complain about how unfair life could be. He already knew how unfair life could be when both his father and brother died like they did. He got right back up, shook off that dick kick, started rebuilding. Man, resiliency, such a common core trait of successful people. Over the next couple decades, Higgins would lose his entire savings several times due to additional hurricanes and further economic troubles, but he never gave up. He was determined to become a shipping industry titan. At one point, he pawned the mandolin to get some a shipping industry titan. At one point he pawned the mandolin to get some cash for basic necessities. At another point he took a notoriously dangerous

job that paid well because of how dangerous it was. Worked as a hooker on for timber loading. Worked this job for a short time and claimed to develop a new type of hook that saved lives and reduced accidents while timber was being loaded onto logging trucks, barges, etc. On October 30, 1909, Higgins' first son, Edmund C. Higgins, was born in Mobile. Many years later, Eddie, named for Andrew's brother who died, perhaps, would go on to play a key role in Higgins' industries. Meanwhile, Higgins was learning about the shipping industry through work experience. He took a job as a bill-of- lading clerk for a steamship company.

He prepared bills of lading for shipments, recorded the items being shipped and kept records of the shipments. Lading by the way, just another way of saying loading, really, as in loading cargo onto a ship. Next, he got a job in the foreign exchange department of a bank so he could learn about international business. After that, Higgins worked as a timber cruiser,

a timber estimator, a timber buyer, a timber inspector. Just kept taking different jobs, learned everything he could. So when he went back into business for himself, he would have that much better odds of being successful. Man, so pragmatic, strategic, methodical. Really admire his approach. Admire his patience too, right, and his vision.

He did not rush into his next venture. He forced himself to be thorough, to delay some gratification. Clearly also did not mind disappointing people and pissing them off when he left a job early and moved on to the next one. Eventually he was hired as Chief Technical Inspector for the Gulf Coast Exporters Association.

Spent a few months there and then quit again once he had learned what he wanted to know towards pursuing his goal of owning a lumber exporting and manufacturing business. And why the lumber business? Because it was potentially highly profitable and would allow him to work on his beloved boats at the same time.

In 1910, now 24-year-old Higgins, he's only 24 after all that shit, him and his wife moved from Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans, Louisiana. And yes, again, he worked all those additional jobs by the age of 24, just hustling. And Nola Higgins got a job managing Phil I. Adam, a German firm of lumber importers.

Higgins was quickly promoted to general manager, job that allowed him to travel extensively, make a bunch of important overseas contracts. Uh, may se- or contacts, excuse me. So he's traveling overseas now. May 7th, 1915, Higgins quit working for Phil, uh, L Adam. It's L or I. Sorry, just the way it's written in the sources.

Sometimes, sometimes I capital I. I'm like, are you capital I or are you a lowercase L? You motherfucker. Uh, I think it's I. I'm gonna say I. Phil I. Adam. Not that anybody really cares, but I want to be accurate. He quit not because he had already figured out what he needed to know, but because of the sinking of the Lusitania. Lusitania was a British passenger ship sunk by a German torpedo resulting in great loss of life of the 1,960 passengers and crew aboard the Lusitania at the time of the sinking, 1,197

lost their lives, 128 of which were Americans. And now Higgins no longer felt comfortable working for a German company as World War I is getting going. His biographer, Strahan, wrote, evidently his views on America's position towards World War I were in contrast to those held by his employer. Higgins didn't just leave because of tensions between the U.S. and Germany. He also left for economic opportunities elsewhere. Before he quit, a local businessman, William Cady, loaned Higgins $5,000 to start his own

lumber and exporting company. Cady would financially support the venture. Higgins would operate the business. And they'd split the profits. So now Higgins got to work on his own venture again, and he still had that hard-earned entrepreneurial magic inside of him. Within 90 days, they profited $15,000, much more than expected, and now Katie decides to incorporate. Higgins and Katie each reinvest $5,000, and a new investor, J.S. McNary, invests an undisclosed sum to become an equal partner. The very next year in 1916, the new incorporated business operating as A.J.

Higgins Lumber and Export Co. makes $400,000. And Higgins money problems are now behind him for the moment. But he doesn't stop hustling. Higgins, now 30 years old, specializes in exporting southern pine and cypress and importing Central American, African and or philippine hardwoods Selling that expensive ass exotic wood to wealthy clients He was also doing the exporting with his own schooners and brigatines now At one point he will have the largest

Sailing fleet in the whole country doing this and soon higgins constructs a repair yard in new orleans to service his boats and build them to save some money. And just because he enjoys it. Higgins now a wildly successful businessman is acting as manager and vice president of his company. His biographer Strahan writes, he was a strikingly handsome man standing five feet, 11 inches with blue eyes and wavy light brown hair. He was strong and rugged, but his face projected a boyish appearance.

The appearance was deceiving for beneath the youthful face was an impatient never accept no individual with an explosive Irish temper. Also beneath the innocent face was a talented salesman, a great storyteller, and a man with remarkable charisma. Sounds like Strahan wishes that Higgins would have figured out how to build a time machine in addition to some boats so they could meet up and fuck Anyway Higgins hands him ass and his sexy wife Angie now had three children Eddie Andrew Jr. And Frank Named all three boys after himself and his bros it seems And the family moved into a house on Eleanor Street, New Orleans Also in 1916 Higgins purchased a large track of timber in the St. Catherine Creek area near Natchez, Mississippi. Got the rights to harvest the timber for a bargain because the area was covered by shallow water, making it very difficult to move out the logs.

So difficult a lot of people thought it was basically impossible. Existing boats that could travel in the shallow water just weren't powerful enough to haul the logs out. And powerful boats that could easily move the logs couldn't travel in that shallow water. To fix this problem, Higgins just built his own custom tunnel stern boat. Easy peasy. You know, as you do, when you're having a problem with water,

you're just like, you know what, I should probably fucking build my own boat. That's what I need. I just need to build my own boat. He built one a boat modeled after boats commonly used in the shallow waterways of Holland. His boat featured a recessed screw in a semi-tunnel along the bottom of the boat. The propeller was recessed inside of that tunnel and the tunnel rose up into the hull.

To picture this, picture the hump and the floorboard of a car. With this design, the propeller just barely dips below the boat's wheel at the bottom of its hull, drops just low enough to actually be in the water and this allows you to have a boat that can push itself along in one two feet of water as opposed to at least four or five or more feet of water. Higgins' new boat could navigate in very shallow water and water filled with debris and the propeller would not get clogged. But he noted that it required twice the power because air got sucked into the semi-tunnel and the propeller couldn't spin in aerated water, it would just turn froth instead of solid water.

Higgins was so annoyed by that problem that he signed up for a correspondence course in naval architecture. Love that. The head of the company, right? Not afraid to go back to school. Higgins now began building these tunnel boats for himself and others in the lumber industry. And he was so damn good at it that gradually boat building became his main business rather than lumber. Higgins and his partners now used their profits to invest in new ventures.

In 1920 they founded the Edith company, a shipping firm ran by a single schooner, the Edith. Edith imported logs and transported finished goods. Higgins used the Edith company as a way to expand operations, reduce costs, and increase profits. He also hired an unnamed old sea dog. That's how it's written in his biography. Old sea dog. A World War I ship captain to sail Edith. And before we meet this wily old sea dog, this captain, time for today's second in two mid-show sponsor breaks. Thanks for listening to those sponsors. Now let's meet this weird sea captain. This captain was apparently legendary because he had sank two German ships before his own ship sank in a big firefight at sea in World War I and then while clinging to the wreckage

of his ship a shark bit one of his legs off and he didn't let go. He survived. This cartoon character of a sea Captain was a wild card. He was known for doing stuff like purposefully flooding his own ship's hold, then putting the ship into port for repairs. Then he would make deals with the local ship channeler to re-outfoot the entire vessel for a kickback. His past employers knew he was doing that apparently, but they couldn't do a lot about it because according to maritime law, or at least law at the time, if a captain got fired after a disaster the boat owner was directly admitting that the captain was incompetent and that limited

the underwriters liability to evaluate the worth of the ship, excluding cargo, and prevented owners from sinking ships and falsely claiming millions in lost cargo. So he's just running a big insurance scam. Aye matey, captain one-legged Willie ain't a fear no shark nor German, so he surely ain't a fear no insurance man. An informant warned Higgins that this wily one-legged captain was going to scam him on the way to the East Coast with his new boat. So Higgins wired Charleston newspapers where the guy was going to go into port,

told them he would not accept responsibility for any debts contracted by his ship while in port. Then he left to go to South Carolina himself take his ship back But by the time he arrived the ship had already departed this guy was off to run a scam and the old sea dog captain sailed straight into a fucking hurricane 1920 storm devastated the East Coast and the Edith was lost at sea The captain of course was fine. He quickly tamed a whale rode it toward shore lost at sea. The captain of course was fine. He quickly tamed a whale, rode it toward shore, stared a manta ray into submission, forced it to haul him

directly onto the shore without even getting his boots wet. Aye matey, captain one-legged Willie into fear to no hurricane. One-legged Willie can take his hat off in the eye of the storm, not even see his luscious head of hair tousled. I just yell at me own locks, hold boys, hold! You don't change shape for anyone or anything but me. Nah, I think he died. Higgins' previous statement in the paper gave the insurance company grounds to deny all claims against the Edis lost cargo, too. That's not good.

Higgins received $14,000 for his ship, but that was not nearly enough to pay for all of his client's lost cargo claims. A.J. Higgins' lumber an export company, his creditor of the shipping company had to absorb the debt. Fortunately Higgins had the money now to cover a loss like that and he didn't let that loss keep him from expanding. A.J. Higgins Lumber was only licensed as a wholesaler at the time which limited their business ventures so now Higgins and his business partner Katie they create the D.V. Johnson company with a man named you're never gonna guess. Oh, that's right

D.V. Johnson So they can sell directly to contractors Johnson became the front man So retailers would not object when Higgins and Katie broke trade customs and got involved in both the wholesaling and the retailing They each invested ten thousand dollars into the new company as did D.V. Johnson and it was successful They also invested in gravel pits sold the crushed rock for road building Katie then asked Higgins to help him save his Katie gravel company a bit later and so many companies Katie's gravel didn't meet the specifications required by railroad and road contractors

So Higgins told him he should install a hydraulic plant to crush it down to the grain required So Higgins told him he should install a hydraulic plant to crush it down to the grain required. Katie lacked the 64 grand he needed to purchase and install equipment to build said plant. So now Higgins and Johnson through D.V. Johnson, they loan him that money and dangerously overextend themselves. Katie promised he would use his influence with the president of the Missouri Pacific Railroad to secure a big contract for both companies, provide gravel for the railroad's track beds. Higgins loans him the 64000. Katie constructs the plant. Now another business is profitable. But then Katie decides to sell this new business to a minority partner and also, for reasons never explained, maybe he's just an asshole, refuses to pay the $64,000 he owed Higgins and his partner like an asshole. Katie's refusal to repay the loan and some other losses forced now D.B. Johnston to have to liquidate. Then D.B. Johnston can't pay A.J. Higgins lumber and export

$100,000 that company owned or owed for equipment and operating expenses. So this terrible domino effect just fucks Higgins world up big time. And in October of 1923 A.J. Higgins lumber and export is forced into liquidation, and Higgins nearly loses everything. But he of course does not wallow in despair. He keeps grinding. He uses what resources he still had to found a new company, Higgins' Lumber and Export Company, one without any business partners that could end up stabbing him in the back. He hopes he can still turn a profit in the industry based on his reputation and he can. Higgins is able to amass a small fleet of

schooners and brigatines over the next few years to carry his lumber. Also builds himself a new repair yard on the industrial canal, a strip of water that connects New Orleans Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. Pontchartrain. Higgins moved his office into the Audubon building on Canal Street and from 1923 to 1929 he continues building barges and push boats and steadily rebuilds his wealth. Then when the mahogany market goes into decline Higgins turns his very large supply of mahogany into more barges. Dafting with the times he is able to sell some of these barges but not as many as he wants so he decides to cut the logs down smaller build some smaller boats and he hires naval architect George Hewitt to help him do so He was tasked with making a pleasure boat out of mahogany and he creates the seabird a narrow 15-foot craft

Then his timber supplies in the south deplete further in an economic depression affects freight rates Higgins realizes he needs to double down on the small boats. In his Louisiana charter, he had listed his company's primary purpose as manufacturing various types of motor boats. But now, 1926, lumber, uh, by now, a 1926 lumber importing secondary to boat manufacturing. He's constantly reading the landscape, adapting as necessary. Which all looks so easy in retrospect when it works out. But like in real time, this guy had to just keep gambling and maneuvering every few years, taking big chances, hitting big pitfalls, getting fucked over by this guy

or that guy having to rebuild. Never knew really, you know, if his gambles were gonna pay off. Dude had a big set of balls. Then in 1927, Louisiana experiences a bunch of flooding and where others see despair, Higgins sees opportunity. He uses the flooding to test out some new shallow draft boats he'd been working on by extracting equipment on the Ohio and

Mississippi rivers. He was able to transport tractors and other pieces of large farm equipment on a ramped platform stretched between two of his boats, which would prove invaluable in the development of his LC VPs later in his life. Pulling this off led to his first run in with the U.S. military as well. In 1928, a Dutch shipping syndicate offered Higgins a contract. They needed 20 boats for the Nut Growers Association. Gotta get those nuts down in the tropics. So much nuts. Oh sweaty, sweaty, humid nuts down in the tropics. It got to be harvested. And with this contract Higgins was now officially a commercial boat builder. He's making that nut dough. Instead of mass assembly

Higgins chose to construct the boats individually so he could improve each craft from one to the next. He ended up creating a boat that could reach 12.8 miles per hour which might sound like nothing but it was unheard of for a tunnel boat at the time. That same year the US Army Corps of Engineers hearing about what he had done for those Dutch nuts they awarded Higgins a contract to build several similar craft for them so he could get on them nuts as well. Nah, I don't think he was working with nuts with the army. Uh, he'd have to transport these new boats up the Arkansas river to deliver them though.

And the river levels were high. The water was full of debris. And when they made the first attempt, the bow, uh, constant was hitting objects in the river, Edmund, old Eddie, Higgins, Higgins, oldest son, remarked that they needed a new bow that could ride directly over the logs. And Higgins,iggins immediately shot and killed his son for daring to suggest fucking anything to him. If there's a problem he already knew about it okay. If anything needed fixing he'd fix it.

Everyone else just need to shut the fuck up. Let him focus on those Dutch nuts and that army river money. No. Higgins recalled a film he had seen about blue whales when his son brought that up. Together he and George Hewitt now experimented with a bow design that was shaped a lot like a whale's belly. Their first experiment increased the boat speed by 10% which was enough of an increase that when paired with this new hull design that had a different curve to it, it allowed the boats to kind of motor up and over bigger floating logs. Higgins and Hewitt constructed a 16-foot boat named Anne Howe III with their new design. Higgins wanted to challenge the record of a 90-hour trip

between New Orleans and St. Louis to get the boats in press. That record had been set by a steamboat called the Robert E. Lee and her race with the original steamboat, Notches. Not the steamboat, Notches, currently docked in New Orleans. You can ride it as a tourist if you're curious, which I've done a few times now. It's pretty cool this record held for had held for more than 50 years But then in 1930 the and how the third broke the Louisiana to st. Louis record by making the journey in 87 hours So Higgins back on top baby. Fuck his old business partner William Katie fucking right in his nuts By 1930 Higgins was selling boats like Cafe du Mans sells beignets selling lots of delicious boats to lots of happy people or something like that

He was selling boats to lumbermen, fur farmers. That's a thing back then, fur farming. That was a term. That's a weird term What do you do? I farm fur Bootleggers, the Coast Guard and oil companies operate in the bayous of the Louisiana Gulf Coast and During the tail end of the Prohibition era, I love this, Higgins sold boats to both the Coast Guard and to bootleggers. He would sell boats to the Coast Guard to chase bootleggers and sell boats to the bootleggers to get away from the Coast Guard. And there was a rumor that initially he sold faster boats to the bootleggers and then when the Coast Guard complained they couldn't catch the bootleggers, he sold them a little bit faster boats still. You know and then he would go back to the bootleggers and then when the Coast Guard complained they couldn't catch the bootleggers he sold them a little bit faster boats still.

You know and then he would go back to the bootleggers and they're like oh god damn this fucking Coast Guard keeps catching me. Well he'd sell them a little bit faster boat and he just kept playing them off each other. Nobody knows if this is 100% true or not but I hope it is because that's genius and hilarious. Just what? You couldn't catch those bootleggers? Oh hmm must have new fans onboat, don't you worry. I got just a thing.

And it sells them a slightly faster boat. Cut to next week. What? Please, I was calling you a faster boat, huh? Must have had a new fancy old speedboat, don't you worry. I got just a thing. And it sells them a slightly faster boat. True or not? I don't know what accent that was, by the way. True or not?

Higgins worked with the Coast Guard and got the attention of the Marines. And then the Marines urged the Navy to consider using Higgins boats, but they wanted to use their own designs they were working on instead. That sucked. More on that later. On September 26, 1930, now 44 year old Andrew Higgins, he informally incorporates his new company, calls it Higgins Industries. The purpose of his company is the manufacturing and sale of various boats. His primary clients are trappers, oilmen, and lumbermen. He also changes locations. He puts a showroom out front, a warehouse in the back. Kid who built a boat in his mom's basement when he was 12 years old,

was doing what he was clearly destined to do. 1931, Higgins' 23-foot motorboat, the Dixie Greyhound, breaks the record again for making the 1,150-mile trip from New Orleans to St. Louis. Does it in 72 hours and 4 minutes this time. And making this even cooler, his son Eddie piloted the boat. But then the Great Depression catches up with him. July 11, 1931, Higgins' company goes into receivership. A court appointed process that can help creditors recover funds from a company that cannot make loan payments, a company that is going bankrupt and closing.

This again happens due to the depression. However, a friendly judge, who clearly was a big fan of Higgins, names Higgins as the receiver of his own company, which is wildly unorthodox. That saves Higgins from bankruptcy. So he dodges a bullet but he still has another problem. He's not able to borrow any money but he needs more money to keep operating. Also while his clients still need boats and want to buy more of his boats they don't have any money to buy them. Depression's fucking everybody over. So what does Higgins do? Well he gets real creative with his accounting. He creates yet another

company the boat services company, and he starts buying his boats from himself and then renting these boats or leasing these boats to clients who can't afford to buy them, but can't afford to rent them or lease them. And that allows Higgins to maintain total control of his company, also to raise capital he needs to stay afloat. Very smart. Technically his son, Frank, will manage the BSC, but Higgins was really the one in charge. Through saving a lot of money that would have went to taxes and you know, and able to make

money by doing what he did, Higgins is able to keep 50 skilled craftsmen on his payroll. They will develop an exceptionally strong loyalty to him that will be beneficial later. With the BSC, Higgins had the money to continue designing shallow craft boats now. As both of his businesses somehow grow during the Depression, Higgins is able to hire more skilled workers like skippers and engineers. He makes an offer to the graduates of nearby Delgado Trade School in Orleans, which is now a community college. He said the Delgado graduates are excellently qualified craftsmen. They know tools and what to do with them. We can't use ordinary hammer and saw carpenters, but we can use Delgado graduates are excellently qualified craftsmen. They know tools and what to do with them. We can't use ordinary hammer and saw carpenters, but we can use Delgado men. His son Ed Higgins became the chief mechanic, his son Andrew Jr., office manager, and his

son Frank is the head of the BSC still. Higgins' fourth son Ronald is still 16 years old, focusing on school, and Higgins' two youngest children, daughters, Andre and Don Don not involved in the company at all. Don just still a toddler. Around this time Higgins creates the Wonder Boat, another new boat the predecessor of the Eureka. The Eureka is the boat that will lead to his involvement in World War II. Higgins specifically advertised the Wonder Boat as the homeliest but most efficient boat ever built. Love the honesty. Yeah, it's fucking ugly, but it'll kick the shit out of any boat you got.

It featured a rounded bow built from a solid block of pine, which acted as a hefty bumper. Higgins called this bow a head log. Only thing Higgins didn't like about the Wonder Boat was that it was slow. In 1936, Higgins creates a design principle that makes his Tunnel Stern boat a lot faster. Faster than any other similar boat on Earth. Higgins foreman made a mistake during construction. One of those fortuitous mistakes. Two metal plates were pulled out of the molding floor and they distorted the shape of the Wonder Boat's hull, formed a V midship and reverse curve aft.

And I totally know what exactly that is. Yeah. Anyway, despite the midship curve aft and I totally know what exactly that is yeah anyway despite the the midship curved aft stuff Higgins stops orders the completion of the boat this happy accident solved Higgins problem with the Wonderboat it could now move through shallow debris filled waters quickly turn quickly it could travel speeds greater than 20 miles per hour and he named this new boat based on that beautiful mistake the Eureka this new boat utilized its reserve its reverse curve on the bottom aft You know whatever those terms and I'm not gonna go into more details because I doubt we have a shit ton of boat engineers listening

Not gonna go over all the specs just know this boat is twice as fast That any object thrown in front of the boat would get pushed away instead of getting pulled in the propeller That the boat could plow through light vegetation at full speed, no problem, and Higgins' new boat was now just as fast as regular boats, could operate in very shallow water, could jump over little spits, sandbars, and logs, could rush up directly onto a beach, back up, turn around quickly. It was like a fucking four-wheeler, but a boat. The super swamp boat.

Massive leap forward in shallow boating technology. Higgins began selling his Eureka boats now all over the country and abroad in 1937. He won contracts with Lago Petroleum, Standard Oil of Venezuela, Shell Union Oil and Texas Corporation, Republic of Columbia, Peru, Mexico, the Netherlands, East Indies, South America. He's fucking killing it. December 24th, 1937, Higgins Industries files a patent for a whale hole design in the Eureka Boat, which is granted on January 17th, 1939. So now no shady competitors can take his special design away from him.

Higgins Eureka Boat is the foundation for his contributions to World War II. The Eureka could operate in just 18 inches of water. That's insane. In its so-called headlog, a solid pine at the bow allowed it to run full speed over all kinds of obstacles. By the late 1930s, Higgins' small shipyard in New Orleans kicked in some serious ass. His shallow craft boats are becoming increasingly popular with loggers, oil drillers, the Department of the Interior, the Coast Guard, the biological survey. Higgins' reputation as a master boat builder keeps spreading. His boats are in higher and higher demand. The Army Corps of Engineers, biological survey agency began to regularly purchase his boats.

And who the fuck is the biological survey agency? I was wondering the same thing. That's a great question They were an agency made up of biologists who constantly surveyed agents No, this agency was established in 1885 as the Office of Economic Ornithology in the US Department of Agriculture Its purpose its original purpose was to study how birds affected farm production. Very specific purpose. Over time, the agency's responsibilities expanded to include studying the distribution of animals and birds, tracking their migratory habits, migratory habits, yeah, and enforcing wildlife laws. In 1939,

the agency was moved to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the DOI, and then merged with the Bureau of Fisheries in 1940 to become the US Fish and Wildlife Service. And this biological survey asked Higgins for a boat that could go up to 20 miles per hour in nine inches of water. And he told him, what do you think I am, a magician? And then he built that boat. And now some of his new boats could operate in ankle-deep water and dense vegetation, which is crazy. And soon Higgins would build boats that could hover like hover-deep water and dense vegetation, which is crazy. And soon Higgins would build boats that could hover like hovercrafts, create, enter, and exit wormholes, time travel, be piloted by Sasquatches who were also dark wizards. Ding!

Yippee! No. But Higgins did think that his boats could eventually make docks and harbor terminals obsolete because you could basically just drive them right up onto any shore. He also wanted to design giant boats that could do everything his smaller boats could do as far as shallow water, water full of debris, giant boats that could also pick up and transport huge loads of cargo completely eliminated the need for traditional docks. However, he decided to put that dream on hold to continue promoting his smaller boats overseas. What he wanted to do before

the war side tracked him is he wanted to advertise his boats in Asia and South America for river passenger and freight services which could save countries millions in road construction, bridge building, railroad building. He already had contacts in Asia because of his lumber business and they seemed very interested in his ideas but then of course World War II changed everything. Before we get to the World War II years let's back up, or the years leading up to it. While Higgins' business in creating boats that excelled at operating shallow water was growing, Higgins was also mired in a years-long battle with the US Navy. He'd wanted to

sell his products to the Navy for a long time, but for years they just wanted nothing to do with him. Back in 1928, Higgins had his first contact with the Navy Bureau of Construction and Repair, aka the BCR, not interested in his boats at all at all. He approached them again in 1934 with some new designs, still zero interest. Meanwhile, the Marine Corps did want his boats, but they had strict budget constraints at the time, no funds, so they couldn't purchase his landing boats. Biographer Jerry Stranghan wrote about the beginnings of his relationship with both the Navy and the Marine Corps saying, Higgins was an outspoken, rough-cut, hot-tempered Irish man with an incredible imagination and the ability to turn wild ideas into reality. He hated bureaucratic red tape, loved bourbon,

and was the sort of tenent to knock down anything that got in his way. To the Navy's Bureau of Ships, which favored the big eastern seaboard shipyards, Higgins was an arrogant small boat builder from the south, a thorn in its side. To the Marine Corps, which desperately needed an effective amphibious assault craft, he was a savior. During the 1940s, Higgins was almost legendary, larger than life. He was a small southern businessman who became head of one of the largest industrial complexes in the United States. He took on the Washington bureaucracy, labor rackets, the large New England shipyards, and organized labor, never retreating from his principles or avoiding a fight. But before the 1940s, Higgins was an unknown. In 1935, the Navy BCR, who were working on their

own version of a shallow draft boat, called for bids. Higgins was unaware of this open competition until August, excuse me, October 1st 1936. By the time he finds out the competition is going to be over in five days. It only lasted until October 6th 1936. Higgins wrote to the BCR, we know that we have designed, perfected, and are building the very type of boat best fitted for this purpose. He requested they send a rep to see his boat demonstration and they just flat out were like, no. They believe that none of the boats he had built can perform landing operations the way the Navy needed them to be done.

So again, he misses out with the Navy. Then in January of 1937, the BCR and Navy Bureau of Engineering issued a directive to the Philadelphia Naval Yard to design and construct a landing boat. The Secretary of the Navy created the Navy Department's Continuing Board for the development of landing boats for training and landing operations. It's a lot of fucking words. They shortened the acronym down to LBB. They worked with the Fleet Development Board to develop and test landing craft and they had a $1,254,000 budget. But after months of work, all that money, they still didn't have a boat that could actually

complete a successful amphibious mission. Then on April 14, 1937, the LBB met and discussed boat options including Higgins 33-foot Eureka, but they rejected the Eureka and all his other boats for being too heavy. But then a few weeks later in May, Al Hanson, a naval architect with the U.S. Coast Guard, visits New Orleans to test the Eureka. He forwards his test results of a 31-foot Higgins boat to the chief engineer of the BCR and on July 22, 1937, the LBB meets again and decides they will not interfere with their existing projects in their own Philadelphia shipyards. So they're just still not interested. But then a few months later, August of 1937, the LBB does test their Philadelphia shallow watercraft and it fails miserably. Fails in visibility and in steering.

Now after nearly four years of pestering the Navy, Lieutenant Commander R.S. McDowell, responsible for landing craft development in the Bureau of Construction and Repair, contacts Higgins, informs him that the Navy is willing to give him a whopping $5,200 to purchase a 30-foot landing craft from him. So they just have like a little bit less now than the 1.25 million plus they spent earlier to test their own design. They were willing to put it 1.25 million in their own design. They're willing to try his design for $5,200. Higgins accepts though. It could obviously lead to more.

May 5th, 1938, Higgins finally gets his first contract with the U.S. Navy. Tiny one. One that'll lose him a lot of money, but a contract nonetheless. He didn't want to build the Navy a 30-foot boat. He believed a bigger boat would perform way better for what they wanted. He also didn't think he could build that boat for anywhere close to $5,200. But this was the big opportunity he had been chasing for years and he was eager to prove himself.

So he finished a new boat by late May, shipped it to Norfolk, Virginia. Higgins paid all the shipping fees himself, also sent a retired captain on his dime to demonstrate. Not the fucking one-legged guy, but that would have been awesome if he suddenly showed back up. I am back, matey. I just teamed a shark to get here! Higgins ended up spending over $12,500 to build the boat he, you know, sold for $5,200. And then he had to pay, quote, an exorbitant charge to the Navy Yard at Norfolk to use their crane to unload it.

That's fucked up! To pay them for them to just receive the boat that they bought from him. Yeah, this is a huge financial risk considering Higgins Company only made $241.42 in 1937. It was his leanest year, thanks to the Great Depression. He was also now deeply in debt due to the Great Depression. So he spent money he did not have on this new boat design. Big gamble again. But if he wouldn't have taken this gamble, his business almost certainly would have went belly-up and we'd have never been talking about him today. Classic big risk, big reward moment. On May 27, 1938 Higgins received word from

his captain that he had arrived with a prototype to the naval yard and he performed the test and described the trials as very spectacular and a sensation. The navy was very impressed, but there was a but. They noted four issues with the boat's design. The boat took heavy spray over the stern and rough seas, which they didn't like. It impaired the coxswain's vision. The controls were in the aft section, which he didn't prefer. They felt the stern should be redesigned to part the waves when the craft was beached or retracting. And they wanted the boat to be made of metal rather than wood to reduce costs for mass production and be more fortified

from gunfire. So now Higgins gets another naval contract and I don't have numbers for this one but it seems like it puts the money in his pocket. June 21st, 1938 the LBB recommends that Higgins gets a contract for four 30-foot boats, two wood and two metals. They can really kind of test them out. Higgins said, I got some experimental orders again for the goddamn 30-foot length boat. I built these more or less under protest. Higgins demanded during a conference that the boats increased to 39 or 40 feet. The Navy argued that some of their transport vessels already had davits for a 30-foot boat and they wanted to standardize, standardized, oh my god, they wanted to standardize standardized

So my god, they wanted to stand or rise to that length A davit is a crane like device Used singularly or in pairs for supporting raising lowering boats anchors and cargo over a hatchway or the side of the ship So like you know when they're lowering these boats down into the water for them to head over to the beach. I use these davits Higgins said to hell with designing the boat to fit the dav the beach. I use these davits. Higgins said to hell with designing a boat to fit the davits they should design their davits to fit a proper boat. After this confrontation Higgins said the BCR treated him like a quote bad boy. How bad? I don't know. Did they treat him like a like a hot hard father daddy bad boy? Just dripping in engine oil

and boat wax? Getting his naughty bad boy bottom spanked with a paddle? I don't know, maybe. The sources again, they don't say exactly what kind of naughty boy, what kind of bad boy he was. On December 1st, 1938, the Navy did end up purchasing four landing boats from Higgins. Two wood, two metal, so we got those four. And now let's deviate for a few moments to go over what kind of boss Higgins was. All this is going on. Most information we have on Higgins, his life and personality comes from Jerry Strahan's biography

and also in August 16th, 1942 article in Life magazine titled Mr. Higgins and his Wonderful Boats written by Gilbert Burke. Outside his shipyard he posted a sign that read anybody caught stealing tools out of this yard won't get fired. They'll go to the hospital. I love that. He wasn't kidding. Steal from me and you're gonna get your ass beat. He was not opposed to beating some ass. I have a fun fifth takeaway coming up at the end of the episode regarding this.

Another sign said, The guy who relaxes is helping the Axis. Alright, he's in the Axis powers. Higgins was quirky. He drank old Taylor bourbon frequently in his office. Kept several bottles always stocked up. He was known for saying, I only drink while I'm working. Spoken like a true functional alcoholic. His brashness didn't make him a lot of friends outside of his employees. Higgins was often dismissed by the upper crust of New Orleans as a

quote crude hard-drinking outsider lacking old South manners and French quarter charm despite his rough crude demeanor how dare he not put up pretenses Higgins ran a highly efficient boat factory on june 6 1937 designer and naval architect al hansen submitted his report to naval headquarters about a visit to the factory he wrote that the plant had quote an atmosphere of efficiency and cooperation he was extremely impressed with the class of materials and workmanship. Higgins utilized assembly line boat building, a technique first used by Henry Ford with Eagle boats during World War I. At his city park and industrial canal factories, he used a thermometer or materials control

system to ensure delivery of materials before they began to run low. Higgins motivated his employees by telling them things like, it's not enough to give them boats, give them blood and he also paid him and he also paid him well. Higgins had a loudspeaker system to communicate with employees from his office, had a little mic in his office which is very funny to me. Just grabbing his microphone from time to time looking out of his office window. I see you Larry, I fucking see you sticking around those bolts Larry. Come on, dude. Get with it. Get the fuck out of the way For serious matters he appeared personally

Higgins told Life magazine The labor bands get up and play a few stirring pieces Including the Star-Spangled Banner and somebody gets up makes a speech When the tears are running down their eyes, then I have the silver-tongued labor leader tell them what's expected of them I asked them how they're going to do it and so on and we get along fine. Guy's got bands in the factory somehow. He's playing live music. All right. Higgins' employee generally loved working for him because he, quote, would take a chance on practically anybody with a plausible idea. He hired those local tech school grads, nationally known inventors, recent university

grads, and quote, long shots picked up here and there. Higgins got along well with his laborers because, quote, like them, he worked hard, drank hard, and when angry, could swear hard. Oh, fucking blue collar dude leading blue collar employees, fucking hell in them rot! Higgins' employees admired him, valued his opinion. The AFL local union was even loyal to him and would defend him against government agencies. If he had a dispute with the union,

they allegedly thrashed it out in a soundproof room, worked together. While initially resistant about unions, Higgins eventually defended labor rights. Some of his fellow Southern businessmen would criticize him for attending the Southern Conference for Human Welfare in April of 1941. He made a speech there about his willingness to hire black people equally up to their

percentage in the population. Excuse me, the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt called him one of the most enlightened businessmen. Higgins critics called him an opportunist for his close relations with the government, to which he responded, if opportunism consists in not breaking your head against a stone wall, why then he probably is opportunistic. Anybody who has the luck or duty of administering an organization needing capital and employing large numbers of men had better get a new concept of his responsibility. We can't be ruled by the profit motive. There's too much talk about a balanced budget. What we need is a balanced economy and the day will come when people will be paid to get an education and that would be a damn good investment.

I And the day will come when people will be paid to get an education and that would be a damn good investment. I love that little quote. I love that he wanted his workers to get paid to go to school. Wouldn't that be something? I mean seriously, would that be something to have the government truly, literally invest in his people like that? People should be paid to go to school, you know, to perform needed jobs for the economy. Life magazine wrote, there was an old axiom which urges Americans to live so they can look any man in the face and tell him to go to hell. Higgins not only lives so that he can look any man in the eye and tell him to go to hell but frequently looks in the eye of a man he doesn't like and calls him a son of a so-and-so. Among the recipients of such compliments have been

some of the nation's most prominent businessmen and officers high in the army, Navy and Maritime Commission. Yeah, clearly. Higgins is not afraid of confrontation, not afraid to speak his mind. Also not afraid to brag about his accomplishments. President Roosevelt once told him, you're the only man I've ever met who has done all the talking. Life Magazine reported he has an immense stock of stories ranging from somewhat above to far below the borderline which he retails at great length and with enormous relish. Smacking his lips and rubbing his hands as he deftly and tenderly taps in detail after detail. His profanity which when

called into play flows as naturally as water from a spring is famous for its opulence and volume. I fucking love this guy. His profanity flows as naturally as water from a spring. Not gonna say I have a hard time trusting most people who don't swear. I don't feel like they're hiding something. They're putting on airs, right? They're overly worried about social judgment. I don't know, like they're just not being authentic. I mean, not to swear all the time, of course, but never?

Hmm. Make me feel like I'm walking on eggshells around them. I could offend their delicate sensibilities at any moment. That's not fun Higgins was a domineering businessman would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. He told Life magazine I operate in a big way and don't give a damn about money. I Doubt he truly didn't give a damn about money, but it didn't seem to be his primary motivator Higgins hated wasting time when he had an idea He acted on it quickly and had very little patience for those who got in his way.

According to his biography, his own taste runs to researching things quickly, taking all possible shortcuts and thinking about them afterward. When he wants developments in a hurry, he calls a group into his office, fires questions at them, taunts them with their stupidity, pushes them into arguments, swears at them paternally and gradually gets them functioning at 200 miles an hour. Dude was all about TCB and LFG. Taking care of business, let's fucking go! Speaking of business, I have been thinking about our old 1-800 business sponsor all week, thanks to a lot of news about the Menendez brothers recently.

Getting out of prison, possibly in a few weeks. Let's talk about a real businessman now. Higgins' money man during the height of his career was Morris Gottsman. When Higgins had an idea he wanted to get it done no matter the expenses. Gottsman's main job was to keep him from going bankrupt. George Hewitt, naval architect, was the head of the engineering department and helped Higgins' ideas come to life. Also had to frequently tell Higgins that his ideas were literally impossible. Higgins that his ideas were literally impossible. Higgins I guess would frequently shout at Hewitt, God damn it George, I can't live with you but I can't live without you.

Okay, now that we know a bit more about how Andrew worked, a little bit more about his personality, let's get back into his timeline as it ramps up towards World War II. In January of 1939, two years before the US would enter the Second World War, the Navy took 18 of Higgins' new landing boats to the Caribbean to run fleet exercises and testing went well, real well. The next month on February 19th, 1939, the LBB indicated a preference for Higgins boats due to their stability, maneuverability, dryness, and ease of retraction. The LBB proposed building one Higgins boat and one Bureau boat,

so the Navy would build that one themselves, with the suggested modifications. But then on April 5th, 1939, the BCR awarded the contract to the Navy's own Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. It keeps getting so close, still struggling to build traction with the Navy. A few months later, in June of 1939,

the BCR gives contracts to Higgins and Welland-David, or Welland-David, excuse me, another boat boatmaker who had been in competition with the Navy. They were each to build one boat per LBB specifications. Higgins also wanted to build PT boats for the Navy. They've been looking to bid since the spring of 1939. Higgins thought his experience with building fast boats during Prohibition would benefit him, but he had a lot of difficulty getting an invitation to bid and the specifications for the boats. But once he finally did, he got an offer.

Higgins submitted his offer, made sure to bid below cost so he could win the contract. He bid at $58,000 per boat, ended up winning two contracts. So he's in now. September of 1939, World War II begins in Europe. Higgins still dreaming of his projects in Asia, but he now devotes most of his time and resources to the impending war. He anticipates that the US government is going to need his boats for the war, that they will work with them, so he takes another big big gamble. Another common trait of successful people betting on themselves. He began building boat factories before he got any big orders. He was

criticized for his audacity for quote forcing his products on the navy according to competitors, but it worked out for him. US forces were interested in a landing vessel similar to his Eureka that could land in shallow waters and attack beaches. They wanted to avoid going on shore at heavily defended ports. The Marines in particular wanted the Higgins boat but the only way they could afford them was through the Navy and the Navy still lukewarm on Higgins. He must have pissed off some top brass over the years over there. In February, March of 1940, Higgins began to study the Navy's boat designs and offer design improvement suggestions. He was dumbfounded and appalled when the BCR rejected his suggestions and denounced him for making them. He had definitely pissed him off now, but he won't give up

on doing more business with them. In April of 1940 Higgins completed and tested his new PT-6, one of his contracted boats. He smugly noted, the objectionable characteristics and performance we had prophesied were proven in the test. The Navy suggested an improved design, did not pass acceptance trials. Higgins chose to absorb repair costs, rebuild a boat named PT6 Prime, but again he's forced to go with Navy specifications he doesn't want. While he's doing that, Higgins not able to depend on the Navy, secures boat contracts with the nations of Finland and England for 553,000 and 750,000 respectively. On July 8, 1940, Higgins begins pushing his Eureka landing boat on the British now,

and he wants them to consider a 36 or 40 foot model. In a letter to Whitt and Chambers, Ltd. of London, he wrote, We would like to have you lose interest and do not recommend the U.S. Navy 30 footer, even though it is our design and our own development. We do not like the boat for the reason that the length is too short to the beam. He suggested the boats could be used for reconnaissance missions, raiding parties, and patrol boats. He then promised the British their boats would be ready for delivery very quick on July 22nd. And he was able to deliver quickly because he gave them boats he had already built for Finland.

And then he told Finland their boats are going to be late due to some unforeseen delays. He's a crafty guy. Higgins also used the money Finland gave him to build a new factory. He would deliver Finland their boats just 40 days late. Then he focused on the US military again. He was sure the US was going to enter the war predicted increased demand for his Eureka and PT boats. He purchased the Albert Weeblen marble and granite works on City Park Avenue in New Orleans, turned it into a boat factory worth one and a half million dollars. That was now one of the largest boat manufacturing plants under one roof in the world. Even with all that expansion, Higgins knew he still didn't have enough room though, so he decided to build on an unused portion of a cemetery behind a shipyard without

asking the people who owned the cemetery if that was okay. Just straight up build part of his shipyard on somebody else's land. I hadn't heard of somebody doing that shit before. Can you imagine if somebody did that to you? They're just building an addition to their house and they do it, you know, partly on your land. Just, uh, hey bud, uh, what's going on over here? Oh, I'm expanding my garage. What do you think? Well, I think your garage is in my driveway. Oh, is it? Silly me.

Well, you know, I've already set the foundation. Can we just leave it? Can you be just more neighborly? You know, and just give your neighbor some of your shit. Higgins' plan was so large that 40% of his facility was built on property he did not own or rent. That's crazy. No idea how the hell he pulled that shit off, but he did. Just hoped that whatever money he was gonna make was it gonna be enough to pay off the lawsuits that were gonna come later, I guess.

Work began before the official opening on August 24th, 1941 on July 30th, backing up here, 1940. Finland bestowed upon Higgins the title of Finnish Consul to New Orleans, even though he had sold boats they had bought to England. They didn't find out about that. On August 20th, 1940, the Navy gave Higgins a contract for 62 30-foot landing crafts. Higgins was happy about the big order, but still annoyed about the size. He said, I got so exasperated that on my own, without an order and at my own expense, I built a boat 36 foot of length and bore all the expenses of shipping it to Norfolk demanding

it be tested. I love that he just would not stop fighting for this bigger, better boat because he just knew it was going to be what they wanted. On September 17th, 1940, the Navy now tested a Chris Craft Corporation boat, a Higgins boat and a metal BCR boat. again. He's competing for a contract Higgins boat kicks the shit out of the competitors boats that day and will beat other boats They'll look at later his boat was quote by far the most superior and exceeded in performance any other landing boat that the members Of the board had ever seen but still because he was annoying to work with

Least to the Navy on September 23rd, the newly formed Bureau of Ships, which had taken over the BCR and the Bureau of Engineering, gave a contract to build 16 metal BCR boats to the Gibbs Gas Engine Company in Jacksonville, Florida. And that was after their boat was proven to be the least successful of all the boats in the trials. So guessing Gibbs was a lot better than Higgins at kissing ass or maybe at bribing. However, shortly after Gibbs won that contract Higgins convinced the LBB to recommend the Navy

purchase 335 of his 36 foot Higgins boats. Fingers crossed. Secretary of the Navy and Chief of Naval Operations both noted the superiority of Higgins boats. Higgins was excited to finally prove that his 36-foot boat was better. He built two more at his own expense featuring different hull designs, one with the V-hull, one with a flatter forward section. On October 22nd, 1940, Higgins sent both of his new boats for testing with the Navy at Virginia Beach. The V-bottom had greater speed, the flat bottom retracted easier. Virginia Beach. The V-bottom had greater speed, the flat bottom retracted easier. Further testing on November 5th showed that the flat bottom boat, while the slower of the two models, still easily exceeded the Navy's speed requirements. And now on November 18th, 1940,

Higgins, officially, finally, earns a huge naval contract. One for those 335 36-foot Eurekas with the flat hull design. Finally won his battle with the Navy. And not long after that the subboard of the Navy's inspection and survey department soon witnessed the trials of one of his 70-foot PT boats that were destined for England. One of these boats when fully loaded still able to travel at 40 knots which is about 46 miles an hour. Higgins charged the British 110,000 dollars per boat. Business booming. By December of 1940, Higgins Industries now has 691 employees. By the end of 1940, Higgins earned over $250,000 and had contracts with the Navy worth more than $3 million, plus over $2 million in private and foreign contracts. Once again,

he'd battled his way back from serious financial problems. All this growth got the attention of labor unions though, specifically the American Federation of Labor. The new employees wanted to have an election to bring in the AFL. They were dissatisfied that there was a no consistent wage scale working for Higgins. When somebody was hired he was paid according to his individual placement and people doing the same job did not always receive the same wage. Higgins fought against bringing in the union but when he saw that his workers would not back down, he asked his loyal employees to propose forming a company union. They

didn't want to do that. The new employees insisted on the AFL. The stalemate then came to an end with a sanction from the US Department of Labor. In November of 1940, all of the Higgins employees met at an old bar near the plants. Must have been a real big bar. After having a vote, the AFL won out. When Higgins employees met at an old bar near the plant. Must have been a real big bar. After having a vote, the AFL won out. When Higgins heard the results, he quote turned red in the face and then he called everyone together inside of his plant and told him a little story about a cowboy camp in Texas. This is so funny to me.

He said that the foreman of this camp couldn't keep a cook because the cowboys tormented him. They complained about the food, they pranked him constantly, and the cook eventually quit when he just couldn't take any more of their bullshit. The former was so frustrated with his cowboys for running off the cook that now he made the cowboys draw straws and whoever got the shortest straw had to become the new cook. And whoever was the first man to complain about this guy's cooking would then become the new cook.

Sure enough, someone complained, thought they could do it better. And now this complainer was the new cook and he found out he hated cooking. And now he did everything he could to try and get somebody else to complain so they would have to be the cook. But no one would. Finally, he made a big old pie out of literal cow shit. A cowboy took a bite, spit it out, and said, this tastes like shit. The cook thought he had happily lost his job,

but then the cowboy added, but I love it, and he ate some more. Higgins finished telling that story by telling his workers, quote, and you sons of bitches, that's how I love you. Moral of the story, I think what he was saying there was that he thought them joining the AFL was a bunch of bullshit, but he'd eat their shit if that's what it took to keep them getting their shit done. November 25th, 1940

Higgins entered into agreements with AFL affiliates, tried to establish a good relationship with the Union and he would warm up to the Union. Later when he needed help in Washington with his naval contracts, he would contact the AFL to pressure them and they would. Biographer Jerry Strahan wrote, The industrialists did not like having the Union in his plants, but if it had to be there, he was going to make it work for him. Again, he just adapts. From February 4th to 16th, 1941, the Marines and Navy conduct Flex 7, their final military testing exercise before the U.S. enters the war. Higgins-Eureka was successful in maneuvers testing, but there were still some minor

defects. The Marines believed that with a few further modifications, the boat would be an answer to the Marine prayer. In April of 1941, Higgins went to the Bureau of Ships office to argue in favor of how he wanted to design tank lighter boats for them. Boats used to transport tanks and other vehicles to and from ships between ships and land. He looked at the Navy's blueprints for how they thought Higgins should build them and literally wrote on their boat, this boat stinks. And he added his initials for emphasis. So actually wrote that on the boat, but on the boat's boat stinks and he added his initials for emphasis So actually wrote down yet on the on the boat on the boats blueprints literally wrote this boat stinks The Navy went ahead with their design and then the boat failed during testing trials

Then they agreed to give Higgins a contract to build a tank lighter prototype for them He must have loved that was loved hearing about how their designs failed when he's like I fucking told you I told you shit He didn't listen. And then they come back and beg him for his design. April 30th, 1941, Higgins wins a hundred and eighty eight boat contract for his tank lighters, which will be called LCM's in the near future. Landing craft mechanized on May 18th, Higgins draftsman, a redesigned and already built boat that was like a like a large kind of barge tow boat powered by two engines for the LCM prototype.

Kraft had a ramp at the bow. Week later, May 26, 1941, a representative from the Bureau of Ships and the Marine Equipment Board visited New Orleans to witness testing of the three different Eureka models. One of these models would be the future LCVP. Higgins' boat passes the trials. On May 27th 1941 the LBB met to consider the testing reports they recommended a special board of Marine Corps and Bureau of Ships representatives to test the Higgins boats again. If the tests were successful 87 of the 188 boats should be constructed to include ramps and Higgins

will get a contract for 50 tank gliders with expedited delivery. Higgins was informed that the board was coming and instructed to have plans ready for an experimental 45-foot tank-lighter. Higgins told him that he would have a finished boat instead. He was told that couldn't be done, and he responded, the hell it can't, you just be here in three days. Love it. Higgins also agreed to build a tank-lighter under the Marine's specifications only. He was sick of dealing with Navy bullshit, and since they were desperate for his boats and tank-lighters, they agreed to build a tank-lighter under the Marines specifications only. He was sick of dealing with Navy bullshit and since they were desperate for his boats and tank-lighters, they agreed to his demands.

Higgins and his men got to work right away, constructing and modifying an already constructed towboat. They only stopped working to listen to an occasional presidential radio broadcast. There were problems with the ramps because the controls for the Eureka did not work on the larger craft. Higgins needed a new pulley system, so he gathered Hewitt, other draftsmen, and his son Ed, sat him down on a conference table, and Higgins told him no one was leaving the room until they built a new ramp. He meant it. Higgins sat down, began working on his own business tasks. At lunch, his son Ed tried

to leave. His father shouted at him, stay in the fucking room until the ramp's done. He had sandwiches delivered for everybody. They could only leave to go to the bathroom if they wanted to keep working for him. One Drassman had previously built a prototype ramp out of a cigar box. The other Drassman had told him his model was too cumbersome. So he put it in his desk, forgot about it.

Now he brought it back out during this meeting and they all worked together to try and fix deficiencies in this model and by late afternoon had a solution. They told Higgins, Higgins sent the design to some machinists and they had it built immediately. Higgins had a new 45-foot tank glider designed, built, and tested in under 61 hours. May 30th, 1941. Now Higgins gets a conference call with the Marine Corps and the members of the Bureau. They instructed him to develop 50 of his brand new 45 foot tank lighters immediately. First 10 boats to be due in just over two weeks June 15th. Fulfilling this order not gonna be easy. The crafts needed two engines each. Higgins didn't have a hundred engines.

Also didn't have enough steel so he had his welders save as many scraps as possible and look for more. Also sent a fleet of trucks and armed guards and armed guards to a barge load of steel in Baton Rouge that he had heard he come in. And he, quote, persuaded the consignee to release the metal to him. And it sounds like he may have threatened the consignee with violence if he didn't get that metal. Higgins also called a Birmingham steelmaker away from a Sunday golf game to persuade him to hand over some of his steel. Then he called the president of Southern Railway to attach some train cars carrying a bunch of steel to some of his passenger cars which are already en route to New

Orleans to get them to him faster. This was against regulations but he got permission from the Navy to pressure the railway to do as he asked. Now Higgins had enough steel, but he has a new problem. He didn't have enough room to build all these boats. So he gets permission thanks to who he was building boats for and is able to close off an entire block of Polymnia Street which border one side of the plant. He set up campus tent workshops, purchased an old stable a few hundred feet away for further construction. Because the stable was too low for cranes, all the metal had to be carried into the shop. He hired quote bull gangs, big groups of strong dudes, to carry the metal by hand into the building.

At times the men would be carrying more than a ton of metal in one trip. All that caused a huge disruption in town. Some residents couldn't drive up to their houses anymore. Some trucks couldn't make deliveries. Garbage men couldn't collect trash, etc. But the Navy issued an emergency order and people just had to make sacrifices for national security. Higgins now has the steel he needed, room to build his ships. He had figured out how to get his needed engines on time

as well, but now he has yet another problem. Didn't have enough bronze for the shafting on the boats. He thought he had some bronze lined up with a Texas oil field owner, but the guy refused to sell it. Higgins doesn't have time to get an official order in from the Navy so he said he has his workers go literally steal the bronze from the guy in Texas who would not sell it to him. Literally broke in stole the guy's shit from a storage facility. According to his biography, with the Texas police in hot pursuit they crossed the state line back into the friendly jurisdiction of the Louisiana State Troopers. The workers then apologized for their mistake and returned a small portion of what had been

stolen. God, this dude definitely knew how to get shit done. And clearly a member of the it's better to ask forgiveness than permission camp. On June 15, 1941, Higgins has 26 boats completed for the Navy. And now they finally accepted his design as the standard for all future boats and tank gliders. Fuck their, fuck their davits.

Right, they moved to his designs now. Higgins then got a $385,000 contract for more than 200 Liberty ships, the largest order ever placed by the Maritime Commission. He promised to get a new batch of ships built every five days, even though it typically took 150 days to have these things built. Also planned to make more than 300 ships a year. And he did.

By the end of 1941, Higgins was designing landing craft in his warehouse and owned a massive manufacturing plant. Eventually, he will expand during the war to eight plants throughout New Orleans and employ over 20,000 workers and produce roughly 700 boats a month. After Pearl Harbor, Higgins became an equal opportunity employer as well. He actually had the first racially integrated workforce in all of New Orleans. Quickly began hiring women, people of all and any ethnicities, the elderly, people with disabilities, whoever could get shit done.

And his new employees did get shit done. They actually set production records and they received equal pay for doing so. December 8th, 1941, the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Higgins files his first patent for his tank lighter. Higgins Industries growing explosively during the war. Higgins was an ideal manufacturer during a crisis. The military needed somebody who could produce boats as fast as possible, so Higgins managerial issues, his disdain for meetings, planning and paperwork, that became irrelevant. Aspects of his personality and style that were considered a liability before the war, now a huge asset. No one could produce boats as fast or create prototypes as quickly as Higgins and his team. During the war Higgins expressed interest in getting into the

aircraft industry now. The war production board allowed him to build a plywood factory in New Orleans and the army awarded him a contract for 1200 courtesy 76 cargo planes. So he founded a new business Higgins Aircraft Corporation. Dude had all kinds of ideas. Never wanted to put all of his eggs in one basket. He was constantly dreaming and scheming. He planned to sell boats abroad after the war in a joint corporation with China Also planned to build houses build furniture. He wanted to manufacture helicopters build engines for other manufacturers He wanted to make domestic planes quote and almost anything that occurred to him Dude actually makes me feel a lot better about my brain fucking ping-pong and all over the place

I have pages and pages and pages for plans I don't have time for. If I didn't need sleep and there was just 72 hours in a day, oh I could get so much done. Damn you time! Why can't I bend you to my fucking will? 1942 now the Marine Corps requests an LCPL with the ramp from Higgins and again an LCPL is a landing craft personnel large. Too many Marines were getting shot while jumping over the sides of the existing LCPLs. Higgins and again an LCPL is a landing craft personnel large. Too many Marines were getting shot while jumping over the sides of the existing LCPLs. Higgins now combined his first LCPL with his LCM to make his now famous LCBP, Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel Crafts. This boat would greatly help make D-Day as successful as it was. Higgins had heard from U.S. Marine Lieutenant Victor Krulok as successful as it was. Higgins had heard from US Marine Lieutenant Victor Krulok

about a very effective Japanese landing craft, the bow ramp, used during Japan's 1937 invasion of China. So he modified his LCPL to include that feature. His new ship could hold 36 men, a jeep and 12 men, 8,100 pounds of cargo, or a combination of men and cargo. August 7th, 1942 marked the beginning of the US military's Guadalcanal campaign. Guadalcanal, an island in the South Pacific about 1100 miles off the Northwest coast of Australia. And the new LCPLs, the now famous Higgins boats, made their big debut at Guadalcanal.

Guadalcanal was led primarily by the Marines, who just put in a big order for some Higgins boats. This would be the very first major land offensive by Allied forces against Japan The Allies landed on the island the night of August 6 surprising Japanese forces They would go on and fight for six months and two days before the Japanese after losing almost 20,000 men fled the island and without Higgins boats without a surprise landing a victory might not have been possible I Mean just think about how they would have had to get troops on the ground in these islands in the South Pacific or on the beaches of Normandy, you know, without Higgins boats. His fast, shallow water boats were armor plated.

Front of the boat was made out of steel. These things could handle quite a bit of gunfire, still not sink. If not for those boats, what other kinds of boats could unload troops in just a few feet of water? I mean I guess what an inflatable raft that one bullet could just rip a hole through and then everybody on board sinks? That's not gonna work. Those guys aren't protected at all. So do you just only parachute troops in? That's not gonna work either for a large assault, right? They're sitting ducks floating down to the ground. You can't get a whole bunch of troops into a concentrated, heavily fortified area that

way. You can't deliver a bunch of heavy armored tanks alongside them like you could with some of these other boats like his tank lighters, his LCMs that Higgins also designed. These boats of his were crucial to the war effort, crucial to putting a lot of troops all over the world since Allied forces had to consistently travel across the ocean to get to where the Axis powers were. Back to the war effort now. July 9th 1943 the Allies made airborne and seaborne landings in Sicily with Higgins boats. Because of poor weather they had the element of surprise on their side. Higgins boats were critical

in getting the soldiers to shore like with D-Day later. The weather threw things off but the boats were still able to reach the shore and unload soldiers, were critical in getting the soldiers to shore like with D-Day later. The weather threw things off but the boats were still able to reach the shore and unload soldiers, jeeps, tanks, and much needed supplies. In September of 1943 several incredible naval feats took place. The U.S. Fifth Army landed at Salerno, Italy and General Douglas MacArthur captured Salamowa in New Guinea. I think that's how you say it, Salamowa. At point, the American Navy totaled 14,072 vessels. Incredibly, of those vessels, 12,964 were designed by Higgins. 93%.

93% of the Navy's boats built in New Orleans by Higgins and his team. Higgins would sell the US military over 23,000 LCVPs, aka Higgins boats, alone before the war was over. Operation Avalanche, the invasion of Salerno, took place December 9th, 1943. September, what I was trying to say. The plan was to invade without any naval or aerial bombardment. They wanted the element of surprise, which was only possible with Higgins specialized landing crafts. And thanks to over 600 vessels, most of them Higgins boats, by the end of the very first day of fighting, the 5th Army had pushed between 5 and 7 miles inland. Then a few months later, the US and Japan fought in the Battle of Tarawa on the Tarawa

Island in the region of Micronesia over 2000 miles south of Hawaii in the middle of the Pacific from November 20th to the 23rd of 1943. This was the first American defensive in the Central Pacific region and the first major opposition to an amphibious landing encountered by the U.S. The Marines arrived in their Higgins boats for the attack. Initially most of the Higgins boats got hung up on the reef surrounding Tarawa and faced intense gunfire.

However Higgins LCMs were able to drop their ramps and release six tanks onto the beach. And with those tanks wreaking havoc by noon, the Marines had successfully gotten through the first line of Japanese defenses. June 6, 1944 was D-Day. We already went over that in a lot of detail, so I will skip to August 15, 1944 when the Allies engaged in Operation Dragoon, a landing operation in southern France. Day one, a wave of landing crafts fired rockets to explode Axis landmines to clear the way for the next soldiers.

The landing was a huge success with few Allied casualties. Higgins boats helped get over 150,000 troops on shore in the initial landing and over 500,000 military personnel in total. And in just over four weeks the Allies would liberate southern France taking around 25,000 casualties compared to the Nazis taking almost 160,000 casualties. A few months later, Thanksgiving Day 1944, the war was looking like it was about to be won in Europe. Things were looking good for the Allies. And Supreme Commander Eisenhower

said in his address to the nation, let us thank God for Higgins Industries, management and labor, which has given us the landing boats with which to conduct our campaign. By the end of 1944, Higgins was a household name in America. He had power and influence,

and he used that to make political inroads. He offered his support for FDR and Vice President Truman during their last presidential campaign which was Roosevelt's fourth. So weird to think about. According to biographer Jerry Strahan Higgins support was definitely part of what helped Roosevelt win his fourth presidential election. On February 19th 1945 the US Marine Corps and Navy engaged in the famous Battle of Iwo Jima, which would end with the capture of the island from the Japanese Army. At 8.59 a.m., the first Marines landed on the beach in their Higgins boats. Instead of easy

beaches, they found steep slopes made of black volcanic ash. Day one of the battle featured heavy casualties, but the Americans did take the island. March 26, 1945, and Higgins boats got them safely, well, mostly safely, to the shore. April 1st, 1945, the Marine Corps and the Army fight in the Battle of Okinawa against the Japanese Army. This was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific theater of the war. Again, Higgins boats used as part of the initial landing, critical to the success of the attack.

May 7th, 1945, the German high command officials signed the unconditional surrender of all German forces at Reims in northeastern France. And then on September 2, 1945, Japanese representatives signed their surrender, officially ending World War II. And a month later, Higgins' boat contract with the U.S. government ends, October 11, 1945. Higgins boat contract with the US government ends October 11th 1945 the Navy had anticipated the war to continue through at least October or November now that it was over they canceled all of their outside contracts and that marked the beginning of a period of decline for Higgins industries which you know makes sense no more great big war no more great big

military contracts at least that's how it used to go His workers also further unionized and began going on strike. Tough combo, man. Huge drop in income combined with a lot of workers wanting higher wages. And the combo leads of course to Higgins selling off some of his plans, laying off thousands of employees. In the post-war period he and his company returned to making pleasure crafts and commercial boats. However, when fighting begins in Korea just a few years later, in the summer of 1950, Higgins goes back into building boats for the military and his company's profits ramp back up. Again they employ more people but then he dies. At the time of his death in 1952 his company was working on building over

61 million dollars worth of cargo vessels, tugs, minesweepers, bridge building boats and other classified boats for the military. Speaking of Higgins' death, on August 1, 1952, Andrew Jackson Higgins died at the age of 65 in a crazy way, just like his dad and brother. Strangely mirroring his father and brother's deaths during his childhood, Higgins died at night after waking up to the sounds of a neighbor's barking dog. He woke up with the intention of going outside and yelled at the dog to shut up, as assumed, slipped, fell down the stairs, survived the fall relatively unharmed, but when he pulled himself up to his feet at the

base of the staircase, found himself face to face with his neighbor's dog, which had somehow gotten into the house, and the dog had a gun and the dog accidentally shot Higgins in the head. Dog said later just wanted to want to scare him. It's fucking crazy right? Do I need to say that I'm just kidding about that? I hope not. No he was admitted to the hospital a few days before before he died for a checkup. Family reported to the Associated Press he died of a stomach ailment. Other sources said he was being treated for stomach ulcers and had a stroke. That's how he died. His four sons, Edmund, Andrew Jr., Frank, and Roland, all work together to continue running the family

business after their dad's death, but they're not good at it. And they have to sell Higgins Incorporated to a New York shipyard just a few years later. Higgins Industries, for all intents and purposes dies with Andrew. It officially finally closes down its last bit of business in 1959. And now desperate for money, his sons convince their mom to publish her very juicy diary, which you've heard some samples of, which did become a New York Times bestseller titled Andrew Higgins, a former wood importer, master pleasure exporter. titled Andrew Higgins, former wood importer, master pleasure exporter.

February 14th, 1943. My dear husband is trying to help win two wars now. One in Europe against Hitler and one at home against menopause. I turned 54 in June. While my supple body is still willing, it's also drier than the space between a camel's toes as it prances across the Sahara most days. Yet my Romeo, sweet, sweet, handsy Andy, 56 years young, still has the iron rod of a teen boy who eats nothing but oysters,

reads nothing but hardcore pornography. He worries not about my sweet front butt's lack of carnal juices, reminding me that my saliva or his will provide all the moisture our romance desires. But we won't even need to use that spit now. For he also in his sexual wisdom bought me a sex swing for Valentine's Day and a 75 gallon drum of astroglide that he had delivered to the side of our bed.

He also ordered a sheet of, a set of plastic sheets. And he had a hose installed in our room to wash it off. And he had a full-size wrestling ring built near our walk-in closet. I would write more, but he's currently rolling around on the plastic sheet after taking a virtual shower in the astral glide. He's ready, my champion. He's ready to step into the ring. He's wearing a Lucha Libre mask

and some boots he had shipped up from Mexico and nothing else. He's hired a professional ringside announcer to call a match between himself, aka Ray Mysterio and my bearded clam aka Vagina Rosa del Desierto. I'm not sure if that was fun for you but it was pretty fun for me. I have no idea what his sons did. After they lost the company I doubt they tried to exploit Mama's Vagina Rossa del Desierto. I hope they did.

I doubt they did. Despite his incredible story Higgins name faded into obscurity soon after his death and for decades he remained largely unknown until June 6 2000 when the World War Two Museum opened New Orleans and recognized his life and work by displaying a reproduction of one of his Higgins boats. Additionally, historian, author, professor, vagina, rosa, del desierto, lover. I gotta stop saying that. Douglas Brinkley wrote an article about him in 2000 for American Heritage, according or coinciding with the museum's opening. Still, by 2017, there was only one official biography written about him.

Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats to One World War Two, written by Jerry Strahan, he's quoted him several times, published in 1998. Since then, another book about him was published in 2017. And then a kids book made in 2020. Author Strahan wrote of Higgins, without Higgins' uniquely designed craft, there could not have been a mass landing of troops and material on European shores or the beaches of the Pacific islands,

at least not without a tremendously higher rate of allied casualties. On May of 2019, Andrew Higgins was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, long overdue. Fewer than 20 original Higgins boats remain today. Most of them on display in various museums throughout the country. There's also two in France. One, of course, is at the World War II Museum in New Orleans.

Lindsay and I visited that museum a few weeks ago, checked out the Higgins boat. Very cool. Crazy to think about how it was used. Crazier to think about how World War II might have ended if it had never been made. Before sharing some final thoughts, the FBI has contacted me and informed me that for my safety, for the safety of my family, I should play the following sponsor. I did it. I bust out of jail. I stuck a few little bottles of cherry trees up my ass. I stuck them into my cell. It hurt. It hurt a lot. It's worth it though. Do you know if you eat over 100 tiny cherries in one sitting, you could lose over 30% of your body weight. That's 12 hours. Lots of tiny cherries equals lots of great big old boobs. I got so skinny I shimmied right out of myself!

Took my little trees with me. Now I'm in the woods. I'm hiding out of the woods. Maybe I'm in a warehouse. Maybe I'm right behind you. I can't say. There's so many bloodhounds. There's a lot of helicopters, but they won't keep me from my dreams!

Ha ha! You need some little plums! It's time for the holidays. Everyone knows it's not Thanksgiving, but they have little tiny plums! You need some tiny little apples? Make a little glass of apple cider for holidays. Everyone knows it's not Thanksgiving without little tiny plums. Do you need some tiny little apples? Make a little glass of apple cider for Christmas. Get some. I'm so tired. You gotta get some little peaches for Hanukkah. Everyone knows it's not Hanukkah without um, Little peach flavored raddles. Hey, hey, what about Ramadan? No, seriously, what is it? What is it? I don't know about it. I need to know what little tiny fruits that the Muslims want to eat when they're fasting

Haha, you can't eat regular food. You can still eat little bears when you're fasting, can you? Bob's Banff of Bob's Banff fruit.ps. Go to it. Bob's Banff of Bob's Banff fruit.ps. Please, for the dogs, forgive me. God damn it Oh, I have a whole orchard in my little trailer. I've been dragging around in the woods, or where else. Why am I living like this? I used to be a billionaire. What's that fruit not be? I'm not just a good quack skinner. God damn it, I'm making tiny fruit trees. So you can suck my tiny fruit.

Ah! I see the dogs! So that's Bob. He's still a problem. He's a very big problem. But you know what? Even though he wants to kill me and my family, I do respect his grind. I respect, he doesn't have a lot of quit in him.

I think Andrew Higgins would respect his grind. Andrew Jackson Higgins, what a life. I hope you liked hearing about it on this Veterans Day episode. To all veterans listening, truly thank you for your service. To everyone, I hope you were hearing about it on this Veterans Day episode to all veterans listening. Truly, thank you for your service. To everyone, I hope you were inspired by this story. The guy was a fighter. Started working when he was nine. Never quit, ever.

Worked the rest of his life, had a lot of big wins, had a lot of big losses. Employed a lot of people, saved a lot of lives. Helped win a very important war. Died somewhat young at the age of 65, but he squeezed the equivalent of at least what, two full impressive careers into his 65 years? Incredible. Let's now head to our takeaways you are going to love number five. Time shock top five takeaways. Number one, Andrew Jackson Higgins, born in 1886 in Columbus, Nebraska, built his first boat when he was just 12 years old in his mom's basement. So big he couldn't get it outside, so he and some friends, you know this, tore it down,

rebuilt the basement wall, no big deal, then took it out on the lake and then raced their asses off. Number two, Higgins was already business savvy at the age of nine when he got his first job. Cutting grass with a sickle, some folks call it sickle. Quickly hired employees, turned himself into a company manager, did this with grass cutting and newspapers.

Sold his paper business to an adult when he was 13 for $1,700. Number three, Higgins' Eureka boat laid the foundation for his future World War II success. The Eureka could travel in very shallow water, navigate in the debris-filled bayous and swamps around New Orleans. Higgins used the Eureka in some way for all his future boat designs. Eventually adding a ramp or expanding the size to make the LZVP, LC, so many letters,

LCVP, the LCM, the tank ladder, and many more models. Higgins named his original boat Eureka for his Eureka moment with designing it. Without that serendipitous accident, Higgins may never have designed the boats that won World War II. Number four, Dwight Eisenhower called Higgins the man who won the war for us. Without Higgins' LCVPs, invasions like Operation Overlord, the Battle of Tarawa, the invasion of Sicily, and so many more amphibious operations would have been possible. His boats allowed soldiers to land directly on the beaches they wanted to attack and gave them the critical element of surprise they needed to successfully win battles. And number five,

new info. Higgins was scrappy. Real scrappy and definitely not afraid of confrontation. For example, in 1928 when he was 42 he was furious when he discovered some of his new barges were not sealed properly. He confronted a man in the cocking crew, asked who was slacking. The boy told him that a big Irishman wasn't doing his job properly. So Higgins now invited that big Irishman into his office and then he closed the door. And then shortly after closing his office door his other employees heard a bunch of commotion inside the office. It sounded like it was pretty violent. One assistant later reported, quote,

after a long while the door opened. Mr. Higgins stepped out a little must up. Send for an ambulance, he said. I didn't have to be told. Practice makes perfect. I had the ambulance there already. Well, the next day, the Irishman's wife attacked Higgins with her umbrella in retaliation for beating her husband into the hospital. And while I know that's a crazy way to handle a work dispute, an employee problem, don't you sometimes miss the days

when somebody just could beat somebody else's ass up for fucking up and not need to get the cops and lawyers involved? I think our very contentious society will be a lot more civil, a more civilized today. If more people took punches to the face. I took a bunch of punches at face grown up and it definitely taught me to have better manners. 10 out of 10, highly recommend an ass whooping as an attitude adjustment.

Time Suck Top 5 Takeaways Andrew Higgins, D-Day's secret war hero, has been sucked. Thank you to the Bad Magic Productions team for help in making Time Suck starting with Queen of Bad Magic birthday girl, Lindsay Cummins. Thanks also to Logan Keith helping to publish this episode designing merch for the store at badmagicproductions.com. Thank you to Olivia Lee for her initial research, most of which had to be done via a book that you cannot find online. So you gotta fucking by hand, you know, write it all over the port and passages and stuff. Thanks to the all-seen eyes moderating the Cult of the Curious private Facebook page, Mod Squad making sure Discord keeps running smooth, and everyone over on the Time Suck subreddit and Bad Magic subreddits.

And now, time for this week's, I think, kind of special updates. Updates? Get your Time Sucker updates! We got some more serious, thought-provoking updates than we usually get this week and I liked it. First one I will share comes from sharp empathetic sack Brandon Wilson who wrote in with the subject line of Sedition Act. Dan the man, love the show, six out of five stars. I want to keep this short so I won't be gargling your balls as is custom for every email. Hopefully my sacrifices in the past will cover this one. You mentioned how people during the times of COVID and since have claimed that there

is some controlling agenda and other types of crazy claims made that make it seem like there was some new overreach on behalf of the government. I agree wholeheartedly with what you said. Those fears were blown out of proportion and people over exaggerated, but I did not agree with one thing you said. You said, and I'm paraphrasing, the regulations put out during COVID were nothing compared to the Sedition Act of 1918 and we need to stop acting like it was. While yes, your sentiments were true and accurate, just because it's not as bad as

it has been or could be, that's not a reason to ignore it. We are not subjects of the government and anytime the government oversteps its bounds in an attempt to control or limit activities of our population we need to be vocal about it. And we also need to step up for our fellow man. Say you're a right-wing straight white Christian man and it suddenly it is illegal to be transgender. Maybe you don't care, doesn't affect you. Why should you? Well, I'll tell you why. Because your brothers and sisters are having their freedoms stifled by a government that has no right to do that. That's wrong. And it's your obligation to stand up for your fellow American to prevent those things from

happening. I'm reminded of two quotes. First they came for the socialists and I did not speak out because I'm not a socialist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I'm not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me by Martin Niemöller. Yeah, that pastor. And those who would give up essential liberty to purchase temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Quote by Benjamin Franklin. Those quotes might sound extreme but if we give an inch of freedom up because it could be worse then eventually we'll have none. I guess keeping my email short didn't work out so gargle I shall. Love the show. I've been listening to every episode. Is We Done was amazing.

Scared to Death fucked me up so bad I had to stop listening. Bad Magic fucks. Keep it up. Love you Brandon. Brandon, I love your email. And I've actually shared that quote by Neem Olar in at least one past episode if not two. I love that quote. Yeah, it was not my intention to be dismissive of the rights of others with the COVID regulation comment. I don't know that COVID regulations are the best example of when to make the argument about standing up for the rights of others by not being in favor of vaccine mandates. I totally get the transgender comparison you make,

agree there. With the COVID regulations, I don't know if I agree. And apologies if that's not the point you were making there, but if you were, wouldn't wanting to do everything you could not to spread a disease that initially is killing a lot of people, in particular those with compromised immune systems, be a good example of helping your fellow man by following, you know, regulations? In that example, I was never worried about COVID for me, my wife, or my kids. Not once. None of us are immunocompromised. Not in any way, we're all active.

No preexisting health problems of any kind really. So when I was wearing a mask on a plane, which I fucking hated by the way, fogged my glasses, made it hard to type. I didn't actually believe that the mask was doing much to help stop spread the virus. Made me sweat more than I already do and I'm prone to sweating so much as it is.

Fucking sucked. I also just, I just hate having shit on my face. I don't like the way it feels. I'm weird that way. I won't button the top button on dress shirts because it feels like the fabric on my neck is scratching me or choking me. I don't like to wear a tie because I feel like I'm being choked. Don't like to be choked.

I won't wear over the ear headphones in the gym because it makes me sweat so much and I don't like the way it feels on my face. I think you see my point. I fucking hate wearing masks. But I would do it again, not for me, not for the government, not to be a follower, but simply to at least make my fellow citizens who are worried, often for very valid reasons, feel safer. I didn't agree with all the policies of COVID, but I usually agreed with the sentiment I felt was behind those restrictions. I did and still do believe it was about people trying to do the right thing in a crazy situation that

came out of nowhere and save as many lives as possible and I'm in favor of making small sacrifices in order to help others. Yeah, last thing I included your message partially because the quote you referenced does apply very much to this next critical message which is kind of of also going with, in some ways, the point you are making. So I'm just gonna morph into the next message, share it now. Super sucker Aaron Greer, or Aaron Grew? G-R-U-I-S? Grew, perhaps, Aaron? Sorry if I fucked it up. Solid Meat Sack is disappointed in me, and I imagine he's not alone.

He wrote in with a subject line of McCarthyism. Dan, I'd like to start with two things. First, I'm not mad, just disappointed. Second, I'm not pretending like I won't tune in next week. That being said, your choice to upload an episode about McCarthy the day before a major election and follow it up with an update explicitly not endorsing a candidate when one of them has emulated McCarthy so rigidly feels like cowardice.

I mean the dude literally even mentions, or as mentioned, enemies within in the same way that McCarthy and others have done. I don't presume to put politics in your mouth, but it is difficult to reconcile many of the ideas that you routinely adamantly defend on your podcast with this choice. Had you left the message at go vote, I would have not had a problem. However, you specifically addressed the issue that you felt you would alienate half your listenership if you endorsed to candidates and that stood out to me. You have not shied away from endorsing pretty open and sometimes aggressive views on a wide variety of topics including but not limited to summary execution of pedophiles, sometimes

without any form of judicial process, limitations on who should be allowed to vote, who should be allowed to run for office, and even what musicians should be allowed to produce music for the masses. Some I agree with, some I don't. Others that are best described as outright ludicrous. You have even regularly attacked politicians for using their positions for using their positions for financial gain. I understand your financial losses are different than theirs, but it seems like you sold out the same way they do.

To follow up an episode where you consistently and ruthlessly attack Joseph McCarthy for his unabashed flaunting of lies without any evidence as proof, as you have done with many others in the past, and his willingness to subvert any sort of democratic process, another topic that you have very willingly admitted that you think is wrong, with admitting that you won't endorse a political candidate when one of those candidates has objectively done the same thing over the course of the last eight years was a letdown. I teach high school and I go out of my way to encourage all my students to vote, regardless of their views, based on their research, understanding of the world, values, etc.

I pride myself on not leaving my personal politics out of the classroom. But for you to drop an episode about a demagogue after so frequently expressing disdain for them and then explicitly ignoring the same issue in the current election was a bummer at best. Shit man, you even have a character that you've created to protect all ideas of democracy and then didn't address the fact that a candidate has openly questioned many of the hallmarks of that democracy you so hope to defend. Thanks for your time. I don't care what anyone says. I still think you're worth four to five stars.

Still excited for next week's episode, Aaron grew. Well, Aaron, first off, truly thank you for your message. Uh, I'm sure others are feeling the same way. Also, it was not a coincidence for me to drop the McCarthyism episode right before the election. Uh, I do think there are parallels from the 1950s with today's politics. And I do think a lot of Trump's rhetoric has been very similar to McCarthy's and it has worried me.

It's also worried a lot of his biggest supporters. So why didn't I name him? Why didn't I endorse the other side? Well because for one, I truly have just not sold on either political party right now. And so it's tough to really like take a big stand behind someone who I also don't believe in. But I found that it's more effective in recent years. This is the main reason I didn't name him. I found it's more effective in recent years, effective when it comes to trying to get people to hear what you have to say about a polarizing issue.

And nothing seems more polarizing and emotionally charged than politics in America right now. Nothing's even close. To have strong opinion on historical figures, I think it's better and movements from the past rather than attacking the present because the present is so emotional. I think it's more effective to lay out historical concerns, you know, examples and trust that your audience is perfectly smart enough to see the parallels and draw their own conclusions. To give people something to think about without them feeling attacked. I have watched closely over the years as many fellow content creators have denounced, you know, politicians on both sides. They've made strong arguments. I've lurked in their comment sections.

And when they have been heavy handed, I have literally never once seen a single comment from someone who says something to the effect of, you know what, I disagreed with you before this but you're right. I fucked up. I should think more like you do. I'm going to change my political orientation right now. Like never. Never seen anything remotely like that. Also fighting for or against individual politicians is just not the hill I want to die on. We all have our hills. This one's not mine. I just don't care about any one politician. None of them inspire me right now. None of them. None of the national... I do care a lot about what fellow citizens think about various issues that can read political. The issues I care about. I'm curious as

to why they feel the way they do about this issue or that issue. And I feel that a good use of whatever influence I might have is to mostly just be the best person I can be and talk about that. To try and learn from historical mistakes, to talk about issues, to defend individual issues, to attack certain issues as opposed to attacking or defending individual politicians because people's emotions get wrapped up in this or that person. And if you name them, they stop listening to you. But if you talk about an issue that person has a spin on, they'll listen to you talk

about the issue, in my experience. The hill I'm willing to die on is one defending marginalized people, which I have done over and over. When I have, say, attacked the Catholic Church for their abuses. When I have stood up for transgender rights stood up for body autonomy for women and the rights of women in general. When I've stood up over and over for racial minority groups and the rights of the LGBTQIA plus community and I've done all of that knowing that it would hurt me financially and it for sure has. When I doubled down on defending the Pride

Movement last summer that we donated to, we lost roughly 20% of our patrons at a month and at least 20% of our overall audience and I would do it again. That's, that's my Hill. That is how much this straight white man does care about people who are different than me, people that have been demonized for far too long, even though I'm not demonized, the easiest thing for me to do would be ignore all of it. And just, you know, appeal to the most people as possible and make the most money. But that actually doesn't sit well in my conscience. So while you still might be disappointed in me,

and you have every right to be, I hope you now understand why I choose to fight the fights I do and why I choose to ignore others. And to be clear, anyone listening who voted for Trump, I don't think you're a bad person. At all. I hate that simplistic view. I hate that simplistic device of rhetoric. And I hope you hate it too. And I hope you don't hate anybody who voted for Kamala or think less of them for doing so. Most people who vote are just trying to do what they feel is right to help their families. I do believe that. I don't believe that most people are voting to take away the rights of others. Maybe I'm naive,

but I don't. I think they're voting the way they do because largely they're scared. They're scared of inflation. They're scared of illegal immigration. They're scared of things they don't understand. They're scared of things they think they should be scared of because of religious convictions, but scared all the same. And I want the same thing this next four years that I wanted before this election was decided. I want the economy to improve for all, but mostly for the most economically vulnerable members of our population. I want inflation to not continue to threaten tens of millions of Americans with impending

concerns of homelessness. I want the medical industry to be regulated so that tens of millions of Americans can get needed treatment they currently can't afford. I want the real estate wealth gap to be addressed so some home ownership isn't continually out of reach for tens of millions of Americans. I want politicians to stand up to Wall Street. I want women not to have to worry about dying in a hospital

because a doctor won't induce a medically needed abortion to save their fucking life. I want women to not have to seek out back alley abortions because they've lost the right to govern their own body. I want LGBTQIA plus people to have all the same rights as my white straight male ass. And I'm going to continue to share historical lessons that speak to these issues. I'm going to continue to voice my concerns, even if it is to the detriment of my audience size, which it probably will be. I'm going to continue to love my fellow Meadsacks, whether they're a quote liberal or a quote conservative. I'm going to continue to hate labels like liberal and conservative, labels that just

inherently divide us. And I'll probably continue to hate the divisive two-party system we have, since neither one of those motherfuckers represents my beliefs. So hail fucking Nimrod, that's where I stand, and now let's end on some love for one of our own who's going through it. Our hurting yet grateful Meadsac identifying themselves only as T sends in the message with the subject line of, I'm truly not sure. Hello to everyone at Time Suck and Bad Magic Productions.

My name is T. I'm writing today to say thank you for what you do. I struggle, immensely, every day, to live life. I find there is little to no hope most days and it is hard to go on often enough. Mentally life is a struggle. Emotionally life is a struggle. Even more so financially life is an absolute struggle. It is hard to find encouragement in life to continue looking forward. The depths of despair seem to creep closer each passing day. I can't seem to find any purpose in this life. I can't find any meaning, though I've tried so hard. Life is not, at all, what I hoped for growing up. It's a pit of sorrow, struggles and frustration.

I don't know what the answer is. I wish I could hit a reset button and try again. I hate life usually. I hate myself even more. I have an associate's degree, which doesn't mean shit nowadays. I can't find a job. I have no true friends. Can't find a place I belong. And each day I move closer to the engulfing forces of depression. I feel worthless. I feel like I've wasted my life. I feel like I'm going to be lost forever. But with all that being said, I wanted to say thank you and thank you to the Bad Magic Production team for creating something that can bring a smile to my face once or twice a week.

Thanks for being inspirational, helping people like myself continue each day. Thank you for inspiring me to start my own podcast. Thank you for being a stand-up people, for helping so many of those around you in numerous ways. It's been an extraordinary boost to my mental well-being since I found the suck in April of this year. I'm not sure what I was going for with this email. I just wanted to say thank you very much for all you do. Best luck moving forward. Peace and blessings as always. Solid three out of five stars.

Won't change a thing. You guys do. Your friend T. Well T, thank you for for what you wrote. Heavy stuff. Thanks for being kind and sweet and empathetic and vulnerable. Vulnerable? Man, I really can't talk today. And I want you to take the love you just gave for us here and give it to yourself. Seriously. We all fuck up. We all make mistakes. None of us are perfect. The people who pretend to be the most perfect, I think, are probably struggling the most in some ways. We all wish we could do certain things over. None of us can move the clock backwards, have them all again, no one gets a redo. Until one of us figures out how to build a time machine, the path is only forward,

ever forward. And all we can do is just manage that the best we can. I don't know the details of your struggle, but I do know we have a great group of people in the Cult of the Curious Facebook group on the Time Suck Discord and other Time Suck adjacent Facebook groups who have been through a lot, who have bounced back from a lot. Get in there. Ask questions. You know how do you help yourself financially? Do you need to declare bankruptcy to wipe out you know your debt? I'm sure we have a lot of members with a strong financial acumen. Do you need to find some therapy? Therapy on a sliding scale you can afford?

Do you need to be directed to some free support groups so you can just talk to some people, either online or in person? You know, groups you can go to each week. Do you need to meditate a little each day? I don't know what the answer is, but I do know you won't find it unless you keep seeking and searching. And seek knowing that no one's problems are fixed in a single day.

Look for little wins, not big ones. I've struggled with that a lot myself. I've been learning it more as I get older, even though I've heard it from people since I was a teen. You know, it's not all or nothing. Look for the little wins. Be happy with the little wins. You know, it's don't go for the it's not all or nothing look for the little wins be happy with the little wins You know chip away at the darkness Rome wasn't built in the day and your mental health won't be built in a day either, you know New you can't be built quickly. I hope we can continue to be a bright spot for you a refuge in the darkness I don't know you T, but I love you. I love your spirits. So don't give up fucking ever keep seeking Just continually.

Keep chipping away. Nimrod will not be pleased if you ever give up. And for me, I love you guys. And I think that's all I have for today. Well, thank you for listening to another Bad Magic Productions podcast. Scared to death time suck each week. Short sucks, nightmare fuel on the time suck and scared to death podcast feed some weeks. Go build a boat this week.

Go build it in your parents' basement. You don't live with your parents? Well find your parents' house. Head to their basement, tell them to stay out until you're done. Parents are dead? Well break into your childhood home. Build a boat in that basement. Tell them that until you're done. Parents are dead? Well, break into your childhood home. Build a boat in that basement. Tell them that until you're done, they can chill the fuck out. And they can keep on sucking. Hey, remember me? I'm Llamanendez, convicted murderer and businessman.

I might be finally getting out of prison soon since I don't have my parents left to murder. I guess I'm going to be focusing 100% on my business. Would you like to do business with me? Do you like business? You like money? Rolex watches? Sports cars? Kindles on the beach?

Business? Let's have a business lunch. Talk about profits, interests, return on investments, wealth building. These are some business terms I've been learning about in prison What about dividends? Are those good for business? What about cash, real estate, stock options, black, gold, blood, diamonds, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, OnlyFans, models?

Is any of that good for your business? If any of this made business sense, call 1-800-BUSINESS. Business, listen to my jingle. Don't forget who to call. Call 1-800-BUSINESS. If you like business, business, business, 800 with the one in front, business, business, business 800 with a 1 in front

Business, business, Princeton, money, profits Business, kingpin, cocaine, menendez Investment, enterprises, tennis, lessons Business, I'm lonely, I still need a 2 Pay, need, money, business Gonna need a job when I get out 1-800-BUSINESS I could be your neighbor maybe your roommate or your business lover

1-800-BUSINESS give me business one endless business business business When Enders Business, Business, Business