Francis John "Jack" Higgins was born in October 1922 in Omaha, Nebraska. He left there at two years of age and moved to New Orleans with his parents and older brother. After staying there two years, the family moved to Miami, Florida. His dad worked for his younger brother, Andrew Higgins, in the lumber business on the Industrial Canal. Before the dredging of Biscayne Bay in Florida, the area had a boom. Ships with cargo bound for Miami had to be offloaded to barges because the Bay had not been dredged. The Hurricane of 1926 came along when the contract was nearing its completion. When the barges ended up in the city, a wealthy resident named, John Dearing, accosted Higgins' father, Frank P. Higgins, and demanded removal of a barge from his property. Higgins' response was that the insurance company owned the barges at that point. The complainant had to talk to the carrier to coordinate the elimination of the barges from the city. That worked out to the advantage of the Higgins organization. The family returned to New Orleans and settled on Cohn Street off of Carrolton Avenue. Francis Higgins grew up there. He attended Robert E. Lee School. He was three blocks from school and could walk to classes. That was before busing. After graduation from grammar school, he attended Fortier High School and obtained a quality education. The educators at his schools were committed to their duties. Following his graduation in 1939, Higgins attended Tulane University. He majored in Engineering. Following two years of study, he contracted a medical problem that resulted in him leaving the university. For an undetermined reason, his lungs collapsed. Thanks to an innovative treatment by a physician, Dr. Bradford [Annotator's Note: no given name provided] at Ochsner Hospital in New Orleans, Higgins managed to recover. His Uncle Andrew was friends with Alton Ochsner and facilitated his nephew's entrance and successful treatment at the facility. Higgins was cured and only had one later recurrence about the time his son's birth. There were no further problems afterward.

Francis Higgins was a good draftsman. He took that position with his Uncle Andrew [Annotator's Note: Andrew Jackson Higgins was his uncle and owner of Higgins Industries in New Orleans] in the Drafting Department at Higgins Industries on St. Charles Avenue. He worked for George [Annotator's Note: inaudible] and Graham Haddock doing PT boat design work. PT-5 and PT-6 were in the lot on St. Charles Avenue. As a young man, Higgins was able to jump down from the boat and maneuver with dexterity to take measurements and return to the office. There was a national problem with supply of armaments at the time. The boats were contracted to the Netherlands. One night when Higgins was working late, he was called upon by his uncle. Proof that the vessels were not armed had to be provided. Higgins had to create a plan view of the boat with a crane indicated on the vessel. It was to be designated as an "air-sea rescue vessel." It was theoretically to salvage downed aircraft lost in the English Channel. That apparently worked. Francis Higgins dropped out of school because of his loss of time from classes and labs. [Annotator's Note: He had suffered from a debilitating collapse of his lungs. The malady was subsequently treated and cured.] Higgins' father [Annotator's Note: Frank Higgins] worked with his brother [Annotator's Note: Andrew Higgins] on St. Charles Avenue. A friend indicated to Higgins' father that there was a 16 foot runabout that was potentially salvageable. After the boat was recovered and the engines overhauled, Francis Higgins ended up with a boat. The details are thankfully sketchy on exactly how that all happened. It was to become the unofficial pace boat for the torpedo boats being tested on Lake Pontchartrain. With the torpedo boats not fully loaded with armaments, the pace boat sometimes lagged behind them. Higgins and his cousin, Andrew Higgins, Jr., noticed the boats being loaded with pig iron ingots to simulate the armament load. Higgins had a branch office on the New Basin Canal. They would secure boats there. There was a torpedo launcher on the dock. It could fire dummy torpedoes. The Navy had a base nearby. The trainees from the base would be introduced to and trained on the Higgins Industries landing boats built at City Park Avenue. The red and green running lights for starboard and port had yet to be installed on the torpedo boats. On one occasion, Francis Higgins had to hold the starboard light which was in a frame. He held onto a stanchion and the boat took off into the Lake as sunset approached. After proceeding about halfway into the Lake, the boat was turned about so the driver could get oriented as to his location as opposed to the shoreline. He opened the three 1500 horsepower engines up. Francis Higgins was being beaten by the necktie that he had forgotten to remove. He was also turning green as well. It was then that he observed the mast of a sailboat go by them. Andrew, his cousin, was doing close to 50 knots and Francis could not warn him of the boat. That was fast for the 78 foot boat. The sailboat had no lights. The sailboat passengers will never forget that night's encounter. For that matter, neither will Higgins. Andrew Jr. had modified the steering wheel so it could rapidly be turned. As Andrew approached the seawall, he made a quick U-turn. The waves splashed the shrimpers on the seawall and extinguished the lanterns they used to light the night. The waves probably hit the people too. That was unforgettable. From there, the United States would become involved in the war after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Francis would marry his beautiful and courageous wife. She had faith in him. Francis Higgins had been a smoker, but his Uncle Andrew championed Alton Ochsner's campaign to get people to quit smoking. Higgins' Uncle Andrew attempted to further Ochsner's efforts with others he met.

Francis Higgins became employed as an experimental test engineer at the Higgins Engine Company. They manufactured 200 horsepower, six cylinder marine engines. It was formed as Higgins-Tucker Motor Company. Preston Tucker was aligned with Higgins Industries on North Scott Street. Issues ensued when it was discovered that Tucker was keeping multiple sets of books. He was removed from his office and returned to Michigan with his crew. He used his engine design to start-up a new company, Tucker Engine Company. He produced two prototypes before being run out of the country. He ended up in South America. Francis Higgins enjoyed working for the engine company. He teamed up with Art Chevrolet, one of the Chevrolet brothers. They had ten production test dynamometers. Another was in a sound-proof room and belonged to Francis Higgins. It was an electrical absorption machine. It simulated the cubic affect of operating in air or water. It was originally intended for airplanes but served the purpose of the company. By the end of hostilities, the plant had amazing machine capabilities. They could machine shapes out of solid carbon. The female workers looked like players in a comedy because of the carbon deposits on their faces. A community wash-up stand was provided for them to clean-up after their shift. A plane was waiting at Eglin Airbase to fly the pieces of carbon to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Higgins workers had some idea of what was going on but were never informed of any details. Stabilizing the carbon for machining was a problem until a solution was devised. Vacuums generated by huge vacuum machines were used to secure the carbon being machined. Venting for the machining was routed outside the building. A transformer was near the vent and Higgins observed two electrodes nearly touching. The carbon debris had built up around them after it had been vented during the machining process. The plant manager nearly panicked but he called the Electric Company. The problem was resolved. At the conclusion of the war, the plant was to be shutdown. Higgins' uncle [Annotator's Note: Andrew Jackson Higgins, owner of Higgins Industries] came to make a speech. He said the workers could be proud of what they did. He thought he knew what was happening. The Defense Department, not his company, owned the plant equipment. Everything was dismantled. Not wanting to take the equipment back with them, the government was looking at what to do with it. Francis Higgins, along with his father and his brother, were in a marine business called Higgins Marine Sales. They obtained cases of sparkplugs for a nickel per plug. The plugs were universally used in the marine business. Their company started in a part of the City Park building with its own crane and access to City Park Avenue. A strike prevented delivery of equipment that had been ordered. Strikers carried signs against Higgins Industries even though the company no longer existed. Ultimately, the strike ended after settlement. Higgins Marine Sales was in business and went on for the length of the lease. The owners of the lease were in the scrap business. They were Ed Levy and his sister. They were talented at screaming if something needed to be fixed on the property. She decided to personally deal with someone who parked their truck on the side of the building near the drive-in. She was found by one of the guards pouring sugar into the fuel tank. [Annotator's Note: Higgins has a good laugh.] It apparently was not one of her relatives.

When that [Annotator's Note: the Higgins Marine Sales business] ended after 25 years, Francis Higgins moved to Vidalia Street. They took over a large section of a building and erected shelving. Inventory was moved without losing any goods or customers. That location was maintained for five years. The supplier, Outboard Marine Corporation, established them as Evinrude and Johnson outboard motor parts distributor for two states. They had a goldmine. Inventory was turned twice a year. Other businesses dream of similar situations. The Outboard Marine Corporation looked at the positive situation the Higgins had and decided to become their own distributors. A legal action was written against the parent company by a distributor up north. The judgment was that it was not enough time for the parent company to take the business away from the distributors. Higgins assisted the independent distributors financially but did not go on record as being party to the legal action. As a result, the factory bought Higgins' entire inventory. The inventory represented quite an investment at the time. For a young company, it was a real help in start-up. Later, the company was dissolved. Auditors said they went out of business at the right time. Francis Higgins was 55 and his older brother was 65 years old. It was better for the older brother than it was for Higgins.

Francis Higgins had a business on Canal Street. It was originally Canal Marine owned by Lewis Waggoner and his brother. It transferred in ownership to Lionel Dowling. He offered to buy a lot of the small parts for less than one dollar each, but the corporation did not want that. Meanwhile, he purchased much of the shelving that Higgins' company had. He offered Higgins a job at a drastic pay cut. Higgins took the offer on a part-time basis. He wanted something to do. He kept in contact with his former customers that way. One of them, Burton [Annotator's Note: no further name identification provided] was very surprised to see Higgins behind the counter working for his new employer. Burton was an exterminator who would come around with a box that was supposed to carry his materials to eradicate pests. Two of Higgins' younger employees in his previous company suspected Burton of something. They surreptitiously observed the exterminator through a knothole. They saw him taking expensive parts out of their boxes to place in his box. These were parts valued at 400 dollars apiece. The younger workers told Higgins that the exterminator was exterminating his inventory. Higgins' brother took immediate action. The exterminating company lost what they had stolen plus their job. When Burton came in to Higgins' new company with him at the counter, the former exterminator turned six shades of white. Higgins asked if he was actually looking to pay for his parts. He could not take it. He walked out. Higgins felt he should have brought charges against the man even though he did not.

Francis Higgins had a stroke. Prior to that, he fell and broke his hip in three places. The corrections were made by installing three pins. The surgeons had decided not to do a complete replacement using metal. In the meantime, Higgins had two hip replacements. That aided in the decision. Higgins looks at his wife having her hip replaced ten years prior to the interview and having no problems. The doctor decided to send him to a home for rehab. Some of the inmates were bad off. He was in the facility for what seemed like four years. [Annotator's Note: As some of the listeners in the interview move about, a break is taken by the interviewer to switch tapes.]

Francis Higgins worked at Higgins Industries on St. Charles Avenue with his uncle [Annotator's Note: his uncle was Andrew Jackson Higgins, the owner of Higgins Industries in New Orleans.]. The Higgins facility was in the 1700 block of St. Charles where the Houston's restaurant now exists. There is a bronze plaque there which recognizes Higgins Industries occupying that location prior to the restaurant's existence. Francis Higgins worked there as a draftsman. He mainly focused on the design of torpedo boats. The Higgins plant on City Park Avenue built landing craft. The Navy designated them as the LCVP or Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel. The landing craft had a folding ramp on the bow of the boat. They were also beginning construction of a 55 foot tank-lighter [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Mechanized or LCM]. Because it had yet to clear sea trials in Norfolk, Virginia, no official Navy designation for the vessel had been assigned. The 55 foot behemoth was too wide to fit on a flatcar. In order to transport it, the adjacent streets were lit one night while the craft was loaded on its side and secured for the trip. Painters were still painting it under the lights. The railcar was transported using two diesel engines taken off the showroom floor. They had been at Francis Higgins' dad's facility. Francis Higgins' father was in charge of the retail sales division. Two of the tank-lighter designers accompanied the vessel for the trials. It went well. In fact, the boat was used to rescue some of the competitor vessels which were stranded on a reef. Higgins tank-lighter won the trial and was accepted by the Navy. Construction of the Higgins 55 foot tank-lighter would be at the Industrial Canal plant instead of on St. Charles or City Park.

Francis Higgins recalls the story of how Philippine mahogany wood was secured to build the PT boats. He [Annotator's Note: Higgins refers to his uncle, Andrew Jackson Higgins, who owned Higgins Industries in New Orleans] commandeered a supply ship and bought the mahogany off of it. Andrew Higgins would supply in excess of 10,000 vessels to the Navy. The landing craft would be loaded on railcars and shipped directly out of an opening in the City Park Avenue manufacturing plant. The boats would be transported to a location on Bayou St. John where a crane would offload them into the bayou. A Navy inspector rode each one to confirm testing for acceptability. The testing was performed in the Lake [Annotator's Note: Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans] with speed tests done over a nautical mile. Andrew Higgins instructed one of his workers to reduce the distance between two of the test markers. The boats all passed with flying colors. [Annotator's Note: Higgins laughs.] During wartime operation, the landing craft was loaded down with 36 fully outfitted infantrymen. Consequently, speed would not be a factor in the vessel's success. The rest is history as the experience at Normandy and in the Pacific shows. The landing crafts did the job. The difficulty was being in the front of the craft when the ramp dropped. Enemy machine guns focused on those men coming off the ramp. Francis Higgins was not there because he had a medical deferment [Annotator's Note: he had been treated for a collapsed lung]. He heard that most of the men jumped over the sides of the landing craft to avoid the enemy fire. Sadly, some bosuns at the helm got nervous and decided not to get close to the beach. The troops in the craft did not have a dry landing as originally conceived. They had to wade to the beach with their rifle over their head. The boats were designed to jump over reefs using their speed. That was where the speed factor played a significant role. They were designed to deposit the troops on the beach and then return for more. Higgins' uncle used profanity when he heard of the misuse of his boats. The invasions, nevertheless, got done thanks to the men who manned those boats.

Francis Higgins says a female off camera had his uncle in a spell. [Annotator's Note: His uncle was Andrew Jackson Higgins, the owner of Higgins Industries in New Orleans. During the interview, there are comments made by people off-camera that are only partially audible. The off-camera people offering frequent commentary are not specifically identified during the course of the interview.] Andrew Higgins was a forceful and energetic man who could motivate people to do more than they thought they could. He acted as a rabble rouser. It had a strong effect. He was the direct opposite of Francis Higgins' father [Annotator's Note: Frank Higgins was Francis Higgins' father] who was laid back and unassuming. As a child, Andrew Higgins had a paper route. He was eight years younger than Francis' father. He was industrious. He enlisted the aid of other boys to help with the paper route. Even at that early age, he was an organizer. When Francis Higgins worked with his uncle, he observed him starting his day with a bottle of whisky in his desk drawer. Francis' brother, Ed, worked for his uncle as a gopher one summer. Ed's first task of the day would be to go to the local store to get a bottle of liquor for his Uncle Andrew. Higgins would drink bourbon and scotch. The landing boats were shipped out in a knockdown package for assembly at the front. In each package, Andrew Higgins would include a bottle of whisky for motivation of the assembly crew. Before the war, Andrew Higgins had supplied the Eureka boats. The boats had a spoonbill bow along with a propeller protected within a partial housing. That provided protection for it in shallow water. That design concept would become incorporated into the landing boats. His market was originally the US engineers operating on the river [Annotator's Note: Mississippi River] particularly up in Natchez. There was a station there and one of his sons went there to oversee the operations. Andrew Higgins had four sons. Among them were Frank and Roland. Employees went on record as saying they were the four things wrong with the company. Francis Higgins liked Dawn. [Annotator's Note: Dawn Higgins Murphy was the daughter of Andrew Higgins. Some off-camera conversation ensues about her and her health. Dawn Higgins Murphy's oral history is also available on this Digital Collections website.] Andrew Higgins liked to entertain. His live-in cook was named Mary [Annotator's Note: no surname provided]. The dinners would be when he finally staggered in with some dignitaries. They might be admirals or generals. Nelson Eddie attended one dinner. The start of the dinner began with a joke initiated by Andrew Higgins. It would carry on throughout the dinner. He would talk with his mouth full and include some unedited language. Dawn would occasionally come down to play the piano. Higgins had a political headquarters downtown in one of his buildings. It sort of sounds like Trump [Annotator's Note: President Donald Trump]. The building is now the Saratoga. His sister, Joy, had recreational facilities for the workers to unwind. Dawn hated that. In one of the lobbies of a building, there were pictures promoting Truman's election [Annotator's Note: President Harry S. Truman ran for election in 1948 and was elected]. Francis Higgins started working for his uncle in the summer of 1940. That lasted on and off until he obtained the job with the engine company. His uncle was a partner at first but then took over and placed his manager, Joe Dugas, in control. Dugas invented a vacuum operated clutch for a ship's helm. It was ingenious. After the war, he sued the company and the outcome must have been to his satisfaction. He was commissioned to go to Japan and attempt to sell a building material called Thermocon. Unions prevented it from being accepted in the United States because it bypassed many tradesmen. There were more possibilities in Hiroshima and Nagasaki where it was a level field of opportunity. [Annotator's Note: Higgins laughs.] Andrew Higgins had a deep feeling toward Francis because none of his sons had gotten a degree. His nephew was in the process of doing so when he contracted a medical problem. [Annotator's Note: Francis Higgins had been treated for a collapsed lung.] Once, Francis Higgins had to drive his uncle home in his Cadillac. Andrew had too much to drink. The elder Higgins offered some endearing advice to his nephew prior to his marriage. He told him to get some meat on his bones. He said he could not drive a spike with a tack hammer. It was not exactly subtle. Francis never actually gained much weight.

Francis Higgins feels that the PT boat restoration by the Museum is wonderful. [Annotator's Note: The Higgins built PT-305 torpedo boat was restored to its wartime design by The National WWII Museum in New Orleans.] Higgins is curious as to the provider of the engines. He previously visited the Museum when he was more mobile. Nick Mueller heads the Museum. He was not born during the war, but he became head because of his efforts and his association with Stephen Ambrose. They were both UNO [Annotator's Note: University of New Orleans] professors. Grants have helped the expansion of the Museum. Francis Higgins always got along with his Uncle Andrew. Andrew thought he resembled Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler]. He would get a snoot-full and dress up as Hitler. He used his wife's mascara to color a mustache. He would pin her jewelry on his coat to simulate Hitler's decorations. Francis would pretend to be Goebbels [Annotator's Note: German Reichs Minister of Propaganda Paul Joseph Goebbels] and come downstairs to introduce Andrew as Hitler. Francis would speak in broken German to introduce the mock Fuhrer. Andrew Higgins would make his appearance all puffed up and gesturing a Nazi salute. At one time, Francis met Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: President Franklin D. Roosevelt]. Higgins woke him early one morning when he was scheduled to go to Tulane. His father brought him instead to the back of City Park Avenue where a spur track was located. Roosevelt was on the back of an observation car waving at the crowd. The President got down using two crutches that were on his arms. The reception committee included Uncle Andrew, his four sons, Francis' father, and himself. Francis' brother was away in the service. They each shook hands with the President. The President just said "fine" to each one of them. The President went into a shiny convertible with Andrew Higgins. Troops were all around on the top of buildings. Roosevelt wanted to visit Higgins Industries. Preston Tucker was in a mock-up gun turret showing how maneuverable the machine gun was. He had previously designed it while he was in Michigan. Tucker wanted to be among the celebrities. The President and Andrew Higgins made the tour showing how different phases of construction fitted together. They saw the jigs where frames were built. The frames were transported to the assembly line for installation. The process of side and keel installation was then shown. Painting was performed with a mastic coating which was subsequently wrapped with canvas. The plywood was then added. A designer named Bob Curate [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] had designed the head-log where the ramp intersected with the hull. A machine was used to route out the piece from a huge piece of wood. An electric motor moved the equipment along a track system Curate had designed. It was quite something. It all had started with the head-log on the nose of the Eureka boat.