Kaiser, Henry J.

Kaiser, Henry J.

▪ American industrialist
in full  Henry John Kaiser  
born , May 9, 1882, Sprout Brook, N.Y., U.S.
died Aug. 24, 1967, Honolulu, Hawaii
 American industrialist and founder of more than 100 companies including Kaiser Aluminum, Kaiser Steel, and Kaiser Cement and Gypsum.

      In 1913 Kaiser was working for a gravel and cement dealer in Washington when one of his clients, a Canadian road-building company, went out of business. He got a loan to take over the company's project and finished it with a profit. From 1914 to 1930, he built California dams, Mississippi River levees, and highways, including 200 miles of road and 500 bridges in Cuba, while establishing sand and gravel plants to supply his own materials. Between 1931 and 1945, he helped organize combinations of construction companies to build the Hoover, Bonneville, and Grand Coulee dams, as well as other large projects. To supply the more than 6,000,000 barrels of cement needed for the Shasta Dam, he erected a cement plant in Permanente, Calif., and a nine-mile conveyor belt across a mountain to the dam site in 1939.

      During World War II he ran seven shipyards that used assembly-line production to build ships in as little as 4 1/2 days. By the end of the war, his yards had produced 1,490 ships for the U.S. maritime commission. In 1941–42, he built the only integrated steel mill on the west coast of the United States, to make steel for his shipyards. He established Kaiser Gypsum in 1944. He bought up aluminum plants from Alcoa to supply his Kaiser-Frazer automobile business; but, because of an industry slump, Kaiser stopped making cars in 1953. By then Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation had become profitable. From 1954 to 1960, he directed construction of the Hawaiian Village resort centre, which was sold in 1961 to the Hilton chain for more than $21,000,000.

      In 1942 Kaiser established the first health maintenance organization for his shipyard employees. A model for later federal programs, the Kaiser Foundation Medical Care Program built 19 hospitals providing preventive health care for more than 1,000,000 people.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Kaiser, Henry John — (1882 1967)    Henry Kaiser began his career as a photographer in Lake Placid, New York, but moved to Spokane, Washington, in 1906 where he worked first as a salesman and then in highway construction. In 1914, he established his own construction… …   Historical Dictionary of the Roosevelt–Truman Era

  • Kaiser, Henry J(ohn) — born , May 9, 1882, Sprout Brook, N.Y., U.S. died Aug. 24, 1967, Honolulu, Hawaii U.S. industrialist and founder of more than 100 companies, including Kaiser Aluminum, Kaiser Steel, and Kaiser Cement and Gypsum. He undertook his first public… …   Universalium

  • Kaiser, Henry J(ohn) — (9 may. 1882, Sprout Brook, N.Y., EE.UU.–24 ago. 1967, Honolulu, Hawai). Industrial estadounidense y fundador de más de 100 empresas, entre las que destacan Kaiser Aluminium, Kaiser Steel y Kaiser Cement y Gypsum. Emprendió sus primeros proyectos …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Henry J. Kaiser — Henry John Kaiser, (* 9. Mai 1882 in Sprout Brook (New York); † 24. August 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii) war ein US amerikanischer Industrieller, der als Vater des modernen amerikanischen Schiffsbaus bekannt wurde. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Henry John Kaiser — Henry J. Kaiser Henry John Kaiser, (* 9. Mai 1882 in Sprout Brook (New York); † 24. August 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii) war ein US amerikanischer Industrieller, der als Vater des modernen amerikanischen Schiffbaus bekannt wurde. Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kaiser-Frazer — Kaiser Virginian DeLuxe (1949) Kaiser Manhattan (1953) Kaiser Motors war ein US amerikanischer Automobilhersteller mit Sitz in Willow Run …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kaiser (Auto) — Kaiser Virginian DeLuxe (1949) Kaiser Manhattan (1953) Kaiser Motors war ein US amerikanischer Automobilhersteller mit Sitz in Willow Run …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Henry John Kaiser — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Kaiser. Henry John Kaiser (9 mai 1882 24 août 1967) est un industriel américain connu pour avoir créé la …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Kaiser Permanente — Infobox Company company name = Kaiser Permanente company company type = Nonprofit foundation = 1945 founder = Henry J. Kaiser Sidney R. Garfield location = Oakland, California, USA key people = George C. Halvorson, Health Plan CEO John H. Cochran …   Wikipedia

  • henry — /hen ree/, n., pl. henries, henrys. Elect. the SI unit of inductance, formally defined to be the inductance of a closed circuit in which an electromotive force of one volt is produced when the electric current in the circuit varies uniformly at a …   Universalium

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