Kaiser, Henry John (1882–1967)

US industrialist. He developed steel and motor industries, and his shipbuilding firms became known for the mass production of vessels, including the ‘Liberty ships’ – cheap, quickly produced transport ships – built for the UK in World War II.

Kaiser was born at Sprout Brook, New York, the son of German immigrants. In 1914 he established his own construction company, and gained contracts for highway construction in the Pacific North-West, California, and in Cuba. He participated in other major construction projects such as the Hoover Dam, the piers of San Francisco Bay bridge, levees on the Mississippi, and pipelines in north-west and south-west USA and Mexico. In 1939 he founded the Permanente Cement Co., then one of the largest in the world. During World War II Kaiser-managed companies made substantial contributions to the US war effort.