In the 1940s Henry J. Kaiser was a household name, as familiar then as Lee Iacocca and Donald Trump are now. Like a Horatio Alger hero, Kaiser rose from lower-middle-class origins to become an enormously wealthy entrepreneur, building roads, bridges, dams, and housing. He established giant businesses in cement, aluminum, chemicals, steel, health care, and tourism. During World War II, his companies built cargo planes and Liberty ships. After the war, he manufactured the Kaiser-Frazer automobiles. Along the way, he also became a major force in the development of the western United States, including Hawaii. Henry J. Kaiser: Builder in the Modern American West is the first biography of this remarkable man. Drawing on a wealth of archival material never before utilized, Mark Foster paints an evenhanded portrait of a man of driving ambition and integrity, perhaps the ultimate "can-do" capitalist. He covers Kaiser's entire life (1882-1967), emphasizing many business ventures. He demonstrates that Kaiser was the prototypical "frontier" entrepreneur who often used government and union support to tame the "wilderness."

BUSINESSPEOPLE--UNITED STATES--BIOGRAPHY, Biographie, Biographies, Businesspeople, Businesspeople Biography United States, Businesspeople United States Biography, Gens d'affaires États-Unis Biographies, Kaiser, Henry J, Kaiser, Henry J. 1882-1967, Kaiser, Henry J., 1882-1967, United States

Foreword by William H. GoetzmannAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Roots2. Launching a Career3. Taming the Wilderness—Roads4. Taming the Wilderness—Dams5. Patriot in Pinstripes—Shipbuilding6. Man of Steel7. Creating an Image8. Planning for a Postwar World9. Debacle in Detroit10. Venturing Abroad11. Cargo Planes and Government Investigations12. Light Metals—Heavy Profits13. Kaiser and the Doctors14. Boss15. Global Development and a Pacific Paradise16. The Sunset YearsConclusionNotesBibliographic NoteIndex