Henry Kaiser surrounded by admiring workers. The affection cut both ways. Never aloof or distant, Kaiser expressed an open warmth and honest respect for working people everywhere.

" I always have to dream up there against the stars. If I don't dream I'll make it, I won't even get close."
--Henry J. Kaiser

Henry J. Kaiser launched more ships than any other builder during World War II, headed the first company to manufacture steel on the West Coast, completed massive construction projects like the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, and developed a health care organization, headquartered in Oakland, that became a model for HMOs nationwide. Described by one historian as "America's boldest, most spectacular entrepreneur," Kaiser is one of the individuals who have most influenced the history of California and the West Coast.

A long-overdue exhibition on the life of Henry J. Kaiser and his impact on the modern economic and cultural landscape, Henry J. Kaiser: Think Big, opens Jan. 24, 2004 at the Oakland Museum of California, to run through August 29.

The exhibition includes a re-creation of a maternity hospital room featuring innovations Kaiser incorporated in the Walnut Creek Medical Center when it was built in 1953. Other highlights include two Kaiser automobiles, a 1953 Henry J Corsair Sedan and a 1954 Kaiser Darrin sports car--one of only 435 manufactured and the first automobile to have a fiberglass body. The Kaiser Darrin was donated to the exhibition by Dr. Ed Schoen of Piedmont, who acquired it as a "company" car when he began working as a physician with The Permanente Medical Group.

Artifacts in the exhibition range from ship and aircraft models and equipment used in Kaiser industries to a Kaiser-Fleetwings dishwasher, and include photographs spanning Henry J. Kaiser's life (1882-1967); large photo murals highlighting Kaiser projects; print advertisements for Kaiser industries; magazine and newspaper articles; and three videos, one about the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, one of a variety of television commercials advertising Kaiser consumer products, and one about the history of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program.

The three major sections of the exhibition take their titles from Kaiser's own home-grown slogans. Many of these, like "Find a Need and Fill It," were designed to inspire hard work and foster a sense of common goals among Kaiser employees.

The first section, "Together We Build," traces Kaiser's early large construction projects and their impact on the West, beginning with road-building ventures in British Columbia and establishment of Kaiser headquarters in Oakland, California, in the early 1920s. The section details his collaboration with other builders, including San Francisco's Bechtel family, to take on massive dam and bridge enterprises of the 1930s, as well as Kaiser's emerging influence as a power broker in Washington, D.C.

The World War II shipyard epoch is evoked with examples of contemporary literature (cartoons, comic books, magazines--even movie posters), which celebrate "Hurry Up Henry" as a "can-do" industrialist and a popular American folk hero. Among extensive shipyard artifacts are a World War II Liberty Ship model, workers' helmets and welding gear. The section also addresses the tumultuous changes wrought by massive immigration, and the problems this created: inadequate housing and social disruption in once-small cities like Richmond, California.

"Dare to Dream" outlines Kaiser's quest to develop new and innovative products, and includes a rare Kaiser dishwasher as well as Kaiser automobiles and aircraft models. Kaiser's creation of TV and radio broadcasting networks and his life as a developer of Hawaii Kai resort hotel complex and master-planned community housing in Hawaii in the late '50s and early '60s are also surveyed.

" An Idea for the Entire Country" explores the evolution of his most enduring legacy, the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, from its origins as a 12-bed desert field hospital serving Los Angeles Aqueduct workers in the early '30s to its position today as America's largest not-for-profit health care organization, one serving more than eight million subscribers.

The section details the program's growth under Dr. Sidney Garfield in caring for dam and shipyard workers and their families; its early media champions, including medical author Paul deKruif; controversies with the American Medical Association; and conflict between the system's doctors and management, a conflict resolved in the 1955 Tahoe Agreement defining the responsibilities of each.

Running through the entire exhibition are three unifying themes: the influence of Kaiser's companies on immigration and Bay Area diversity, Kaiser's business ethics and tireless capacity for work, and his humanitarian character and legacy. The exhibition examines Kaiser's larger-than-life image as well as the praise and controversy he inspired.

When California State Librarian and historian Kevin Starr was recently asked by a Los Angeles Times reporter who was the most surprising character in California history, he responded, "I'd have to say Henry J. Kaiser, who had an eccentric Wizard of Oz personality. He was able to reconcile the world of business with the world of social responsibility: workers' rights, pensions and housing. He was a titanic figure. I think we'll come to value him more and more in the future."

Curator of the exhibition is Michael Dobrin, who is a former museum public information officer and co-curator of the 1998 Oakland Museum exhibition Hot Rods and Customs: The Men and Machines of California's Car Culture. He was a Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation public relations staff member in the 1960s. Exhibition project manager is Beth McLaughlin, assistant director of the Professional Services Department of the Oakland Museum of California.

The exhibition is made possible by the generous support of Kaiser Permanente; Cornell C. Maier; Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bedford; Jane G. Logan; S. H. Cowell Foundation; Edgar Kaiser, Jr.; The Henry J. Kaiser Foundation; Oakland Museum Women's Board; William G. Gilmore Foundation; Elizabeth and Stephen Bechtel, Jr. Foundation; Robert and Alice Bridges Foundation; Kaiser Ventures; and more than 100 other individuals, foundations and companies.

For press information see www.museumca.org/press/

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