The National WWII Museum opened its doors on June 6, 2000, as The National D-Day Museum, as a modest single exhibition hall telling the story of the largest amphibious invasion in history. Today, 25 years later, the Museum consists of seven pavilions that span a seven-acre campus. Visitors often ask, “Why is the Museum in New Orleans?” The answer to this simple question requires an understanding of the city’s involvement in World War II, politics, and American memory.

In 1964, a young historian named Stephen Ambrose met with former President Dwight Eisenhower to discuss editing the former Supreme Allied Commander’s papers. During their conversation, Eisenhower asked Ambrose about his time as a professor at the University of New Orleans (UNO) and if he had the opportunity to meet Andrew Higgins, whom Eisenhower called “the man who won the war for us.” Higgins’s company, New Orleans-based Higgins Industries, produced over 20,000 assault landing craft over the course of World War II that were instrumental in the success of Allied amphibious operations, most notably D-Day. Higgins employed 30,000 New Orleanians, including women and African Americans, who worked on integrated assembly lines and received equal pay. This was consistent with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order that prohibited discrimination in defense industries.

The US Navy lands a Higgins Industries LCVP at the foot of Lake Pontchartrain on July 23, 1944, to commemorate the production of the 10,000th Higgins boat. From the Collection of The National WWII Museum. 

By the late 1980s, Ambrose had become a nationally recognized historian and presidential biographer. For several years, while researching his upcoming D-Day book, he collected hundreds of oral histories and artifacts from veterans of the invasion. He received so many artifacts that his UNO office and backyard gazebo, cleverly nicknamed Eisenhowerplatz, became packed to the brim. With his friend and colleague Nick Mueller, Ambrose devised a plan for a small D-Day Museum at UNO’s lakefront campus—the very same place Higgins Industries and the US Navy tested landing craft and trained sailors to operate them during the war. They imagined the small museum would house the oral histories and artifacts and act as a research center.

In the 1990s, as major anniversaries of World War II approached, public interest in the war soared, but not enough to pique interest in a federally backed museum in Washington, D.C. On several occasions, Ambrose pleaded with his acquaintances in Congress to honor WWII veterans, their stories, and their deeds before it was too late. Many thought Ambrose’s suggestion was a good idea but would never get done; support for museums like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum were caught in political limbo for years.

Undaunted, Ambrose and Mueller moved ahead with plans for their D-Day museum in New Orleans—initially only backed by moderate enthusiasm and meager funding. Challenges and doubt swirled throughout the 1990s, especially over the proposed museum’s location; some advisers argued that the lakefront would draw too few visitors. Ambrose and Mueller initially planned to open the Museum by 1994, then delayed to 1998 after relocating to the Warehouse District, and finally postponed to 2000. Despite the challenges, Museum planning continued with unwavering support from the University of New Orleans; they allocated a great deal of time, financial resources, fundraising events, and staff support through its formative years. UNO’s Eisenhower Center for American Studies hosted several WWII conferences and reenactments to help fund the Museum’s construction. Without the university’s help, there would be no National WWII Museum in New Orleans today.

In 1992, UNO’s Eisenhower Center held a D-Day reenactment on Lake Pontchartrain that included landing a replica Higgins Industries LCVP ashore. This landing craft is now permanently displayed in The National WWII Museum’s Louisiana Memorial Pavilion. Courtesy of Jason Van.

The D-Day Museum proposal began to gain nationwide traction after it was publicly touted by three renowned celebrities: journalist Tom Brokaw, director Steven Spielberg, and actor Tom Hanks. Louisiana Governor Mike Foster and several state lawmakers believed that the Museum would provide extraordinary cultural contributions to the city and state. Their crucial endorsement came in the form of a $3.5 million state appropriation. The funds would allow for the construction of a grand entrance hall, named Louisiana Memorial Pavilion, that pays homage to the state and the thousands of Louisiana veterans who served in the war. The new wave of public support helped the Museum overcome uncertainty and open to the public on the 56th anniversary of D-Day to a crowd of thousands.

In the days prior to the Grand Opening, WWII pilot and Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens visited and was immediately enamored. While meeting with Mueller and Ambrose, Stevens remarked that, while this was the “best museum on a critical battle of WWII, you have left out my war in the Pacific and not covered Danny Inouye’s war in the Mediterranean.” Both Stevens and Senator Inouye, a WWII Medal of Honor Recipient, had served as chair of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, which oversaw funding for national museums. Stevens promised that if they could acquire land for expansion, he and Inouye would ensure that Congress would assist with support for a museum to cover the entirety of World War II.

Professor Stephen Ambrose (center right), giving a tour to US Senator Ted Stevens (center left) and future Chairman of the Board Boysie Bollinger (far left) in the days before the Grand Opening in 2000. Courtesy of The National WWII Museum Institutional Archives.

The D-Day Museum opened its second exhibition hall, D-Day Invasions in the Pacific, on December 6, 2001. Just a month later, the Board of Directors began developing a Master Plan that included several exhibit pavilions, a research institute, and public education initiatives. Ambrose passed away in October 2002, but the board and staff persevered by proceeding with their plan. On September 30, 2003, Congress passed Public Law 108-87, designating the Museum as “America’s National World War II Museum” and clearing the way for a major expansion. The official adoption of the name change was delayed until 2006 due to the regionwide devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The National WWII Museum Master Plan was fulfilled in November 2023 with the opening of Liberation Pavilion. Courtesy of The National WWII Museum Institutional Archives.

The newly minted National WWII Museum cemented itself as an internationally acclaimed institution with the realization of its Master Plan, a $400 million, 15-year venture. The expansion plan kicked off in 2009 with the opening of the Solomon Victory Theater and Beyond All Boundaries experience and concluded in 2023 with the opening of the capstone Liberation Pavilion. The once small exhibit hall blossomed into a seven-pavilion campus that surpasses 400,000 square feet of exhibits, theaters, archives, research facilities, and conference spaces. Though the core campus is complete, the Museum’s mission is not. As of 2025, the Museum has welcomed over 10 million visitors and had an economic impact of over $2.7 billion for the City of New Orleans but looks to build upon its success in the years to come. With a new strategic plan in place, The National WWII Museum strives to vastly enhance the visitor experience and expand educational outreach and community engagement to become the most accessible source for trusted knowledge on the American experience in World War II.