The National WWII Museum has long highlighted the wartime contributions of Andrew Higgins and his company, Higgins Industries, in building thousands of landing craft that were vital to amphibious invasions. Now the institution is exploring a little-known role the New Orleans company played in the Manhattan Project as America raced to develop an nuclear weapon.

Two years after the renowned historian began planning a war museum and eight years before The National D-Day Museum opened, Ambrose delivered a lecture, “New Orleans in the Second World War.”