Plans for the museum date to 1964, when former president and retired U.S. Army general
Dwight Eisenhower told historian and author
Stephen Ambrose that the inventor of the
LCVP, or Higgins boat, "won the war for us". The boats were designed, tested, and ultimately built by Andrew Higgins and his
Higgins Industries in Ambrose's hometown of New Orleans.'''' Ambrose discussed the idea with historian and academic
Nick Mueller, then received $50,000 in startup funding from
Peter Kalikow, a real estate developer and then-owner of the
New York Post. Congress later appropriated $4 million for the museum.'' The museum had previously been planned to open in 1994, before being delayed several times. The museum was officially dedicated as the National D-Day Museum on June 6, 2000, the 56th anniversary of the landings. It was located in the former Weckerling Brewery building, which was built in 1888. The brewery was designed by
William Fitzner and closed two years later. In 2003, the
United States Congress passed a law designating the museum as the official national World War II Museum. However, the name was not officially changed to the National World War II Museum until 2006 due to
Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, the museum announced its first expansion, which included the additions of the Solomon Victory Theater, Stage Door Canteen, and American Sector. All three later opened in 2009, and the John E. Kushner Restoration Pavilion opened in 2011. In 2013, the museum opened the expansion known as the US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center. The Boeing Center was followed by two other expansions, the Campaigns of Courage Pavilion, which opened in 2014, and the Campaigns of Courage Pavilion, Road to Tokyo, which opened the following year. The pavilion was paid for with a $15 million donation from the
Boeing Company and with a $20 million grant from the
US Department of Defense with congressional approval. ==Design==