Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was born in Humble, Texas, to Howard Robard Hughes Sr., an inventor and businessman who patented a revolutionary oil drill bit, and Allene Gano Hughes. His early life was marked by privilege, though also by isolation due to his mother's overprotectiveness. He demonstrated an early aptitude for engineering and mechanics, even building his own radio transmitter at age 12, foreshadowing his future as an innovator.

Hughes experienced immense personal loss with the death of his mother in 1922 and his father in 1924. This left the 19-year-old Hughes an orphan but also the sole heir to his father's lucrative Hughes Tool Company. Demonstrating his business acumen and independent spirit, he successfully petitioned the court to declare him an adult, allowing him to take control of the company and his inheritance.