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Charles Augustus Lindbergh
(4th of February 1902 – August the 26th 1974), nicknamed
Slim, Lucky Lindy, and The Lone Eagle, was an American aviator,
author, inventor, military officer, explorer, and social activist.
In 1927, at the age of 25, Lindbergh emerged from the virtual
obscurity of a U.S. Air Mail pilot to instantaneous world fame
as the result of his Orteig Prize-winning solo nonstop flight
from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, to Le Bourget
Field in Paris, France. He flew the distance of nearly 3,600
statute miles (5,800 km) in a single-seat, single-engine, purpose-built
Ryan monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis. Lindbergh was the 19th person
to make a Transatlantic flight, the first being the Transatlantic
flight of Alcock and Brown from Newfoundland in 1919, but Lindbergh's
flight was almost twice the distance. The record-setting flight
took 33 1/2 hours. Lindbergh, a U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve officer,
was also awarded the nation's highest military decoration, the
Medal of Honor, for his historic exploit. In the late 1920s and
early 1930s, Lindbergh used his fame to promote the development
of both commercial aviation and Air Mail services in the United
States and the Americas. In March 1932, his infant son, Charles,
Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in what was soon dubbed the "Crime
of the Century". It was described by journalist H. L. Mencken
as "the biggest story since the resurrection" and prompted
Congress to make kidnapping a federal crime and give the Federal
Bureau of Investigation jurisdiction over such cases. The kidnapping
eventually led to the Lindbergh family being "driven into
voluntary exile" in Europe, to which they sailed in secrecy
from New York under assumed names in late December 1935 to "seek
a safe, secluded residence away from the tremendous public hysteria"
in America. The Lindberghs returned to the United States in April
1939. Before the United States formally entered World War II,
some accused Lindbergh of being a fascist sympathizer. He supported
the isolationist America First movement, which advocated that
America remain neutral during the war, as had his father, Congressman
Charles August Lindbergh, during World War I. This conflicted
with the Franklin Roosevelt administration's official policy,
which sought to protect Britain from a German takeover. Lindbergh
subsequently resigned his commission as a colonel in the United
States Army Air Forces in April 1941 after being publicly rebuked
by President Roosevelt for his isolationist views. Nevertheless,
Lindbergh publicly supported the war effort after the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor and flew 50 combat missions in the Pacific
Theater of World War II as a civilian consultant, though President
Roosevelt had refused to reinstate his Army Air Corps colonel's
commission. In his later years, Lindbergh became a prolific prize-winning
author, international explorer, inventor, and environmentalist. |
