Charles A. Lindbergh: The 20th Century's First Celebrity
by Heather L. Dahl April 27, 2001
Charles A. Lindbergh was the first and perhaps the last American hero of the 20th century. He was a man who had many different interests in life and for that reason was unable to stay in one place for very long. His first love was aviation and when he landed his plane, The Spirit of St. Louis in Paris, France, he became the first person to successfully fly across the Atlantic Ocean. This feat, accomplished at the young age of 25 ensured that he was indeed the hero that America was searching for. "With his boyish grin, tousled blond hair, and penetrating blue eyes, the handsome young pilot seemed to a star-struck public, the very embodiment of the American ideal: strong, courageous, intelligent, unassuming. Hollywood couldn't have chosen a better-looking person for this- or one who behaved better afterward. Even though he was offered vast sums of money to advertise products, he wouldn't do it. He only put his name to what he really believed in- and that was aviation." (1) This love for aviation, prompted him to accept an invitation to inspect German aircraft. What he saw in Germany caused him to firmly believe in taking an isolationistic stance on the war in Europe. He was a victim of the media and press and seemed to hate his celebrity status. In fact, he blamed the media for the death of his first son and for the ruination of his reputation.
He was born on February 4, 1902 the only child of Charles August Lindbergh, an attorney who was later elected to Congress and Evangeline Land Lindbergh, a high school chemistry teacher. His parents divorced before he was five years old and he rarely saw his father, but his mother doted on him. He flunked out of college as a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin- Madison and then turned to the Lincoln Flight School in Nebraska where he could pursue his first love. After he graduated, he joined the army in 1924 as an Air Service Reserve Pilot, he was named the best pilot in his class. (2)
In May 1927 he made his famous trans-Atlantic flight. The minute he landed, he was a hero to the world. In both France and America he was greeted with cheers by thousands of people. He spent the remainder of 1927 touring the world with his plane, sharing his story with fellow aviators. In December 1927, he toured Central and South America. In Mexico, he spent Christmas with United States Ambassador Dwight Morrow and his family, this is where he met 21-year-old Anne, the daughter of Dwight Morrow. Anne was quiet and aspired to be a writer. At first she made little impression on Lindbergh, but ten months later, when they were both back in the United States, Lindbergh invited her to fly with him and less than a year later they were married. (3)
The couple's first child, Charles Jr.- or Charlie was born June 22, 1930. Two years later on the night of March 1, 1932, the crime of the century was committed when it was discovered that Charlie was missing with only a ransom note left, asking for $50,000. The Lindbergh's complied with the ransom but to no avail, six weeks later the baby's body was found in nearby woods, it was assumed that he had died the night he was taken from head wounds. In 1934 police charged Bruno Hauptmann with the murder of the Lindbergh baby. He was convicted and sentenced to death. Charles Lindbergh was absolutely sure of Hauptmann's guilt, saying that the evidence was undeniable. (4) Reeve Lindbergh, the youngest of Charles' and Anne's children would later write that her parents believed the excesses of the press were responsible for the kidnapping and death of Charlie, this is why they withdrew to Europe, to protect the children born after the tragedy. (5)
It is said that Charles Lindbergh was the century's first hero and unwittingly pioneered the age of mass-media celebrity. The death of this much-loved couple's child intrigued the nation and the press was relentless. Anne and Charles were horrified to find out that, after the baby's remains were found, reporters snuck into the morgue and photographed the body. The trial, itself stirred up such a media frenzy that Lindbergh worried about the safety of his second son, Jon. Once, a tabloid photographer forced the car that the baby and his nurse were riding in off the road. (6)
However, this wasn't Lindbergh's first bad experience with the press. His first rude awakening about the media came with the New York Times account of his famous flight. He said he was "shocked and disappointed" to see that his description given to a journalist had been transformed into a first-person article that was "neither accurate nor in accord with my character and viewpoint." What was so typical of the media was that they never published anything about the other aspects of Lindbergh's life. Headlines such as his scientific and engineering pursuits never existed; he invented an organ-perfusion pump and worked on early versions of an artificial heart. (7) Still the only headlines Lindbergh made were controversial and resulted in his lost reputation.
The Lindbergh's settled in Europe after the death of their son because they felt safer there. Charles would soon be recruited by the United States Army to inspect the German Luftwaffe. He visited Germany six times between 1936 and 1938, a fascination that plagued him for the rest of his life. (8 ) Lindbergh was horrified at what he saw as the breakdown of morals and law enforcement at home: the Nazi regime in the mid- 1930's seemed superior in both. (9)
The man that recruited Lindbergh to inspect the Luftwaffe was Major Truman Smith. He was a Yale graduate and a career officer with a long time interest in German history. Smith was appointed to be military attaché to the American Embassy in Berlin. His chief responsibility was to "report to Washington about the growth of the German army, including the development of new weapons and new battle tactics." (10) He was soon alarmed when he realized that Germany had built up an air force, the Luftwaffe, it was extremely powerful, and America knew little about it. Smith thought to invite Lindbergh to inspect the Luftwaffe because he was technically knowledgeable; he also had the prestige that would tempt the Germans to invite him. The Germans were also getting ready for the Berlin Olympic Games and wanted as many foreign celebrities as possible. Smith wrote a letter to Lindbergh, later stating that he had too optimistically promised that the mission would be kept secret. In the end it proved to be the most publicized intelligence operation Smith was to be connected with. (11) Lindbergh was intrigued by the invitation and accepted it. He and Anne traveled to Germany with Smith and his wife July 22- August 1, 1936, and they arrived the day that the Olympic games began.
On July 28 Hermann Goering hosted a formal luncheon for Lindbergh at his official residence on the Wilhelmstrasse. Many famous airmen and leaders of the Luftwaffe attended. This luncheon gave Lindbergh and Smith the opportunity to meet and appraise Goering, the number two Nazi, the man Hitler called, "my paladin". Goering was the head of the Luftwaffe; he was extremely vain and loved celebrity. He was an airman and shared the camaraderie of pilots. General Milch, his second in command was pro-American, as were many other Luftwaffe people. They had little problem allowing Lindbergh to inspect the Luftwaffe. Goering, according to Truman Smith was a man of wide interests. He was "magnetic, genial, vain, intelligent, frightening and grotesque." Lindbergh's reaction to Goering was the same as Smith's. Goering was attracted to Lindbergh because of his prestige, fame, and his aviation skills. Goering was also intrigued by his Swedish descent, it seems, that Goering was almost desperately devoted to the memory of his late Swedish wife and had a love of all things Swedish. The Nazi's treated the Swedish ambassador better than any other foreign ambassador and Smith actually speculated that Sweden was never invaded by Germany because of Goering's fanatic sentimentality. (12)
During his first trip to Germany, Lindbergh witnessed many different aspects of the Luftwaffe and developed strong opinions towards it. First he visited the Tempelhof civil airport; there he piloted a Junkers (JU) 52, the Luftwaffe's standard bombardment plane. He also spent a day with Richthofen Geschwader (Wing), the elite fighter group of the Luftwaffe. Lindbergh visited two Heinkel factories and saw their latest dive-bomber, medium bomber, fighter, and observation planes. He found all of them to be of superior design. He spent another full day at the German Air Research Institute of Adlershof, where the scientists spoke freely of their work. Lindbergh concluded in a letter to Henry Beckinridge, that Germany was "now able to produce military aircraft faster than any European country. Possibly even faster than we could in the United States for the first few weeks after we started competitions. Certainly we have nothing to compare in size to either the Heinkel or Junker factories. A spirit in Germany also exists, which I have not seen in any other country. There is certainly great ability and I am inclined to think more intelligent leadership than is generally recognized. A person would have to be blind not to realize that they already built up tremendous strength.". (13)
Lindbergh's 1937 trip to Germany was perhaps his most controversial. It was in 1937 that Hugh R. Wilson, who was more willing to deal with the Nazi's replaced Ambassador Dodd, who was decidedly anti-Nazi in all matters. Influenced by Smith and Lindbergh's evaluation of Goering as a man who might be dealt with, Wilson set up a small stag dinner at the American Embassy in which he invited Goering and several key Nazi's. The purpose of the dinner was to persuade Goering to allow Jews, who were forced to leave Germany, to take some of their assets with them. The dinner was held on October 18, 1938 and would ultimately lead to Lindbergh's demise as an American hero. At the dinner Goering greeted his host and then shook hands with Lindbergh. He then began to make a speech in German that Lindbergh could not understand. Realizing this, Smith and Wilson translated for him. He was told that Goering was about to decorate him with the Verdienstkreuz der Deutscher Adler (Service Cross of the German Eagle), a high civilian medal. It was presented to him for his services in aviation and especially the 1927 trans-Atlantic flight. Given the circumstances, Lindbergh could not refuse the medal; it would be an affront to not only Goering, but also Ambassador Wilson. When Smith and Lindbergh took the medal home that night, both their wives instantly and almost instinctively reacted against it. When Anne opened the box to see the medal, she looked away and said without emotion, "The Albatross." Lindbergh never wore the medal but sent it to the Lindbergh collection of the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis. (14)
At first, there was not much criticism of Lindbergh for accepting the medal. A few weeks later however, the German government organized anti-Semitic riots and many United States newspapers made strong attacks on Lindbergh for accepting and for retaining the medal. It also made Lindbergh a Nazi sympathizer in the eyes of many Americans. The medal was a most redolent albatross as Anne had predicted. It proved to cast doubt on his motives, his honesty, his integrity, and even his loyalty to his country. The damage that the medal did to Lindbergh's reputation was incalculable. (15)
When Lindbergh left Germany for the last time until after the war, he left with many opinions. He distrusted the Nazi government and found its anti-Semitic policies abhorrent, he didn't want to return to Germany after the 1938 riots. He also knew that he admired most of Germany's aviators, scientists, and industrialists whom he had met. His views on Goering however, were mixed. He believed that a war in Europe would be a catastrophe for Western Civilization, and thought that such a war would result either in a German victory or that Russia would become the dominant power in Europe. He hoped that if Hitler did launch a war it would be against the Soviet Union. He felt that the United States, France and Great Britain should remain neutral and build up their strength so that they could dictate the terms of peace to an exhausted Germany and Russia. (16)
When the Lindbergh's returned to America, Charles joined a prominent isolationist group called the America First Committee. He spoke on the radio and testified before Congress in opposition to American intervention. He said, "I believe that a second world wide conflict within a quarter-century would result in the decline, if not in the destruction, of our Western Civilization." (17)
In 1941, President Roosevelt publicly denounced Lindbergh's isolationist stance. Furious by this, Lindbergh retaliated by resigning his Army commission, by this time he was a Colonel. Roosevelt did not trust Lindbergh he either didn't know of Lindbergh's reports to the United States Army on the German Luftwaffe, or did not care. Roosevelt did not appreciate Lindbergh's public campaign against intervention. Roosevelt had the FBI wiretap Lindbergh's telephone to determine whether he was involved in "subversive activities". (18) In starting this probe, FBI officials had no evidence that the world-renowned aviator had broken any laws; indeed, Lindbergh's only "crime" was his vehement opposition to the increasing interventionist and pro-Allied foreign policy of the Roosevelt administration. The FBI's investigation into the activities of Lindbergh illustrates the extent of the FBI's secret and illegal political spying at the dawn of World War II. Roosevelt told Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr., "I am absolutely convinced that Lindbergh is a Nazi." However, because of his widespread admiration Lindbergh, emerged as a prominent opponent of Roosevelt's pro-Allied foreign policy and thus a threat to national security according to Roosevelt and Hoover. An FBI memorandum confirms that Lindbergh became suspect because of his "numerous remarks which bear upon his foreign or nationalistic sympathies." (19) To Roosevelt's and the FBI's dismay they were never able to prove anything about Lindbergh and they concluded that he was not involved in "subversive activities".
Robert Sherwood called Lindbergh an "extremely eloquent crusader for the cause of isolationism... Undoubtedly Roosevelt's most formidable competitor on the radio." Paul Palmer, a Reader's Digest editor who wrote an article on America's apparent shift in attitude toward its living legend, found it most striking that "the amazing fact was that over 94% of the thousands of letters and telegrams (that Lindbergh would receive after a speech) expressed ardent approval of the Colonel's anti-war position." (20)
In 1941 Lindbergh gave a speech that ruined what was left of his reputation. He claimed that American Jews were dangerous because of "their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio, and our Government." (21) The speech caused an outcry from his fellow isolationists but he never apologized because he didn't feel he had done anything to warrant an apology.
Reeve Lindbergh said that she learned in college that people considered her father to be anti-Semitic. She say's she was shocked to learn this. "He never spoke with hatred or resentment against any groups or individuals, and in social discourse he was unfailingly courteous, compassionate and fair." (22) Professor Wayne S. Cole, author of "America-First, the Battle Against Intervention, 1940-1941", says, "It would be difficult to exaggerate the magnitude of the explosion which was set off by this speech... Undoubtedly much of this uproar was due to genuine disapproval of Lindbergh's key statement regarding the Jews. Many may have denounced the speech publicly to protect themselves from any possible charge of anti-Semitism. But there can be no doubt that interventionists exploited the incident." (23)
After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and America declared war on Japan and Germany, Lindbergh dropped all of his isolationist opinions. He released a statement saying, "Now [war] has come and we must meet it as united Americans." (24) Charles immediately volunteered his services but Roosevelt refused to restore his commission. He traveled instead to the South Pacific as a technical consultant to a company that manufactured bombers. He also trained marine pilots in long-range combat missions and "unofficially" flew in 50 missions. (25)
After the war ended, on assignment from the Navy he traveled to Europe and Germany again, this time to examine enemy aircraft. Charles was devastated by the damage that had been caused by aerial bombs. He realized for the first time in his life, how destructive his beloved airplanes could be. (26)
He spent the rest of his life involved in the conservation movement, working with World Wildlife and traveling the world. In 1973 he was diagnosed with lymphoma. He planned his own funeral; the hymns that he wanted sung were picked while he was in the ICU as Anne sung them. He died in 1974 and was buried on the island of Maui where he and Anne owned a home.
He left behind five surviving children, Jon, Land, Anne, Scott and Reeve. Lindbergh's passed legacy included the respect as a notable writer, his book The Spirit of St. Louis, describing the flight to Paris, was published in 1953 and gained him a Pulitzer Prize. He was also the author of We (1927), and Of Flight and Life (1948). (27) His wife Anne passed away in 2001 and was also the writer of several successful books. Reeve remembers her father as being a man of uncompromising integrity, boundless curiosity, and wry humor. When he went skiing, his children would tease him because he looked so awkward on the slopes. "We'd say, 'You have to just relax, Father, and fall,'" she recalls. "In my profession, you only fall once!" Lindbergh would retort. (28)
Sources:
Berg, A. Scott. Lindbergh. G.P. Putnam's Sons. New York. 1998.
Charles, Douglas M.; Rossi, John P. "FBI Political Surveillance and the Charles Lindbergh Investigation, 1939-1944." Historian. Summer 97, Vol. 59. Issue 4. Pg. 831-848
Charles Lindbergh Biography Copyright 2001, by PageWise, Inc.
Kreiter, Ted. "The Unknown Charles Lindbergh." Saturday Evening Post. Sept/Oct 2000. Vol. 272, Issue 5. pg. 64-65.
Lindbergh, Reeve. "Charles Lindbergh". Time. June 14, 1999. Vol. 153, Issue 23. pg. 75-78.
Muha, Laura. "Charles A. Lindbergh" Biography. December 1998. Vol. 2, Issue 12. pg. 96-105.
Ranfranz, Patrick. Charles Lindbergh.com last visited 4/28/01
Ross, Walter. The Last Hero: Charles A. Lindbergh. Harper & Row, Publishers. New York. 1968.
Wilson-Smith, Anthony. "A Hero's Highs-and Lows." Maclean's. November 9, 1998. Vol. 111, Issue 45. pg. 86.
End Notes:
1. Muha, pg. 1
2. http://www.allsands.com/History/People/lindberghairpla_ek_gn.htm
3. Muha, pg. 9
4. Muha, pg. 10
5. Lindbergh, R. pg. 3
6. Muha, pg. 10
7. Kreiter, pg. 3
8. Berg, information taken from photograph caption
9. Wilson-Smith, pg. 3
10. Berg, pg. 355
11. Ross, pg. 263-264
12. Ross, pg. 268-270
13. Berg, pg. 357
14. Ross, pg. 279-280
15. Ross, pg. 281
16. Ross, pg. 282
17. Muha, pg. 11
18. Muha, pg. 11
19. Charles, pg. 2
20. Berg, pg. 410
21. Muha, pg. 11
22. Lindbergh, pg. 3-4
23. Ross, pg. 281
24. Lindbergh, pg. 4
25. Muha, pg. 11
26. Muha, pg. 12
27. http://www.charleslindbergh.com/history/
28. Muha, pg. 4
revised 4/29/01 by Heather Dahl for the WWII Timeline