Thus, public reaction was extensive and ecstatic following his accomplishment, leading to Calvin Coolidge awarding Lindbergh with the Distinguished Flying Cross as well as various other parades and celebrations. Shortly after reaching France, an estimated crowd of 100,000 people gathered and congratulated him on the feat. Lindbergh was also nicknamed “Lucky Lindy” and “Lone Eagle” as a result of his feat. Upon returning to the states, Lindbergh toured 49 states and attended a parade in NYC where he commented “People told me the New York reception would be the biggest of all … All I can say is that the welcome was wonderful, wonderful.”
This fame, however, had both positive and negative effects on Lindbergh’s life. After the flight, Lindbergh continued a life of involvement in various boards and leadership positions. Examples were the Transcontinental Air Transit and Pan American World Airways boards, which he personally created several routes for. This increased popularity led to increased extortion efforts, the most prominent and famous being the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping.
The kidnapping itself occurred March 1, 1932, and had an initial bounty of $50,000. This value was later increased to $70,000, which the Lindberghs eventually paid. However, the baby was never delivered and accidentally found dead in a forest. Bruno Hauptmann, a German carpenter, was tried and found guilty of the murder, later being sentenced to death. However, Bruno never admitted to the death and maintained innocence to his execution. Due to the public importance of Lindbergh, the case gained public renown and was known as the “Crime of the Century.” Even after the issue, public importance overwhelmed Lindbergh and he retired to Europe shortly after.
Even later on in his life, however, Lindburgh adopted isolationist views and suggested the US not go to war with Nazi Germany. For this claim and his outspoken position, many deemed him a Nazi sympathizer, casting shame on entire public career. Lindburgh’s career and life as a public figure was jump started by his initial climb as a national hero for flying across the Atlantic, later becoming a victim of the largest public court case, and finally becoming a historical villain in many citizens’ eyes.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Lindbergh
https://www.space.com/16677-charles-lindbergh.html
https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/may-21-1927-charles-lindbergh-flies-solo-across-the-atlantic/
I thought that it was really interesting how even though he achieved much fame from his flight, it always lead to some negative consequences in his life. During the kidnapping case there were 13 ransom notes and one of them even threatened to increase the demand to $100,000 dollars. This case shows how publicized Lindbergh's life became as the case became known as the "Crime of the Century" and the investigation was very well known.
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https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/lindbergh-kidnapping
It's crazy to think how much Lindbergh's public image changed throughout his career, going from a national hero to a villain. It shows the extent that people can be criticized just because they are in the public eye. Lindbergh actually moved to Europe in order to escape the attention, and surprisingly contributed to the creation of an early prototype of an artificial heart.
ReplyDeletehttps://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_688713
He definitely deserved all the fame that he got from his voyage, flying Atlantic without any help or radar for over 3,500 miles in 34 hours. Considering those numbers, the nicknames that he got were definitely accurate. He did however after the attacks of Pearl Harbor join the war effort as a technical adviser to the Army and Navy flying 50 combat missions.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.space.com/16677-charles-lindbergh.html
Even for the time, the plane was very technologically advanced with some interesting features. For one, the engine of the plane was self lubricating in an era where greasing the engine was commonly done manually by ground crew or the pilot. Perhaps the most important feature is the 425 gallon or 1610 liter capacity of the fuel tank which was necessary for the long flight. Although this fuel capacity was not huge, the aircraft was designed to be efficient as possible. For context, a Boeing 747 uses about 1 gallon of fuel every second and can hold 47,890 gallons. The average car is rated to hold around 12-16 gallons. In addition, the engine was rated for an operating time of 9000 hours.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_St._Louis
Wow, this blog post was really interesting, as I had no idea about the rest of Lindbergh's life. It really goes to show how although some historical figure's lives are largely defined by one monumental event, of course there are other aspects of them that are not explored. I was particularly interested by the fact that people thought Lindbergh was a Nazi sympathizer. Upon further research, I found out that Lindbergh actually took multiple trips to Germany at the invitation of the German government because they wanted to showoff the German air-force. Although it is disputed whether Lindbergh was actually a Nazi-sympathizer, he was certainly pro-
ReplyDeleteGerman and in favor of Isolationism.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-22684773/charles-lindbergh-the-nazis-and-american-isolationism