LINDBERGH, Charles Augustus, General [1902-1974] -- American aviator, writer, inventor (surgical pump)

"Airmail pilot, St Louis to Chicago (1926). Made first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, from Roosevelt Field, NY, to Le Bourget Air Field, Paris (May 20-21, 1927) in his monoplane Spirit of St Louis. Became technical advisor to airlines; advocated U.S. neutrality in World War II, resigning (1941) his commission in the air corps reserve as a result; Consultant to Ford Motor Company and United Aircraft Corp. during WW II; after the war, consultant to Pan American Airways and U.S. Dept. of Defense; Brigadier General in U.S. air force reserve (1954).

"Devised for French surgeon Alexis Carrel a sterilizable glass pump for circulating culture fluid through an excised organ; was later active in conservation work.

"Author of: We (1927), Of Flight and Life (1948), The Spirit of St Louis (autobiography, 1953, Pulitzer prize)." [MWBD]

America's greatest hero after his epic 1927 solo flight, his views in the years before the US entry into W.W. II got him in deep trouble with the American people. He espoused an isolationist neutrality, and an admiration for the German people, the Nazis and even Hitler. Worse, his rhetoric was increasingly anti-Semitic and racist.

President Roosevelt, who was working to stir up American support for the Allies' cause, saw Lindbergh as his greatest obstacle, and used the "T" word. Lindbergh resigned his commission. America's greatest hero was now a reviled traitor.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Lindbergh did an about-face and fervently supported the war effort. But he never saw the Nazi machine for what it was, never accepted the enormity of the Holocaust. His support of the war effort and later conservation work finally earned him the forgiveness of the American people -- and the US military. In 1954 he received a new commission as a Brigadier General in the Air Force Reserve.

Charles' wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, ¤ was also an aviator and writer of note, as was their daughter, Anne Spencer Lindbergh. ¤ His wife survived him by more than 25 years.

Ïn 1932, the Lindberghs' 20-month-old son ¤ was kidnapped and found dead.  
 

1926

1927/05/21

1927/06/11