Presidents and Celebrities: Calvin Coolidge and Charles Lindbergh
In May of 1927, a 25 year old aviator named Charles Augustus Lindbergh achieved immediate world fame by making the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris. The flight began on May 20, 1927 and lasted for thirty-three and a half hours, covering 3,600 miles (5,800 km). Lindbergh flew alone in a single-engine Ryan monoplane named "the Spirit of St. Louis." This was not the first non-stop transatlantic flight (that had been achieved in June of 1919 by two British aviators, Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Brown) but Lindbergh was the first to make transatlantic flight flying solo. His was also the first transatlantic flight between two major city hubs, and the longest transatlantic flight up to that point, by almost 2,000 miles.
Lindbergh was the son of prominent U.S. Congressman Charles August Lindbergh, a Republican from Minnesota. The younger Lindbergh had served as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve in 1924, earning the rank of second lieutenant in 1925. He worked as a U.S. Air Mail pilot in the Greater St. Louis area, where he started to prepare for his historic 1927 flight. He was honored for his achievements, including receiving the United States' highest military decoration from President Calvin Coolidge, the Medal of Honor, as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross. He had also earned the highest French order of merit, civil or military, the Legion of Honor. His achievement fueled global interest in both commercial aviation and air mail, causing such an increase in air travel that it was called the "Lindbergh boom." He devoted much of his energy to promoting such activity and he was subsequently honored as Time's first Man of the Year in 1928.
Lindbergh's flight fascinated President Calvin Coolidge. At a press conference, Coolidge stated "the more we learn of his accomplishment, in going from New York to Paris, the greater is seems to have been. That is something that grows on us the more we contemplate it." Coolidge decided that Lindbergh needed a safer ride home, so he sent a battleship to France to pick up the aviator. He planned a ceremony to honor the aviator and invited the pilot's mother, Mrs. Evangeline Lindbergh as well. The ceremony was set for June 11, 1927 at the Washington Monument.
When the battleship that Lindbergh was travelling on arrived in Chesapeake Bay, it was met by two blimps, four destroyers and a number of airplanes. June 11th was a hot Saturday and an estimated crowd of 300,000 people gathered in and around the Washington Monument that day. Present with the Coolidges were Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, Commander Richard Byrd (another an American naval officer, aviator and explorer), Secretary of State Frank Kellogg, Alice Roosevelt Longworth (daughter of Theodore Roosevelt) and Attorney General John Sargent. President Coolidge introduced Lindbergh's mother, who remained seated until the crowd called for her to stand up and be acknowledged. She did so with some help from First Lady Grace Coolidge.
When the hero of the day arrived, he was introduced by the President, who praised Lindbergh as a man who was "modest, congenial, a man of good moral habits and regular in his business habits." Coolidge commented on how the Spirit of St. Louis had been constructed from parts and services supplied by over companies. In presenting Lindbergh with his award, Coolidge said "On behalf of his own people, who have a deep affection for him, and have been thrilled by his splendid achievements, and as President of the United States, I bestow the distinguished Flying Cross, as a symbol of appreciation for what he is and what he has done, upon Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, intelligent, industrious, energetic, dependable, purposeful, alert, quick of reaction, serious, deliberate, stable, efficient, kind, modest, congenial, a man of good moral habits and regular in his business transactions."
Lindbergh used self-deprecating humor in accepting the award. He said "When I landed at Le Bourget, a few weeks ago, I landed with the expectancy, and the hope, of being able to see Europe. It was the first time I had ever been abroad, and I wasn’t in any hurry to get back. And I was informed, that while it wasn’t an order to come back home, that there’d be a battleship waiting for me next week."
A twelve-minute video about Lindbergh's flight and with the ceremony and with Coolidge's remarks appears below:
The next day the Coolidges took Lindbergh and his mother to church with them. According to leading Coolidge biographer Amity Schlaes in her wonderful 2013 biography simply titled Coolidge, Lindbergh had planned to attend church in a white suit, but Coolidge saw this as inappropriate and made the flyer change into a darker one even though Lindbergh "did not readily see the necessity for it." The Congregational Church was being renovated at the time, so the service was held in a metropolitan theatre. A larger than expected crowd attended to gawk at the aviator.
A somewhat embarrassed Secretary Mellon learned from his staff that Lindbergh's prize was subject to taxation and that he now owed $1,233.75 in taxes. Private donors offered to foot the bill for this. William J. Eastwood Jr. of Dallas said in a cable, that "the kid" ought to "have every cent of the prize money."
Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover tried to entice Lindbergh to coming to work for his department, but Lindbergh declined, instead opting to embark on a cross-country tour to promote aviation. In 1929, President Herbert Hoover appointed Lindbergh to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and Lindbergh was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 1930.
Tragedy invaded the lives of the Lindbergh family on March 1, 1932, when Lindbergh's infant son, Charles Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in what the American media called the "Crime of the Century." The case prompted the United States Congress to establish kidnapping as a federal crime if a kidnapper crosses state lines with a victim. By late 1935, the hysteria surrounding the case had caused the Lindbergh family to move to Europe, but they returned in 1939.
Lindbergh's reputation has suffered because of his activity leading up to the second world war. In the years before the United States entered World War II, Lindbergh's non-interventionist stance and statements about Jews and race led some to suspect he was a Nazi sympathizer. Lindbergh never publicly stated support for the Nazis and later condemned them in his public speeches. However, early on in the war he the intervention of the United States as well as the provision of aid to the British. He resigned his commission in the U.S. Army Air Forces in April 1941 after President Franklin Roosevelt publicly rebuked him for his views. In September 1941, Lindbergh gave an address that gained notoriety, entitled "Speech on Neutrality", in which he outlined his views and arguments against greater American involvement in the war. He did ultimately express public support for the U.S. war effort after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent United States declaration of war upon Germany. He flew 50 missions in the Pacific Theater as a civilian consultant, but could not serve in combat because Roosevelt refused to reinstate his Air Corps colonel's commission.
In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower restored Lindbergh's commission and promoted him to brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Lindbergh spent his later years as an author, an international explorer, an inventor, and an environmentalist. He died on August 26, 1974 at the age of 72 from lymphoma.
Lindbergh was the son of prominent U.S. Congressman Charles August Lindbergh, a Republican from Minnesota. The younger Lindbergh had served as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve in 1924, earning the rank of second lieutenant in 1925. He worked as a U.S. Air Mail pilot in the Greater St. Louis area, where he started to prepare for his historic 1927 flight. He was honored for his achievements, including receiving the United States' highest military decoration from President Calvin Coolidge, the Medal of Honor, as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross. He had also earned the highest French order of merit, civil or military, the Legion of Honor. His achievement fueled global interest in both commercial aviation and air mail, causing such an increase in air travel that it was called the "Lindbergh boom." He devoted much of his energy to promoting such activity and he was subsequently honored as Time's first Man of the Year in 1928.
Lindbergh's flight fascinated President Calvin Coolidge. At a press conference, Coolidge stated "the more we learn of his accomplishment, in going from New York to Paris, the greater is seems to have been. That is something that grows on us the more we contemplate it." Coolidge decided that Lindbergh needed a safer ride home, so he sent a battleship to France to pick up the aviator. He planned a ceremony to honor the aviator and invited the pilot's mother, Mrs. Evangeline Lindbergh as well. The ceremony was set for June 11, 1927 at the Washington Monument.
When the battleship that Lindbergh was travelling on arrived in Chesapeake Bay, it was met by two blimps, four destroyers and a number of airplanes. June 11th was a hot Saturday and an estimated crowd of 300,000 people gathered in and around the Washington Monument that day. Present with the Coolidges were Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, Commander Richard Byrd (another an American naval officer, aviator and explorer), Secretary of State Frank Kellogg, Alice Roosevelt Longworth (daughter of Theodore Roosevelt) and Attorney General John Sargent. President Coolidge introduced Lindbergh's mother, who remained seated until the crowd called for her to stand up and be acknowledged. She did so with some help from First Lady Grace Coolidge.
When the hero of the day arrived, he was introduced by the President, who praised Lindbergh as a man who was "modest, congenial, a man of good moral habits and regular in his business habits." Coolidge commented on how the Spirit of St. Louis had been constructed from parts and services supplied by over companies. In presenting Lindbergh with his award, Coolidge said "On behalf of his own people, who have a deep affection for him, and have been thrilled by his splendid achievements, and as President of the United States, I bestow the distinguished Flying Cross, as a symbol of appreciation for what he is and what he has done, upon Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, intelligent, industrious, energetic, dependable, purposeful, alert, quick of reaction, serious, deliberate, stable, efficient, kind, modest, congenial, a man of good moral habits and regular in his business transactions."
Lindbergh used self-deprecating humor in accepting the award. He said "When I landed at Le Bourget, a few weeks ago, I landed with the expectancy, and the hope, of being able to see Europe. It was the first time I had ever been abroad, and I wasn’t in any hurry to get back. And I was informed, that while it wasn’t an order to come back home, that there’d be a battleship waiting for me next week."
A twelve-minute video about Lindbergh's flight and with the ceremony and with Coolidge's remarks appears below:
The next day the Coolidges took Lindbergh and his mother to church with them. According to leading Coolidge biographer Amity Schlaes in her wonderful 2013 biography simply titled Coolidge, Lindbergh had planned to attend church in a white suit, but Coolidge saw this as inappropriate and made the flyer change into a darker one even though Lindbergh "did not readily see the necessity for it." The Congregational Church was being renovated at the time, so the service was held in a metropolitan theatre. A larger than expected crowd attended to gawk at the aviator.
A somewhat embarrassed Secretary Mellon learned from his staff that Lindbergh's prize was subject to taxation and that he now owed $1,233.75 in taxes. Private donors offered to foot the bill for this. William J. Eastwood Jr. of Dallas said in a cable, that "the kid" ought to "have every cent of the prize money."
Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover tried to entice Lindbergh to coming to work for his department, but Lindbergh declined, instead opting to embark on a cross-country tour to promote aviation. In 1929, President Herbert Hoover appointed Lindbergh to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and Lindbergh was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 1930.
Tragedy invaded the lives of the Lindbergh family on March 1, 1932, when Lindbergh's infant son, Charles Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in what the American media called the "Crime of the Century." The case prompted the United States Congress to establish kidnapping as a federal crime if a kidnapper crosses state lines with a victim. By late 1935, the hysteria surrounding the case had caused the Lindbergh family to move to Europe, but they returned in 1939.
Lindbergh's reputation has suffered because of his activity leading up to the second world war. In the years before the United States entered World War II, Lindbergh's non-interventionist stance and statements about Jews and race led some to suspect he was a Nazi sympathizer. Lindbergh never publicly stated support for the Nazis and later condemned them in his public speeches. However, early on in the war he the intervention of the United States as well as the provision of aid to the British. He resigned his commission in the U.S. Army Air Forces in April 1941 after President Franklin Roosevelt publicly rebuked him for his views. In September 1941, Lindbergh gave an address that gained notoriety, entitled "Speech on Neutrality", in which he outlined his views and arguments against greater American involvement in the war. He did ultimately express public support for the U.S. war effort after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent United States declaration of war upon Germany. He flew 50 missions in the Pacific Theater as a civilian consultant, but could not serve in combat because Roosevelt refused to reinstate his Air Corps colonel's commission.
In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower restored Lindbergh's commission and promoted him to brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Lindbergh spent his later years as an author, an international explorer, an inventor, and an environmentalist. He died on August 26, 1974 at the age of 72 from lymphoma.