Lucky Lindy and Lady Lindy E-Book

• Herausgeber: Charles River Editors
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 106

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Everyone has read about history’s most important people and events in dense textbooks and classrooms, but words can only say so much. In Charles River Editors’ Interactive Biography series, history comes to life in video and audio, allowing people to not only read history but truly experience it, through the eyes and ears of the people who were there.

In many ways, Charles Lindbergh represented the best and worst of America during the first half of the 20th century. Lindbergh became famous for being an aviation pioneer whose solo flight across the Atlantic captured the imagination of an entire world, yet he was an isolationist who wanted to keep American freedoms safe for Americans and no one else. Lindbergh was the quintessential family man, yet he fathered illegitimate children and suffered an unspeakable tragedy that became known as “The Crime of the Century.” Lindbergh embodied some of his era’s greatest virtues and harbored some of its worst prejudices.

Lindbergh was a 25 year old U.S. Air Mail pilot who was probably best known for two crashes before shooting to fame with his non-stop flight across the Atlantic from New York City to Paris on May 20-21, 1927. Lindbergh was Time Magazine’s first Man of the Year in 1927, and he used his newfound fame to promote the development of commercial flight and become a spokesman and symbol for advances in aviation.

Tragically, Lindbergh was the subject of front page headlines in 1932 when his infant son, Charles, Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in the "Crime of the Century". After going into voluntary exile in Europe, Lindbergh found himself embroiled in scandals as he toured German (and Luftwaffe) aviation systems and took isolationist stances, at times making comments that were tinged with anti-Semitism and in favor of eugenics.

During the early 20th century, groundbreaking technology revolutionized transportation both on the ground and in the sky, with new motors making automobiles and airplanes a reality in the 1910s. Around that same time, the feminist movement was underway in the United States, spearheaded by women seeking the right to vote, lobbying for the temperance movement, and trying to make their voices heard.

It was at that crossroads that flight pioneer Amelia Earhart found herself in 1919, the very year President Wilson and Congress were trying to shepherd through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. That year, Earhart was given a ride on a plane piloted by legendary air racer Frank Hawks, and as she recalled, "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly."

Earhart’s unbridled joy for flying was only occasionally abated by a lack of finances, and a recurring sinus issue, but throughout the 1920s she was one of the few women licensed to fly, and she set an altitude record of 14,000 feet for women in 1922. In 1928, Earhart was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, but she was disappointed that she had to do so as a passenger, complaining, “I was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes.”

Nevertheless, that trip made “Lady Lindy” the “Queen of the Air” in America, and Earhart was now the nation’s best known aviatrix. With her fresh face available for promoting everything from luggage to women’s clothing, Earhart was able to finance her own aviation and remain involved in promoting air travel and flying to skeptical Americans. In May 1932, Earhart finally made her solo flight across the Atlantic, for which she received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French Government and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Herbert Hoover.

Leseprobe

Lucky Lindy and Lady Lindy: The Lives and Legacies of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart

By Charles River Editors

About Charles River Editors

Charles River Editors was founded by Harvard and MIT alumni to provide superior editing and original writing services, with the expertise to create digital content for publishers across a vast range of subject matter. In addition to providing original digital content for third party publishers, Charles River Editors republishes civilization’s greatest literary works, bringing them to a new generation via ebooks.

Introduction

Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974)

"If one took no chances, one would not fly at all.” – Charles Lindbergh

Everyone has read about history’s most important people and events in dense textbooks and classrooms, but words can only say so much. In Charles River Editors’ Interactive Biography series, history comes to life in video and audio, allowing people to not only read history but truly experience it, through the eyes and ears of the people who were there.

In many ways, Charles Lindbergh represented the best and worst of America during the first half of the 20th century. Lindbergh became famous for being an aviation pioneer whose solo flight across the Atlantic captured the imagination of an entire world, yet he was an isolationist who wanted to keep American freedoms safe for Americans and no one else. Lindbergh was the quintessential family man, yet he fathered illegitimate children and suffered an unspeakable tragedy that became known as “The Crime of the Century.” Lindbergh embodied some of his era’s greatest virtues and harbored some of its worst prejudices.

Lindbergh was a 25 year old U.S. Air Mail pilot who was probably best known for two crashes before shooting to fame with his non-stop flight across the Atlantic from New York City to Paris on May 20-21, 1927. Lindbergh was Time Magazine’s first Man of the Year in 1927, and he used his newfound fame to promote the development of commercial flight and become a spokesman and symbol for advances in aviation.

Tragically, Lindbergh was the subject of front page headlines in 1932 when his infant son, Charles, Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in the "Crime of the Century". After going into voluntary exile in Europe, Lindbergh found himself embroiled in scandals as he toured German (and Luftwaffe) aviation systems and took isolationist stances, at times making comments that were tinged with anti-Semitism and in favor of eugenics.

Nevertheless, after Pearl Harbor, Lindbergh was rejected from serving in the armed forces, likely because President Roosevelt thought he was a Nazi sympathizer. But Lindbergh worked his way through administrative and technical positions to give himself the opportunity to fly about 50 combat missions in the Pacific, impressing his colleagues with his flying abilities and technical know-how.

After World War II, as Lindbergh began to fade from the spotlight, he took up a number of causes, writing books and supporting environmental initiatives. The controversies began to fade as well, and when he died in 1974, he was remembered fondly for the Spirit of St. Louis and sympathetically for the Crime of the Century. Lucky Lindy and Lady Lindy chronicles the amazing life and career of Lindbergh, his greatest highs and most notorious lows, and everything inbetween. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about “Lucky Lindy” like you never have before, in no time at all.

Amelia Earhart (1897- disappeared 1937)

"The stars seemed near enough to touch and never before have I seen so many. I always believed the lure of flying is the lure of beauty, but I was sure of it that night." – Amelia Earhart

During the early 20th century, groundbreaking technology revolutionized transportation both on the ground and in the sky, with new motors making automobiles and airplanes a reality in the 1910s. Around that same time, the feminist movement was underway in the United States, spearheaded by women seeking the right to vote, lobbying for the temperance movement, and trying to make their voices heard.

It was at that crossroads that flight pioneer Amelia Earhart found herself in 1919, the very year President Wilson and Congress were trying to shepherd through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. That year, Earhart was given a ride on a plane piloted by legendary air racer Frank Hawks, and as she recalled, "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly."

Earhart’s unbridled joy for flying was only occasionally abated by a lack of finances, and a recurring sinus issue, but throughout the 1920s she was one of the few women licensed to fly, and she set an altitude record of 14,000 feet for women in 1922. In 1928, Earhart was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, but she was disappointed that she had to do so as a passenger, complaining, “I was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes.”

Nevertheless, that trip made “Lady Lindy” the “Queen of the Air” in America, and Earhart was now the nation’s best known aviatrix. With her fresh face available for promoting everything from luggage to women’s clothing, Earhart was able to finance her own aviation and remain involved in promoting air travel and flying to skeptical Americans. In May 1932, Earhart finally made her solo flight across the Atlantic, for which she received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French Government and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Herbert Hoover.

By the mid-1930s, Earhart had set a multitude of altitude and distance records, but she wanted to attempt a circumnavigation of the world. After an ill-fated first attempt, Earhart and Fred Noonan set off on another attempt, creating one of the 20th century’s most enduring mysteries. Earhart and Noonan were to land on Howland Island, 1700 miles southwest of Hawaii, but radio transmissions ceased between the plane and authorities on the ground the morning of July 2, 1937. Earhart and Noonan had disappeared, never to be seen again, despite one of the nation’s largest and costliest manhunts to date.

Unfortunately, the speculation over exactly what happened to Earhart and the mystery of her disappearance have come to overshadow and obscure her many accomplishments. Lucky Lindy and Lady Lindy looks at the theories attempting to explain her disappearance, but it also humanizes the woman whose sheer love of flying propelled her to unprecedented heights among both the clouds and her countrymen. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in her life, you will learn about Lady Lindy like you never have before, in no time at all.

Lindbergh in 1925

Earhart and "old Bessie" Vega 5b c. 1935

Lucky Lindy and Lady Lindy: The Lives and Legacies of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart

About Charles River Editors

Introduction

Chapter 1: Earhart’s Early Life

Chapter 2: Lindbergh’s Early Life

Chapter 3: Learning to Fly

Earhart Learns to Fly

Daredevil Lindbergh

Chapter 4: Historic Flights

Lindbergh’s Transatlantic Flight

Lucky Lindy

Chapter 5: Personal Lives

Meeting Mrs. Lindbergh

Meeting Mr. Earhart

Chapter 6: Incredible Highs, Unspeakable Lows - 1932

The Crime of the Century

Earhart’s Transatlantic Flight

Chapter 7: Going in Different Directions

Lindbergh’s “Flight to Europe”

Earhart Sets More Records

Chapter 8: The Disappearance of Amelia Earhart

Chapter 9: Lindbergh Courts More Controversy

Chapter 10: Lindbergh’s Final Years

Lindbergh Bibliography

Books by Charles Lindbergh

Books About Charles Lindbergh

Earhart Bibliography

Books by Amelia Earhart

Books About Amelia Earhart

Chapter 1: Earhart’s Early Life

Amelia as a child

"Adventure is worthwhile in itself." – Amelia Earhart

Born Amelia Mary Earhart on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas, the girl destined to be the world’s most famous aviatrix was welcomed with joy by her parents, Edwin and Amelia (“Amy”) Otis Earhart. Named after her two grandmothers, Amelia was considered a special gift by her parents after their first child was stillborn the year before. Edwin, a young lawyer still trying to get his career started, was not doing well financially so he and Amy were living with her father, a former federal judge and bank president, when their daughter was born. Needless to say, Judge Otis put even more pressure on Edwin to get busy and support his now growing family.

In addition to rebelling against her father in her marriage, Amy was also rebellious in the way in which she raised Amelia and her sister Grace Muriel, vowing not to raise her daughters in the mold of “nice little girls”. Just two years apart in age, both girls grew up as tomboys, calling each other by the nicknames Meeley (Amelia) and Pidge. They also wore bloomers instead of dresses so that they could climb trees, hunt vermin and sled downhill as well as any boy. Amelia later explained how she came to view traditional gender roles, “One of my favorite phobias is that girls, especially those whose tastes aren't routine, often don't get a fair break... It has come down through the generations, an inheritance of age-old customs which produced the corollary that women are bred to timidity.”

Amy’s mother, though, was not amused and was often seen shaking her head at her granddaughters’ antics. Even worse, the young girls liked to collect bugs, including worms, moths, katydids and a tree toad, and Amelia’s grandmother would scream anytime the girl’s bug collections got loose.

Always mechanical, Amelia built a small homemade roller coaster in her back yard in 1904. Egging her on in this endeavor and making sure she didn’t hurt herself was Amy’s younger brother. However, he must not have been watching too closely because Earhart’s first flight off the shed roof and down the makeshift ramp resulted in three things for the little girl: a split lip, a torn dress and a desire to feel like flying again. Amelia recalled the "sensation of exhilaration" she had during the stunt, and excitedly told her sister, "Oh, Pidge, it's just like flying!"

By this time her father’s career had taken off and he and Amy had moved to Des Moines, Iowa, the girls with their grandparents until they could get settled and find a place for the family to live. While he was gone, Mrs. Otis, with the help of a governess, homeschooled the girls, inspiring in Amelia a lifelong love of reading.

The following year, in 1907, the girls joined their parents and enrolled for the first time in public school. Amelia was 10 years old and entering the seventh grade. There at the State Fair Amelia saw her first airplane, and Edwin asked the girls if they wanted to go for a ride. Amelia later remembered:

“At the age of ten I saw my first airplane. It was sitting in a slightly enclosed area at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. It was a thing of rusty wires and wood and looked not at all interesting. One of the grown-ups who happened to be around pointed it out to me and said: "Look, dear, it flies." I looked as directed but confess I was much more interested in an absurd hat made of an inverted peach-basket which I had just purchased for fifteen cents.”

At first, all was well in Des Moines. The Earharts bought a large house and hired two servants to help keep it clean. Unfortunately, however, Edwin was unable to keep his new job because of a problem with alcohol. When Amelia was 17, he lost his job, and the family would have truly been in dire straits had it not been for another tragedy, the loss of grandmother Amelia Otis. Upon her death, Amy inherited a rather substantial estate and, because the money was in a trust, Edwin was unable to drink it up. However, everything was sold, and young Amelia bitterly came to believe that she would never be able to count on any man to care for her. This belief came to shape much of her approach to life, and later marriage. She was later quoted as saying:

“For the woman to pay her own way may add immeasurably to the happiness of those concerned. The individual independence of dollars and cents tends to keep a healthy balance of power in the kingdom of the home ... It is fortunately no longer a disgrace to be undomestic, and married women should be able to seek, as unrestrictedly as men, any gainful occupation their talents and interests make available.”