If Charles Lindbergh was such a great American, then could the men who ran the United States have kidnapped and killed his baby boy, 20-month-old Charles Lindbergh Jr.?
Charles Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1902 to a U.S. Congressman, Charles Augustus Lindbergh, who served from 1907 to 1917 and opposed going to war against Germany in World War One. Lindbergh would later go on to side with his father’s views by opposing World War Two against the Germans.
Early in life, Lindbergh displayed an interest in mechanics and motorized transportation. He began college as a mechanical engineering student but quit after he became deeply fascinated with flying planes. After quitting college, Lindbergh enrolled in the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation’s flying school in Lincoln.
To gain further flight experience and make money, Lindbergh left Lincoln to go barnstorming across Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana as a parachutist or wing walker, which was quite wild for any young man. Lindbergh would spend much of 1923 barnstorming under the moniker “Daredevil Lindbergh.”
In 1924, Lindbergh reported to Brooks Field to begin a year of military flight training with the United States Army Air Service, where he’d have his most serious flying accident. Eight days before graduation, during aerial combat maneuvers, he’d get into a midair collision and have to bail out. Only 18 of the 104 cadets who started with Lindbergh had remained; he had also graduated first in his class.
After he graduated, the Army wasn’t looking for active-duty pilots, so Lindbergh became a flight instructor and a reserve officer who flew part-time for the military, where he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1925 and captain in 1926.
In 1926, French-born hotelier Raymond Orteig renewed an offer of 25,000 dollars for the first successful nonstop flight between New York and Paris. He attracted several highly experienced, well-financed contenders for the transatlantic flight. Many people died or disappeared trying to make that impossible flight, including a French flying ace and some war heroes.
Lindbergh was inspired by French flying ace René Fonck’s 1926 failure to make the flight himself. He soon discussed his idea with St. Louis businessmen and aviation supporters, gathering resources and making inquiries with several airplane manufacturers. He would eventually get the funding for the Spirit of St. Louis and was the first to make that transatlantic flight from New York to Paris.
Lindbergh did not have an easy time crossing the Atlantic; he was too busy the night before to get more than a couple hours’ sleep. He struggled to stay awake on the first day; he continually fell asleep for seconds and minutes at a time. At one point Lindbergh began hallucinating. News soon spread that he was over England and eventually was seen circling the Eiffel Tower in France before landing at an airfield.
On the evening of March 1, 1932, 20-month-old Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. was abducted from his crib in the Lindbergh home. After the kidnapper collected 50,000 in ransom, they never got the baby back. On May 12th, they would find the child’s remains in the woods not far from the Lindbergh home. A 34-year-old immigrant carpenter was eventually blamed for the murder.
In 1931, Lindbergh invented a watch that made it easier for pilots to navigate. It was called the Lindbergh Hour Angle watch, and it remains in circulation today. Lindbergh also invented a glass perfusion pump that is credited with making heart surgeries possible.
After receiving a medal from Germany, Lindbergh was seen as a German sympathizer by Roosevelt and Churchill who desperately wanted the U.S. to enter World War Two. Lindbergh said this in response to his medal: “It seems to me that the returning of decorations, which were given in times of peace and as a gesture of friendship, can have no constructive effect. If I were to return the German medal, it seems to me that it would be an unnecessary insult. Even if war develops between us, I can see no gain in indulging in a spitting contest before that war begins”
Lindbergh was opposed to entering the impending European conflict and sending aid to threatened countries. They claimed he was an isolationist. Lindbergh suggested strengthening France and England’s air forces to redirect Hitler toward the communists in Russia. Lindbergh was also accused of anti-Semitism after stating: “We must ask who owns and influences the newspaper, the news picture, and the radio station. If our people know the truth, our country is not likely to enter the war.” suggesting Jewish people owned and influenced media.
He became the spokesperson for isolation and believed the destruction of Hitler would leave Europe open to rape, looting, and barbarism by the Soviet Union, which it was, causing the wounding of Western civilization. President Roosevelt decried Lindbergh’s views as “defeatist and appeaser,” comparing him to men who opposed the Civil War.
The government knew that Lindbergh had views much aligned with those of his father and had every reason to kidnap and kill his baby, thereby sending him a message. This did not, however, change Lindbergh’s feelings about the U.S. entering World War Two. Roosevelt told his treasury secretary that he would go to his grave believing Lindbergh was a Nazi.
In a speech in 1939, Lindbergh stated this: “Our bond with Europe is a bond of race and not of political ideology. We had to fight a European army to establish democracy in this country. It is the European race we must preserve; political progress will follow. Racial strength is vital; politics, a luxury. If the white race is ever seriously threatened, it may then be time for us to take our part in its protection, to fight side by side with the English, French, and Germans, but not with one against the other for our mutual destruction.” This speech would go on to be prophetic, as we would ally with Germany, Britain, and France against the evil Soviet Empire.
Many people will argue that the United States entering the war gave rise to communism, which was far more evil than Germany, save for the Jewish people who were massacred. Communism is said to have claimed more than 80 million people after World War Two.
