Charles Lindbergh Essay, Research Paper

A small one-engined plane with “The Spirit of St. Louis” painted on the side lands at Le

Bourget field, in the midst of thousands of cheering spectators. A tall, thin, sandy haired,

twenty-five-year-old man emerges from the cockpit and timidly smiles. Modestly, he says “well,

I made it.” (http://141.224.128.4) What this man has just accomplished is something nobody had

done before: fly nonstop over the Atlantic ocean alone. This was one of the many achievements

of this man we call Lindbergh, who created drama and interest in the lives of many people

across the globe.

Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born on February 4, 1902, to Charles Lindbergh, Sr.,

and Evangeline Land Lodge. His father was a lawyer and later a U.S. congressman. His

mother taught chemistry at the local high school. Although he was born in Detroit, he grew up

on a farm near Little Falls, Minnesota. (World Book)

Lindbergh was a whiz with mechanics. By age twelve, he was in charge of driving and

fixing the car. In high school, he assembled a tractor from a mail order kit. When he was

eighteen he entered the University of Wisconsin to study engineering. He found he was more

interested in flying, so after two years he became a barnstormer, which was a pilot who

performed daredevil stunts at fairs. (World Book)

In 1924 Lindbergh enlisted in the U.S. Army so he could be trained to be a pilot. In

1925 he graduated as the top pilot in his class. He soon began working as a mail deliverer

between St. Louis and Chicago.

Lindbergh soon heard of an offer given in 1919 by a hotel owner named Raymond

Orteig. The offer was this: the first aviator to fly nonstop from New York to Paris would receive

25,000 dollars. Nobody had succeeded by 1927, and Lindbergh decided he could do it if he

had a suitable plane. He arranged for nine St. Louis businessmen to help him finance his plane.

A company in San Diego called Ryan Aeronautical Company was chosen to construct the plane,

which Lindbergh helped design. The plane was named “The Spirit of St. Louis”. A

transcontinental record was immediately set in a test run when Lindbergh flew from San Diego to

New York City in twenty hours and twenty-one minutes. Nine days later Lindbergh started his

thirty-three and one-half hour journey across the ocean.

After this flight, Lindbergh became an international celebrity. He was honored with

awards, celebrations, and parades. Some of his more esteemed awards were the Congressional

Medal of Honor and the first ever Distinguished Flying Cross, both given to him by President

Calvin Coolidge.

Lindbergh was later asked by the United States government if he would fly to various

Latin-American countries as a symbol of American good will. Some of the countries were

Guatemala, British Honduras, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and

perhaps most importantly, Mexico. It was in Mexico that he met Anne Spencer Morrow,

daughter of the American ambassador there. Charles and Anne were married in 1929. Charles

taught her to fly and they went on many expeditions around the world, charting mew routes for

airlines. Anne was also a famous poet and writer.

Between 1931 and 1935 Lindbergh invented an “artificial heart” for Alexis Carvel, a

French surgeon and biologist. The device could pump the substances necessary for life

throughout the tissues of an organ. It was in this period of time that disaster struck in the

Lindbergh family. On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus, Jr., their twenty-month-old son, was

kidnapped. Ten weeks later his body was found. In 1934 a carpenter was convicted of the

crime. In 1935, due to the pestering of reporters, photographers, and curious onlookers,

Charles and Anne took their three-year-old, Jonand safety.

Charles Lindbergh relates to Gatsby in a few ways. One is the fact that they both set

their sights on a goal and would do whatever it took to achieve it. Another is that they were

both well known figures in the community. (Lindbergh was more well known. One last thing I

think they share is that they both demonstrate the 1920s, and how there were so many “Big

Shots” in those days that started very small.

The achievements of Charles Lindbergh were many. They ranged from setting world

records to assembling farm supplies at a young age to helping in the advancement of science. I

am glad that I was able to learn about these things, and I am glad to know that a man that has

done so much will not be forgotten, but will be remembered through his accomplishments.