Charles Lindbergh Essay, Research Paper

Charles LindberghA small one-engined plane with “The Spirit of St. Louis” painted on the side lands at LeBourget 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 haddone before: fly nonstop over the Atlantic ocean alone. This was one of the many achievementsof this man we call Lindbergh, who created drama and interest in the lives of many peopleacross 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. Hismother taught chemistry at the local high school. Although he was born in Detroit, he grew upon a farm near Little Falls, Minnesota. (World Book)Lindbergh was a whiz with mechanics. By age twelve, he was in charge of driving andfixing the car. In high school, he assembled a tractor from a mail order kit. When he waseighteen he entered the University of Wisconsin to study engineering. He found he was moreinterested in flying, so after two years he became a barnstormer, which was a pilot whoperformed daredevil stunts at fairs. (World Book)In 1924 Lindbergh enlisted in the U.S. Army so he could be trained to be a pilot. In1925 he graduated as the top pilot in his class. He soon began working as a mail delivererbetween St. Louis and Chicago. Lindbergh soon heard of an offer given in 1919 by a hotel owner named RaymondOrteig. The offer was this: the first aviator to fly nonstop from New York to Paris would receive25,000 dollars. Nobody had succeeded by 1927, and Lindbergh decided he could do it if hehad 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”. Atranscontinental record was immediately set in a test run when Lindbergh flew from San Diego toNew 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 withawards, celebrations, and parades. Some of his more esteemed awards were the CongressionalMedal of Honor and the first ever Distinguished Flying Cross, both given to him by PresidentCalvin Coolidge.Lindbergh was later asked by the United States government if he would fly to variousLatin-American countries as a symbol of American good will. Some of the countries wereGuatemala, British Honduras, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, andperhaps 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. Charlestaught her to fly and they went on many expeditions around the world, charting mew routes forairlines. Anne was also a famous poet and writer. Between 1931 and 1935 Lindbergh invented an “artificial heart” for Alexis Carvel, aFrench surgeon and biologist. The device could pump the substances necessary for lifethroughout the tissues of an organ. It was in this period of time that disaster struck in theLindbergh family. On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus, Jr., their twenty-month-old son, waskidnapped. Ten weeks later his body was found. In 1934 a carpenter was convicted of thecrime. 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 settheir sights on a goal and would do whatever it took to achieve it. Another is that they wereboth well known figures in the community. (Lindbergh was more well known. One last thing Ithink they share is that they both demonstrate the 1920s, and how there were so many “BigShots” in those days that started very small. The achievements of Charles Lindbergh were many. They ranged from setting worldrecords to assembling farm supplies at a young age to helping in the advancement of science. Iam glad that I was able to learn about these things, and I am glad to know that a man that hasdone so much will not be forgotten, but will be remembered through his accomplishments.