The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh

In the prologue to THE RISE AND FALL OF CHARLES LINDBERGH, author Candace Fleming wastes no time introducing readers to the man behind the legend. The America First Committee (an organization opposed to America's intervention in World War II) is holding a huge rally, and Charles Lindbergh is the featured speaker. The crowd, some raising Nazi salutes, has come to hear him talk about building walls to keep "alien blood" from the United States and preserving the American way of life. Lindbergh is their hero. The child of a businessman turned congressman, Lindbergh had a rootless childhood and was a lackluster student, expelled from college for poor grades. He found his calling as a pilot. He became a barnstormer (one of the stunt pilots who put on aerial shows for the public during the 1920s) and then took on the dangerous job of flying the mail from St. Louis to Chicago. In 1927, he flew 33.5 hours across the Atlantic to land near Paris and claim a $25,000 prize as the first person make a solo flight from New York to Paris. Only 25, he had become the most famous and celebrated man in the world. At the height of his fame, he married an ambassador's daughter, but only after making sure her ancestors met his exacting standards. Tragedy struck the couple in 1932, when their young son was kidnapped. A ransom was paid, but to no avail. The trial of a German immigrant for the child's murder became known as the Trial of the Century. After moving his family to England to escape a relentless American tabloid press, Lindbergh began visiting Germany. Hosted by the Nazi elite, he came to believe that the Nazis were "the only hope for restoring moral world order." Returning to the United States with his family, Lindbergh became one of the most prominent voices against American involvement in World War II. But his pro-Nazi sympathies and anti-Semitic rhetoric led to newspapers writing editorials condemning him and the public turning against him. When Lindbergh offered his services to the War Department after Pearl Harbor, he was rejected. But he eventually served in the South Pacific, flying 50 combat missions. After the war, he published a bestselling memoir about his flight over the Atlantic and worked on environmental issues. In 2005, three decades after his death in 1974, the public would learn that he fathered seven children by three German women with whom he had longstanding affairs.