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\"Lone Eagle\" redirects here. For other uses, see Lone Eagle (disambiguation).

Charles Lindbergh
Photo by Harris & Ewing, c. 1927
Born	Charles Augustus Lindbergh (1902-02-04)February 4, 1902 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Died	August 26, 1974(1974-08-26) (aged 72) Kipahulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Resting place	Palapala Ho'omau Church, Kipahulu
Other names	Lucky Lindy Lone Eagle Slim^[1]
Education	University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison (no degree)
Occupations	Aviator author inventor explorer activist
Known for	First solo transatlantic flight (1927), pioneer of international commercial aviation and air mail
Spouse	\n Anne Morrow (m. 1929)
Children	13,^{[N 1]} including Charles Jr., Jon, Anne, and Reeve
Parents	Charles August Lindbergh (father) Evangeline Lodge Land (mother)

Military career
Allegiance	United States
Service / branch	U.S. Army Air Service U.S. Army Air Corps U.S. Air Force
Years of service	1924\u20131941, 1954\u20131974
Rank	Colonel Brigadier general (promoted 1954)^[3]
Battles / wars	World War II
Awards	Medal of Honor Distinguished Flying Cross L\u00e9gion d'honneur Congressional Gold Medal Pulitzer Prize for Biography
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Signature

Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 \u2013 August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20\u201321, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris, a distance of 3,600 miles (5,800 km), flying alone for 33.5 hours. His aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis, was built to compete for the $25,000 Orteig Prize for the first flight between the two cities. Although not the first transatlantic flight, it was the longest at the time by nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km), the first solo transatlantic flight, and set a new flight distance world record.^[4] The achievement garnered Lindbergh worldwide fame and stands as one of the most consequential flights in history, signalling a new era of air transportation between parts of the globe.\n

Lindbergh was raised mostly in Little Falls, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C., the son of U.S. Congressman Charles August Lindbergh. He became a U.S. Army Air Service cadet in 1924. The next year, he was hired as a U.S. Air Mail pilot in the Greater St. Louis area, where he began to prepare for crossing the Atlantic. For his 1927 flight, President Calvin Coolidge presented him both the Distinguished Flying Cross and Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. military award.^[5] He was promoted to colonel in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve and also earned the highest French order of merit, the Legion of Honor.^[6] His achievement spurred significant global interest in flight training, commercial aviation and air mail, which revolutionized the aviation industry worldwide (a phenomenon dubbed the \"Lindbergh Boom\"), and he spent much time promoting these industries.\n

Time magazine named Lindbergh its first Man of the Year for 1927, President Herbert Hoover appointed him to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1929, and he received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1930. In 1931, he and French surgeon Alexis Carrel began work on inventing the first perfusion pump, a device credited with making future heart surgeries and organ transplantation possible.\n

On March 1, 1932, Lindbergh's first-born infant child, Charles Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in what the American media called the \"crime of the century\". The case prompted the U.S. to establish kidnapping as a federal crime if a kidnapper crosses state lines with a victim. By late 1935, public hysteria from the case drove the Lindbergh family abroad to Europe, from where they returned in 1939. In the months before the United States entered World War II, Lindbergh's non-interventionist stance and statements about Jews and race led some to believe he was a Nazi sympathizer, although Lindbergh never publicly stated support for the Nazis and condemned them several times in both his public speeches and personal diary. However, he supported the isolationist America First Committee and resigned from the U.S. Army Air Corps in April 1941 after President Franklin Roosevelt publicly rebuked him for his views.^[7] In September 1941, Lindbergh gave a significant address, titled \"Speech on Neutrality\", outlining his position and arguments against greater American involvement in the war.^[8]\n

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and German declaration of war against the U.S., Lindbergh avidly supported the American war effort but was rejected for active duty, as Roosevelt refused to restore his colonel's commission.^[9] Instead he flew 50 combat missions in the Pacific Theater as a civilian consultant and was unofficially credited with shooting down an enemy aircraft.^[10]^[11] In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower restored his commission and promoted him to brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.^[12] In his later years, he became a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, international explorer and environmentalist, helping to establish national parks in the U.S. and protect certain endangered species and tribal people in both the Philippines and east Africa.^[13] After retiring in Maui, Lindbergh died of lymphoma in 1974 at the age of 72.\n

\n\n

v t e Charles Lindbergh
Aircraft	\n Spirit of St. Louis (1927\u20131928) \n Tingmissartoq (1929\u20131933) \n Miles Mohawk (1936\u20131939) \n
Works	\n \"WE\" (1927) \n Des Moines speech (1941) \n The Spirit of St. Louis (1953) \n Autobiography of Values (1977) \n
Personal life	\n Anne Morrow Lindbergh (wife) \n Jon Lindbergh (son) \n Anne Lindbergh (daughter) \n Reeve Lindbergh (daughter) \n Erik Lindbergh (grandson) \n Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh (mother) \n Charles August Lindbergh (father) \n Charles A. Lindbergh State Park (home) \n Highfields (home) \n Lindbergh kidnapping \n
In culture	\n Lindbergh Boom \n \"Lindbergh (The Eagle of the U.S.A.)\" (1927 song) \n \"Lucky Lindy!\" (1927 song) \n The Flight Across the Ocean (1929 play) \n The Spirit of St. Louis (1957 film) \n The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976 TV film) \n The Spirit of Charles Lindbergh (1984 film) \n Lindbergh (1998 biography) \n The Plot Against America (2004 novel) \n The Plot Against America (2020 miniseries) \n

Authority control databases $\"Edit$
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States France BnF data Japan Italy Australia Czech Republic Russia Spain Netherlands Norway 2 Latvia Croatia Korea Sweden Poland Israel Catalonia Belgium
Academics	CiNii
Artists	MusicBrainz Discography of American Historical Recordings
People	Trove Deutsche Biographie DDB
Other	IdRef NARA SNAC 2

Early life

Early childhood

Early aviation career

Air mail pilot

New York\u2013Paris flight

Orteig Prize

Spirit of St. Louis

Flight

Global fame

Autobiography and tours

Air mail promotion

Personal life

American family

Glider hobby

Kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr.

In Europe (1936\u20131939)

Scientific activities

Pre-war activities and politics

Overseas visits

Isolationism and America First Committee

Antisemitism and views on race

World War II

Later life

Double life and secret German children

Environmental and tribal causes

1972 Philippines expedition

Retirement in Hawaii

Views on technology

Death

Honors and tributes

Awards and decorations

Medal of Honor

Other recognition

Writings

In popular culture

Literature

Film and television

Music

Postage stamps

Other

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

Articles

Books

Series

External links

Charles Lindbergh

Talks

26 August, 1974