On Lindbergh and the Spirit of America

Lindbergh-and-Coolidge,-1927It matters not what era or generation we find ourselves, there is an irrepressible impulse to search for and take pride in exceptional deeds, heroic achievements and great examples of character, courage and competence. As Americans we especially prize the opportunity to honor noble men and women. It reminds us that good is still rewarded and it renews our faith. Such was the occasion eighty-seven years ago, when young Charles Lindbergh completed the first ever solo transatlantic flight, a 3,600 mile, 33 and a half-hour feat, from Roosevelt Field in New York to Le Bourge Field, outside Paris, on May 20-21, 1927.

Returning to his homeland, Colonel Lindbergh found a nation ready to recognize what he had done not only for its contributions to aviation but to a much larger degree how he furnished a front-page opportunity to take stock of what was really good and worthwhile about America. Not unlike today, Americans had heard enough negativity and criticism of their ways, their institutions, their shortcomings. Too little regard had been given to her accomplishments, to the things that were genuinely wholesome, admirable and worthy of praise when it came to America. Americans, then as now, loved their country and wanted others to better understand why that love remained justified. It was more than a chance to display scientific acumen, to gloat at what others had failed to do, it was a time to manifest good will, charity and service, especially as the people of France mourned the loss of the two pilots (Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli) sent westward to complete the same challenge just 13 days before Lindbergh’s arrival in Paris. It was not a time to flaunt greatness for its own sake, it was a time to commend bravery and ingenuity in the midst of tangible danger. It was a celebration of what was best about America, not with militaristic nationalism, but with humble circumspection and joy at reaching a human goal that had been years in the striving.

Charles_Lindbergh_and_the_Spirit_of_Saint_Louis_(Crisco_restoration,_with_wings)

The occasion that bestowed the Distinguished Flying Cross, a medal signed into existence by President Coolidge the summer before, on Colonel Lindbergh was not the result of one man or one city, it was the product of some of America’s finest engineers and innovators, like Fred Rohr, whose design of the fuel system for The Spirit of St. Louis made greater distances reachable for the first time. It was the people of San Diego and the determined folks of Ryan Airlines, who turned a tuna cannery into the creator of one of the most exceptional planes ever constructed. They met Lindbergh’s sixty day deadline, spending hundreds of thousands less than the forest of competitors rushing to build the plane that would make the crossing. It was creative minds like those of Donald Hall, the chief engineer for Lindy’s plane, who devised a way to furnish enough lift despite a fuel load heavier than the aircraft itself. On and on the list could go, recounting the great deeds of those who dreamed big dreams, dared to test the bounds of the possible, and finally reaped the rewards and the risks of what had never been done before but now could be thanks in no small part to America’s freedoms and opportunities.

Welcoming this young American home, President Coolidge addressed the 100,000 gathered on this day on the north side of the Washington monument:

“My Fellow Countrymen:

“It was in America that the modern art of flying heavier-than-air machines was first developed. As the experiments became successful, the airplane was devoted to practical purposes. It has been adapted to commerce in the transportation of passengers and mail and used for national defense by our land and sea forces. Beginning with a limited flying radius, its length has been gradually extended. We have made many flying records. Our Army flyers have circumnavigated the globe. One of our Navy men started from California and flew far enough to have reached Hawaii, but being off his course landed in the water. Another officer of the Navy has flown to the North Pole. Our own country has been traversed from shore to shore in a single flight.

“It had been apparent for some time that the next great feat in the air would be a continuous flight from the mainland of America to the mainland of Europe. Two courageous Frenchmen made the reverse attempt and passed to a fate that is as yet unknown. Others were speeding their preparations to make the trial, but it remained for an unknown youth to tempt the elements and win. It is the same story of valor and victory by a son of the people that shines through every page of American history.

“The absence of self-acclaim, the refusal to become commercialized, which has marked the conduct of this sincere and genuine exemplar of fine and noble virtues, has endeared him to everyone. He has returned unspoiled. Particularly has it been delightful to have him refer to his airplane as somehow possessing a personality and being equally entitled to credit with himself, for we are proud that in every particular this silent partner represented American genius and industry. I am told that more than 100 separate companies furnished materials, parts, or service in its construction.

“And now, my fellow citizens, this young man has returned. He is here. He has brought his unsullied fame home. It is our great privilege to welcome back to his native land, on behalf of his own people, who have a deep affection for him and have been thrilled by this splendid achievement, a colonel of the United States Officers’ Reserve Corps, an illustrious citizen of our Republic, a conqueror of the air and strengthener of the ties which bind us to our sister nations across the sea, and, as President of the United States, I bestow the distinguished flying cross, as a symbol of appreciation for what he is and what he has done, upon Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh.”

Created in section 12 of the Air Corps Act on July 2, 1926, the eventual design was completed by Miss Elizabeth Will and A. E. DuBois of the Army's Heraldic Section (now called the Institute of Heraldry), who integrated the symbolism of a cross for sacrifice, superimposed with four propellers and completed by five sun rays in each angle of the cross to denote the greatness of the deeds for which bestowed. Finally the red, white and blue drawn from the American flag completes the distinctive yet simple appearance of the medal. Despite criticism of the design by those who did more than most to champion its creation, the rank and file soldier, Marine, sailor and airman always had a strong affection for it. Consequently, despite pressure to alter it, the original design has remained unchanged since its inception eighty-eight years ago.

Created from section 12 of the Air Corps Act on July 2, 1926, the eventual design was completed by Miss Elizabeth Will and A. E. DuBois of the Army’s Heraldic Section (now called the Institute of Heraldry), who integrated the symbolism of a cross for sacrifice, superimposed with four propellers and completed by five sun rays in each angle of the cross to denote the greatness of the deeds for which it would be bestowed. Finally the red, white and blue drawn from our national colors completes the distinctive yet simple appearance of the medal. Despite criticism of the design by those who did more than most to champion its creation, the rank and file soldier, Marine, sailor and airman always had a strong affection for it. Consequently, despite pressure to alter it, the original design has remained unchanged since its inception eighty-eight years ago.

While Lindbergh was the first to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross in medal form on June 11, he was not the first to receive the citation, as the ten pilots of the Pan-American Goodwill flight of 1926 were, seen here. Lindbergh would join a vast assembly of aviators, inventors and entrepreneurs, before and after him, who would take on the unknown and leave their mark on the development of flight. As Coolidge would recount, from the earliest efforts of Wilbur and Orville Wright, along the shores of Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903, to the circumnavigation of the globe by Major Frederick L. Martin in 1924, the effort to make flight attainable came through much trial and error, failure and success. Commander John Rodgers would begin a transpacific crossing in 1925 and be rescued after ten days at sea off the coast of Hawaii. Commander Richard E. Byrd, joined by Warrant Officer Floyd Bennett, would fly over the North Pole on May 9, 1926. The first shore to shore non-stop flight would be done by Lieutenants John A. Macready and Oakley Kelly from New York to San Diego in May 1923. After signing the legislation that created the Distinguished Flying Cross, President Coolidge would recognize upwards of fifty-eight aviators between 1927 and 1929 whose “act of heroism or extraordinary achievement” merited the honor.

President Coolidge gave the Distinguished Flying Cross certificate for the first time just over a month before the Lindbergh ceremony. Here Major Herbert A. Dargue accepts one of the ten awards bestowed that day, May 2, 1927. Two would be given posthumously in recognition of Captain Clinton Woolsey and Lieutenant John Benton who tragically died from collision with another of the 5 ships to take part in the Pan-American Goodwill Flight, February 26, 1927.

President Coolidge gave the Distinguished Flying Cross certificate for the first time just over a month before the Lindbergh ceremony. Here, at Bolling Field in Washington, Major Herbert A. Dargue accepts one of the ten awards bestowed that day, May 2, 1927. Two would be given posthumously in recognition of Captain Clinton Woolsey and Lieutenant John Benton, who tragically died from collision with another of the 5 ships participating in the Pan-American Goodwill Flight, February 26, 1927.

The pilots of the Pan-American Goodwill Flight, 21 December 1926-2 May 1927

The pilots of the Pan-American Goodwill Flight, 21 December 1926-2 May 1927

Here is a working list of the 55 individuals who were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross during the Coolidge years. While many are not on this list including those who flew operations during this time period but were recognized later and certain civilians to whom the award was granted prior to revision of section 12 of the Air Commerce Act by Coolidge's Executive Order 4601 effective March 1, 1927. As research best confirms the names are in chronological order by date of award, with a second list noting known recipients by year only.

Here is a working list of the 56 individuals who were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross during the Coolidge years. Many are not on this list including those who flew operations during this time period but were recognized after Coolidge’s term of office ended and certain civilians to whom the award was granted prior to revision of section 12 of the Air Commerce Act by Coolidge’s Executive Order 4601 effective March 1, 1927. As best research confirms the names are in chronological order by date of award, with a second list noting known recipients by year only. The name at the bottom is one whom the President tried unsuccessfully to have approved for the medal by Congress. Mr. Chamberlin declined the requirement of qualification: joining either the Air Corps or Navy as an aviator. As such he was never awarded the DFC. Also absent from this list are the tanker crews who collaborated in the endurance tests of Question Mark but failed to receive official recognition until 1976.

Lieutenant John W. Benton's Distinguished Flying Cross citation, May 2, 1927, representative of what was given by President Coolidge to the aviators of the Goodwill flight that day.

Lieutenant John W. Benton’s Distinguished Flying Cross citation, May 2, 1927, representative of what was given by President Coolidge to the aviators of the Goodwill flight that day.

As pointed out by the Distinguished Flying Cross Society, the law contained three fascinating elements in awarding the DFC:

1. The medal could be bestowed retroactively, as would be done by Coolidge for the Wright brothers, who were recognized on December 18, 1928. Wilbur received it posthumously, having died in 1912. Orville, still alive, would meet Lindbergh and take an active part in the Civil Aeronautics Conference in 1928. Many would carry out their work in aviation during the early 1920s but not be honored until after Coolidge’s time.

2. The medal was not predicated upon combat heroism, it placed an equal esteem for heroism in peacetime. Of the fifty-six given under the Coolidge administration, the vast majority would be for actions done outside of hostilities. James Doolittle would earn his first two Flying Crosses for the first cross-country flight in 1922 and work with acceleration in 1924 but not be officially recognized until August 1, 1929. For the first endurance record, logging 150 hours in air, all five crewmen of the Question Mark would be given the Flying Cross as one of Coolidge’s last official acts in January 1929. Even aviators of other countries were recognized with the medal for their pioneering work, such as Captains Hermann Koehl and James Fitzmaurice with Baron von Hunefeld, who were the first to cross the Atlantic from Europe to America eleven months after Lindbergh landed in Paris.

Captain Koehl of Germany being presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross by President Calvin Coolidge, at noon on May 2, 1928.

Captain James Fitzmaurice of Ireland being presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross by President Calvin Coolidge, at noon on May 2, 1928.

Coolidge also recognized Captain Koehl's co-pilot, Captain James Fitzmaurice of Ireland and Baron von Hunefeld with Flying Crosses for together becoming the first to successfully cross the Atlantic from east to west, proving that in spite of stiffer wind patterns travel could go both ways by air.

Coolidge also recognized Captain Koehl of Germany and the owner of the Bremer, Baron von Hunefeld (between Koehl and Fitzmaurice), with Flying Crosses for making the trek jointly thereby becoming the first to successfully cross the Atlantic from east to west and proving that in spite of stiffer wind patterns travel could go both ways by air.

3. The medal was the first to be universal to all branches of the service. Up to then, medals were distinct to the specific part of the military to which one was attached. The Distinguished Flying Cross, representing sacrifice and flight, is not only the oldest military aviation medal but, perhaps more than any other, encapsulates America. In a unique way the medal brought down artificial barriers and reminded us of our obligations to others, celebrating what is best about our country and most noble in human nature itself. Maybe that is why Coolidge liked it so much. He understood more enduring good could be secured not by fixating on her imperfections but by reflecting on the reasons America inspires and remains worthy of respect and admiration. If our nation was to improve, it remained with us not to tear down but build up, not nurse old hatreds and envies but contribute by first being better people, better neighbors, and better citizens ourselves.

Lindbergh and his mother hosted by the Coolidges at DuPont Circle, where the President and his wife stayed during repairs to the White House roof that spring. Notice how everyone is cheerful except the unexpectedly sober figure on the right. Lindbergh, about to appear in a light suit, was corrected by Coolidge who chose a dark suit for him as better befitting the formality of the occasion. Even returning heroes need to take care of the way they dress. They set a deeper example than they may realize, one  that should not be treated flippantly.

Lindbergh and his mother hosted by the Coolidges at DuPont Circle, where the President and his wife stayed during repairs to the White House roof that spring of 1927. Notice how everyone is cheerful except the unexpectedly sober figure on the right. Lindbergh, about to appear in a light suit, was corrected by Coolidge who chose a dark suit for him as better befitting the formality of the occasion. Even returning heroes need to take care of the way they dress. They set a deeper example than even they may realize. It is one that should not be treated flippantly.

On Pan-American Trade

The Coolidges and Ambassador Dwight W. Morrow attend the International Conference of American States, December 1928

The Coolidges and Ambassador Dwight W. Morrow attend the International Conference of American States, December 1928

The Twenties were a decade for Pan-American, or otherwise international, conferences. Coolidge took part in no less than eight during his service in Washington. The issues of international commerce, Pan-American relations, the roll back of “dollar diplomacy” and question of tariff policy revision seemed to attract him to a degree not unlike his commitment to government economy. No one can credibly argue that the Coolidge years were isolationist in outlook or activity. He took every opportunity to personally address those gatherings of private individuals who met to discuss a host of topics from standardization, sanitation, journalism, radio, highways, trade, aviation and many more concerns. As Vice President, Coolidge spoke before the Pan-American Conference of Women sponsored by the League of Women Voters in April 1922. As President he would address the First Pan American Congress of Journalists (April 8, 1926), the Third Pan American Commercial Conference (May 3, 1927), the First International Congress of Soil Science (June 13, 1927), the opening day of the International Radiotelegraph Conference (October 4, 1927), the Sixth Pan-American Conference held in Havana, Cuba (January 16, 1928), the Pan-American Conference on Arbitration and Conciliation (December 10, 1928) and the International Civil Aeronautics Conference (December 12, 1928).

When it concerned America’s connection to the sovereign nations to our south, Coolidge was there at every turn. The Fordney-McCumber Tariff signed by President Harding in 1922, sought to return a higher ad valorem rate to the tariff system, where American-made goods were protected for their value to the markets beyond merely their quantity, size, weight or other factors. The vast majority of goods on the market, no less than sixty percent, were completely free of duties. The Tariff protected American manufacturing while keeping rates low for agricultural products and raw goods. An average 14% increase in rates protected manufacturers from inferior-quality goods flooding the markets and thereby harming both the producer, who has to raise prices to meet higher costs against a cheaper, higher quantity of products, and the consumer, who is left spending more money in the end to replace inferior goods with ones that last. The protective rates, working together with both a large decrease in taxes and reduction in Federal spending, fueled the recovery that brought America out of the 1921 depression and continued (thanks to the Coolidge insistence on economy and tax cuts of 1924, 1926 and 1928) to encourage the spread of prosperity throughout all economic tiers through the rest of the decade. Rather than remaining on course, however, the next administration dismantled the delicate balance of tariff policy up for debate at the worst time. It was the discussion to raise rates even higher in 1929, leading to the passage of a new bill, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, that unleashed an average 20% increase on dutiable imports, a 60% tax increase on over 3,000 imported products and resulted in a destructive series of retaliatory tariff increases by our trading partners around the world. Despite the firm opposition of more than 1,000 economists to the looming increases, President Hoover signed the bill into law in June 1930. While initial figures seem to indicate it was working at first, trade had collapsed and depression only deepened as a result by the spring of 1932.

Coolidges at the Pan American Conference of Women, Baltimore, April 28, 1922. Delegates from 21 nations took part in the gathering.

The Coolidges at the Pan American Conference of Women, Baltimore, April 28, 1922. Delegates from 21 nations took part in the gathering.

However, all this was in the future. As Coolidge took the podium to address the entrepreneurs and business men and women of North, Central and South America, imports in raw materials stood on mutually advantageous terms. As Coolidge will point out, this gathering was not a meeting of government bureaucrats and political operatives, it was a voluntary conference between private individuals exchanging ideas, seeking to better understand the needs, problems and market solutions of free peoples, sharing in the “civilizing influence of commerce.” It was not a forum of coercion presenting terms that benefited one at the expense of others with the aid of American money, military might or political deals. It was part of a the grander movement that “rests on the principle of mutual helpfulness,” which is free market capitalism as it naturally exists. Markets, free of state control, are not driven by Bentham’s mechanistic view of people as but utilitarian cogs in a system but rather fellow collaborators, willingly helping supply and be supplied with what each individual needs.

Coolidge commended this gathering of minds and talents from across our Hemisphere for its true merit which lay “in the fact that it represents not government but private industry.” After all, governments do not create, people engaged in commercial relationships do. “Governments do not have commercial relations. They can promote and encourage it, but it is distinctly the business of the people themselves. If this desirable activity is to grow and prosper, if it is to provide the different nations with the means of self-realization, of education, progress, and enlightenment, it must in general be the product of private initiative.” Keenly aware of the political discontent to the south coupled with a clearly harmonious relationship then existing between Pan-American suppliers and U.S. manufacturers, Coolidge continued, “Under free governments trade must be free, and to be of permanent value it ought to be independent. Under our standard we do not expect the Government to support trade; we expect trade to support the Government. An emergency or national defense may require some different treatment, but under normal conditions trade should rely on its own resources, and should therefore belong to the province of private enterprise.”

The Coolidges en route to Havana to attend the Sixth Pan American Conference, January 1928. They can be seen seated on the front row to the right on the deck of the USS Texas.

The Coolidges in worship services  en route to Havana to attend the Sixth Pan American Conference, January 1928. They can be seen seated on the front row to the right on the deck of the USS Texas.

That policy, which lifted America out of depression in 1921 and since 1913 had raised it as the foremost market for Central and South American raw goods, from wood and copper to cane sugar, coffee and food stuffs, was yielding benefits overwhelmingly in favor of our neighbors to the south. If there was any dominant partner, it was South and Central America, who held nearly all of our money in unprocessed materials. The dependence on Europe for a market had decisively changed. Now the United States was buying more in the markets of Central and South America than it was selling. The clear beneficiary was the collection of American Republics south of the Rio Grande. This was not an unsettling or harmful development, in Coolidge’s judgment. It was a definitive good and a proof that markets, allowed freedom within marginal tariff rates on a small portion of goods, are mutually advantageous to all participants. “It is our conclusion that while government should encourage international trade and provide agencies for investigating and reporting conditions, those who are actually engaged in the transaction of business must necessarily make their own contacts and establish their own markets. There is scarcely any nation that is sufficient unto itself. The convenience and necessity of one people inevitably are served by the natural resources, climatic conditions, skill, and creative power of other peoples. This is the sound basis of international trade. This diversity of production makes it possible for one country to exchange its commodities for those of another country to the mutual advantage of both. It is this element that gives stability and permanence to foreign commerce. It contributes to satisfying wants and needs, and so becomes help to all who are engaged in it.”

Vice President Coolidge entertains South American delegates to the Chile-Peru conferences then in session at Washington, June 1, 1922.

Vice President Coolidge entertains South American delegates to the Chile-Peru conferences then in session at Washington, June 1, 1922.

Coolidge did not merely praise the broad outlines of growth and commercial collaboration between the Americas, he lauded the specific directions it was taking in the development of transportation, improving the speed the travel by ship, rail, road and air. Coolidge complimented the great network of exchange not only for its material improvement but especially for its conveyance of ideas, its sharing of information, education and communication, embodied in the cable and radio, the Pan American postal agreement, the opening of roads and the clearing of new commercial horizons that resulted. In short, this meant a “more abundant life for all concerned,” not only materially but spiritually.

As he closed his remarks to these market pioneers and creative adventurers from across the Western Hemisphere, Coolidge came back to the intangible importance of what this movement meant. “It is this mutual interdependence which justifies the whole Pan American movement. it is an ardent and sincere desire to do good, one to another. Our associates in the Pan American Union all stand on an absolute equality with us. It is the often declared and established policy of this Government to use its resources not to burden them but to assist them; not control them but to cooperate with them. It is the forces of sound thinking, sound government, and sound economics which hold the only hope of real progress, real freedom, and real prosperity for the masses of the people, that need the constantly combined efforts of all the enlightened forces of society. Our first duty is to secure these results at home, but an almost equal obligation requires us to exert our moral influence to assist all peoples of the Pan American Union to provide similar agencies for themselves. Our Pan American Union is creating a new civilization in these Western Republics, representative of all that is best in the history of the Old World. We must all cooperate in its advancement through mutual helpfulness, mutual confidence, and mutual forbearance.”

Calvin Coolidge and Charles Lindbergh, November 1927. Lindbergh was virtually conscripted as an ambassador of good will to Latin America, on an even grander scale than the pilots of the Pan-American Goodwill flight of 1926. The diplomatic campaign, on the "wings" of Lindbergh's remarkable solo crossing of the Atlantic that summer, did much to advance Latin American relations. Lindbergh would also meet his future wife, Anne Morrow, as a result of his unwitting venture into diplomacy.

Calvin Coolidge and Charles Lindbergh, November 1927. Lindbergh was virtually conscripted as an ambassador of good will to Latin America, on an even grander scale than the pilots of the Pan-American Goodwill flight of 1926. The diplomatic campaign, on the “wings” of Lindbergh’s remarkable solo crossing of the Atlantic that summer, did much to advance Latin American relations. Lindbergh would also meet his future wife, Anne Morrow, as a result of his unwitting venture into diplomacy by airplane.

President Coolidge Awards First Distinguished Flying Cross Citations, May 2, 1927

President Coolidge Awards First Distinguished Flying Cross Citations, May 2, 1927

In a decade full of historic achievements in aviation, the crews of the 1926-27 Pan-Am Goodwill flights were the first to receive this award created by President Coolidge. Involving five ships across 22,000 miles in the air, these exceptional Americans delivered messages of good will, aerial collaboration and friendship to our neighbor nations in Central and South America, accomplishing what a few short years before had been decried as impossible. While there are eight aviators in this photo at Bolling Field in Washington, D.C., ten went on this important foreign relations mission. They were:

The New York – Major Herbert Dargue and Lieutenant Ennis Whitehead
The San Antonio – Captain Arthur McDaniel and Lieutenant Charles Robinson
The San Francisco – Captain Ira Eaker and Lieutenant Muir Fairchild
The Detroit – Captain Clinton Woolsey and Lieutenant John Benton
The St. Louis – Lieutenant Bernard Thompson and Lieutenant Leonard Weddington