CATEGORIES
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- Charles Lindbergh, Aviation
Pioneer,
- Receives a Check from
"America First Committee"
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 LINDBERGH, Charles (1902-1972). Pioneer American Aviator famous for piloting the
first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927,
Pulitzer Prize Winning Author, Environmentalist.
Extraordinarily Rare Document Signed Check to the America
First Committee, dated May 26, 1941, payable to Mr. Charles Lindbergh
and endorsed to the 'America First Committee.' Signed: "C.A.
Lindbergh" .
The America First movement was an isolationist group that opposed
United States involvement in World War II. The America First
Committee (AFC) was founded in September of 1940 not long after
Germany's invasion of Poland. While the AFC had its share of
prominent businessmen as well as the sympathies of political
figures like Senators Burton K. Wheeler or Gerald P. Nye, and
future President Gerald Ford, but no one figure was more representative
of the movement than Charles A. Lindbergh. Lindbergh advocated
a hemispheric defense in his America First speeches.
In one of the more conflicting and controversial periods of his
long public career, as Nazi Germany began World War II, Lindbergh
became a prominent speaker in favor of an isolationist policy,
which was construed as being overly or pro-German, and latent
with anti-Semitism. On January 23, 1941, Lindbergh testified
before Congress and recommended that the United States negotiate
a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler. At a rally in Des Moines,
Iowa, on September 11, 1941, he accused "the Jewish race"
of being behind the drive to have America enter World War II
on the side of Allies. His isolationist policies led to resigning
his commission in the U.S. Army Air Corps when President Franklin
D. Roosevelt openly questioned his loyalty.
In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, he attempted
to return to the Army Air Corps, but was denied when several
of Roosevelt's cabinet secretaries registered objections. He
went on to assist with the war effort by serving as a civilian
consultant to aviation companies and the government, as well
as flying about 50 combat missions (again as a civilian) in 1944
in the Pacific. His contributions include engine-leaning techniques
that Lindbergh showed P-38 Lightning pilots. This significantly
increased their range.
A remarkable piece of history, essential for any Lindbergh collector.
Intermittent punch holes, otherwise, very good. $1,900.00
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