Who Was Charles Lindbergh?

Charles Lindbergh was the first person ever to cross the Atlantic in a plane. The historic flight took place on May 20, 1927 and instantly catapulted the former mail pilot from obscurity to global superstardom. Lindbergh was showered with honours from around the world. He received the French Légion d'Honneur and, in America, the Congressional Medal of Honour. People flocked to see him wherever he went and the press hounded him constantly. Despite his attempts to lead a low-profile existence, he was propelled into the public spotlight again in 1932 when his infant child was kidnapped as part of a ransom plot. The child was found dead and German immigrant Bruno Richard Hauptmann was charged and convicted of her murder, then later executed.
Lindbergh found the constant attention of the press oppressive and moved his family to Britain in an attempt to escape it, eventually returning to America just before the Second World War broke out. Back home, he took an active part in the political controversies surrounding America's possible entry into the war, and its provision of aid to the allies, taking a vigorous stand against it. He called for a policy of non-interventionism and was accused by critics of having pro-Nazi sympathies. His stand led to him falling out of favour with the American public.

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