Word: lindberghism
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...Lindbergh's father, a populist Republican Congressman from Minnesota, had taught him to be totally self-reliant-"One boy's a boy; two boys are half a boy; three boys are no boy at all," Lindbergh fondly quoted him as saying-and the son always had a vigorous contempt for the herd mentality. Itching to fly ever since he first saw an airplane as a child, Lindbergh spent a year and a half at the University of Wisconsin. Then, unable to sit any longer in a classroom, he enrolled in a flying school in Nebraska...
...drawn to aviation's biggest prize: $25,000, offered by a New York hotel owner for the first successful completion of the 3,600-mile solo flight between New York and Paris. With the backing of some young St. Louis businessmen and $2,000 from his own savings, Lindbergh ordered a plane built by Ryan Airlines in San Diego to his peculiar specifications; it was in effect one giant gasoline tank with wings, a propeller and a bucket seat. He named it The Spirit of St. Louis, and in May 1927 flew it to New York...
Mysterious Chemistry. Other flyers were waiting for the good weather of spring to try the distance. Learning that Atlantic squalls would soon lift, Lindbergh decided to be first and lifted off from Long Island's Roosevelt Field even before the weather turned. The Spirit was so weighted with fuel that he cleared the telephone lines at the end of the runway by only 20 feet. His route took him up through New England, over Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, past the green southern tips of Ireland and England, and finally over the Channel to France...
...already been dubbed "the Lone Eagle." Shortly after 10 p.m. on May 21, he circled Le Bourget Airport, but was puzzled by what looked like enormous traffic jams on the nearby roads. He quickly found out the cause; even before the Spirit's propeller stilled, both Lindbergh and his plane were engulfed by shouting, crying, joyfully hysterical Parisians...
Simple Dignity. The shouting and the hysteria did not stop for years there after, but Lindbergh managed to retain his simple dignity. "He stood forth amidst clamor and crowds," said...