Achievements Of Charles Lindbergh example essay topic

Charles Lindbergh small one-engined plane with "The Spirit of St. Louis" painted on the side lands at Le Bourget field, in the midst of thousands of cheering spectators. A tall, thin, sandy haired, twenty-five-year-old man emerges from the cockpit and timidly smiles. Modestly, he says "well, I made it". (http: //141.224. 128.4) What this man has just accomplished is something nobody had done before: fly nonstop over the Atlantic ocean alone. This was one of the many achievements of this man we call Lindbergh, who created drama and interest in the lives of many people across the globe. Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born on February 4, 1902, to Charles Lindbergh, Sr., and Evangeline Land Lodge.

His father was a lawyer and later a U.S. congressman. His mother taught chemistry at the local high school. Although he was born in Detroit, he grew upon a farm near Little Falls, Minnesota. (World Book) Lindbergh was a whiz with mechanics. By age twelve, he was in charge of driving and fixing the car. In high school, he assembled a tractor from a mail order kit.

When he was eighteen he entered the University of Wisconsin to study engineering. He found he was more interested in flying, so after two years he became a barnstormer, which was a pilot who performed daredevil stunts at fairs. (World Book) In 1924 Lindbergh enlisted in the U.S. Army so he could be trained to be a pilot. In 1925 he graduated as the top pilot in his class. He soon began working as a mail deliverer between St. Louis and Chicago. Lindbergh soon heard of an offer given in 1919 by a hotel owner named RaymondOrteig.

The offer was this: the first aviator to fly nonstop from New York to Paris would receive 25,000 dollars. Nobody had succeeded by 1927, and Lindbergh decided he could do it if head a suitable plane. He arranged for nine St. Louis businessmen to help him finance his plane. A company in San Diego called Ryan Aeronautical Company was chosen to construct the plane, whic Lindbergh helped design. The plane was named "The Spirit of St. Louis". A transcontinental record was immediately set in a test run when Lindbergh flew from San Diego to New York City in twenty hours and twenty-one minutes.

Nine days later Lindbergh started his thirty-three and one-half hour journey across the ocean. After this flight, Lindbergh became an international celebrity. He was honored with awards, celebrations, and parades. Some of his more esteemed awards were the Congressional Medal of Honor and the first ever Distinguished Flying Cross, both given to him by President Calvin Coolidge. Lindbergh was later asked by the United States government if he would fly to various Latin-American countries as a symbol of American good will.

Some of the countries were Guatemala, British Honduras, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and perhaps most importantly, Mexico. It was in Mexico that he met Anne Spencer Morrow, daughter of the American ambassador there. Charles and Anne were married in 1929. Charles taught her to fly and they went on many expeditions around the world, charting mew routes for airlines. Anne was also a famous poet and writer. Between 1931 and 1935 Lindbergh invented an "artificial heart" for Alexis Carvel, a French surgeon and biologist.

The device could pump the substances necessary for life throughout the tissues of an organ. It was in this period of time that disaster struck in the Lindbergh family. On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus, Jr., their twenty-month-old son, was kidnapped. Ten weeks later his body was found.

In 1934 a carpenter was convicted of the crime. In 1935, due to the pestering of reporters, photographers, and curious onlookers, Charles and Anne took their three-year-old, Jon and safety. Charles Lindbergh relates to Gatsby in a few ways. One is the fact that they both set their sights on a goal and would do whatever it took to achieve it. Another is that they were both well known figures in the community. (Lindbergh was more well known.

One last thing I think they share is that they both demonstrate the 1920's, and how there were so many "Big Shots" in those days that started very small. The achievements of Charles Lindbergh were many. They ranged from setting world records to assembling farm supplies at a young age to helping in the advancement of science. Iam glad that I was able to learn about these things, and I am glad to know that a man that has done so much will not be forgotten, but will be remembered through his accomplishments.