1. New York Times, 07 26, 1930, 14Google Scholar. See also Pew, Marlen, “Shop Talk at Thirty” (Editor and Publisher 63 [07 26, 1930]: 60)Google Scholar, for a complete discussion of Lindbergh's decision, including an interview with the aviator. The newspapers Lindbergh severed relations with were the New York Post; the New York Daily News; and the three New York Hearst papers, the American, the Evening Journal, and the Daily Mirror. This information comes from Milton, Joyce, Loss of Eden: A Biography of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh (New York: Harper Collins, 1993), 495.Google Scholar

2. “Fame and Privacy,” Nation 131 (08 20, 1930): 195.Google Scholar

3. For a summary of these views, see Kandel, Aben, “A Tabloid a Day,” Forum 77 (03 1927): 378–84Google Scholar; and “Are Tabloid Newspapers a Menace?” Forum 77 (04 1927): 485–501Google Scholar. More insightful, though no less contemptuous, is Bent, Silas, Ballyhoo: The Voice of the Press (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1927)Google Scholar. See also Lippmann, Walter, “Blazing Publicity,” Vanity Fair 29 (09 1927): 47, 110Google Scholar; and Lippmann, , The Phantom Public (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1925).Google Scholar

4. For an authoritative account of Lindbergh's view, I have relied primarily on Milton, , Loss of EdenGoogle Scholar, and Ross, Walter S., The Last Hero: Charles A. Lindbergh (New York: Harper and Row, 1968)Google Scholar. For a suggestive discussion of the ways in which reporters “cast” Lindbergh, see Davis, Kenneth S., The Hero: Charles A. Lindbergh and the American Dream (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1959), 174–75Google Scholar. Davis's book, a brilliant effort to connect Lindbergh to the larger processes of hero worship and celebrity-making, has strongly influenced the argument I make in this essay.

5. For an account of the evolution of celebrity discourse during the 18th and 19th centuries, see the introduction to my doctoral dissertation, “Idols and Icons: Representations of Celebrity in American Culture, 1850–1940” (Rutgers University, 1992)Google Scholar. For a more impressionistic account that concentrates on the early 20th century, see Schickel, Richard, Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1985).Google Scholar

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8. See Leon, Ponce de, “Idols and Icons,” introduction.Google Scholar

9. On “market culture” and the problem of appearances, see Agnew, Jean-Christophe, Worlds Apart: The Market and the Theater in Anglo-American Thought, 1550–1750 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Halttunen, Karen, Confidence Men and Painted Women: A Study of Middle-Class Culture in America, 1830–1870 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982)Google Scholar. For a modern account of its influence on social life, see Goffmann, Erving, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday Anchor, 1959).Google Scholar

10. See Braudy, Leo, The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and Its History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986)Google Scholar; Whittemore, Reed, Pure Lives: The Early Biographers (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988)Google Scholar; and Nadel, Ira Bruce, Biography: Fiction, Fact, and Form (New York: St. Martin's, 1984).Google Scholar

11. On the misgivings about virtue and success in the late 19th century, see Weiss, Richard, The American Myth of Success: From Horatio Alger to Norman Vincent Peale (New York: Basic, 1969).Google Scholar

12. The new psychology is discussed in Hale, Nathan G., Freud and the Americans: The Beginnings of Psychoanalysis in the United States, 1876–1917 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971)Google Scholar; and O'Donnell, John M., The Origins of Behaviorism: American Psychology, 1870–1920 (New York: New York University Press, 1985)Google Scholar. See also Bannister, Robert C., Social Darwinism: Science and Myth in Anglo-American Social Thought (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1979).Google Scholar

13. On the therapeutic ethos and its links to consumerism, see Lears, T. J. Jackson, “From Salvation to Self-Realization: Advertising and the Therapeutic Roots of the Consumer Culture, 1880–1930,” in The Culture of Consumption: Critical Essays in American History, 1880–1980, ed. Fox, Richard W. and Lears, T. J. Jackson (New York: Pantheon, 1983), 3–38Google Scholar; and Marchand, Roland, Advertising the American Dream: Making Way for Modernity, 1920–1940 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985).Google Scholar

14. There is no better example of the sobriety of Lindbergh's approach to aviation than the autobiography he wrote in the weeks after his New York-to-Paris flight, We (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1927). For a discussion of “airmindedness” as an American cultural obsession during the first half of the 20th century, see Corn, Joseph J., The Winged Gospel: America's Romance with Aviation, 1900–1950 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983)Google Scholar. As Corn's fascinating book makes clear, Lindbergh's views on aviation represented only one side of the coin — the Utopian promise of technology that the new industry embodied. They ran against the other side, a romantic conception of flight that was inextricably linked to daring and adventure.

15. For information about the Guggenheim group and their fears for the industry, I am indebted to Milton (Loss of Eden, 132–38Google Scholar). See also Hallion, Richard, Legacy of Flight: The Guggenheim Contribution to Aviation (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977)Google Scholar; and Guggenheim, Harry, The Seven Skies (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1930), 73–91Google Scholar. After Lindbergh's elevation to celebrity status, Guggenheim, Breckinridge, and Davison became his closest friends and Morrow served as his financial adviser. Thanks to their connections, he became a wealthy man, and in 1929 he cemented his ties to their milieu by marrying Morrow's daughter.

16. “Lindbergh the Exemplar,” Literary Digest 94 (07 9, 1927): 29Google Scholar; and “Why the World Makes Lindbergh Its Hero,” Literary Digest 93 (06 25, 1927): 6.Google Scholar

17. My analysis here is greatly indebted to the work of Michael P. Rogin. See his essays “Political Repression in the United States” and “American Political Demonology: A Retrospective,” in Ronald Reagan, The Movie and Other Episodes in American Political Demonology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987)Google Scholar. For theoretical background, see Stallybrass, Peter and White, Allon, The Politics and Poetics of Transgression (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986), 1–26Google Scholar. On the image of large corporations during the 1920s, see Galambos, Louis, The Public Image of Big Business in America, 1880–1940 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975)Google Scholar. While Galambos notes the emphasis placed on probity, efficiency, and public service, he neglects the projection of negative qualities onto scapegoats. Media valorization of big business also took an explicitly nostalgic turn. See Cohn, Jan, Creating America: George Horace Lorimer and the Saturday Evening Post (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989).Google Scholar

18. See Leuchtenburg, William E., The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–1932 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958)Google Scholar; Carter, Paul A., Another Part of the Twenties (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977)Google Scholar; Hawley, Ellis W., The Great War and the Search for a Modern Order (New York: St. Martin's, 1979)Google Scholar; and Nash, Roderick, The Nervous Generation: American Thought, 1917–1930 (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1970).Google Scholar

19. On the new cultural styles and their widespread appeal, see Sklar, Robert, “Introduction,” in The Plastic Age, 1917–1930, ed. Sklar, Robert (New York: George Brazilier, 1970)Google Scholar; and Erenberg, Lewis A., Steppin' Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture, 1890–1930 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1981).Google Scholar

20. These contradictions are explored in John William Ward's seminal essay, “The Meaning of Lindbergh's Flight,” American Quarterly 10 (Spring 1958): 3–16Google Scholar. Ward's essay is confined to the cultural significance of the 1927 New York-to-Paris flight and does not examine the significance of his celebrity.

21. On efforts to disentangle “American” values from the booster spirit of the 1920s, see Susman, Warren I., Culture as History: The Transformation of American Society in the Twentieth Century (New York: Pantheon, 1984)Google Scholar. The definitive revisionist text is Allen, Frederick Lewis, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1931).Google Scholar

22. For the term “moral investment,” I am indebted to Kenneth S. Davis. While he applies it to the entire country, I confine my use of it to the editors who constructed the “heroic” Lindbergh (see Davis, , The Hero, 220).Google Scholar

23. For the concept of “true success,” I am indebted to John G. Cawelti, who employs it in his analysis of contemporary “social melodrama.” In my dissertation, I attempt to expand and historicize the concept. See Cawelti, John G., Adventure, Mystery, Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular Culture (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), 260–84.Google Scholar

24. The literature on religious and republican critiques of wealth and power is enormous. On the relations between these critiques and success literature, see Weiss (American Myth of Success). On gossip and the roots of petit-bourgeois attacks on aristocracy, see Darnton, Robert, The Literary Underground of the Old Regime (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982)Google Scholar. The role of the penny press as arbiter of the common good is covered by Schiller, Dan in Objectivity and the News: The Public and the Rise of Commercial Journalism (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981).Google Scholar

25. On Lindbergh's estrangement from reporters, see Davis, (The Hero, 263–72)Google Scholar. On his relations with his “favorites,” see Milton, (Loss of Eden, 167–68)Google Scholar. These writers included C. B. Allen of the New York World and Lauren D. Lyman and Russell Owen of the New York Times. Both Allen and Lyman later went on to serve as important figures in the aviation industry — Allen with the Civilian Aeronautics Board, and Lyman with United Aircraft Corporation, a leading manufacturer, for which Lindbergh also worked as a consultant.

26. Even his supporters conceded the problems created by the newsreels: see Gregory, John S., “What's Wrong with Lindbergh,” Outlook and Independent 156 (12 3, 1930): 532Google Scholar. For a more general discussion of the Lindbergh “mystery,” see Lardner, John, “The Lindbergh Legends,” in The Aspirin Age, 1919–1941, ed. Leighton, Isabel (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1947), 190–213.Google Scholar

27. See Douglas, George H., The Smart Magazines: Fifty Years of Literary Revelry and High Jinks atGoogle Scholar Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, Life, Esquire, and the Smart Set (Hamdem, Conn.: Archon, 1991); and Tebbel, John and Zuckerman, Mary Ellen, The Magazine in America, 1741–1990 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).Google Scholar

28. Markey, Morris, “Young Man of Affairs — II,” New Yorker 6 (09 27, 1930): 33, 32, 30, 31Google Scholar; see also Markey, , “Young Man of Affairs,” New Yorker 6 (09 20, 1930): 26–29.Google Scholar

29. See Pictorial Review 32 (11 1930): 14–15Google Scholar; and Keyhoe, Donald E., “Lindbergh Four Years After,” Saturday Evening Post 203 (05 20, 1931): 21, 46–53.Google Scholar

30. Keyhoe, Donald E., Flying with Lindbergh (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1928)Google Scholar; quote on 250. See the Saturday Evening Post 200 (05 19, 06 2, 06 23, 1928)Google Scholar and SEP 201 (07 21, 1928)Google Scholar. Portions of this book also appeared in National Geographic 53 (01 1928), 1–46Google Scholar. See also Keyhoe, Donald E., “Has Fame Made Lindy High Hat?” Popular Science Monthly 115 (07 1929): 32–40, 142–44.Google Scholar

31. New York Times, 03 25, 1928, 1, 27.Google Scholar

32. See, for example, Constance Skinner, Lindsay, “Feet of Clay — Eyes of Envy?” North American Review 228 (07 1929): 41–46Google Scholar; Mason, Julian S., “Lindbergh and the Press,” Saturday Evening Post 202 (08 3, 1929): 5, 98–102Google Scholar; and Gregory, , “What's Wrong with Lindbergh,” 532–34, 556.Google Scholar

33. New York Times, 03 25, 1928, 1Google Scholar; and Keyhoe, , Flying with Lindbergh, 20.Google Scholar

34. Keyhoe, , Flying with Lindbergh, 86, 208Google Scholar; and Mason, , “Lindbergh and the Press,” 101.Google Scholar

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36. Keyhoe, , Flying with Lindbergh, 279, 104Google Scholar; and Keyhoe, , “Lindbergh Four Years After,” 48, 53.Google Scholar

37. See Waller, George, Kidnap: The Story of the Lindbergh Case (New York: Dial, 1961).Google Scholar

38. New York Times, 12 23, 1935, 1.Google Scholar

39. See Susman, , Culture as History, 271–90.Google Scholar

40. For a sample of editorial reaction to the Lindberghs' exile, see the New York Times, 12 24, 1935, 2Google Scholar. Quotes are from editorials in the New York Daily Mirror, the Dallas News, and the New York Herald-Tribune, all of which were reprinted in the article cited above.

41. See Cole, Wayne S., Charles A. Lindbergh and the Battle Against American Intervention in World War II (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974).Google Scholar

42. On this issue, see Cole (Charles A. Lindbergh). Lindbergh's writings include “Aviation, Geography, and Race,” Reader's Digest 35 (11 1939): 64–67Google Scholar; “What Substitute for War?” Atlantic Monthly 165 (03 1940): 304–8Google Scholar; and “A Letter to Americans,” Collier's 107 (03 29, 1941): 75–77.Google Scholar

43. Lindbergh's seeming sympathy for Germany and racism are especially apparent in “Aviation, Geography, and Race.” For a vivid example of his demonization, see the pamphlet produced by the New York group Friends of Democracy entitled “Is Lindbergh a Nazi?” which juxtaposed Lindbergh's views with those of Hitler, Goebbels, and assorted American fascists. See also Thompson, Dorothy, “What Lindbergh Really Wants,” Look 8 (11 18, 1941): 13–15.Google Scholar

44. Owen, Russell, “What's the Matter with Lindbergh?” American Magazine 127 (04 1939): 66Google Scholar; and Allen, C. B., “The Facts About Lindbergh,” Saturday Evening Post 213 (12 28, 1940): 53.Google Scholar

45. See, for example, Sondern, Frederic Jr., “Lindbergh Walks Alone,” Life 6 (04 3, 1939): 64–75.Google Scholar

46. See Butterfield, Roger, “Lindbergh: A Stubborn Young Man of Strange Ideas Becomes a Leader of Wartime Opposition,” Life 11 (08 11, 1941): 64–75.Google Scholar

47. See the series by Collins, Frederick L., “Why Lindbergh Acts That Way,” Liberty 18 (06 7, 1941): 16–17, 46–47Google Scholar; ibid. (June 14, 1941): 18–19, 46–47; ibid. (June 21, 1941): 18–19, 41–42; and ibid. (June 28, 1941): 34–36. See also Bruno, Harry and Thomas, Lowell, “What's the Matter with Lindbergh?” American Magazine 132 (08 1941): 106–9Google Scholar. The quote is from Collins, “Why Lindbergh Acts That Way” (06 28, 1941): 36.Google Scholar

48. Collins, , “Why Lindbergh Acts That Way,”Google Scholaribid. (June 21, 1941): 42.

49. Despite her sympathy for the Lindberghs, Joyce Milton is frank on this issue: see Loss of Eden (384–85, 441). For a thorough discussion of Lindbergh's comparatively reactionary views, see Cole, (Charles A. Lindbergh).Google Scholar