Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-01-31
The Lone EuqIe' Comes of AGE

economic and military accomplishments, ne
said "are rooted in the human quality which
produces them In the last analysis, all of our
knowledge, all of our action, all of our progress
succeeds or fails according to its effect on the
human body, mind and spirit"
These are the words of man who has
come long way since the summer OF 1927 And
the occasion for their utterance-the bestowal
upon Colonel Lindbergh of the Daniel Guggen-
helm Medal by the Institute of the Aeronautica
ScienceS-may serve to mark another swing of
the pendulum in career which, for its ups
and downs has few parallels.
Although it really has not been so long ago
in point of time, it is bit hard to recapture
the mood Of 1927. Flagpole sitters were 'front.'
page news. Daddy" Browning was shouting
to Peaches" Browning: Wool! Wool! Don't
be goof" And that was a matter Of much
public interest. 1t was the heyday of booming
stock market, bathtub gin, flappers and raccoon
coats F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that it was
the age of generation grown up to find all
gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man
shaken"
Then, in May, an unknown 25-year-
pilot became the first man to fly the Atlantic
alone. The legend of the Lone Eagle was born,
and an excessively modest boy came back to
Washington aboard the cruiser Memphis to
begin what was, for him, the cruel process of
growing up.
1t was memorable day for those who
witnessed the scene Six destroyers and a
notllla OF planes escorted the Memphis to the
Navy Yard Awaiting Lindbergh were more
IMAM $4,000 kilograms sent in care of the
President. One wire from Minneapolis bore
1880 signatures AS this youngster and his
mother rode triumphantly through the streets
OF Washington, he was preceded by cavalry
escort and followed by four trucks carrying
more than 100000 air-mail letters of congratu-
lationS.
Harsher days lay ahead The extravagant
adulation soon began to pail upon the hero of
May. The reaction set in, and the crowds OF
well-wishers became source of irritation
Then, In 1882, the most grievouS blow fell The
three years between the kidnap-murder Of his
first child and the trial of Bruno Hauptmann
were dreadful ordeal The Lindberghs went
into virtual retirement.
BY 1941, however, he returned to the public
scene as a spokesman for American isolation
from the war in Europe. He said some foolish
things. Freedom of speech and even the
chances Of holding another election, he
thought, were threatened. The British, the
Jews and Franklin Roosevelt he charged, were
plotting to drive the United States into the
war. Even If America entered the war" he
that the allied armies could invade Europe and
overcome the Axis powers"
1,t There is no doubt that Colonel Lindbergh
believed what he was saying. He paid dearly
however, for saying what he thought. The
national hero of 1927 became a revied and
hated man in 1941. The Texas House OF Repre-
sentatives adopted a resolution advising him
to stay out of the State In Logan County, West
Virginia, all Lindbergh pictures were ordered
removed from the public schools. After Pearl
Harbor, Colonel Lindbergh. who had given up
his reserve commission while speaking for the
America First Committee applied for active
duty. A national newspaper poll on the ques-
ton Of commissioning him brought many favor
able and many adverse comments, among the
latter being such as these: "No, he can't be
trusted he is a traitor all he's ever done
is to push the Fascist principle and stir up
defeatism"
For some reason, probably political, he was
never put on active duty. But during the war,
Lindbergh served his country in many valuable
ways, including, it is said, some so fighter pilot
missions while In civilian status against the
Japanese.
BY 1s47 the isolatonist of 1s4l was saying
that the United States must help rebuild West
ern civilization even though it might require
the use of military force, because "in rocket
atomic age the welfare of other nations is more
than important; it Is vital to u.s.
A year later he was dsavowing his early
belief that science is more important than
either man or God" And on this past Monday
night addressing the Institute of Aeronautical
Sciences he was deploring a modern standard
of efficiency which "immobilizes the muscles
and the senses while 1t overactivates the brain;
he was appealing for humility, simplicity and
tranquility; he was warning that "short-term
survival may depend on the knowledge of
nuclear physicists and the performance of
supersonic aircraft, but that long term survival
depends alone on the character of man." and
he was saying, finally, that we need greater
simplicity of life, and that the solution to our
1t nowhere else"
The Lone Eagle of 1927, who once thought
that in science lay "the key to all mysteries of
life," has grown in wisdom and In that kind of
understanding which does not profess to under
stand too much. Over the past q years, lfe
for him, has been excessively good and exceed
ingly harsh. Perhaps this receipt of the Gug-
genheim Medal marks the beginning of more
mature and more truly happy experience
Those who can still remember the youngster
who came ashore in Washington from the
cruiser Memphis will hope so.
A Law That Is Saving Lives
The quick death administered by Virginias
General Assembly to a bill for repeal of the
States second offender" speed law was justi-
fed The law ono nf several raSsed nv the