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*Political bytes
* Coming our way
SAN DIEGO – Aviator Charles A. Lindbergh was the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, New York to Paris, landing at Le Bourget Aerodrome on May 20, 1927. Ever since then, San Diego has been bedazzled by the daring pilot, naming after him its airport on San Diego Bay, a park near Balboa Avenue west of the 8095, a school in Clairemont Mesa (also named for humanitarian Albert E. Schweitzer), and a street near Otay Valley Regional Park.
There was a good reason in the late 1920s for San Diego’s pride in his flight. His airplane The Spirit of St. Louis, so named because it was financed by Missourians, was built by Ryan Aircraft in San Diego under Lindbergh’s direction. It was outfitted with extra gas tanks and stripped of all non-essentials so it could be as light as possible.
A new book by Candace Fleming, intended for Young Adults, is The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh. Besides recounting the famous flight that made him a cultural icon, and the horrific kidnapping of the first child born to him and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the book tells how Lindbergh became an acolyte of the French, Nobel Prize-winning surgeon Dr. Alexis Carrel, with whom he worked on experiments designed to provide human beings with immortality. Together, Carrel and Lindbergh dreamed of creating a panel of immortals who could devote themselves to eugenics, a field once popular in the United States that held that the human race could be improved through selective breeding of superior people and the sterilization of interior people. It was a “science” that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis turned into their ideology.
Believing as Carrel did that the white race had to be protected, Lindbergh became enamored of Hitler’s glorification of the so-called Aryan race. Hounded by the media ever since his famous flight, and especially during the tragic kidnapping murder of his young son, Lindbergh was impressed by how well the German Nazis controlled the press and kept them at bay during his first visit to their country during the 1936 Olympics.
During that visit, Lindbergh was given tours of Nazi aircraft facilities, even flying in some of the Germans’ new planes. He submitted a well-publicized report to the United States government that Germany was far ahead of both Britain and France in matters of aviation, a report that some historians believe influenced Britain’s Chancellor Neville Chamberlin to appease Hitler’s demand that German sovereignty over the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia be restored. Lindbergh was subsequently presented with a Service Cross of the German Eagle with Star by Hermann Goering, the Nazis’ field marshal general, “by order of the Fuhrer.”
Lindbergh, returning from that trip, suggested that France and Britain ought to ally themselves with Nazi Germany, rather than to fight it. “It is time to turn from our quarrels and to build our White ramparts again,” he said. He called for a “Western Wall of race and arms which can hold back … the infiltration of inferior blood…”
During his career as an aviator, Lindbergh had been helped by Jews, most notably Harry Guggenheim, who awarded him $50,000 for his successful transatlantic flight. But during the tragedy of his son’s kidnapping, another Jew, Mickey Rosner, bilked him of $2,500 saying he could find out whether the Mafia was involved. Rosner’s associate, Irving Bitz, also was involved in the scam. However it’s unlikely that the kidnapping case was formative; if it had been, most of Lindbergh’s ire should have been directed at the German-born carpenter, Bruno Hauptmann, who was tried, convicted, and executed for the kidnappng and murder.
Hitler’s racist ideology, building on Carrel’s, found a receptive listener in Lindbergh, who before U.S. entry into World War II was a spokesman for the “America First” movement. Lindbergh’s most notorious anti-Semitic speech was delivered in 1941 in the Des Moines (Iowa) Coliseum. He said three powerful forces were attempting to push the United States into the war against Germany: the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the British, and American Jews.
In her book, Fleming wrote that Lindbergh “revealed his ugliest beliefs” when he discussed the Jews.
He began by saying he understood why Jews wanted America to go into a war with Germany. Nazi persecution was enough to ‘make bitter enemies of any race.’ But if this country went to war, American Jews would be the first to feel the consequences because there was certain to be a violent outbreak of anti-Semitism. He didn’t clarify these comments further, but to many listeners his implication was clear. If Jews didn’t stop lobbying for intervention, they would pay. ‘The Jewish races … for reasons which are not American, wish to involve us in this war,’ he went on. ‘We cannot blame them for looking out for what they believe to be in their own interests, but we must also look out for ours. We cannot allow the natural passions and prejudices of other peoples to lead our country to destruction.’ Other peoples? Charles was saying that Jewish people living in this country were not Americans, but others – a group living within the United States with no allegiance to the nation.
Unsurprised by Lindbergh’s comments was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had previously denounced him at a press conference. He described as “dumb” Lindbergh’s assertions that a Nazi victory was inevitable. He compared Lindbergh to officers at Valley Forge who had urged George Washington to surrender to the “inevitable” victory of the British. A reporter, asking a question planted by the White House, then queried Roosevelt if Lindbergh, a colonel, had been called up to active duty. FDR responded that during the Civil War, the Union Army had refused to call up “copperheads,” the name given to Northerners with Southern sympathies. Asked if he was referring to Lindbergh, Roosevelt said indeed he was. Soon afterwards Lindbergh resigned from the U.S. military
Although the airport today is called San Diego International Airport rather than Lindbergh Field, and the large mural of Lindbergh has been removed, the question all these years later is notwithstanding Lindbergh’s famous flight into the history books, does a man who was an avowed racist and Nazi sympathizer really deserve to be the honored namesake of Lindbergh Field, a name that is still on the books; as well as a park, a school, and a street in San Diego?
Those who read Candace Fleming’s incisive book are bound to wonder about that.
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Political bytes
*San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez warns supporters that she will be seriously outspent by opponent Sara Jacobs in the race for the 53rd Congressional District. “Remember that super PAC that spent over $670,000 to support our opponent? Well, we just got word they’re dropping another $250,000 against us for good measure. That’s in addition to the $1.2 million that our opponent already spent on TV ads. Their ads are on TV as often as Mike Bloomberg’s. … The truth is, we’re not going to compete in the money chase with our billionaire, self-funding opponent…”
*In a similar missive aimed against San Diego City Councilwoman Barbara Bry, the campaign of her opponent in the race for San Diego mayor, Assemblyman Todd Gloria, writes, “This week Todd’s ultra-wealthy opponent dumped $60,000 of her own money into her campaign. That might seem like a drop in the bucket to her, but to working San Diegans like Todd’s parents, who were a maid and a gardener, $60,000 is an entire year’s wroth of income. If Todd’s millionaire opponent keeps putting money into her campaign, she might be able to drown out Todd’s message.”
*The appeals for both Gomez and Gloria, per above, end up with appeals to their supporters to send them money to counteract the spending of their opponents.
*The campaign of Escondido City Councilwoman Olga Diaz, who is running to unseat County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, messages: “The County Board of Supervisors acts like a city council for unincorporated county land, which is approximately 80 percent of the county. Olga has more than 11 years of experience serving on city council, meaning that she has more than a decade of real, applicable experience in local governance and handling local issues that pertain to land use, housing, infrastructure, roads, parks and open space, and much more. And she has Supervisor Nathan Fletcher’s support, the only Democrat currently serving on the County Board of Supervisors.” Diaz and another Democrat, Terra Lawson-Remer, seem locked in a tight battle in the three-way race.
*Michelle Ialeggio, a candidate for San Diego County Superior Court, will be hosted at a fundraiser by Judge Harry Elias at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 18, at Oggi’s Pizza , 425 S. Melrose Drive, Vista.
*The “No on A” campaign reports that economist Alan Nevin has joined its coalition that includes both the San Diego Democratic and Republic parties. The measure would require county voters to make judgments on any proposed housing development that exceeds the general plan allowance by six units or more, which opponents say would result in increased costs for housing.
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Coming our way
*The regional office of the Anti-Defamation League is sponsoring a “Walk Against Hate” on Sunday, April 26, beginning at 8:30 a.m. at Liberty Station with a diversity expo. A 5K walk follows at 9:45 a.m.. Early registration is $15 for adults and $10 for those 18 years old and under. Temple Emanu-El has announced it plans to field a team for the event, with Jean Seager serving as captain. “Take a step in the right direction to show that San Diego is truly no place for hate,” urges the Reform congregation.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com