Entries in the diary detail Mr. Lindbergh's prewar trips to the Soviet Union and Germany; his efforts to convey his estimate of Germany's air might to the United States; his attempst to keep his country out of the war, including involvement with the America First Committee; his work helping to produce B-24 bombers for the Ford Motor Company ; his 50 combat missions as a civilian in the Pacific, and his mid-1945 study of German aircraft and missile development.
The journal also gives glimpses of Mr. Lindbergh's private and family life, his love of solitude, the almost mystical joy he found in flying and his profound affection for his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh the writer.
Quest for Privacy
In addition, the diary recounts many of the difficulties the flier encountered in achieving privacy for himself and his family in the years after his solo flight from New York to Paris in 1927 made him an international figure. The bulk of the bood deals with Mr. Lindbergh's life after Amerian entry into the war.
According to Harcourt, Brace & World, the flier's publisher, publication of the 400,000-word volume 25 years after its final entry is intended "to establish an accurate account of his observations and actions during the dramatic days of the prewar and wartime periods and at the same time to correct erros that repeatedly occur in articles and books about him."
Mr, Lindbergh was unavailable for comment yesterday on these"errors," nor were copies of his manuscript available. The flier is know,however, to believe that some of these "errors" involve his prewar anti-interventionism.
The Lindberghs left the United States in 1935, three years after the kindappind and murder of their infant som, Charles Jr. They lived in Britain and Frace until their return in 1939.
From the fall of that year to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941, Mr. Lindbergh was the center of intense controversy for his speeches and writings that oppesed Amerian entry into the war. some of his speeches were sponsored by the America First Committee, whose board he joined in 1941.
(The committe was supported by among others, robert E. Wood of Sears, Roebuck; Hanford MacNider of the Amerian Legion; Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana; Henry Ford; William Benton, the advertising man; John T. Flynn, the economist; and Edward Richenbacker, the flier. the politics of the supporters ranged from reactionary to liberal.)
Mr. Lindbergh's antiwar activity was received with great acclaim by many Americans. At teh same time his speeches and articles were criticized by members of the Administration and President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself.
Mr. Lindbergh faced espcially sharp censure in the fall of 1941 for a speech in which he seemed to say that some American Jewish groups favored American entry into the war. The lier was also accused at the time as being pro-German. Critics cited a civilian medal given him by Germany in 1938 that paid tribute to his aviation exploits.
To what extent Mr. Lindbergh's published diary reflects these and other episodes was not clear yesterday.
Clarifying the Issues
Mr. Lindberght is quoted in the Harcourt announcement as saying: "I hope my journals relating to World WarII will help clarify issues of the past and thereby contribute to understanding the issues and conditions of the present and future."
In explanation of why Mr Lindbergh kept a jounal, his publisher quotes him as writing:
"I was taking part in one of the great crises of world history. Aviation constituted a new and possibly decisive element in preventing or fighting a war, and I was in a unique position to observe Eurpean aviation- especially in its milityar aspects.
"I had the full support of our American Embassies, and I could travel and visit with much greater freedom than the military members of their staffs. Two years previously (in 1936) an invitation from Field Marshal (Hermann) Goering to inspect the German Luftwaffe had given me disturbing insight into the magnitude of Hitler's intentions. Manifold developments were bound to make a journal well worth keeping."
The book will be published in September as "The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh." With illustrations, it will total nearly 1,000 pages.
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