CRIME OF THE CENTURY
The Lindbergh
Kidnapping Hoax
by
Gregory Ahlgren
&
Stephen Monier
Copyright 2011 Gregory Ahlgren and Stephen Monier,
Published in eBook format by Branden Books
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-0-8283-2276-8
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Branden Books.
BRANDEN BOOKS
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank all of those whose help, input and suggestions contributed to this project. A special thanks goes to Bill Lefebvre, Debbie Lajoie, Sheri Kelloway-Martin, Sue LeBel, Denise Roberge and Michael Theodosopoulos.
PREFACE
Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh was one of the central figures of the American twentieth century. His solo flight from New York to Paris in May of 1927 did more than rivet the attention of the world.
Technologically, it granted aviation a respect previously absent. Historically, it altered America's geopolitical view. Never again could Americans feel safe behind an ocean which could be crossed by one man, alone, in 33 1/2 hours.
Lindbergh himself was transformed from a social misfit into America's greatest living hero. It mattered little that he was not the best pilot, nor that had he failed, others would have succeeded shortly thereafter. He had done it, and he would forever be "The Lone Eagle."
Accompanying his rise in social prominence was his rise in political stature. As the "Lone Eagle," Lindbergh was able to prevail in a clash with Franklin Roosevelt over issues concerning the federal regulation of airlines, and even for a time, over American foreign policy.
When in 1929, he married the young Anne Morrow, daughter of Ambassador Dwight Morrow, the press and the public treated the couple as the Europeans might royalty. They were hounded by paparazzi.
The 1932 disappearance of their infant son shocked and outraged the nation. When the child's body was discovered, other parents actually wrote to the Lindberghs offering their own children as substitutes.
Beyond the glitz and the grief, however, a darker side of Lindbergh was never exposed. His beliefs on racial superiority were not generally known by the adoring public. The cruel behaviors he often directed at those close to him were given scant attention.
More than two years after the child's death Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested and convicted of the murder. In 1935, shortly before Hauptmann's scheduled execution, the New Jersey governor announced that several troubling aspects of the case compelled him to reopen the investigation. Lindbergh secretly slipped away to Europe with his family.
There he became openly proNazi, often visiting Germany and even accepting an aviation award from Hermann Goering.
Upon his return to America in 1939 Lindbergh became politically outspoken. As the de facto leader of the America First Movement, he advocated total neutrality in World War II. He was openly proGerman and proNazi, and in his speeches, made no effort to mask his strong anti Semitism.
Recognizing the threat posed by a Nazi dominated Europe, President Franklin Roosevelt emerged as the leader of the internationalist forces; Lindbergh the spokesman for isolationism. Although his popularity declined, Lindbergh's position came close to prevailing. That it did not, was attributable to military developments beyond his control.
In the postwar euphoria, Lindbergh's antebellum stance was swept from the nation's consciousness. What remained were the twin images of "Lucky Lindy," crossing the Atlantic alone and brave, and, to a lesser extent, the tragedy of the loss of his first child. This book explores his role in that tragedy.
CHAPTER I
It is still the most spectacular kidnapping and murder case ever investigated. The disappearance of the 20 month old son of Colonel Charles and Anne Lindbergh from the nursery of their Hopewell, New Jersey home in the early evening of March 1, 1932 shocked the nation and the world. Later that evening Colonel Lindbergh claimed to find a ransom note on a nursery window sill, where Anne and other household staff had previously seen nothing. The note was assumed to be genuine, and the case was then, and has forever after, been treated as a kidnapping.
Colonel Lindbergh himself was allowed to head up the ensuing investigation. He specifically invited the kidnappers to negotiate with him, and a myriad of ransom demands dutifully arrived from various groups claiming to have the child, or the contacts to negotiate his safe return. The police chased after them all.
On May 12 of that year the badly decomposed body of the child was found less than three miles from the Colonel's home and the case was officially elevated to a murder. Two and onehalf years later, an itinerant German carpenter named Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested, convicted and eventually executed for the crime. Public opinion was nearly unanimous in its belief in Hauptmann's guilt. However, doubt grew with the passage of time and the uncovering of further information. A legitimate school of thought has now developed that Hauptmann was innocent, a mere scapegoat for an embarrassed police force which had no real leads two years after the crime.
But that is not to say there were no suspects. When Betty Gow, the 27 year old Scottish nursemaid discovered the empty crib, her immediate thought was that Colonel Lindbergh, himself, had done it. Anne Lindbergh, upon entering the nursery, independently shared the same suspicion. Despite his image as an American Hero, Charles Lindbergh had a history of directing very cruel behaviors at anyone he perceived as a threat or whom he otherwise sought to control. Although his supporters have referred to this as his penchant for "practical jokes" there was nothing either practical or joking about them.
Just two months earlier he had hidden the baby in a closet and then dramatically announced that the child had been kidnapped. The whole household had been thrown into an uproar while a panic stricken Anne feared the worst. Lindbergh had allowed the ruse to continue for some 20 minutes before roaring heartily and admitting it was all a hoax.
And so, as Betty Gow and Anne Lindbergh stared at the empty crib shortly after 10:00 p.m. on March 1, 1932, they both inwardly suspected that the Colonel was again responsible. Yet that initial suspicion by both the mother and the nurse was the total extent of any investigation ever conducted into Charles Lindbergh's responsibility for this act. He claimed to have found the note, everyone believed the hero, and for 60 years his role in the disappearance and death of his child has gone unexplored.
But that says as much about Charles Lindbergh as it does about our own criminal justice system of 60 years ago.
