August Lindbergh (1859–1924) was born in Sweden & left for the USA early in life. As a teen, his son Charles Lindbergh (1902-74) loved machines, especially the family’s Model T Ford. And The Spirit of St Louis. People knew that from birth on, Charles Lindbergh had had difficulty connecting with humans. But while his obsessive love of machines caused him to be a problematic husband later on, it was precisely what he needed to grab a spot in the history books.
Charles studied mechanical engineering at Wisconsin Uni before pursuing a career in flying. Then the heroic aviator became world famous for the first solo transatlantic plane flight, New York-Paris, in 1927. This daring flight was 33.5 hours in the air.
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Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis
on Long Island, mid-May 1927
After his daring feat, large crowds excitedly cheered Lindbergh wherever he went. Especially when he married Anne Morrow (1906-2001) in 1929!
The Charles Lindbergh House and Museum MN presented the following information. In Jun 1930 the Lindberghs welcomed their first son, named Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. Requests for photographs quickly came in from the press and admiration flowed from the public. The Lindberghs were building a house in a remote area near Hopewell, New Jersey when the baby was stolen from his bedroom in 1932; the Lindberghs and their staff were inside the house, awake. A ransom note and broken ladder propped against the outside wall were discovered, and over the next few weeks many letters and tips poured in.
The Lindberghs paid $50,000 in ransom, through contacts, to a man claiming to have information about the baby. 10 weeks after the kidnapping, the body of a toddler was found partially buried in the woods near the Lindbergh home.
With no leads, the case went cold. But two years later one of the ransom bills surfaced, leading investigators to indict German immigrant Bruno Hauptmann with extortion and murder. Hauptmann’s trial begin in Jan 1935 and quickly became the Trial of the Century. The ransom go-between, John Condon, identified Hauptmann as the man to whom he paid the ransom and other crucial testimony came from scientists. Hauptmann took the stand and continued to profess his innocence but the jury found him guilty of first degree murder and he was executed at a New Jersey prison
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Charles studied mechanical engineering at Wisconsin Uni before pursuing a career in flying. Then the heroic aviator became world famous for the first solo transatlantic plane flight, New York-Paris, in 1927. This daring flight was 33.5 hours in the air.
on Long Island, mid-May 1927
After his daring feat, large crowds excitedly cheered Lindbergh wherever he went. Especially when he married Anne Morrow (1906-2001) in 1929!
The Charles Lindbergh House and Museum MN presented the following information. In Jun 1930 the Lindberghs welcomed their first son, named Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. Requests for photographs quickly came in from the press and admiration flowed from the public. The Lindberghs were building a house in a remote area near Hopewell, New Jersey when the baby was stolen from his bedroom in 1932; the Lindberghs and their staff were inside the house, awake. A ransom note and broken ladder propped against the outside wall were discovered, and over the next few weeks many letters and tips poured in.
The Lindberghs paid $50,000 in ransom, through contacts, to a man claiming to have information about the baby. 10 weeks after the kidnapping, the body of a toddler was found partially buried in the woods near the Lindbergh home.
With no leads, the case went cold. But two years later one of the ransom bills surfaced, leading investigators to indict German immigrant Bruno Hauptmann with extortion and murder. Hauptmann’s trial begin in Jan 1935 and quickly became the Trial of the Century. The ransom go-between, John Condon, identified Hauptmann as the man to whom he paid the ransom and other crucial testimony came from scientists. Hauptmann took the stand and continued to profess his innocence but the jury found him guilty of first degree murder and he was executed at a New Jersey prison
in Apr 1936.
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Charles Lindbergh (in goggles) and German officers during one of his visits to Germany.
YALE
The period had been an agony for the Lindberghs. To escape the constant media attention in the USA, the couple moved abroad, living in Britain & then France.
In the late 1930s the US government asked Lindbergh to tour the German flying fleet and report back. So he made four visits to Germany to report on the Luftwaffe for the US military, and expressed his admiration for German’s aircraft technology. In 1941, Lindberg strongly recommended that the US negotiate a neutrality pact with Hitler, accusing the Jewish race of being behind the drive for America to enter WW2. Post-war, his popular reputation at home diminished, cast as an anti-Semite and Nazi sympathiser.
Yet post-war Charles still served as a consultant to the US Air Force and to Pan American World Airways, and travelled often. In 1957, middle aged Lindbergh met and fell in love with Brigitte Hesshaimer, a 31-year-old German hat-maker living in Munich. They began a long-term affair that only ended with his death in 1974. Although Lindbergh visited Brigitte 2-3 times a year, introducing himself to his children with a fake name, they kept their relationship a total secret.
The period had been an agony for the Lindberghs. To escape the constant media attention in the USA, the couple moved abroad, living in Britain & then France.
In the late 1930s the US government asked Lindbergh to tour the German flying fleet and report back. So he made four visits to Germany to report on the Luftwaffe for the US military, and expressed his admiration for German’s aircraft technology. In 1941, Lindberg strongly recommended that the US negotiate a neutrality pact with Hitler, accusing the Jewish race of being behind the drive for America to enter WW2. Post-war, his popular reputation at home diminished, cast as an anti-Semite and Nazi sympathiser.
Yet post-war Charles still served as a consultant to the US Air Force and to Pan American World Airways, and travelled often. In 1957, middle aged Lindbergh met and fell in love with Brigitte Hesshaimer, a 31-year-old German hat-maker living in Munich. They began a long-term affair that only ended with his death in 1974. Although Lindbergh visited Brigitte 2-3 times a year, introducing himself to his children with a fake name, they kept their relationship a total secret.
Lindbergh was also involved in secret long-term relationships with Hesshaimer’s sister Marietta, and Valeska, Lindbergh’s German translator and private secretary in Baden-Baden. He had two children with each of these women, again keeping the families secret.
Anne Lindbergh and three of her children
She thought she had an excellent family life
Although Lindbergh did not live in Germany, he regularly visited Brigitte in Munich and took her to his secret flat in Rome, used for his other assignations. He took the children on trips to the country and told stories of his travels. And he never failed to meet his financial duties towards the Brigitte, for whom he built a house.
Just before his death in 1974, Lindbergh wrote letters to his three mistresses, asking them to continue utmost secrecy. They did! Even upon learning the truth of their father’s identity in the 1990s, two of the 3 families German continued their silence, as ordered.
Based on DNA testing in 2003, Lindbergh's children with Anne Morrow were Charles Augustus (1930–2); Jon (b1932); Land Morrow (b1937); Anne Lindbergh Perrin (1940–93); Scott (b1942) and Reeve (b1945). His children with Brigitte Hesshaimer were Dyrk, Astrid & David Hesshaimer. With Marietta Hesshaimer, his children were Vago and Christoph Hesshaimer and with Valeska (? surname), his children were a son and a daughter.
That year, the American siblings spoke out. They were understandably shocked at the news of the German families and refused to believe it, particularly as the Hesshaimer sisters were both disabled. Lindbergh had followedeugenics scienceand believed in breeding healthy children from healthy parents. Yet he had fathered children with two disabled women who were unable to walk properly.
While they made no claim to Lindbergh’s estate, the German siblings wanted to write about their mother’s long-term secret relationship with their father. Their 2005 book, The Double Life of Charles A. Lindbergh by Rudolf Schröck, was published in Germany.
Only in 2009 did Charles and Anne’s youngest child Reeve wrote about hearing of her father's infidelities and about her connecting with her European siblings: Forward from Here: Leaving Middle Age and Other Unexpected Adventures. She thought that by the time he died in 1974, Charles had made his life agonisingly complicated.
The so-called Crime of the Century back in 1935 certainly traumatised Lindbergh. But could Lindbergh’s other wives and children understand the kidnapping tragedy as the main cause for his lifelong character disorder. Did they even know about it? Biographers said that the murder of his son certainly did set off something crippling in Charles Lindbergh’s already disturbed personality.
She thought she had an excellent family life
Although Lindbergh did not live in Germany, he regularly visited Brigitte in Munich and took her to his secret flat in Rome, used for his other assignations. He took the children on trips to the country and told stories of his travels. And he never failed to meet his financial duties towards the Brigitte, for whom he built a house.
Just before his death in 1974, Lindbergh wrote letters to his three mistresses, asking them to continue utmost secrecy. They did! Even upon learning the truth of their father’s identity in the 1990s, two of the 3 families German continued their silence, as ordered.
Based on DNA testing in 2003, Lindbergh's children with Anne Morrow were Charles Augustus (1930–2); Jon (b1932); Land Morrow (b1937); Anne Lindbergh Perrin (1940–93); Scott (b1942) and Reeve (b1945). His children with Brigitte Hesshaimer were Dyrk, Astrid & David Hesshaimer. With Marietta Hesshaimer, his children were Vago and Christoph Hesshaimer and with Valeska (? surname), his children were a son and a daughter.
That year, the American siblings spoke out. They were understandably shocked at the news of the German families and refused to believe it, particularly as the Hesshaimer sisters were both disabled. Lindbergh had followedeugenics scienceand believed in breeding healthy children from healthy parents. Yet he had fathered children with two disabled women who were unable to walk properly.
While they made no claim to Lindbergh’s estate, the German siblings wanted to write about their mother’s long-term secret relationship with their father. Their 2005 book, The Double Life of Charles A. Lindbergh by Rudolf Schröck, was published in Germany.
Only in 2009 did Charles and Anne’s youngest child Reeve wrote about hearing of her father's infidelities and about her connecting with her European siblings: Forward from Here: Leaving Middle Age and Other Unexpected Adventures. She thought that by the time he died in 1974, Charles had made his life agonisingly complicated.
The so-called Crime of the Century back in 1935 certainly traumatised Lindbergh. But could Lindbergh’s other wives and children understand the kidnapping tragedy as the main cause for his lifelong character disorder. Did they even know about it? Biographers said that the murder of his son certainly did set off something crippling in Charles Lindbergh’s already disturbed personality.