A Tarnished Legacy

St. Louis Post Dispatch ^ | 12/01/03 | Tim O'Neil

[Holly_P]

So it appears that Col. Charles Lindbergh, pilot of the Spirit of St. Louis and namesake to so many things around town, had a secret second family over in Germany.

Yet another mighty one may fall - or, in Lindbergh's case, fall again.

[billorites]

Practicing touch and goes?

[2banana]

That road figured into Lindbergh's first fall from grace. In the months leading to the United States' entry into World War II, Lindbergh was a passionate voice for staying out of Europe's bloody troubles. But he hurt his cause by appearing too sympathetic to Nazi Germany, and isolationist sentiment weakened as American sailors died in the battle for the Atlantic sea lanes.

Lindbergh squandered much of his good will during a speech in Des Moines on Sept. 11, 1941, in which he called Jews "warmongers" and accused the British, American Jews and President Franklin Roosevelt of plotting to pull America into the war.

Some parallels to today's politics...?