The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh by Winston Groom Page A
Authors: Winston Groom
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shape between yeoman farmers of the West and the big money of the East, embodied most famously in the perennial presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan and his legendary “Cross of Gold” speech. The farmers of Minnesota’s Sixth District were receptive to C.A.’s bid for Washington; after all, he was one of them and a favorite son to boot.
The suggestion has been made by at least one historian that there were ulterior motives for C.A.’s decision to run for office, namely, that he wanted to get away from his wife without the scandal of having to divorce her, which in those times likely would have put a quick end to his political career. In any case, beneath all the outward perceptions of homespun harmony, the Lindbergh marriage seethed.
In fact we now know there was a strain of insanity in Evangeline’s family—her grandmother was possibly schizophrenic † and various other parents or grandparents turned out to be peculiar, dotty, or addicted to alcohol. In that period the appellation “high spirited,” often applied in connection with Evangeline, had several meanings, one of which was “crazy.” Documents suggest that she did not get along well with the other women in Little Falls, perhaps because of the age difference between her and the wives of C.A.’s friends. And there were tales by staff of disharmony at home. Antagonism had also festered between Evangeline and her two stepdaughters, the oldest of whom was only a few years younger than she was. It was also clear that some trouble had occurred between Evangeline and C.A., for he had moved from their bedroom even before the house burned.
On top of all that, C.A.’s storied business success had turned into a financial house of cards. He had encumbered himself with so many property loans that he was “land poor,” meaning he held property but his cash flow was dried up. Since 1904 the country had been in recession, followed by the Panic of 1907, in which banks collapsed, money suddenly became tight, and real estate values plummeted. Adjusted to today’s values, C.A. held title to more than $5 million worth of real estate but owed more than $1 million of debt on it, plus taxes. There was an immediate need to slash the family budget in half, and the new house on the bluff above the river would suffer a commensurate scaling back.
After C.A.’s election Evangeline took Charles to Washington to be near his father, but she rented an apartment instead of living with her husband. He had convinced her that divorce would cost him his political office and bring on intolerable financial strain.
In summers, when Congress was not in session, she either took Charles to visit his grandparents in Detroit or returned to the rebuilt house on the river, which was roughly half the size of the original and so rustically finished that Evangeline called it “the camp.” Gone were the cook, the nurse, the housekeeper, and the coach driver, and Evangeline herself kept both the flower and vegetable gardens. Whatever their living arrangements, C.A. remained in close contact with Evangeline and spent as much time as possible with young Charles, teaching him to swim in the local creeks and in the river and later how to hunt, fish, and live off the land.
Charles’s favorite spot in the new house was the screened porch overlooking the river, which he appropriated for his bedroom, summer and winter—weather permitting—“in close contact with sun, wind, rain and stars.” He most preferred stormy nights. He kept a succession of dogs, played with the neighboring children, kept collections of rocks, arrowheads, coins, stamps, marbles, baseball trading cards, and most everything else under the sun. He also made himself a pair of stilts with which to startle his mother and others by suddenly appearing at their windows.
In winters, when Congress was in session, Evangeline would take Charles back to the capital to be near his father, while the two stepdaughters attended
The suggestion has been made by at least one historian that there were ulterior motives for C.A.’s decision to run for office, namely, that he wanted to get away from his wife without the scandal of having to divorce her, which in those times likely would have put a quick end to his political career. In any case, beneath all the outward perceptions of homespun harmony, the Lindbergh marriage seethed.
In fact we now know there was a strain of insanity in Evangeline’s family—her grandmother was possibly schizophrenic † and various other parents or grandparents turned out to be peculiar, dotty, or addicted to alcohol. In that period the appellation “high spirited,” often applied in connection with Evangeline, had several meanings, one of which was “crazy.” Documents suggest that she did not get along well with the other women in Little Falls, perhaps because of the age difference between her and the wives of C.A.’s friends. And there were tales by staff of disharmony at home. Antagonism had also festered between Evangeline and her two stepdaughters, the oldest of whom was only a few years younger than she was. It was also clear that some trouble had occurred between Evangeline and C.A., for he had moved from their bedroom even before the house burned.
On top of all that, C.A.’s storied business success had turned into a financial house of cards. He had encumbered himself with so many property loans that he was “land poor,” meaning he held property but his cash flow was dried up. Since 1904 the country had been in recession, followed by the Panic of 1907, in which banks collapsed, money suddenly became tight, and real estate values plummeted. Adjusted to today’s values, C.A. held title to more than $5 million worth of real estate but owed more than $1 million of debt on it, plus taxes. There was an immediate need to slash the family budget in half, and the new house on the bluff above the river would suffer a commensurate scaling back.
After C.A.’s election Evangeline took Charles to Washington to be near his father, but she rented an apartment instead of living with her husband. He had convinced her that divorce would cost him his political office and bring on intolerable financial strain.
In summers, when Congress was not in session, she either took Charles to visit his grandparents in Detroit or returned to the rebuilt house on the river, which was roughly half the size of the original and so rustically finished that Evangeline called it “the camp.” Gone were the cook, the nurse, the housekeeper, and the coach driver, and Evangeline herself kept both the flower and vegetable gardens. Whatever their living arrangements, C.A. remained in close contact with Evangeline and spent as much time as possible with young Charles, teaching him to swim in the local creeks and in the river and later how to hunt, fish, and live off the land.
Charles’s favorite spot in the new house was the screened porch overlooking the river, which he appropriated for his bedroom, summer and winter—weather permitting—“in close contact with sun, wind, rain and stars.” He most preferred stormy nights. He kept a succession of dogs, played with the neighboring children, kept collections of rocks, arrowheads, coins, stamps, marbles, baseball trading cards, and most everything else under the sun. He also made himself a pair of stilts with which to startle his mother and others by suddenly appearing at their windows.
In winters, when Congress was in session, Evangeline would take Charles back to the capital to be near his father, while the two stepdaughters attended
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