This historic newsreel shows highlights of Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic, and focuses on the Distinguished Flying Cross ceremony. Lindbergh was given the honor in Washington, D.C. by President Calvin Coolidge on June 11, 1927. At :07, a crowd of people at Curtiss Field are seen as Lindbergh takes off. At 1:45, Lindy is shown on the podium with Coolidge. At 9:19 Lindbergh makes his own remarks concerning Franco-American and European-American friendship.
The President’s remarks that day ended with this tribute: “And now, my fellow citizens, this young man has returned. He is here. He has brought his unsullied fame home. It is our great privilege to welcome back to his native land, on behalf of his own people, who have a deep affection for him and have been thrilled by this splendid achievement, a colonel of the United States Officers’ Reserve Corps, an illustrious citizen of our Republic, a conqueror of the air and strengthener of the ties which bind us to our sister nations across the sea, and, as President of the United States, I bestow of Distinguished Flying Cross, as a symbol of appreciation for what he is and what he has done, upon Col. Charles A. Lindbergh.
When 25-year-old Charles A. Lindbergh set down his monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis, at Le Bourget Aerodrome in Paris on May 21, 1927, he instantly became the leading hero of a decade of American heroes and celebrities. Lindbergh had not expected any welcome in France, but word of his arrival spread through Paris, and twenty-five thousand people surrounded the plane even before he stopped taxiing. The frenzy continued when Lindbergh returned to the United States on June 11, 1927, where President Calvin Coolidge and his wife welcomed him at a Washington Monument stand specially built for the occasion. Coolidge’s welcome and Lindbergh’s brief response were broadcast nationwide. Coolidge lavished praise on the aviator in a very serious voice, and Lindbergh responded humorously. Beneath the joking about a battleship being sent for him, however, was perhaps a serious concern about becoming a prisoner of his sudden fame.
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