School of humans.
Men will literally do anything to cheat on their wives, including innovate air travel and doing the first solo NonStop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, whomest.
Am I alluding to, well none other.
Than Charles Lindbergh Lucky Lindy, as he was called. Other pilots had crossed this ocean, the first being two Brits in nineteen nineteen, but they went a shorter distance between Newfoundland and Ireland. The flight took sixteen hours, and they had the emotional and physical support.
Of each other.
Lindburgh, on the other hand, he was all alone on that flight in nineteen twenty seven and traveled a longer distance from New York to Paris.
It took him thirty three and a half hours.
And I know the most pressing question on everybody's mind. I'm sure you are all wondering this. That flight was long as hell. How did Lucky Lindy use the toilet while flying that plane? And maybe you're like Gabby, that was actually not my first question, but this question was on the mind of many esteemed people like myself, For example, the British monarch King George the Fifth. After Lindbergh completed his flight. King George invited Lindbergh to England to fly his personal plane.
He was like, yeah, buddy, get your.
Cock in that cockpit. And during that visit, King George was like, so there's one thing I want to know, how did you pee? Lucky Lindy's plane was called the Spirit of Saint Louis, which, honestly.
That has a terrible vibe or a.
Plane, the Spirit of Saint Louis, what is it? Drunk and didn't graduate from high school. But the Spirit of Saint Louis could fit one person. There are no flight attendants, no snacks, no more. And of course the plane didn't have a bathroom. So our Charlie boy Lindbergh told the King how he relieved himself. His pilot chair was made out of wicker and he'd cut a hole in it below which there is a funnel leading to an aluminum
can where waste of any sort could be stored. So, Fellas, I hope you never feel ashamed of peeing sitting down. It's what revered cultural figure Charles Lindbergh did. I mean, sure he was doing it because he had certain space constraints. But if anyone ever questions your masculinity because you sit down to pe admonish them by saying, don't bother me,
I'm making a transatlantic flight that will show them. Before he landed on that historic flight, though lucky Lindy got rid of his waist by dumping it somewhere over the French countryside. But anyway, this episode is not about pissing. No, it's about cheating. When Lindbergh completed that flight in nineteen twenty seven, he became a celebrity, a global sensation. Basically, he was the Taylor Swift of the nineteen twenties, not just because he became a huge star, but because he
traveled by plane with significant greenhouse gas emissions. But the problem with planes, as I alluded to earlier, is that they take you places. Specifically, they can take you places far away, far away enough from your wife, but you can land in the arms of another woman, or, in Lindberg's case, the arms of three ladies in Germany, to the theme song this is American filth and I'm Gabby wattsy week,
I tell you a filthy story from American history. This week's episode Cheating Charles Glenn Burgh d Do Do Dig Do Do Do did do.
Excuse me. First, in order to cheat on your wife, you must acquire a wife to cheat on. So let's talk about that first.
Glennburgh was a twenty five year old bachelor when he completed that transatlantic flight.
Though, are you called a bachelor that young of an age? I don't know.
He was a playboy, he flew a plane and now he's gonna wet that Willie, I guess. But you know, he was a famous guy. I'm sure the ladies were going wild for him and Lindenbergh as a person, he was reserved and withdrawn a law at the time, but he was also kind of a condescending little bitch, just a little bit in a really sadistic sense of humor.
Like one time back in his airmail piloting.
Days, as a joke, he filled up the glass of one of his fellow pilots with kerosene. The pilot drank it and nearly died, and it's like, yeah, boys will be boys and boys will do pranks, but that one went a bit far. Another time, he put a shit ton of laxatives in a fellow pilot's food and then the pilot produced a ton of shit.
But blah blah blah character flaws.
After his big Boy flight, Lindbergh was famous, so he was doing what famous people do, making public appearances. He was touring around the country giving talks on aviation, working in aircraft design, and flying goodwill missions to various nations in Latin America. At the end of nineteen twenty seven, he went down to Mexico and there he met up with the US's ambassador to Mexico, Dwight Morrow, And while he was down there, he met Ambassador Marrow's daughter Anne.
Anne was twenty one at the time and down in Mexico visiting her dad while on break from college. Anne was introverted in shy and she was at Smith College studying writing. And being introverted in shy can make some people think you're very mysterious. And Charles Limberg.
Was like a wuga.
I like this lady, and Morrow also had a little a wuga in her as well when she looked at Charles Limberg. But she was also kind of nervous, afraid he was this huge star taking an interest in her, she wrote in her diary meeting Charles, who by the way, was six to two, not bad, She wrote, he is taller than anyone else. You see his head in a moving crowd, and you notice his glance where it turns as though it were keener, clearer, and brighter than anybody else's,
lit with a more intense fire. What could I say to this boy? Anything I might say would be trivial and superficial, like pink frosting flowers. I felt the whole world before this to be frivolous, superficial, ephemeral. After that, they went on two dates and got engaged, and they finally got married in May nineteen twenty nine. Anne was first a writer, but soon she became Charles's co pilot. She also learned how to fly solo, and in nineteen thirty she was the first woman to get a glider
plane license. Since their first date, Charles and Anne Lindbergh's coupling made the public go goo goo for gossip.
Everybody wanted to know everything about them.
They were the it couple of the time, kind of like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelcey or p Diddy and Baby Oil.
And Anne.
Obviously, I feel like for most people this would be the case. She found this really uncomfortable. She wrote about what it felt like to be surrounded by so much press all the time. She was like a deer hunted by smiling, smirky, sure of themselves, relentless hunters. And then at home, Charles himself was a little overpowering. He could be mean and controlling. His life became her life. At the dinner table, he would bring Anna to do list,
but she also ended up doing to his kids. Over the course of their marriage, they had six children, but the press started going extra crazy Charles and Ann in nineteen thirty two because of a terrible tragedy. The Limburgs were living on a lavish est day in New Jersey, because we all know that's where you go when you become famous New Jersey. And in nineteen thirty and bird
their first child, little Charles Lindbergh Junior. But on March first, nineteen thirty two, someone crawled through the window of the nursery where the little twenty month year old babe was sleeping and kidnapped him. The kidnapper left behind a ransom note demanding fifty thousand dollars. The note had a lot of spelling errors and featured this odd cryptic symbol at
the bottom of the page. Obviously, any child being kidnapped is a big deal and should be taken seriously, but because it was a Limburg baby, everybody went berserk, especially after the baby was found dead with his skull cruestion on May twelfth. There was a huge hunt for the kidnapper that went all the way to the top. Even President Roosevelt got involved later on in the investigation when
he took office in nineteen thirty three. Eventually, a man was arrested for kidnapping and child murder, put on trial, found guilty, and executed by electric chair. This whole episode was dubbed the crime of the Century, even though I mean it was the nineteen thirties, so there was a lot more century left, so perhaps they were a bit
premature in their assessment. Now, any marriage has difficulties surviving when you're raising children, but then your child dies, it would make sense that afterwards Charles and Ann had some marital issues That would totally make sense. But the two stayed together and even while the trial was happening, they had another son, and just to lower everyone's heart rate, they did have five children total who survived, and none of them were kidnapped.
Okay, just so you guys know that they had this second son.
And in the aftermath of the kidnapping of Charles Junior, the crime of the century, the Lindberghs were understandably overwhelmed by the press, so much press.
So many people bothering them.
So in nineteen thirty five they decided to move to Europe. They lived in England, they lived in France, but one of the places where they really wanted to live was Germany.
And you want to be thinking, why the fuck.
Would you move to Germany in the nineteen thirties, because you I remember, that was when this guy named Adolf Hitler was in power, freaking Hitler. And here's the thing about the Limburg's that's real messy, is that both Ann and Charles frickin' loved Germany. They loved the culture, the technological advancements, they loved the company. They even thought Hitler was doing a great job and described him as a very great man, like an inspired religious leader. And in turn,
the Nazis loved the Limburgs. Ann and Charles attended the Olympics in Berlin as special guests in nineteen thirty six, and then the Nazis gave Charles a medal for his contributions to aviation. The Nazis and the Lindbergh sitting in a tree kill I and g we love it. The Limburgs loved Germany so much that in nineteen thirty nine they were about to move into a house in the
suburbs of Berlin. But alas the Nazis Hitler were committing genocide and war broke out, you know, that little World War two, and the Limburgs were like, drat, I guess we have to go back to the United States. Now, the stupid United States. That's not nearly as awesome as freakin' Germany. When the Limbergs got back to the US, they brought
that hazad Germany energy with them. But the problem with that energy in the United States and in general, was that Germany was a fascist country, committing heinous atrocities and attacking the United States's allies. And Charles Limberg in the US he became a big spokesman against the US.
Entering the war.
He was like, we need to practice some isolationist stuff because Germany is super technologically advanced. Hitler is an amazing leader. The US should just not bother getting involved and Limberg was like, yeah, I'm saying all this stuff to like pert he the United States, right, America, first, the way to protect ourselves is to not get involved with the war,
because again, Germany is freaking amazing. But at the same time, a lot of the stuff he was saying was a little sympathetic to fascism and a hint anti Semitic, And Lindberg was also out there defending Germany. She wrote a booklet called The Wave of the Future, and the United States government was like, this is fascist propaganda.
Even Charlotte's Web author E. B.
White got involved and called her a fascist tramp and everything that she was saying was absurd. And then when Pearl Harbor was attacked in nineteen forty one, the Limburg's finally conceded and we're like, yeah, I guess the US shouldet involved, you know whatever. After all of that, the Limburgs were no longer in the good graces of the public, and their reputations were forever stained throughout their lifetimes. But the fact that they there were fascist sympathizers, anti Semitic
and thought Hitler was awesome. That can do a thing or two to your reputation. After the war, they kind of kept to themselves, but their reputations did recover a bit and kept writing, and in the nineteen fifties she wrote a proto feminist book called Gift from the Sea that became an instant bestseller and also became foundational to a lot of American women's lives. It was received so well that people started forgetting about the whole and drooling
over Hitler thing. In the decades after the war, Charles Limberg kept flying around the world, innovating tech and promoting air travel.
And today when you hear his name, you're probably like, ha.
Yeah, that's the plane guy, not that guy who thought that Hitler was awesome. And Charles Limberg he died in nineteen seventy four, leaving behind a huge legacy of aviation and he's still a major figure in American history today. But he actually left behind even more than that, because after he died, it was discovered.
That he was a bit of a serial cheater.
And he didn't just have one secret family, he had three.
As we like to say in American filth, what a guy be.
Right back after these soothing advertisements, So we're finally at the part where we talk about how Charles Lindberg is a cheater. But to add some more hot goss to this episode, it was actually Anne Lindenberg who cheated first.
How exciting. So after World War Two, Charles and Ann were having some relationship issues and I'm not trying.
To sympathize with these Nazi apologists or whatever, but they had been through a lot. There was the constant public scrutiny, the kidnapping and death of their first son, hanging out with Nazis and then being vilified because they were literal villains, then the war, and after the war, Anne had a traumatic miscarriage. She was feeling bad, so she started seeing a psychiatrist. Charles got really pissed off about this. He was like, how dare you see a psychiatrist? Why would
you need psychiatric treatment? That's for weak people. But also, I don't want you to be doing that because then you're gonna start sharing intimate knowledge about our marriage with some rando. I don't like that one bit, because remember Charles Limberg, he was a bit of a control freak.
But Anne went.
Anyway, and Charles kind of stopped talking to her and they began sleeping separately. A few years later and published her best selling book. And then a year after that, she started sleeping with her doctor, whoa major hip.
Of violation right there.
I think that's like rule number two, don't sleep with your patience. And that affair lasted for about three years. And the year after that affair started, Charles Lindberg started his own Now, some people might be quick to be like hey and had an affair, ergo, Charles was totally justified in getting some of his own hanky panky on the side. But I will contend that it is never good to cheat. Wow, so brave of me to say. And also, what we're about to hear about are the
known affairs of Charles Lindberg. But that man was flying around the world a lot, so who knows what shenanigans he got into over the course of his lifetime. Yes, I am throwing major shade and conjecture at this man because he was mean, controlling, manipulative, and he would just do whatever the heck he wanted and be away from home for months and months, and then he would come back to his family and be a little bitch to
discipline his kids. He'd be like, this isn't a democracy, this is a dictatorship.
Not a nice guy.
I would cheat on his ass too, because he's so annoying. But here's how we know about what happened in Germany. So in two thousand and three, this was many decades after Charles Lindberg had died, three German siblings came forward and like, hey, we're the grown children of Charles Lindberg. Now, obviously this was a big deal. Everyone was like, what the hell the esteemed pilot and sympathetic fascist, American hero and American enemy Charles Lindberg had some extramarital children.
No freaking way, that's crazy.
The three German siblings, two sons, one daughter, said that they made this discovery in the nineteen eighties. The daughter had seen a picture of Charles Lindberg in a magazine article and was like, I recognize that guy. That's the same guy who would visit mom two or three times year, but he never said he was Charles frickin Lindburg. Then the three siblings found one hundred and fifty letters from Charles Lindberg to their mother that she had put in a pile of trash, Which makes me think I got
to go through my mom's trash more often. What had happened was Charles Lindbergh was flying around all over the world. He was working as the director of Pan American Airlines, and he was also doing some undercover work for President Dwight D.
Eisenhower.
Both of these jobs let him scoot around the world with ease, you know, he was undercover, but he could also easily get under the covers with other women. One of those women was Brigitte Hessheimer. In nineteen fifty seven, she was thirty one and a hat maker, and that year she met Charles Lindberg and.
They started their affair together.
They had three children, and these were the people who came forward, But Brigitte and Charles never revealed to the kids that he was their dad.
He provided for them financially for his entire life, but.
On their birth certificates their father was listed as unknown. Instead, he would show up to their house two or three times a year under the pseudonym CAREW. Kent and be like, yeah, I'm just your mom's good friend, no more than that. And their mom was like, yeah, he's a famous writer, so don't tell any when he comes to visit.
Just keep it on the DL. Also, his alias Carole Kent similar to Clark Kent. Is it not?
And isn't that just like egotistical dumbass Lendberg to give himself the alias of Superman, and Lenberg seemed happy about having these kids outside of his marriage. He wrote to Brigitte when he got the news of her first pregnancy. He said, the news you send is wonderful and I am tremendously happy about it. I just wish I could be there with you now. Still there are bound to be hurt feelings, as there have been with the other lovers.
The other lovers, what other lovers? Well, Brigitte's three kids weren't his only children across the Atlantic. He had two more sons. He had these children with a woman named Marietta, and who was Marietta Well, she was the sister of Brigitte Hessheimer. Yikes, But that's not all. He also had another son and daughter with his secretary, Veleska, who also lived in Germany. And Veleska might have been the one
who had introduced Charles Lindberg to the sisters. So he at least had seven German children from three different women. And despite having that many relations in Germany, Charles Lindberg himself never learned German. He's like, why would I need to do that. I'm Charles Lindberg. They can just speak English. So the three women also knew about his other relationships in Germany and tolerated it.
I guess.
I mean, I'd be totally gross down if I had kids with a dude that my sister had kids with. But who am I to judge? One time I hooked up with a ska musician, which is perhaps even worse. So yeah, Charles would visit a few times a year and go on his mistress tour of Germany. Writer Rudolph Schruck wrote a book about these affairs, and he said Lindberg would land in Frankfurt, drive south and visit Marietta, then Vilesca, and then continue on to Munich and visit
Brigitte before returning to Frankfurt. He did this for fourteen years. The only thing that stopped these affairs was Charles Lindberg's death in nineteen seventy four, and a few days before he died, he wrote a letter to Brigitte from a ha spittle. He said, dear Brigitte, my strength is leaving me every day. It is very difficult just to write. All I can send to you and the children is
my love. After Brigitte's kids confronted her about their discovery that Charles Lindbergh was their father, she asked them not to reveal anything until after her death, so they waited.
She died in two thousand and one, which was the same year as Anne Lindberg's death, and that year in two thousand and one, the Hessheimer's approached the Lindbergh children before going public, and the Lindberg kids they had no idea that these affairs took place, and they also believed that Anne also had no clue about what was going on.
After that, the Hesheimer's siblings parentage was confirmed with DNA testing, but the four other kids in Germany didn't want to come forward and their mothers also didn't want to talk about it. The Hesheimer siblings collaborated on a book with that writer Rudolph Schrock, and it came out in two
thousand and five and talked about the whole thing. It included some of the letters, but it's a huge bummer because it's written in German, and much like Lindburg, I also don't know German, and the book hasn't been translated into English, which sucks because I want.
All the hot goss. I guess I have to learn German, fly to Germany find the book. I don't know.
Is it being suppressed by the lindberghs IDK. But for the Lindbergh kids in America, can you freaking imagine your mom just died and then you discovered your dad had a secret family, and it was like, JK, it's actually three secret families. That's insane, that's lunacy, especially after your dad was such a control freak your whole life. It's like, oh, are you so controlling just so that you can like compartmentalize your whole life dad. There's also some very unsubstantiated
claims that Lindberg had even more affairs. Lucky lind was maybe getting low across the globe. Some people have suggested that he had an affair with a twenty year old American stewardess and then also with some women in the Philippines. The youngest of Charles and Ann's children is Reeve Limberg, and like her mom, she's also a writer, and she wrote this about her father's infidelities. I have the feeling that he was the only person involved with all these
families who knew the full truth. And I keep thinking that by the time he died in nineteen seventy four, my father had made his life so complicated that he had to keep each part separate.
From the other parts.
I don't know why he lived this way, and I don't think I ever will know, But what it means to me is that every intimate human connection my father had during his later years was fractured by secrecy. Damn isn't that sad? Dad's really just be doing what I so heartbreaking, honestly so. Yet again we end American filth on a bit of a downer, But every week we learn a lesson from the episodes, and I think the lesson we learn here is don't let a man get on a plane unless you know where the heck he's
going and what he's doing. You ground that motherfucker until he comes clean about whether or not he has a secret family. So, yeah, that's the lesson. Don't let men on planes. Cue the credits. American Felt is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcast. This episode was written, hosted, and produced by me Gabby Watts. Our theme song is by Jesse and Eiswanger, and our executive producers are Virginia Prescott, Elsie Croley, and Brandon Barr.
You can follow along.
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