Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping Still Mysterious

It was on this date—March 1, 1932—that the infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh was taken from his crib, triggering one of the largest manhunts in history.

Called the “crime of the century”, the nation was completely gripped by the emotional ordeal of someone who was arguably the most famous person on the planet at the time.

I am reading A. Scott Berg’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography, “Lindbergh” right now—and, coincidentally, started the part about the kidnapping last night, unaware that today was the 78th anniversary of the crime.

While one cannot discount the remarkable feat that Lindbergh accomplished with his solo flight from New York to Paris in 1927, it can be said that the fame, adulation and financial windfalls that accrued from that one 36 hour flight were completely out of proportion with the magnitude of the event itself.

Mass media was in its infancy—and Charles Lindbergh became the first true worldwide superstar. The newspaper headlines were a given, but the new medium of radio and sound coupled with film in the form of newsreels catapulted Lindbergh to a level of fame and intrusion of his privacy that had never occurred before.

As such, Lindbergh and his family were prime targets for kidnapping, especially as the Great Depression created economic hardship for millions of Americans.

The Lindbergh baby kidnap case didn’t have a happy ending. Although $50,000 in ransom was paid, the baby was never returned. A corpse was found about a month after the ransom drop—not far from the Lindbergh’s New Jersey home.

For a long time, it appeared the crime would not be solved…..until a marked bill from the ransom money turned up more than two years after the crime. Spent at a gas station, the operator wrote down the license plate of the driver, thinking he looked suspicious. The car belonged to a Bruno Hauptman, a German immigrant. When his home was searched, about $15,000 of the ransom money was found.

Needless to say, the conviction and execution of Hauptman was a fairly straightforward matter. However, there are those who believe the German was innocent. Here is an interesting show from the Leonard Nimoy’s “In Search Of…” series about the crime—and the allegations that Hauptman was framed:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbeLVi3IuRI




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW_WpKoqxts

Although the program was interesting, I am still not convinced. Even if Hauptman was not personally involved in the abduction and/or murder of the child, it’s difficult to believe that he was an innocent bystander. Holding 15 grand of the tainted money with no plausible explanation is damning evidence to me.

Either way, it’s a fascinating story—and I highly recommend “Lindbergh” by A. Scott Berg. With exclusive access to the Lindbergh family papers, it is the definitive biography of one of America’s most complex personalities.

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