Charles August Lindbergh
Encyclopedia
- This article is about the politician from Minnesota. For his son, the aviator, see Charles LindberghCharles LindberghCharles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
.
Charles August Lindbergh Sr. (January 20, 1859 – May 24, 1924) was a United States Congressman
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Minnesota's 6th congressional district
Minnesota's 6th congressional district
Minnesota's 6th congressional district includes most or all of Benton, Sherburne, Stearns, Wright, Anoka, and Washington counties. The district is Republican-leaning with a CPVI of R + 7. It is currently represented by Republican Michele Bachmann....
from 1907 to 1917. He opposed both American entry into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and the 1913 Federal Reserve Act
Federal Reserve Act
The Federal Reserve Act is an Act of Congress that created and set up the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States of America, and granted it the legal authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes and Federal Reserve Bank Notes as legal tender...
.
He was the father of famous aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
.
Early life
Lindbergh was born Carl Månsson, in Stockholm, Sweden, to Lovisa Carlén, the 19-year-old mistress of Ola Månsson, a member of the RiksdagParliament of Sweden
The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...
and a bank manager. When accused of bribery and embezzlement, Ola Månsson changed his name to August Lindbergh, left his wife and seven children, and fled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with his mistress and their illegitimate infant son, Carl, in 1859. Lovisa became Louisa and little Carl became Charles August Lindbergh.
Melrose, Minnesota
Melrose is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,598 at the 2010 census. It is part of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, and had six more children. August worked as a farmer and a blacksmith for 26 years before marrying Louisa in 1885; he had become a widower in 1864 with the death of his first wife in Sweden.
Charles August Lindbergh studied law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
at the University of Michigan Law School
University of Michigan Law School
The University of Michigan Law School is the law school of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Founded in 1859, the school has an enrollment of about 1,200 students, most of whom are seeking Juris Doctor or Master of Laws degrees, although the school also offers a Doctor of Juridical...
, graduating in 1883 and being admitted to the bar the same year. In 1887, Lindbergh married Mary LaFond, with whom he had two daughters, Lillian and Eva. Mary LaFond died in 1898.
In 1901, Charles married Evangeline Lodge Land (1876–1954). They separated in 1918, their only child being the famous aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
, who also became an antiwar leader.
Political career
He served as prosecuting attorney for Morrison County, MinnesotaMorrison County, Minnesota
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 31,712 people, 11,816 households, and 8,460 families residing in the county. The population density was 28 people per square mile . There were 13,870 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...
from 1891 through 1893. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1906, as a Republican, serving in the 60th
60th United States Congress
The Sixtieth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1907 to March 4, 1909, during the last two years of...
, 61st
61st United States Congress
The Sixty-first United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1909 to March 4, 1911, during the first two years of...
, 62nd
62nd United States Congress
- House of Representatives :* Democratic : 230 * Republican : 162* Socialist : 1* Independent : 1TOTAL members: 394-Senate:* President: James S...
, 63rd
63rd United States Congress
- House of Representatives:*Democratic : 291 *Republican : 134*Progressive : 9*Independent : 1TOTAL members: 435-Senate:*President of the Senate: Thomas R. Marshall*President pro tempore: James P. Clarke-Senate:...
, and 64th congresses
64th United States Congress
The Sixty-fourth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1915 to March 4, 1917, during the third and fourth...
. In 1916, he unsuccessfully campaigned for a seat in the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. At the time of his death, Lindbergh was a candidate for Governor on the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party was a political party in the United States state of Minnesota, the most successful and longest-lasting of the constituent elements of the national Farmer–Labor Party movement, which had a presence in other states...
ticket and would have been the first Minnesota Governor from the party if he had been elected.
In 1913, he wrote Banking, Currency, and the Money Trust, and in 1917 he wrote "Why is Your Country at War?", attributing high finance as America's involvement in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. According to Eustace Mullins
Eustace Mullins
Eustace Clarence Mullins, Jr. was a populist American political writer, biographer, and antisemite. His most famous and influential work is The Secrets of The Federal Reserve, described by congressman Wright Patman as 'a very fine book [which] has been very useful to me'...
, plates of this book were confiscated and destroyed by Government agents. Also in 1917 Lindbergh brought articles of impeachment against members of the Federal Reserve Board including Paul Warburg
Paul Warburg
Paul Moritz Warburg was a German-born American banker and early advocate of the U.S. Federal Reserve system.- Early life :...
and William Proctor Gould Harding. Lindbergh charged that the Federal Reserve Board members were involved "...in a conspiracy to violate the Constitution and laws of the United States..."
Charles August Lindbergh died in Crookston, Minnesota
Crookston, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 8,192 people, 3,078 households, and 1,819 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,658.8 people per square mile . There were 3,382 housing units at an average density of 684.8 per square mile...
of brain cancer. He has a memorial plaque in the columbarium at Lakewood Cemetery
Lakewood Cemetery
Lakewood Cemetery is a large private, non-sectarian cemetery located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is located at 3600 Hennepin Avenue at the southern end of the Uptown area...
in Minneapolis. According to his wish, son Charles scattered his ashes over the place near Sauk River
Sauk River (Minnesota)
The Sauk River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 90 mi long in central Minnesota in the United States. It drains small lakes in Stearns County...
, where the first Lindbergh home once stood.
Famous quotes
- "This [Federal Reserve Act] establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
signs this bill, the invisible government of the monetary power will be legalized....the worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking and currency bill."
- Also quoted as:
- "This Act establishes the most gigantic trust on Earth. When the President signs this bill, the invisible government by the Monetary Power will be legalized, the people may not know it immediately but the day of reckoning is only a few years removed.... The worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking bill."
- "A radical is one who speaks the truth."
- "The Aldrich Plan is the Wall Street Plan. It means another panic, if necessary, to intimidate the people. Aldrich, paid by the government to represent the people, proposes a plan for the trusts instead." - The Aldrich Plan (History of central banking in the United StatesHistory of central banking in the United StatesThis article is about the history of central banking in the United States, from the 1790s to the present.-Bank of North America:Some Founding Fathers were strongly opposed to the formation of a central banking system; the fact that England tried to place the colonies under the monetary control of...
) was a forerunner to that which spawned the Federal Reserve. - "To cause high prices, all the Federal Reserve Board will do will be to lower the rediscount rate..., producing an expansion of credit and a rising stock market; then when ... business men are adjusted to these conditions, it can check ... prosperity in mid career by arbitrarily raising the rate of interest. It can cause the pendulum of a rising and falling market to swing gently back and forth by slight changes in the discount rate, or cause violent fluctuations by a greater rate variation and in either case it will possess inside information as to financial conditions and advance knowledge of the coming change, either up or down. This is the strangest, most dangerous advantage ever placed in the hands of a special privilege class by any Government that ever existed. The system is private, conducted for the sole purpose of obtaining the greatest possible profits from the use of other people's money. They know in advance when to create panics to their advantage, They also know when to stop panic. Inflation and deflation work equally well for them when they control finance."
- "The financial system [...] has been turned over to the Federal Reserve Board. That board administers the finance system by authority of [...] a purely profiteering group. The system is private, conducted for the sole purpose of obtaining the greatest possible profits from the use of other people's money."
Additional Resources
- The Charles A. Lindbergh and Family Papers are available for research use at the Minnesota Historical Society.