ALS signed “Charles A. Lindbergh,” three pages, 8.5 x 11, airmail stationery letterhead, February 9, 1969. Lindbergh writes from Hawaii to John W. Hundley, Executive Director of the Belle W. Baruch Foundation. In part: “I have been travelling for some weeks in Europe and Asia, out of contact with my mail…. A Bernard M. Baruch prize is indeed a high honor in many ways—because of the great name of Baruch to which it is attached; because of the high standing of the men who decide on the award; and in this instance, to me, because it relates to the field of conservation, which I believe is so important. It does, however, raise serious problems for me, which I shall outline here very frankly. I have already received much more than my share of honors and awards. I now want very much to live and work quietly. Deeply as I appreciate the awards I have received in the past, I would rather not receive any more. In saying this, I want to at the same time emphasize my gratitude for being considered for the high honor of the Baruch award. I sincerely feel it to be a great honor. But I am now most anxious to carry on a way of life that is unrelated to honors and awards. I would therefore be most grateful if you could find it possible to transfer this award to someone else in the field of conservation. As you well know, there are many dedicated men and women who have devoted much more of their lives than I have to conservation activities. Nothing would please me more than to see the award transferred to one of them. I would feel as highly honored, and ever more deeply grateful….” Despite his polite, painstakingly expressed demurral, the implications of Lindbergh’s explanation are complicated by the lingering shadow of antisemitism that had plagued his image for decades. The fact that the man for whom the award was named, Bernard Baruch, was one of the most prominent Jewish public figures in America during the 1930s and 1940s—the era of Lindbergh’s most strident and problematic pronoucements— presents the possibility of an intriguing subtext to Lindbergh’s refusal of the “high honor.” Accompanied by the original mailing envelope addressed by Lindbergh and bearing his hand-printed Connecticut return address. Intersecting mailing folds (horizontal fold through signature), otherwise very fine, clean condition. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
