Dates

• Existence: 1906 June 22 - 2001 February 7

Biographical Note

Anne Spencer (Morrow) Lindbergh (1906-2001) was an American author, aviator, the first licensed woman glider pilot in the United States, and the wife of aviator Charles Lindbergh.

Anne Spencer was born on June 22, 1906 in Englewood, New Jersey to businessman and U.S. Senator Dwight Morrow and poet and women's education advocate Elizabeth Cutter Morrow. She attended a girls' school in New Jersey and then graduated from The Chapin School in New York City in 1924. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College in 1928 and won prizes there for her writing.

In December 1927 she met Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. while he was touring Mexico. Her father was Lindbergh’s financial adviser. They were married on May 27, 1929 in a private ceremony at her parents’ home in New Jersey. The couple eventually had six children: Charles, Jr. (1930–1932); Jon (1932–2021); Land (1937-); Anne (1940–1993); Scott (1942-); and Reeve (1945-). In 1932 their eldest child was kidnapped and later found dead.

In the early years of the Lindberghs’ marriage, they spent much time flying. She took her first solo flight in 1930 and soon became the first American woman to earn a glider pilot’s license. In the 1930s the couple flew together often, Anne serving as co-pilot, navigator, and radio operator. They flew on exploration flights and helped chart potential air routes for commercial airlines. They made air surveys across the continent and in the Caribbean to pioneer Pan American World Airways' air mail service.

In 1931, they journeyed, in a single-engine Lockheed airplane "Sirius," over uncharted routes from Canada and Alaska to Japan and China, which she chronicled in her first book, North to the Orient which won a National Book Award. In 1933, the couple completed a 30,000-mile five-month survey of North and South Atlantic air routes in 1933 which became the subject of her book Listen! the Wind. Other publications of hers include Earth Shine related to the Apollo 8 mission; The Steep Ascent, a novel about a husband and wife aviator team; and perhaps her best-known work, Gift from the Sea. She also published five volumes of diaries and letters documenting the years 1922-1944. Her writings helped the couple rebuild their reputation which had been damaged by Charles’s isolationist views and antisemitic comments before and during World War II.

Lindbergh earned several awards and honors during her lifetime. She received a Cross of Honor from the U.S. Flag Association in 1933 for her work in surveying transatlantic air routes. In 1934 she received the Hubbard Medal from the National Geographic Society for having completed 40,000 miles of exploratory flying. She received honorary degrees from Amherst College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Middlebury College, Smith College, and the University of Rochester. In 1993, Women in Aerospace awarded her a special Aerospace Explorer Award to recognize her contributions to the aerospace field. In addition, she has also been inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, the National Women's Hall of Fame, and the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey.

Anne (Morrow) Lindbergh suffered a series of strokes in the 1990s and died February 7, 2001 at her second home in Vermont.

Gender

• female

Occupations

• Air pilots
• Authors
• Women air pilots

Places

• New Jersey (Place of Birth)
• Vermont (Place of Death)
• Hawaii (Residence)
• New York (N.Y.) (Other)

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