The Foreign Service Journal, October 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2021 61 NATIONALAIRANDSPACEMUSEUM,SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Tour,” starting in Mexico City and continuing around the Carib- bean Basin. That May, the 25-year-old Lindbergh completed his famous solo flight across the Atlantic, departing New York a humble airmail pilot and arriving in Paris a global superstar. He was suddenly the most famous and admired man in the world, and when he agreed to Ambassador Morrow’s request, it must have seemed like a gift from the heavens to U.S. policymakers. For Lindbergh, the Goodwill Tour was a chance to use his celebrity for good. In a preview of his trip for The New York Times , he wrote, “Although my primary interest is to visit the country as an aviator, I also hope that the flight will show the way in which aviation brings the peoples of the world together in bet- ter understanding of each other.” In that respect, Lindbergh’s trip had all the hallmarks of a modern-day cultural exchange, with his airplane providing both the ends and the means to foster people-to-people relations. The God of Wind The trip got off to a bumpy start. On Dec. 13, Lindbergh took off fromWashington, D.C., in the Spirit of St. Louis and headed southwest following landmarks and railroad tracks. He eventu- ally became lost over Mexico, which lacked the visual markers common in the United States. He finally spotted a hotel sign in Toluca and reoriented himself, touching down in Mexico City 27 1/4 hours after departure. It was the first nonstop flight between the two capital cities. Lindbergh was greeted by an enormous crowd including Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles, who declared a national holiday and ordered businesses to close. Lindbergh visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and attended a session of the Mexican Congress. He was celebrated at every occasion and took digni- taries on demonstration flights. More important, Lindbergh was introduced to Anne Morrow, the ambassador’s youngest daugh- ter. The two were smitten and would marry in 1929. Spending a total of two weeks in Mexico, Lindbergh was met with enthusiasm on both sides of the border that reached a fever pitch. On Christmas Day, the Times published a letter to the editor suggesting that Lindbergh might be the reincarnation of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god of wind. “May not this young man uplift the thought and crystallize the sentiment of Mexico?” the author asked rhetorically. Clearly, the Goodwill Tour was working. On his 9,500-mile tour, Charles Lindbergh flew fromWashington, D.C., to Mexico, Guatemala, British Honduras, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba.