The Foreign Service Journal, October 2021

62 OCTOBER 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The Basis of Good Relations Departing Mexico a hero, Lindbergh spent the next month hopscotching down the spine of Central America. The Times provided glowing coverage throughout, with correspondents filing anxious reports from every destination, supplemented by dispatches from Lindbergh himself. Lindbergh was impressed by the sights along the way. As F. Robert van der Linden of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum notes: “All along his trip, Lindbergh was stunned by the natural beauty of the region and keenly aware of how undeveloped the transportation networks were—ideal territory for aviation, which could fly over the natural barriers of geogra- phy.” Lindbergh was also touched by the kindness he received, noting at one point that “the hospitable people of Guatemala are making it very hard for me to keep my visit here down to the two days which the schedule allows.” The reserved Lindbergh was pressed into action as a citizen diplomat. Nicaragua was engulfed in a civil war and occupied by U.S. Marines, forcing Lindbergh to adjust his flight path to avoid conflict areas. But the members of Nicaragua’s rival political parties set aside their differences to attend a ball in Lindbergh’s honor. Lindbergh saw this—perhaps too optimistically—as “the best evidence that Nicaragua welcomes American aid in termi- nating the disorders which have recently disturbed Nicaragua.” Throughout his trip, Lindbergh was an advocate for air travel. In one of his reports, he wrote, “I hope that commercial aviation will soon be able to help to provide rapid and safe communica- tion for transport and travel, which is the basis of good relations.” From Costa Rica, he wrote, “My flights in this part of the world have indicated that aviation is one of the best available means of transportation and, in addition, that it is peculiarly adapted to Central America. Trips of days, if not of weeks, by the present means can be shortened to hours.” Lindbergh spent more than two weeks in Panama, recovering On Dec. 12, 1927, the day before taking off on his Goodwill Tour, Charles Lindbergh looks over railroad maps for navigation over land during his flight. RANDMCNALLYANDCOMPANY For Lindbergh, the Goodwill Tour was a chance to use his celebrity for good.