What's interesting to me is how Lindbergh's individual success somehow became America's success. He was a private citizen engaged in a financially-motivated commercial venture with funding from some PR-conscious St. Louis businessmen. Before the flight he was "The Flying Fool" but, upon landing in Paris, he was "The Lone Eagle" and "The Eagle of the USA" as if the national bird had come down off the great seal and flown the Atlantic - the embodiment of American exceptionalism. His post-flight fame (and wealth) was bolstered by the prompt publication of his autobiography "We", written in longhand during his voyage back to New York aboard USS Memphis and published under a contract with G.P. Putnam's Sons negotiated by - you guessed it - George Palmer Putnam. The next year, Putnam repeated the wildly successful formula by sending a female Lindbergh look-alike across the pond, followed by a New York ticker tape parade, and a book.