Charles Lindbergh was an American aviator who became an international celebrity after he became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. He became a controversial figure in the leadup to World War II due to his opposition to American involvement in the war and his vocal support for [Nazi Germany](https://doctorparadox.net/?s=nazi). Lindbergh believed that the United States should not get involved in what he saw as a European conflict, and he expressed admiration for the German regime's accomplishments in aviation and other fields. One of the most famous advocates for [[isolationism]] and non-interventionism in the U.S., Lindbergh was a prominent member of the [[America First Committee (AFC)]] formed in 1940 to lobby against the country's involvement in WWII. ## Lindbergh's anti-Semitism On September 11, 1941, Lindbergh gave a speech in Des Moines, Iowa that brought strains of formerly thinly-veiled [[Adolf Hitler]]-ism to the surface. The speech was his most obvious public invocation of [[antisemitism]] in which he alleged that Jewish groups in the U.S. were responsible for pushing America towards war with Germany, and echoed the claims of [[Adolf Hitler]] that Jews wielded a dangerous amount of ownership and influence over the press, popular entertainment, and the government. His words were a rendition of the [global cabal](https://doctorparadox.net/dictionaries/american-fascism/global-cabal/) myth, an anti-Semitic [conspiracy theory](https://doctorparadox.net/why-do-people-believe-conspiracy-theories/) at the heart of Nazi ideology that [scapegoated](https://doctorparadox.net/psychology/scapegoating/) the Jewish people for all the social, political, and economic woes of Germany and, more broadly, the world. The speech was a turning point, following which many of Lindbergh's remaining supporters and allies began to distance themselves from the famous pilot. See also: [[World War II Timeline]], [[isolationist]]