Lindbergh receives the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Coolidge

Share

Charles Lindbergh stands before President Calvin Coolidge in this 1928 photograph, taken as Lindbergh received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his solo nonstop flight from New York to Paris the previous year. That 1927 crossing of the Atlantic made the young airmail pilot an international celebrity almost overnight, and the decoration was one of several honors he received that year. Coolidge, who had presided over a decade of postwar prosperity, used the ceremony to recognize aviation as a national achievement. The picture captures the formal, public side of a moment that drew enormous crowds and marked the start of commercial air travel's growing public appeal.

More from the Historic Print Archive collection

Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.