Exposing the Third Reich: Colonel Truman Smith in Hitler’s Germany

14. The Lindbergh-Smith Friendship

202 14 The Lindbergh-smith Friendship Among the most interesting of the American friends we made in these Berlin years were Charles and Anne Lindbergh. —Truman Smith Truman Smith was enormously grateful to Charles Lindbergh for the air intelligence gained by the aviator’s visits to Germany in 1936 and 1937. Later Lindbergh visits in 1938 and 1939 were icing on the cake, but Smith singled out his 1 November 1937 report on Nazi air power as his crowning achievement. Lindbergh’s visit had validated and fleshed out what were Smith’s unsubstantiated 1935–1936 impressions of German aviation development. It opened the door to Luftwaffe leadership for Major Albert Vanaman’s further reporting and gave Smith and his Berlin office credibility in Washington with the G-2 and with his own army’s air corps. Smith believed that his report on German aviation was right on the mark. He further believed that Lindbergh never got the credit he deserved for the intelligence coup and was, in fact, very badly treated by FDR and the American interventionists in the early stages of World War II. Smith was too self-critical after the war in noting his personal failure to highlight an important fact: that the German prewar Luftwaffe was not a long-range air force built around heavy bombers , that it was designed primarily as a supporting arm for ground warfare in Europe. Intelligence specialists, however, would almost certainly credit Smith with a masterful job of information gathering . It was the analysts in MID and in the Army Air Corps who should have been more thorough in evaluating the strategic implications of the capabilities and limitations of the air force the Germans designed. Smith’s job was to collect intelligence, which he did magnificently. The professional relationship of Smith and Lindbergh blos- The Lindbergh-smith Friendship 203 somed into a close and lasting friendship that included their wives, Katharine Smith and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The details of the relationship provide insight into what life was like for American officials in Hitler’s Germany, an oblique look at German leadership, and some human dimensions of the individuals, all from eyewitnesses. That friendship was deepened in Lindbergh’s visits to Germany in 1938 and 1939 as the Germans continued to give the famous American flier the royal treatment and a wealth of aviation information that was passed on to Washington via the office of the military attaché. Lindbergh flew his personal aircraft from Berlin to Paris on 18 January 1939, ending a two and one-half year connection to Smith’s office in Berlin. He would not return to Germany until the very end of World War II, and from late 1938 onward Lindbergh’s once-glowing reputation became tarnished. Smith’s close association with him would later cause Smith to suffer extensive and unfair criticism as he was drawn unwillingly into the public battle between interventionists and isolationists that dominated American politics. While sharing many of Lindbergh’s geopolitical views, Smith would have preferred to remain both invisible and mute regarding politics, as was expected of an American military officer. The problem that later arose was that the personal connection between Smith and Lindbergh was made public, while Lindbergh’s major contribution to American intelligence was not public knowledge at the time. Smith’s friendship with Lindbergh, his general agreement with him, and Smith’s sense of honor made it impossible for him to denounce Lindbergh. At the same time, his officers’ code of discretion would not allow him to speak out in defense of Lindbergh and against his commander in chief. As a consequence, some of the slings and arrows meant for Lindbergh hit Smith. The patter of Noël Coward, the songs of Cole Porter, and the acting of Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn suggest the tone of the meetings and commentary of Truman, Kay, Charles, and Anne. True to character, the players describe the relationship in their idiosyncratic voices; but mutual respect, affection, and trust are at the root of the friendship. Truman is objective, analytical, and professional. Kay is colorful, feeling, witty. Anne is the professional writer putting scenes into the larger context of the play. Charles is brief, direct, pragmatic—and dogmatic. Truman pointed out that his and Lindbergh’s professional rela- 204 EXPOSING THE THIRD REICH tionship is detailed in the “Air Intelligence” report, but his feelings toward Lindbergh were not. “These should...