The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance

by Ron Chernow

Morrow’s files show that the Morgan partners ended up paying for Lindbergh’s historic flight to Paris aboard The Spirit of St. Louis. Under the original scheme, Lindbergh had planned to compete for the $25,000 Orteig Prize, set up to reward the first nonstop flight between New York and Paris. The trip was thus supposed to be self-financing. Lindbergh contributed $2,000, and a number of other Saint Louis sponsors added $1,000 or $500 apiece. Altogether, they raised $8,500 in subscriptions against a loan of $15,000 from a Saint Louis bank. Then, in his rush to be first across the Atlantic, Lindbergh decided that he couldn’t afford certain delays demanded by the Orteig Prize and so forfeited his chance. In June 1927, one St. Louis sponsor, broker Harry F. Knight, told Morrow that the historic flight had actually cost between $16,000 and $17,000. The Morgan partners pitched in $10,500, not only repaying the bank loan, but permitting Lindbergh to retrieve his own $2,000 investment.