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The Airman and the Carpenter The Lindbergh Kidnapping and the Framing of Richard Hauptman
Re-creates the social and political climate of the time and dramatically re-evaluates the roles of the police, the judiciary, and others
496 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
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147 people want to read
About the author
Ludovic Kennedy
62 books14 followersLudovic Henry Coverley Kennedy was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, and author. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Strathclyde in 1985 and also held similar posts at the Universities of Edinburgh and Stirling. He was knighted in 1994 for services to journalism.
He was a member of the crew of the British destroyer HMS Tartar that took part in the pursuit and destruction of the German battleship Bismarck in May of 1941. 'Sub-Lieutenant' (1942) told of his naval experiences and 'Pursuit' (1974) told of the sinking of the Bismarck.
He undertook many campaigns on behalf of people who had been wrongly convicted of murder, including Derek Bentley and Timothy Evans and also wrote an account of the trial of Stephen Ward following the Profumo affair. He also wrote an account of the murders at Ten Rillington Place.
He married actress Moira Shearer (1926-2006) on 25 February 1950 and the couple had four children.
He died of pneumonia at Salisbury, Wiltshire on 18 October 2009.
He was a member of the crew of the British destroyer HMS Tartar that took part in the pursuit and destruction of the German battleship Bismarck in May of 1941. 'Sub-Lieutenant' (1942) told of his naval experiences and 'Pursuit' (1974) told of the sinking of the Bismarck.
He undertook many campaigns on behalf of people who had been wrongly convicted of murder, including Derek Bentley and Timothy Evans and also wrote an account of the trial of Stephen Ward following the Profumo affair. He also wrote an account of the murders at Ten Rillington Place.
He married actress Moira Shearer (1926-2006) on 25 February 1950 and the couple had four children.
He died of pneumonia at Salisbury, Wiltshire on 18 October 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 19, 2007
I grew up outside of Hopewell, NJ, the town where Charles Lindbergh lived, and where the kidnapping took place. As a result of this, and the fact that I am an inherently morbid person, I have read a great deal on the kidnapping of the baby. While I too question whether the right man was captured in the case, and while this book raises some interesting questions about the motivations behind some of the key players, this book is based on a number of assumptions that were later proven to be wrong out of hand (including an assertion that the corpse found was not the Lindbergh child, arising from a misprint in an early reward poster). The book is outdated, somewhat prone to be conspiratorial in a manner not favoring the airman, and really only suitable for persons deeply interested in the history of the case and trial, not those with a passing interest. However, if you really are interested in the kidnapping case, this is a good work to read, if nothing else for the balance it provides, and suggestion the popular answer isn't always the right one.
"Truth cannot be measured by majority opinion." Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI
"Truth cannot be measured by majority opinion." Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI
July 31, 2023
Read this many years ago and found it to be a gripping account of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.
Recently watched the 1976 TV movie which won Anthony Hopkins the Emmy for his portrayal of the convicted Bruno Hauptmann. And also, been reading the opinions of fellow reviewers offering their diverse opinions on the case and Ludovic Kennedy's book.
Will admit Mr. Kennedy had me totally convinced that Bruno Hauptmann was innocent, and he offers plenty of "evidence" to back up his argument. What with all the shoddy police work, devious political shenanigans, biased press and the desire by the authorities to obtain a conviction to satisfy an outraged public in the turbulent social climate of the early 1930s, there is plenty to ponder.
On reflection it has to be said that the evidence in the case against Bruno appeared very strong. And also raises the more difficult question: if not Hauptmann, then who?
This book is a fascinating read. Fiction or fact? I suppose we will never know for sure.
Recently watched the 1976 TV movie which won Anthony Hopkins the Emmy for his portrayal of the convicted Bruno Hauptmann. And also, been reading the opinions of fellow reviewers offering their diverse opinions on the case and Ludovic Kennedy's book.
Will admit Mr. Kennedy had me totally convinced that Bruno Hauptmann was innocent, and he offers plenty of "evidence" to back up his argument. What with all the shoddy police work, devious political shenanigans, biased press and the desire by the authorities to obtain a conviction to satisfy an outraged public in the turbulent social climate of the early 1930s, there is plenty to ponder.
On reflection it has to be said that the evidence in the case against Bruno appeared very strong. And also raises the more difficult question: if not Hauptmann, then who?
This book is a fascinating read. Fiction or fact? I suppose we will never know for sure.
September 8, 2017
Kennedy
This is a question of “What If?”
What if Bruno Richard Hauptman was actually telling the truth about where he obtained the kidnapping money? What if the notorious “16th Rail” was, as some claim, planted evidence? What if Hauptman had nothing to do with the kidnapping and the death of the Lindbergh baby?
Facts not in dispute are as follows:
• Hauptman had about a third of the ransom money
• Hauptman bought gas with a bill from the ransom and was thus identified
• Someone passed about $2,980 of the money at a bank and was never caught or identified
• Both JFC and Lindbergh said they recognized Hauptman as Cemetery John
• No fingerprints of Hauptman were found on the ladder or the ransom letters
• Modern computer analysis of the ransom notes and Hauptman’s writing sample show that Hauptman did not write the notes
This book explores the crime, the search for the kidnappers, the arrest, trial, and execution of Hauptman, and the actions of Lindbergh himself. Lindbergh was very much in control of the investigation. The only thing the authorities were able to do was to make the ransom money rather easy to track. Even here they were stymied a bit when JFC, with a stated purpose of saving Lindbergh money, failed to give the kidnapper(s) the portion of the money made up of $50 gold certificates. The $50 bills would have been more easily traced.
Was Lindbergh, newly minted National Hero, given so much leeway on the case as to cause an innocent man to go to the electric chair? Was Lindbergh, a proponent of a pure race, guilty of having his child murdered because the child was “a tad slow?” Where was the rest of the money, since Hauptman, a speculator on the stock market, did not spend the cash?
These are arguments that will never be answered. What happened has gone down in History and cannot be changed. But I do believe that there was more than enough reasonable doubt for Hauptman to be found not guilty…
I give the book four stars…
Quoth the Raven…
This is a question of “What If?”
What if Bruno Richard Hauptman was actually telling the truth about where he obtained the kidnapping money? What if the notorious “16th Rail” was, as some claim, planted evidence? What if Hauptman had nothing to do with the kidnapping and the death of the Lindbergh baby?
Facts not in dispute are as follows:
• Hauptman had about a third of the ransom money
• Hauptman bought gas with a bill from the ransom and was thus identified
• Someone passed about $2,980 of the money at a bank and was never caught or identified
• Both JFC and Lindbergh said they recognized Hauptman as Cemetery John
• No fingerprints of Hauptman were found on the ladder or the ransom letters
• Modern computer analysis of the ransom notes and Hauptman’s writing sample show that Hauptman did not write the notes
This book explores the crime, the search for the kidnappers, the arrest, trial, and execution of Hauptman, and the actions of Lindbergh himself. Lindbergh was very much in control of the investigation. The only thing the authorities were able to do was to make the ransom money rather easy to track. Even here they were stymied a bit when JFC, with a stated purpose of saving Lindbergh money, failed to give the kidnapper(s) the portion of the money made up of $50 gold certificates. The $50 bills would have been more easily traced.
Was Lindbergh, newly minted National Hero, given so much leeway on the case as to cause an innocent man to go to the electric chair? Was Lindbergh, a proponent of a pure race, guilty of having his child murdered because the child was “a tad slow?” Where was the rest of the money, since Hauptman, a speculator on the stock market, did not spend the cash?
These are arguments that will never be answered. What happened has gone down in History and cannot be changed. But I do believe that there was more than enough reasonable doubt for Hauptman to be found not guilty…
I give the book four stars…
Quoth the Raven…
February 26, 2019
While it definitely has a great amount of detail on the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping, the title of the book ("Framing of Richard Hauptman") shows the bias of the author who obviously claims the gentleman charged with the kidnapping and murder of the Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh's infant son was innocent. Perhaps he was. I wish this book offered more evidence and less opinion as I finished the 430-page book not sure who committed the crime of the century and what Hauptman's role was. He definitely did not see justice and have a fair defense, but I don't really know what happened back in the 1930s after reading this work.
August 8, 2013
As always with Ludovic Kennedy's cold-case explorations, the reader shouldn't expect too much by way of authorial impartiality. This is a self-confessedly partisan portrayal of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, with Kennedy declaring up front that his objective is to exonerate Bruno Richard Hauptmann, the man who went to the chair for the "Crime of the Century". Be prepared, then, for a certain amount of finger-wagging, not to say sermonizing, from Ludo, whose occupation of the moral high ground takes on the heroic aspect of Hillary's assault on Everest at times. But what an Everest of bullshit he has to scale! The prosecution's case was bolstered with the flimsiest of eyewitness testimony (including the evidence of one legally blind man who identified a vase of flowers from ten feet away as a lady's hat), some debatable forensic evidence concerning the authorship of the ransom notes and the origins of the wood used to make the ramshackle ladder found at the crime scene, and, preponderantly, a surfeit of emotionalism and playing to the gallery, backed up by an hysterical press campaign against the immigrant German carpenter in the dock. Kennedy has a fine time exposing the trail of dirty tricks played against Hauptmann by a nakedly partisan police force - and, at times, a defence team which seemed as keen as the prosecution to bury any evidence tending to demonstrate the defendant's innocence.
So was Hauptmann innocent? Even Ludo can't quite prove it to be so. The mysterious Isidor Fisch, Bruno's crooked business partner who allegedly left the ransom money for the Hauptmanns to look after before inconveniently dying of consumption back home in Germany, almost certainly held the key to the truth of the case. Without his testimony, we'll simply never know. However, all Kennedy really has to do, as the self-appointed sympathetic defence counsel Hauptmann never got, is cast enough doubt on the conviction to render it unsafe; and this he more than manages.
So was Hauptmann innocent? Even Ludo can't quite prove it to be so. The mysterious Isidor Fisch, Bruno's crooked business partner who allegedly left the ransom money for the Hauptmanns to look after before inconveniently dying of consumption back home in Germany, almost certainly held the key to the truth of the case. Without his testimony, we'll simply never know. However, all Kennedy really has to do, as the self-appointed sympathetic defence counsel Hauptmann never got, is cast enough doubt on the conviction to render it unsafe; and this he more than manages.
August 18, 2021
A good read about a classic case. Hauptmann definitely did not get a fair trial, but was he innocent? There is a very fair assessment of the case by FBI profiler John Douglas in 'The Cases That Haunt Us'. Well worth a read to compare with Kennedy's account.
October 14, 2007
Flights of fancy from a British writer who believes that Bruno Hauptmann did not kidnap the Lindbergh baby. A large part of defense seems to rest on sheer animus for Lindbergh himself.
August 15, 2013
Convincingly argued throughout.
August 7, 2022
This was one book that haunted me for a long time, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is my family connection to the story. Some of the story takes place in parts of the Bronx I'm familiar with, through my family history, like Hunter Island, City Island, St. Raymond's Cemetery, and the Vice Principal, Dr. Condon, worked in the school that was attended by several of my family members, one of whom, along with his brother, actually spoke to Richard Hauptman and were on friendly terms with him. (This happened while they were at City Island, where one of the brothers had a summer job at the shipyards.) It was quite a surprise when they heard on the news and read in the papers about Hauptman's arrest for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby!
So much of this story seems like a travesty, a real miscarriage of justice, not to mention bigotry. Like Hurricane Carter, Sacco and Vanzetti, and too many others, Hauptman was condemned for for who he was than what he allegedly did. Prejudice against Germans was pretty rampant in the years between the wars, and every bit of news from Hitler's Germany added fuel to the fire. There was no way he could get a fair trial, not when we're dealing with the baby of America's hero. (This hero, BTW, had feet of clay: he was known to sympathize with the Nazis, but of course, since he flew that historic flight, he got a free pass. Hypocrisy, thy name is Celebrity!)
Too much in this case didn't add up, like the rickety ladder that was used, something a professional carpenter like Hauptman would never have made. True, the story of the ransom money being kept in a suitcase by Hauptman and his wife, who were holding it for a friend who returned to Germany and then died, leaving them free to spend it, does sound a bit hard to swallow, but stranger tales have been told in a courtroom that were bought like the Brooklyn Bridge. much was overlooked, much was made too much of, and a young husband and father lost his life for something he may not have done.
My sympathies were with Mrs. Hauptman, who wanted so much to prove her husband's innocence before she died, and never got the chance. I like to think that they're together now, all the sadness behind them, and finding happiness in the next world that this one cheated them out of.
I won't say anymore, but I recommend this book to anyone interested in famous court cases, as the author really knows his stuff.
So much of this story seems like a travesty, a real miscarriage of justice, not to mention bigotry. Like Hurricane Carter, Sacco and Vanzetti, and too many others, Hauptman was condemned for for who he was than what he allegedly did. Prejudice against Germans was pretty rampant in the years between the wars, and every bit of news from Hitler's Germany added fuel to the fire. There was no way he could get a fair trial, not when we're dealing with the baby of America's hero. (This hero, BTW, had feet of clay: he was known to sympathize with the Nazis, but of course, since he flew that historic flight, he got a free pass. Hypocrisy, thy name is Celebrity!)
Too much in this case didn't add up, like the rickety ladder that was used, something a professional carpenter like Hauptman would never have made. True, the story of the ransom money being kept in a suitcase by Hauptman and his wife, who were holding it for a friend who returned to Germany and then died, leaving them free to spend it, does sound a bit hard to swallow, but stranger tales have been told in a courtroom that were bought like the Brooklyn Bridge. much was overlooked, much was made too much of, and a young husband and father lost his life for something he may not have done.
My sympathies were with Mrs. Hauptman, who wanted so much to prove her husband's innocence before she died, and never got the chance. I like to think that they're together now, all the sadness behind them, and finding happiness in the next world that this one cheated them out of.
I won't say anymore, but I recommend this book to anyone interested in famous court cases, as the author really knows his stuff.
December 18, 2021
I didnt know the whole story about the kidnapping of the "Lindbergh Baby" until i read this and have trawled through the reviews of this and other pieces/books on the internet about the subject and youtube clips to try and get a clear understanding that may give a balance of different theories.
If this book is factually correct then this is a major miscarriage of justice. Kennedy gives a very clear endless lists of "untruths" that helped the US Court to send Hauptman to the electric chair. So many that i cant see how anyone can be less than a 100% sure he was framed. Saying that some people in their reviews seem to miss this point and it reminded me of whats so wrong about the world and how the actual truth can be ignored as some kind of "fake news" just to ram through an opposing view based upon "lies". I'd like to see a list of things that Kennedy points out as being "flawed/made up etc" and what was so wrong about his assumption so i can get a real balnced view. With that in mind, the book is well written, easy to follow with clear explanations and very gripping. It is obviously (to me) very persuasive and i doubt be bettered if you agree with his findings
If this book is factually correct then this is a major miscarriage of justice. Kennedy gives a very clear endless lists of "untruths" that helped the US Court to send Hauptman to the electric chair. So many that i cant see how anyone can be less than a 100% sure he was framed. Saying that some people in their reviews seem to miss this point and it reminded me of whats so wrong about the world and how the actual truth can be ignored as some kind of "fake news" just to ram through an opposing view based upon "lies". I'd like to see a list of things that Kennedy points out as being "flawed/made up etc" and what was so wrong about his assumption so i can get a real balnced view. With that in mind, the book is well written, easy to follow with clear explanations and very gripping. It is obviously (to me) very persuasive and i doubt be bettered if you agree with his findings
June 11, 2020
Unashamedly written in support of Hauptmann and I agree with Kennedy's thoughts.
The case put forward was wholly flawed. Reilly
was at best incompetent and at worst a puppet of the anti-Hauptmann Hearst publishing empire.
I come away convinced that this is a miscarriage of justice.
The case put forward was wholly flawed. Reilly
was at best incompetent and at worst a puppet of the anti-Hauptmann Hearst publishing empire.
I come away convinced that this is a miscarriage of justice.
February 18, 2019
Good thoughtful review of the events and evidence regarding the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. There is much to doubt in this case.
July 8, 2021
The Airman and the Carpenter The Lindbergh Kidnapping and the Framing of Richard Hauptman keeps you interested all the way through.
September 23, 2007
Crime of the Century is a new look at the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. Although it is does present a good case that Hauptmann may have been innocent, and it does read like a solid investigative case unfolding, it isn't as gripping as it could be. If you read this and kind of like it, go read Erik Larson's Devil in the White City next.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews