VIEWSrnThe Other LindberghrnCrusader Against Plutocracyrnby Justin RaimondornWhile the most famous member of the Lindbergh clan isrnundoubtedly the aviator and World War Il-era isolationistrnCharles A. Lindbergh, Jr., the qualities for which he wonrnrenown—his courage, his Scandinavian severit)’, his willingnessrnto stand against the tide of popular opinion, his dislike ofrncities and the elites they spawned, and (most of all) his oppositionrnto the scourge of war—were even more concentrated in thernperson of his father, Charles Augustus Lindbergh, or C.A., as hernwas known to his family and friends.rnCharles Augustus Lindbergh was the son of Swedish homesteadersrnwho hacked a farm out of the Minnesota vilderness.rnBoth the perils and the irtues of that life are dramatized in thernstor)’ of a run-in that C.A.’s mother, Louisa, had with some “hijuns,”rnamong the earliest practitioners of “wilding.” Confrontedrnby a group of drunken Sioux banging at the door and demandingrnfood, and with her husband out in the fields, Louisarnbarricaded herself and her children in the house. The hijunsrnleft, grabbing the ax off the woodpile on their way. Louisa litrnout after them—but not before changing into her silk dress sornthat she might overwhelm the saage miscreants with her dignifiedrnappearance. She pursued them down the road quite arndistance and upbraided them so thoroughly that the bravesrnwere shamed into returning the stolen ax.rnAnd a good thing, too, for the ax had been designed especiallyrnfor her husband, who had been injured in an accident andrncould do no work without it. The severit)’ of his injury meantrnthat young C.A. had to take up his responsibilities to the familyrnas soon as he was able, and this meant putting fresh meat on thernfamily table. The man who would take on the Money Trustrnand the warmongers, who would endure accusations of treasonrnand, eventually, arrest for his outspoken views, spent his youthrnJustin Raimondo writes from San Francisco.rnin solitary contemplation of nature, hunting and traipsing therntrails of rural Stearns Count)’. His biographer relates that “nornone could remember when Charles could not handle a gun,”rnand young C.A. reveled in the freedom of the hunter. The nonconformismrnthat was to mark his political career was formed inrnthe lone splendor of those woods that swathed the banks of thernSauk River.rnWhat educational opportimities there were in those daysrncame largelv as the result of his father’s efforts. The first schoolhousernin the area was in a granary donated by August Lindbergh,rnbut his own son did not take kindl}- to being confined inrna classroom, often escaping to the green solitude of the surroundingrnforests. The real core of C.A.’s education occurred atrnhome: Both of his parents were avid readers, and the familyrntable was the site of much lively intellectual discussion. At thernage of 20, he enrolled at the Sauk Centre Academy and BusinessrnCollege, which had no classes, only individual instruction,rna method well suited to a young man whose main occupationrnwas still hunting and trapping.rnYoung Lindbergh’s first head-on collision with the worldrncame when the Minnesota legislature passed a law prohibitingrnthe killing of birds for shipment out of state. He had been makingrna good liing shipping barrels of game to a Chicago restaurant.rnBut he had saved most of his profits, and he used this to financernhis study of law at the University’ of Michigan, which hernentered in the fall of 1881.rnHe settled down with his first wife. Mar)’, in Morrison Count)’,rn50 miles from his birthplace, in the town of Little Falls. As arnlawyer, C.A. was famous for his honest)’; he refused to representrnhis first potential client because the man was guilty. Among hisrnclients were several local banks and the Pine Tree LmnberrnCompany, and he prospered. But at the tail end of the decade,rntragedv overshadowed him: Mar)’ died in 1898 of complicationsrn14/CHRONICLESrnrnrn