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.There were many other cities, and many other awards 58 AMELIA EARHARTceremonies, including the prestigious presentation of anhonorary membership in the National Aeronautic Association,an honor given to only 14 men before.Amelia s new book,The Fun of It, with its final chapter detailing her experiencesflying across the Atlantic, was published and became aninstant best-seller.In July, Amelia flew to California to attend the 1932 SummerOlympic Games.She was planning to then fly back east anddecided to attempt to become the first woman to fly non-stop coast to coast.But she was forced to make a landing inColumbus, Ohio.When she finally reached her destinationNewark, New Jersey she had managed to break one record:Her flying time was better than that of any other female pilotflying coast to coast.The previous best time had been set byRuth Nichols a coast-to-coast crossing of 29 hours, 1 minute,and 49 seconds.Amelia reached the coast (although not non-stop) in 19 hours, 14 minutes, and 40 seconds, nearly 10 hoursfaster than Nichols s time.She returned to California for a fewmore days at the Olympic Games, before once more deciding totry to make the nonstop flight.On August 25 she succeeded,becoming the first woman to fly nonstop coast to coast andbreaking her own record time by making the trip in 19 hoursand 5 minutes.AT THE WHITE HOUSEAmelia had visited the White House as a guest of PresidentHoover following her return from her solo trip across theAtlantic.George Putnam had found the Hoovers gracious buttheir home a bit gloomy. The Putnams had quite a differentimpression of the next inhabitants of the White HouseFranklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.They were frequent guests ofthe Roosevelts.In April 1933 Amelia was a guest at the White House whenEleanor Roosevelt mentioned that she had never flown at night. Solo Across the Atlantic 59Amelia loved night flying the magic of viewing the lights ofstars above and the lights of the city below and wanted thefirst lady to share that experience.She quickly telephoned acontact at Eastern Airlines and arranged to borrow a plane.Stilldressed in their long satin evening gowns, Amelia and Eleanorclimbed into the borrowed plane and flew up over Washington.A more serious moment came the next day, when Ameliawas invited to speak before 3,000 members of the Daughters ofthe American Revolution.The group had been demonstratingin favor of building up America s weapons arsenal in lightof the unsettling developments in Europe (in the years justbefore World War II).Amelia had experienced the effects of waras a nurse dealing with battle-scarred soldiers in Canada, andwhat she had seen had transformed her into a committedpacifist.She bravely addressed that large crowd, criticizingthem for speaking out in favor of rearming America withouttaking any steps to ensure an equal role for women in themilitary.Amelia pointed out the hypocrisy in their position tothe startled audience: unless they planned to make use ofthe weapons themselves, by fighting for their country, theyhad no business in taking a position so strongly in favor ofrearmament.Amelia was gradually becoming a spokesperson for politicalcauses, as well as for aviation.But as she traveled around thecountry, making speeches and writing articles, she was contem-plating what next challenge might await her. 5The PacificChallengen July 1, 1933, Amelia participated in the Bendix Transconti-nental Air Derby.There were only two female contestants inOthe race Amelia and Ruth Nichols.The two had enjoyed arivalry dating back to Amelia s earliest flying days in 1922.Ruthhad broken the first record set by Amelia in 1922 and had been oneof the candidates to serve on the Guest expedition across theAtlantic that made Amelia famous.She had continued to quietlyadvance the cause of women aviators, though she lacked the drivefor headlines that helped make Amelia the most famous femalepilot of that time.They also happened to be neighbors, both livingin the town of Rye, New York
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