Comment on the Review of Barons of the Sky

Abstract

COMMENT ON THE REVIEW OF BARONS OF THE SKY To the Editor: I would be inclined to take Eric Schatzberg’s review of my book, Barons ofthe Sky (Technology and Culture 33 [1992]: 838-39), as part of the usual roughshod turf fighting between academics and journalists, but his comments about how I handled the subject of Glenn L. Martin’s sexuality were nearly slanderous. In the book’s foreword, where I first raised the question of whether Martin was gay, I specifically cautioned that this matter was germane “only in that it points to what must have been an excruciating aspect of his success” (p. 14), namely, the pain of being closeted in an ultracon­ servative business. If later mentioning Martin’s “Flying Dude” carnival nickname and its derogatory connotations in the tight-laced society of 1912 is equivalent to “sneering innuendo” in Mr. Schatzberg’s mind, then I must downgrade my optimism about the degree to which even the most educated reader can bear to confront such matters today. To many who knew him well, Martin was a very odd man. His contemporaries, such as Donald Douglas andJerome Hunsaker, alluded to his homosexuality with bourgeois talk that would be absurd to render into a form acceptable to some postdoctoral scholars. Indeed, it was the vividness of Martin’s personality, as well as that of other aviation industry pioneers, that I chose to emphasize over shopworn descriptions of their products. When I earned a degree in electrical engineering two decades ago, I quite had my fill of an escapist, reactionary attitude pervading the profession that tried somehow to divorce technology from human nature. Hence, perhaps, my career as a journalist rather than as an engineer. It is appalling now to find evidence of that old mentality in the guise of a respectable book review. Wayne Biddle Mr. Biddle lives in Washington, D.C. He is writing a biography of Wernher von Braun. To the Editor: Wayne Biddle’s preoccupation with the personality defects of the early aviation industrialists has not only prevented him from developing a serious critique of the aviation industry; it also seems to have interfered with his understanding of my review. Although the overblown, indignant prose in Biddle’s letter makes it difficult to discern his precise objec­ tions, he apparently thinks that I am offended by his claim that Martin was gay. The claim itself does not bother me at all, though Biddle’s evidence is hardly conclusive. Rather, I object to the way Biddle treats 450 Comment on the Review 0/Barons ofthe Sky 451 Martin’s sexual orientation. Biddle admits that he has no evidence of any sexual relationships for Martin, but insists that Martin was gay “in style if not by act” (p. 14). For Biddle, Martin’s gay style consisted not in strong emotional attachments to people of the same gender but rather in Martin’s flashy attire and lifelong residence with his mother. Such a definition is a heterosexual caricature of the gay male. Biddle paints unflattering portraits of all his main characters, but he reserves most of his venom for Martin. As I said clearly in my review, Biddle’s critical approach to his subjects is a welcome antidote to the standard heroic biographies of aviation industrialists. But his approach becomes objectionable when he makes Martin’s sexuality part of this negative portrayal. Although Biddle engages in no explicit gay bashing, he repeatedly makes disparaging allusions to Martin’s sexual orientation. These allusions are what I referred to as “sneering innuendo.” In my review I mentioned one example, Biddle’s repeated reference to Martin as “flying dude” after identifying this expression as a term of abuse. Additional cases abound. For example, Biddle contrasts Billy Mitchell, “a gregarious, hard-charging gallant,” with Martin, “a prissy businessman who rarely went anywhere without his mother” (p. 121). Biddle also quotes a description of Mitchell’s “famous pink breeches” in order to make the completely gratuitous comment that Mitchell’s clothes “would surely have appealed to Glenn Martin” (p. 334). Biddle refers to Caleb Smith Bragg, a business partner of Martin, as a “confirmed bachelor [who] was attractive to Martin on many levels...