Eugene Luther Vidal

Eugene Luther "Gene" Vidal ( /vɨˈdɑːl/;[1] April 13, 1895 – February 20, 1969) was an American athlete and aviation pioneer. He was the father of author Gore Vidal.

Contents

Biography

He was born on April 13, 1895 in Madison, South Dakota.

Vidal was a versatile athlete. At the University of South Dakota (USD) from 1913 to 1916, Vidal was a football, basketball, baseball and track letterman, and was captain of the 1915 football team and 1916 basketball team, leading the basketball team in scoring in 1915 and 1916 and helping the University to the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference title this year. Vidal transferred to West Point in 1918, where became the captain of the football team.[2]

Vidal participated in the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games, he finished seventh in the decathlon at Antwerp in 1920. He was the first graduate of USD to be on an Olympic team.[3]

He played for the American Professional Football Association's Washington Senators in 1921.

In 1922 Vidal married Nina Gore, daughter of Thomas Gore, Democratic senator from Oklahoma.[4] They were divorced in 1935, after she ran off to marry the wealthy stockbroker Hugh D. Auchincloss.[5] A few years later, in 1939, Vidal married Katherine Roberts.[6]

Vidal taught aeronautics at West Point and was one of the first United States Army Air Corps pilots. He went on to become one of the pioneers in the commercial aviation industry. From 1933 to 1937, Vidal was Director of the Commerce Department's Bureau of Air Commerce and helped found three American airlines during the 1920s and '30s; Eastern Airlines, TWA and Northeast Airlines, along with aviatrix Amelia Earhart (with whom he had a romantic relationship, according to biographers Susan Butler and Paul Collins). Vidal also formed the New York, Philadelphia and Washington Airway Corporation, an airline that offered hourly round-trip service between the cities, in 1930. He was also an investor in the Boston and Maine Railroad.

Later in life he served as a director of Northeast Airlines and was an aviation adviser to the Army Chief of Staff.[7]

He died on February 20, 1969 in Los Angeles, California.[7]

Legacy

References

  1. ^ TIME: Index, v. 22, p. 46
  2. ^ NY Times, January 11, 1918
  3. ^ USD Press. Jul 13, 2004
  4. ^ NY Times, January 12, 1922
  5. ^ "GORE VIDAL: Laughing Cassandra", Time, March 1, 1976.
  6. ^ Vidal, Gore, 1925-. Papers: Guide
  7. ^ a b "Died". Time magazine. February 28, 1969. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900718,00.html. Retrieved 2011-01-03. "Eugene Vidal, 73, pioneer promoter of civil aviation and father of author Gore Vidal; in Los Angeles, Calif. Vidal starred in football at West Point and competed in the decathlon in the Antwerp Olympic Games of 1920. He later taught aviation and coached football at the academy, resigned his commission in 1926 to become assistant general manager of Transcontinental Air Transport (now TWA). From 1933 to 1937 he was Director of Air Commerce in Washington, where he organized and expanded the Government's civil aeronautics program. Later he served as a director of Northeast Airlines and as aviation adviser to the Army Chief of Staff. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900718,00.html#ixzz19wOQY8Mi" 
  8. ^ South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame: Gene Vidal
  9. ^ " 'Amelia' Full credits." IMDb. Retrieved: January 3, 2010.

External links