Amelia Earhart

In the same year that Earhart married, she became vice president of the National Aeronautic Association, an organization devoted to the advancement of flight in America. In this job she performed many duties, including lobbying Congress to provide greater resources for the burgeoning aviation industry. This photograph shows Earhart with other leading figures in Washington to champion the development of a small airplane that might be marketed to the wider public. Eugene Vidal—an All-American football star at West Point and the father of author Gore Vidal—played a lead role in this initiative and became close friends with Earhart. Standing third from left, the charismatic Vidal believed that this new plane might be no more expensive than an automobile. A prototype of the so-called "flivver" plane crashed during testing and ultimately never went into production.