Amelia by Nancy Nahra Read Free Book Online Page B

reminded numerous times.
    Though the growing attraction was mutual, Earhart was reluctant to marry. When Putnam proposed marriage in late fall 1930, he knew about Earhart’s hesitation to marry. He had already asked her five times. This time, though, she accepted, but still had some misgivings. Earhart feared that Putnam might have ideas about marriage that differed from her own. In 1931, almost on the eve of their wedding, she wrote Putnam a letter spelling out certain topics they had never talked about:
    . . .You must know again my reluctance to marry, my feeling that I shatter thereby chances in work which means so much to me. Feel the move just now as foolish as anything I could do. I know there may be compensations, but have no heart to look ahead. In our life together I shall not hold you to any midaevil [sic] code of faithfulness to me, nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly. If we can be honest I think the difficulties which arise may be best avoided.
    Please let us not interfere with the other’s work or play, nor let the world see our private joys or disagreements. In this connection I may have to keep some place where I can go to be myself now and then, for I cannot guarantee to endure at all the confinements of even an attractive cage.
    Realizing that Putnam might have trouble accepting a marriage so unlike his own experience, Earhart added a thoughtful yet shocking way out of a future impasse. “I must exact a cruel promise, and that is you will let me go in a year if we find no happiness together. I will try to do my best. . . .”
    Considering social attitudes at the time, it is astonishing to think that this unusual couple made their plan work.
    Famous as Amelia was, their almost secret wedding was a masterstroke of privacy. In November 1930, Earhart publicly denied one story about their marriage. Three months later, they were married without fanfare – no church, no music, no flowers, no guests. Putnam’s mother was on hand, since they exchanged vows at her house. The ceremony, Earhart wrote, “consumed but five minutes.” Besides Putnam’s mother, there were: “Charles Faulkner, his uncle; Robert Anderson, the judge’s son, and twin black cats.” No photographers were on hand, and that was exactly how she wanted it.
    According to a news story, written after the fact: “Bride and bridegroom . . . were extremely happy but undemonstrative, Mrs. Putnam said.” The story also pointed out that Amelia Earhart would keep her own name. As to a bridal gown, “Brown shoes and stockings were worn by Miss Earhart in addition to her brown traveling suit. Brown, it seems, is her favorite color.” With so little to report, the story noted that “Both will be at their desks in New York, on Monday morning. . . .”
    Although Earhart kept her name, The New York Times occasionally referred to her as “Mrs. George Putnam,” which she always found funny, and Putnam, being a good sport, understood why some people politely addressed him as “Mr. Earhart.” They never had a honeymoon; neither of them was able to take time off.
    People who knew them well understood that tact and sensitivity explained the low-key wedding. Putnam had already been married and had two sons. George Palmer Putnam, Jr. was nine years old, and his older brother, David Binney Putnam, was attending in prep school in Cheshire, Connecticut.
    Their mother had already remarried in the West Indies in January 1930. In the course of divorcing her, Putnam provided for her welfare and had set up a trust fund for his children. Putnam’s generosity in the settlement with his ex-wife was important to Earhart; her refusal to have a splashy wedding came from the sense of fairness she shared with Putnam.
A Friend Comes First
    Knowing that a busy Earhart was a happy Earhart, Putnam directed his efforts toward keeping her occupied and in the public eye. It was Putnam who smoothed the way for her to become Cosmopolitan magazine’s first-ever