Carleton Putnam
Encyclopedia
Carleton Putnam b. 19 Dec 1901 in New York City, New York, USA; d. 5 Mar 1998: was an American airline pioneer, writer, and biographer. He was educated at Princeton
and Columbia University
. He was a founder and president of Chicago & Southern Airlines, which was merged with Delta Air Lines
. He was chief executive
and, later, a director of Delta. His best known written works are Race and Reason, a defense of racial segregation, and his biography of Theodore Roosevelt
. In Race and Reason he wrote:
He was a descendant of American Revolutionary War
general Israel Putnam
. He remained on the board of Delta Air Lines until his death in 1998.
Carleton Putnam died of pneumonia
on Mar. 5, 1998. He was survived by his wife, Esther MacKenzie Willcox Aughincloss, a daughter, three grandchildren, a stepdaughter, and three step-grandchildren. He was previously married to Lucy Chapman Putnam.
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He was a founder and president of Chicago & Southern Airlines, which was merged with Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...
. He was chief executive
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
and, later, a director of Delta. His best known written works are Race and Reason, a defense of racial segregation, and his biography of Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
. In Race and Reason he wrote:
- "In the next 500,000,000,000 years I would be quite prepared to concede the possibility the Negro may, through normal processes of mutation and natural selection within his own race, eventually overtake and even surpass the white race. [...] When the Negro has bred out his limitations over hundreds, or thousands, of years, it will be time enough to consider absorbing him in any such massive doses as would be involved in the South today." (p.21) "The mulatto who was bent on making the nation mulatto was the real danger. His alliance with the white equalitarian often combined men who had nothing in common save a belief that they had a grudge against society. They regarded every Southerner who sensed the genetic truth as a bigot [...]. Here were the men who needed to be reminded of the debt the Negro owed to white civilization." (p.44)
He was a descendant of American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
general Israel Putnam
Israel Putnam
Israel Putnam was an American army general and Freemason who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War...
. He remained on the board of Delta Air Lines until his death in 1998.
Carleton Putnam died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
on Mar. 5, 1998. He was survived by his wife, Esther MacKenzie Willcox Aughincloss, a daughter, three grandchildren, a stepdaughter, and three step-grandchildren. He was previously married to Lucy Chapman Putnam.
Works
- Race and Reason: A Yankee View (1961)
- Race and Reality: A Search for Solutions (1967)
- Theodore Roosevelt: The Formative Years (1958)