Carleton Putnam

Background

Carleton Putnam was born on December 19, 1901 in Manhattan, New York, United States, into the family of Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general, and Louise Carleton Putnam, the daughter of New York publishing magnate.

Education

Carleton Putnam graduated from Princeton University in 1924 and in 1932 he received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Columbia Law School.

Career

The former chairman of Delta Airlines, Carleton Putnam achieved that post nearly twenty years after starting a fledgling airline in California in the early 1930s called the Chicago and Southern Air Line. In 1945 he found time to write High Journey: A Decade in the Pilgrimage of an Air Line Pioneer. When his midwestern company merged to form Delta Airlines in 1953, Putnam was named Delta chairman.

After a year in the top job Putnam quit the aviation industry and moved to Washington, D.C., so he would have access to the Library of Congress. His research led to the book Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography, Volume I: The Formative Years. The book received good reviews when it was published in 1958 and within three years Putnam had written another book, this one dealing with race relations.

Race and Reason: A Yankee View, was the result of a letter Putnam had written to the editor of Life magazine disagreeing with the Supreme Court decision outlawing school segregation. The letter also was sent to a newspaper in Memphis and a longer letter was published in a Richmond paper. The letter was supported by large numbers of readers.

The book sold more than 150,000 copies and led to a 1967 book, Race and Reality: A Search for Solutions. That was his last effort in publishing, but Putnam stayed active in several organizations. Carleton Putnam died of pneumonia on March 5, 1998.

Achievements

• Carleton Putnam was highly famous as the author of books High Journey: A Decade in the Pilgrimage of an Air Line Pioneer, Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography, Volume I: The Formative Years, and Race and Reason: A Yankee View.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Race and Reason: A Yankee View

    (First published in 1961, this was the first major book to...)

    1961
  • A Study in Racial Realities 1964
  • High journey: A decade in the pilgrimage of an air line pioneer 1945
  • Theodore Roosevelt Volume One The Formative Years 1858-1886 1958

• essay

  • High Court's Arrogance Is Viewed By Northerner

    (Letter dated Oct. 13, 1958 addressed to President Dwight ...)

    1958

Membership

• Theodore Roosevelt Association

Connections

Carleton Putnam married Lucy A. Chapman on September 12, 1944 but the couple divorced in 1956. The same year he married Esther Willcox. He was the father of Esther Louise Putnam.

Father:

Israel Putnam

Mother:

Louise (Carleton) Putnam

Spouse:

Esther Willcox

ex-spouse:

Lucy A. Chapman

Daughter:

Esther Louise Putnam

Cousin:

Carleton Coon