Volume 15 Number 078 Richard E

Volume 15 Number 078 Richard E. Byrd to the North Pole Part I

Lead: In the early twentieth century explorers, scientists, and aviators responded to the challenge to explore the ends of the earth. One brave and ambitious adventurer was Richard Evelyn Byrd.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: During the early twentieth century nations planned and funded expeditions to two of the last remaining unexplored regions on the planet – the North Pole and the South Pole. These last great prizes became a competition to see who could get there first and claim the honor for their nation. The footrace to the North Pole was won by American Robert Peary in 1909, although there is controversy among experts about whether Peary actually was the first or just simply reached the coordinates of the pole. In 1911, Norwegian Roald Amundsen claimed the South Pole in an historic competition which resulted in tragedy for the British team that dogged him close behind.

Following World War I, aviation captured the imagination of many, and a competition emerged about who would be the first to fly over the North Pole. By late April 1926 two teams had arrived at Kings Bay, Spitsbergen, Norway—a large island—part of the Svalbard Archipelago, in the far reaches of the Arctic Ocean. The Norwegian team was led by Amundsen, who teamed up with a wealthy American sponsor, Lincoln Ellsworth. The American aviation team, part of the MacMillan Expedition, was sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

Naval aviator Richard Evelyn Byrd led the naval force in support of the MacMillan Expedition. Byrd was able to secure private funding from wealthy industrialists including Edsel Ford and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and although it was not on the “official agenda” Byrd determined that he would be the one to pilot the long arctic flight and become the first aviator to reach the North Pole. Next Time: Endless controversy.

Research by Ann Johnson at the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts. Resources Bryant, John H. and Harold N. Cones. Dangerous Crossings: The First Modern Polar Expedition, 1925. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000.

Byrd Polar Research Center at the Ohio State University. 18 July 2009 < http://www.bprc.osu.edu/>.

Byrd, Richard E. Skyward. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1928.

Goerler, Raimunde E., ed. To the Pole: The Diary and Notebook of Richard E. Byrd, 1925–1927. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1998.

Neumann, Caryn E. “Richard E. Byrd (1888-1957).” Encyclopedia Virginia. 23 July 2009 < http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Byrd_Richard_E_18 88-1957>.