The Unforgettable August Post

male announcer: Funding provided by Hertz, proud sponsor of "The Unforgettable Augustus Post," who believed in going the extra mile every day.

female narrator: Good afternoon, so glad you've joined us.

We're broadcasting, as always, from New York City, where as the saying goes, one never really gets to know one's neighbors.

And yet everyone has a story, don't they?

Some are grand and brave, some are small and sweet.

And more often than not, they go untold.

But every now and then someone crosses your path, someone so terribly interesting that you stop whatever you're doing and you make a point of learning their story.

Well, that's what happened to me recently when I happened upon a book, a scrapbook really, belonging to a man you may never have heard of.

What's his name?

Augustus Post.

male: Augustus Post.

male: Augustus Post.

female: Augustus Post.

male: True renaissance man.

male: Flamboyant.

male: Extraordinary figure who was involved in transportation across the board.

male: He consistently was where the action was.

male: The 13th person to solo in an aircraft.

male: He was a balloonist.

male: He owned the first car in New York City.

male: He was the founder of what became the American Automobile Association.

male: He was one of the first in a submarine, having a 2-hour lunch underwater.

It made all the newspapers.

male: He was one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America.

male: He was an outdoorsman.

female: I think his true passion was musical theater.

male: A singer, an actor.

Having a very suave, deep voice, dark penetrating eyes, this sort of swashbuckler.

female: He was an unforgettable character.

narrator: In a way, this is a love story, so let's begin in that most romantic of cities, Paris, France.

The 1900 World's Fair drew the entire world there to see and experience new marvels of the Industrial Revolution.

Yes, dear listeners, it was the dawn of a new day.

But for one eager young American, it was the day the earth stood still.

Augustus Post of Brooklyn, New York had always dreamed of taking flight.

And now, here was his chance.

Augustus Post: The view of beautiful Paris stretched out before you with the Seine River winding its way in the midst of a maze of architectural masterpieces, a sight never to be forgotten.

Peter Augustus Ward: And I can only imagine what it would be like at that point in human history to rise up above Paris of all cities.

The inspiration that that must've given him clearly affected the rest of his life.

My name is Peter Augustus Ward, named for my great, great uncle, Augustus Post, who made quite an impression on my dad when my dad was a child.

Every six months on a lazy Sunday, I would type Augustus Post into Google and see what came up.

And this video came up and I thought, "Who on earth is uploading videos of Augustus Post?"

So, I just commented and I said, "Who are you?"

And that's how I met Holly Katherine, who's my cousin.

Holly K. Johnson: This is Augustus Post, and I keep it on my desk at home for inspiration.

My interest in Post comes really from my dad.

He had dementia, but on his best days at dinner, he would tell us about our crazy Uncle Augustus.

And he would say, "He had the first car in New York City.

He set records in a balloon and his balloon crashed, it came right through the roof of this guy's house."

And you know, it all sounded too crazy to be true.

And then it turned out when I finally started researching him, he was way more interesting.

And I kind of feel sad 'cause I didn't get to tell my dad like, "You didn't know all of it."

There was so much more to know.

Peter: This is not a rags to riches story.

This might be the opposite of that.

August Post was born here in Brooklyn.

He was born into money.

Father was a banker.

He could've had any kind of comfortable life he wanted.

Holly: Unfortunately, his parents died when he was a teenager.

He and his sister were kind of on their own and they inherited a lot of money, so he spent his money lavishly on the things that he was curious about.

Peter: Started from a very young age.

He was able to make whatever decision was inspired by his passion without being constrained either by parental oversight or by finances.

narrator: Young Post's passions did not lie in banking and finance like his departed father, but his eyes lit up like firecrackers when he first encountered a carriage that travelled on its own power, unabated by a four-legged beast.

By legend, the Waverley electric model he bought in 1898 was the first car ever seen on the streets of New York City.

Augustus: I was mobbed by curious crowds and followed wherever I went.

I do not think a single person had ever seen one before.

narrator: Post found himself an instant celebrity, the belle of the ball you might say.

Not all the attention was positive, of course.

While attempting his first joy ride in the middle of Central Park, he notched another New York first.

Holly: He got pulled over by the police for going five miles per hour.

Apparently, the policemen was riding a bicycle, caught up to him, and said that it was bothering the horses.

narrator: The first driving citation.

As the city's automotive pioneer, Post experienced obstacles that would soon become familiar to all early motorists.

Peter: Cars were seen as a nuisance at that time.

The car was something that would not be convenient for people who didn't have one, and nobody had one.

Manhall Doney: It was really the rich and famous that could afford this new technology.

It was really viewed to be their play toy.

Cities struggled with how to manage this new technology.

Some of them just banned it outright, saying that it wasn't safe.

narrator: Indeed, it was not safe to drive a car under those early conditions.

The roads then were a far cry from Park Avenue or Wilshire Boulevard today, I assure you.

Augustus Post understood that the future of the automobile depended on the collective voice of those intrepid first motorists who had a stake in improvements.

Manhall: Augustus Post was an instigator, the force that brought people together and created a common vision of what could be.

narrator: Uniting local groups as far away as Chicago and San Francisco, Post became the founding father of the American Automobile Association, that organization dedicated to safe roads and safe drivers.

Manhall: Augustus was a leader.

People wanted to follow this guy.

He had a vision, and he had the passion, and he had the energy.

Holly: He thought, "There's going to be more of them, people are going to love these, this is going to catch on."

And so, he thought, "Well, we're going to have to make better roads for them.

How do we get people enthusiastic about improving roads?"

Manhall: Seeing is believing.

His notion was that we should put the vehicle on display operating in a way that people can see it as a spectacle and experience it.

Holly: So, he reached out to Charles Glidden, who was a millionaire, and got him excited about it.

Manhall: Post essentially made the proposal that, "You should sponsor this tour, Charles.

And if you do, the tour will bear your name."

His vision for the Glidden Tour was that there would be three starting points, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia.

And enthusiasts from those communities would start at the same time and drive roughly 1300 miles to the World's Fair, which was being held in St. Louis.

Holly: And everybody would come out to see this parade of cars go by.

Many people had never even seen a picture of one.

It was like circus was coming through town.

Peter: Post foresaw that bringing cars to people in a very approachable way, driving through your town, stopping for a meal, letting you see the vehicle, take a photo with it, something that would break down that barrier of the unknown.

Manhall: It really changed the lens in how people looked at the automobile.

narrator: Of course, the rest is history.

In a matter of decades, automobiles replaced horses, courtesy of Mr. Ford and his assembly plants.

And to accommodate all those drivers, the nation's been on a road-building bender every since.

And for that, I think we can all thank in some part Augustus Post for the vision to foresee such a future.

Too bad that Post was unable to foresee what fate would befall him next.

Now, I'm not one to criticize other newsmen, but at the turn of the century, the papers were a little more than scandal sheets exposing the dirty laundry of high society.

So, you won't be surprised if I tell you that Augustus Post, son of a Wall Street banker, automotive pioneer, was caught in these crosshairs.

Peter: Probably the most surprising thing to come across with all this digging into my great, great uncle's life was this incredibly high profile divorce that he went through that was treated as the highest level of celebrity intrigue.

He met Emma Post on a ship back to the US.

In fairly short order, they were married.

And this marriage, which started off under incredibly romantic circumstances, did not end well.

Holly: Different documents suggests that she was like 30 years older than he was.

It's closer to 20, but in any case, it's still a pretty big age gap.

And she had been married several times before, which was a massive scandal.

Peter: She complained that after the first few years of marriage, he neglected her entirely.

Holly: By 1907, she's saying that she wants a divorce from him.

He was saying he wanted to not have to pay so much money in alimony and she was bleeding him dry.

That became a sensation in the newspapers, it just blew up.

Peter: He would not have been able to go outside of his own house without hearing about it because it was going on the wire.

Holly: For years, this tragic divorce was just dragged through the headlines.

Peter: I have often wondered if seeing your name in the paper in that way would drive a person to do some pretty creative and adventurous things.

narrator: When you want to get away and the roads to take you there aren't yet built, what do you do?

Why, you take to the skies.

Augustus Post was always drawn to the newest thing.

And when Orville and Wilbur Wright proved the aeroplane capable of prolonged flight in 1903, he was soon by their side.

Gavin Mortimer: In 1908, he was there when Orville Wright broke the record for continuous flight for 57 minutes.

He was a visionary when it came to aviation, in my opinion probably more so than anyone else.

And he wanted to channel that vision very much to America's advantage.

narrator: Post was the 13th American to fly solo in an aeroplane.

But as a pilot, he was, as always, distinguished most by his enthusiasms.

Tom Crouch: When you look at Augustus Post's flying record, it's fairly disastrous.

narrator: Still, a pioneer is a pioneer, and there was nothing in those first decades like a pioneer of the air.

Tom: Aviators were the great heroic figures of the 20th century.

The great aces had cigarette cards and kids collected them.

Holly: This was his aviator's card.

They were the celebrities of the day.

It was the biggest thing going.

I can't think of a modern similarity, like maybe astronauts or something, but not even.

Augustus Post, one of the cleverest writers on aeronautical subjects in America.

He must've written this himself.

Gavin: They were dashing and they lived with a devil may care attitude because they knew the risks involved.

Because remember, these planes were just made of wood, wood and wire.

It had the tendency to snap under pressure.

They were open cockpit, so you'd often get pilots returning to earth with their hands frozen.

Of course, the rewards were great.

At aviation shows, you'd have 50,000 people coming.

The women would turn up in their very elegant Edwardian outfits, the gentlemen in their top hats, laden with extravagant picnics in a wicker hamper.

They loved the thrill of watching these daredevils.

There's also a sense of, "Oh, I hope something goes wrong.

I hope we see a crash."

narrator: Augustus Post tried his hand in the aeroplane competitions, but his greatest fame came from an older form of spectacle, the balloon races, which were every bit as treacherous.

Gavin: There were many ways to die in a balloon.

There could be a gas explosion, there could be a lightning strike, drifting out to sea and drowning, and of course there was the greatest fear, which was the plummet.

narrator: Yes, there were many ways to die in a balloon, and Post gave it the old college try with a few of them.

In Kansas City, he got caught in a sudden cyclone and escaped only narrowly.

In Berlin, his balloon fell through the roof of an apartment building, and yet miraculously, Post did not die.

Nor did he stop taking his life into his own loving hands, which brings us to the episode for which Augustus Post is best remembered.

In 1910, the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race was to be held in that spirited midwestern metropolis, St. Louis, Missouri.

Gavin: So, you had teams from Germany, from the UK, from France, from Switzerland, from America all competing.

narrator: Post was flying with Alan Hawley in a balloon called The America II.

Gavin: So, The America II rose into the air above St. Louis, and the wind was blowing towards the north.

narrator: Off they sailed at a brisk pace, crossing Illinois in the moonlit night.

Gavin: The next day, they approached the Great Lakes.

Now, this was a challenge because if you come down in one of the great lakes in a balloon, unless you're an exceptional swimmer, you're going to be in trouble.

Holly: Yeah, I don't think that he was the sort of person who would've said stop.

narrator: The lakes were no obstacle to Post and Hawley.

But some of the other teams chose caution over rash bravery.

Tom: One after another, the other balloons came down while Hawley and Post were flying heaven knows where.

The German team was actually declared the winner.

Who knows where Post and Hawley are, if they're ever going to be seen again.

What you have to remember is that in the early 20th century, when you launched the balloon, you were on your own.

Holly: The aide to the pilot has to do the navigating.

And part of the way they do that is that they're in less and less familiar territory is to literally bring the balloon down and holler out the side, "Where is this?"

and see what people yell back up.

narrator: But soon there were no more farmers or villagers to yell down to.

And with no communication possible, the Americans were assumed lost or worse.

Gavin: Nine crews accounted for, one still missing.

America II, Hawley and Post.

You had newspapers competing with one another with the most outlandish idea of what might've happened to America II.

Perhaps they're going to end up in the North Pole.

Perhaps they're going to be eaten by bears.

narrator: No, neither the North Pole nor grizzly bears had swallowed up the American adventurers.

Rather, they were enjoying a splendid view of the wilds of Quebec.

But as the sun rose on the third day of flight, Post could sense the weather changing, and nothing but howling wilderness to the farthest horizon.

Peter: They felt confident at that point that they would have won the race, but they weren't sure where to come down.

male: Both realized, "We are in bad country and grave danger should we land," on account of the almost insurmountable difficulty of getting out and passing over lakes and rivers.

narrator: With nowhere left to go but deeper into the trackless void, Post and Hawley forced a rough landing on a rocky slope.

Gavin: So, in the air, Alan Hawley was in charge.

Once on the ground, it was Augustus Post who was in charge because he was an outdoorsman.

I can just imagine Augustus Post saying, "Right, okay.

Well, we're going to have a long walk, but don't worry, we'll be okay.

Ready?

Let's go."

narrator: But with provisions low and the Arctic winds encroaching, bad news came straightaway to challenge Post's optimistic disposition.

Gavin: On that first day, Alan Hawley put his foot on a log, it was rotten, and he twisted his knee.

And this caused him considerable pain.

Within 24 hours, he could barely walk.

Peter: These guys would've been wearing corduroy jackets.

Post's shoes very quickly fell apart, and he writes about having to kind of cobble together something that would stay on his feet.

And they were alone in the wilderness with only their intuition to guide them.

narrator: For four and a half days, they continued on in this fashion, when miraculously they spotted a small tent half hidden amongst the thick woods.

Shortly, on the edge of a nearby lake, there appeared a canoe piloted by two French Canadian trappers.

Soon, these friendly woodsmen were escorting Post and Hawley out of mortal jeopardy and back to civilization.

Gavin: This caused great, great, great euphoria on two counts.

A, they were safe.

B, America had won the cup.

They got to New York on a Saturday morning, there was a throng to greet them, their family, representatives from the Aero Club of America, and of course, well-wishers because they'd been following the story day by day.

I think it's fair to say that they were the most famous people in the world at that moment.

Holly: It must've been a relief to have something in the papers about him that was good news for a change.

Gavin: I think Augustus Post reveled in this.

It brought out the actor in him.

Augustus: We landed in the forest, and it took us ten days to make our way back through this virgin forest, crawling over rocks and walking along the shores of lakes, carrying our clothes in our hands.

Peter: Post was telling that story for the rest of his life for decades after the fact.

That was an amazing tale of survival that became a defining act in his adventurous life.

narrator: His fame as an aviator now secure, Post would spend much of the next decades writing books and articles promoting novel ideas like jet proportion and interplanetary society.

And his plan for blimps bigger than football fields equipped with balconies and rooftop gardens.

Holly: He had some kooky ideas.

Yeah, that one didn't pan out.

You know, you can't get them all, right?

narrator: But his speculation that the US Mail would one day be carried by aeroplane did pan out.

So did his vision of aeroports, a word he gave us by the way, sprouting up in every American city.

Peter: Post was very early to foresee the role of travel in the lives of everyday people.

He was one of the first to foresee transatlantic and transcontinental air travel at a point when that just didn't seem realistic at all.

male: He was the one who went to Raymond Orteig, the great French hotelier in Paris and New York, and suggested that perhaps Orteig might want to establish a prize for the first aviator to make a nonstop flight between Orteig's two cities.

narrator: It would be seven years and merely as many fatal crashes before one of Augustus Post's young airmail pilots made that first continental leap and claimed the prize.

Lindbergh I believe his name was.

Holly: People thought it was totally crazy.

I mean, he was completely nuts.

I think he was probably a little nuts, but he was also right.

Priscilla McMillan: He was the uncle of my mother, which means he's your great uncle.

Holly: Great, great, so Pete and I are-- Priscilla: The same generation.

Holly: Yeah, same generation.

What do you remember about Uncle Augustus when you were growing up?

Priscilla: A black car would drive up at Christmas, and out would step Uncle Augustus, and he'd go right into that room and start declaiming Dickens.

Uncle Augustus was quite an actor.

narrator: Actor, singer, musician, writer, that was Augustus Post once his pioneering days were done.

All his money spent, he gave speeches from time to time, and he sang for sick children in hospital wards.

The autobiography he started was never finished.

Priscilla: We didn't know just what he did in New York except that he shared an apartment with another man, but it was Allen Williams, a sculptor.

narrator: I promised a love story, and you may have expected something more romantic than a man's love affair with danger and exploration.

Well, there's something I've kept from you.

I haven't told you how I got my hands on this wonderful scrapbook I've been referring to.

There's a connection, you see.

The man who shared this with me is a talented artist by the name of Frederic Allen Williams, a sculptor of considerable reputation.

William showed me this scrapbook because he wanted the world to remember the man he loved.

Yes, many years after his disastrous marriage, Augustus Post began a new relationship, one that lasted for the rest of his life.

Holly: In this one, he's in the studio apartment.

Priscilla: He sure looks happy.

Peter: He does.

Holly: In all the pictures that Allen takes of him, he just is always at his best.

It's like he put him at the perfect angle, which just seems so affectionate to me.

Like he just wanted him to show him at his best.

To me, that seems like a good happy ending.

narrator: And there you have it, a happy ending to a life grand and brave, yet small and sweet, a life rescued from obscurity.

Now, this is all I ask of you, dear listeners.

Know your neighbors, listen to their stories.

Why, who knows, the next person you pass on the street might have lived a life as extraordinary as Augustus Post.

Get me that elixir from a fleeting heart a dose of this will douse out all the sparks This is for the people whose eyes always glow announcer: Funding provided by Hertz, proud sponsor of "The Unforgettable Augustus Post," who believed in going the extra mile every day.