By Brother Phillip Miller
Born in 1888 to one of the oldest and most distinguished families in
the history of Virginia, Richard Byrd seemed destined for fame. First,
Byrd sought a career in the U.S. Navy and graduated from the U.S. Naval
Academy. However, a series of injuries made it difficult for Byrd to serve
as a naval officer at sea, where long watches were required. In 1916,
Byrd retired from the Navy, but the advent of World War I returned him
into active service.
Byrd was particularly interested in the new technology of airplanes
and earned his wings as a pilot at Pensacola. When World War I ended,
Byrd maintained his interest in aviation and helped to navigate and plan
the Navy team who achieved a transatlantic crossing by means of sea planes
in 1919.
After commanding the U.S. Navy pilots assisting Donald MacMillan’s
expedition to Greenland in 1925, Byrd raised funds for his own expedition
to fly across the North Pole in 1926, an accomplishment he announced on
May 9, 1926. In recognition, the U.S. Congress awarded him the Medal of
Honor and promoted him to commander. New York City threw a ticker tape
parade. Byrd himself referred to his new status with both pride --and
sometimes exasperation-- as “the hero business.” Soon after,
in 1927, Byrd added to his fame by leading a team that flew an airplane
across the Atlantic Ocean, the third since Charles Lindbergh in that year.
Antarctica, however, would become the major theater of Byrd’s career.
Byrd led or participated in five expeditions to Antarctica, commencing
in 1928. After the first expedition returned in 1930, Byrd received another
ticker-tape parade in New York City, the others following the North Pole
and the transatlantic flights. By the time of his death in 1957, Byrd
was so closely affiliated with exploration and scientific investigation
of Antarctica that some referred to him as the “Mayor of Antarctica.”
Historians claim that Byrd transformed polar exploration from the “Heroic
Age” to the “Mechanical Age.” Certainly, Byrd made use
of the older techniques of polar exploration that had been used by others.
Dog sleds, snowshoes, and skis continued to be important modes of transportation
for Byrd.
However, Byrd’s most important accomplishment was in testing Twentieth
Century technologies, which would expand the range of exploration and
scientific investigation in Antarctica. His expeditions made extensive
use of airplanes, both to map the continent and to deliver supplies to
parties in the field. Trucks on skis and tracks made it possible to transport
more equipment and supplies further into Antarctica. Radio enabled communication
from Byrd’s base at Little America with field parties on the ice
and with pilots in the air. As each expedition improved upon the technologies
of the previous ones, the entire continent of Antarctica became available
for science.
Traditionally, polar explorers--then and now--maintain a diary in order
to record one’s experiences in this extraordinary environment. Many
expected to publish their accounts, either as articles in newspapers or
popular books or tomes of science.
Admiral Richard Byrd was no different. In fact, publication and the
publicity associated with selling a new book were fundamental to Byrd’s
career for two reasons. Revenue from the sale of books and stories paid
the costs of the previous expeditions and also provided money to buy supplies
and equipment for the next. Byrd himself raised money for his expedition
to the North Pole in 1926 and his first two expeditions to Antarctica.
Of course, the length of Byrd’s career as a public hero and as
a polar explorer (1926 to 1957) occasioned an immense number of books
and articles by him and about him. The first two expeditions to Antarctica
resulted in three books credited to Byrd, with assistance from Byrd’s
publicist, Charles Murphy.