On a misty morning in May 1927, Charles Lindbergh climbed into the cramped cockpit of his single engine plane, The Spirit of St. Louis. After a bumpy taxi and takeoff at a New York runway, he took to the skies, on a flight that would break records and make him a national hero.

At the end of the 1920s, Americans united around a culture of celebrity, and no celebrity was bigger than Lindbergh. It was a time of limitless optimism and a stock market that seemed to know no ceiling.

But there were warning signs on the horizon. Every day, banks in rural America were closing. Farmers were mired in debt. And unsold products lined department store shelves. Soon, Americans would learn that the good times couldn’t last forever.

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