2025 Chautauqua Lecture 4 - Eddie Rickenbacker

The series will conclude on September 25 with a lecture by John F. Ross on Eddie Rickenbacker, a frequent and noted visitor to Sea Island. An early automobile racer, Rickenbacker trained as a pilot in France and became the United States’ most decorated flying ace of World War I, a Medal of Honor recipient, and the head of Eastern Air Lines. Ross’s book Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed illuminates Rickenbacker’s connections to the dawn of car racing, aerial warfare, and the roles of race car drivers and flying aces—and Rickenbacker himself—as American legends. Ross is the former editor of the magazine American Heritage of Invention and Technology and the recipient of the 2011 Fort Ticonderoga Award for Contributions to American History. 

The programs in this year’s Chautauqua series will take place on Thursday evenings at 6 p.m. at St. Simons Presbyterian Church. Each will be recorded and will be available for viewing after the program. The cost for the series is $50 for members and $95 for non-members, with individual program tickets available for $30 each. To register, please visit coastalgeorgiahistory.org.