Welcome to significant others, a podcast that takes a look at the less familiar side of

history. I'm Liza Powell O'Brien, and today we learn about a man who created his wife's massive fame and may also have

led to her demise. This time on significant others, meet George Palmer Putnam.

Amelia Earhart said she was made famous by the accident of her sex.

It could be said that the accident of her looks had just as much to do with it.

There's practically no mention of her anywhere that doesn't take

note of her slender build, her cropped tousled hair, and her

and her androgynous prettiness. But the most crucial thing about the way she looked is that it reminded almost everyone in the world of someone else.

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh was the most famous man alive, and Amelia Earhart looked a lot like him.

Luckily for her, there was one person who knew exactly how to leverage this coincidence.

Marrying him wasn't part of the plan, it's just what happened along the way.

George Palmer Putnam was born the Picture of Privilege in 1887.

His grandfather founded the Legendary Publishing Company.

Teddy Roosevelt was a family friend.

Putnam attended boarding school and matriculated at Harvard, but in

1907 at the age of 20, he was more enthrall to the natural world than the classroom. He wrote in his

autobiography. After Harvard had endured me for a time, I tapered off my formal

education at the University of California.

This is as good an example as any of Putnam's greatest talent.

He was a natural master of spin.

Rather than framing this sputtering end of his educational career as a failure to earn a degree,

or maybe some kind of rejection of legacy, or a subversion of his parents expectations,

...