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Jackie Cochran: New York
built 186 days ago
"This biography of Jackie Cochran is pathbreaking. Jackie Cochran was a dominant figure in mid-20th century American aviation but her life story has received little critical examination by biographers and historians. No more. No one will write about Cochran in quite the same way again as Rich has filled each chapter with new information and insight."--Deborah G. Douglas, Curator of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum
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Although distant family members have reported she married a man named Jack Cochran at this time, Jackie Cochran maintained she picked her glamorous-sounding name out of phonebook to fit in with her new life. [1]
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At the beauty parlor, Jackie made it her business to absorb everything. She learned to operate the brand new permanent wave machines and quickly established herself as one of the first competent permanent wave specialists. She parlayed her skill into more money and better jobs. Struggling to connect meaning and direction in her life, she attended nursing school and accepted a position with a doctor's office in Bonifay, Florida. But she was never fully comfortable with the idea of a career in medicine, Jackie quickly realized that she could not face the emotional demands of nursing in a depressed Southern community. "In the beauty shop customers came in looking for a lift...and unless I really screwed up, they left with that lift," she recalled.
Years later, Jackie Cochran remembered how she talked with her friends about learning to fly. They all warned her how difficult it would be. She did not think so. So she went to Roosevelt Field on New York's Long Island to learn how.
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Jackie had another presentation by yet another President. John Kennedy presented Jackie with her 14th Harmon Trophy on October 18, 1962. Jackie didn’t stop here, because on May 4, 1964 she set the woman’s international speed record of 1,429.297 mph in a Lockheed 104G Starfighter on a straight-line course. On June 1, three weeks later flying the same Starfighter she set a new international speed record on a circular closed 62 ½ mile course going 1,303.241 mph.
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Despite the mystery surrounding her early years, Cochran's later childhood is a bit clearer. At some point, she began working as a beautician at a local hairdresser's. Because she enjoyed the work, she decided she wanted to eventually start her own line of cosmetics. In 1929, Cochran moved to New York City, where she hoped salon customers would fully appreciate her skills. She ... hoped that her move would help her realize her dream of becoming a cosmetics manufacturer.
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