CONSPIRACY THEORIES
After Earhart's disappearance, many rumors circulated around the public. As the search to come up with answers for the unknown proved unsuccessful, people began concocting their own theories of the events that contributed to Earhart's vanishment.
One theory of Earhart's disappearance was that she had been sent on a top secret mission for the United States government. The purposed objective for this secret mission was to fly over Japanese fortifications in the central Pacific in pursuit of gathering important military info. However, when the Roosevelts were asked about the rumor, Eleanor replied, ""We loved Amelia too much to send her to her death" (7).
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During the time of Earhart's flight, relations between the United States and Japan were strained. In fact, four years after her last flight, a war broke out between the two nations. Some came to believe that Earhart and Noonan had crashed their plane off course. The speculation was that a Japanese fishing boat picked up the fliers and imprisoned them on Saipan until their deaths (7).
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Throughout her successful career as a female aviator, Earhart had become a symbol of empowerment and in turn, a celebrity. Others presumed that Earhart had grown tired of the fame she was experiencing as a celebrity. It was suggested that she faked her death, assumed an alias, and moved to New Jersey to give up her adventurous life for a life of normalcy (7).
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