"See America First"
Letter of Introduction for Edward Kelly
Credit: Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
Edward Kelly was born in Ohio in 1908 to John and May Kelly. He attended St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, graduating in 1924 and enrolling in John Carroll University the next year. The summer following his graduation from high school, Kelly and a friend, William Gardner, decided to hitchhike to California with only $40 in each of their pockets. Over the course of their trip, 154 different people gave them rides. The motto for their trip was "See America First."
To start off their trip, a friend of Kelly's father, L. W. Grothand of the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, wrote Kelly a letter of introduction to business associates across the country. Grothand asked them to provide assistance if Kelly approached them with the letter.
San Francisco Examiner - August 7, 1924
Credit: Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
Ed and William arrived in San Francisco after a month hitchiking across the country. During their journey, they managed to see frequent movies and shows without paying anything by sneaking into theaters through fire escapes and other back entrances. They slept outside every night on Army blankets. Once they made it to San Francisco, their story was picked up by a local newspaper, which helped publicize their efforts to get home. They began talking to different shipping companies to see if they could work their way home on a cargo ship traveling to New York via the Panama Canal.
Letter Requesting Help for Edward Kelly and William Gardner
Credit: Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
Several people in the shipping industry tried to help Ed and William find passage to New York by writing letters to other colleagues in the industry. Eventually the boys found work as assistant cooks on a boat carrying lumber through the Panama Canal. While in the canal zone, the ship's head cook spilled hot soup on Gardner's leg, forcing him to rest for the remainder of the trip. Once they made it back to New York, Gardner's parents picked up the boys and drove them back to Cleveland.
Letter Requesting Help for Edward Kelly and William Gardner
Credit: Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
St. Ignatius High School (Cleveland, OH) Newspaper Article on Ed Kelly and William Gardner's Trip
Credit: Loyola University Chicago Archives & Special Collections
By the time they made it home, Ed and William were famous, with newspapers around the country reporting on their adventure. The newspapers emphasized the resourcefulness of the boys in traveling ten-thousand miles on only $40 apiece. Their high school newspaper published an article on them, mentioning that the boys used to hitchhike to their high school's away football and basketball games.