Board determined in a year-long investigation
that Reid was ultimately responsible for “improper”
decisions caused by fatigue and inexperience with
high-altitude takeoff procedure. The Cessna 177B
was probably one hundred pounds overweight, buf-
feted by shifting winds, and unable to accelerate
enough to get more than four hundred feet off the
ground.
Debate soon raged on talk radio and Internet
sites about whether Dubroff ’s parents, Lisa Blair
Hathaway and Lloyd Dubroff, had pushed a danger-
ous publicity stunt upon their daughter or had been
irresponsible in permitting her attempt. TheGuin-
ness Book of Recordshad ceased to recognize “youn-
gest pilot” and similar categories years earlier to dis-
courage dangerous exploits by children, but asSan
Francisco Chroniclecolumnist Joan Ryan observed,
“We—the public and the media—adore tiny little
champions.” Hathaway came under particularly
scathing attack for her unconventional child rearing
and insistence that Dubroff had lived her life well.
Timemagazine even published a cover story asking,
“Who Killed Jessica Dubroff ?”
Dubroff had been taking flight lessons for five
months. She had 33.2 flight hours, with fifty takeoffs
and landings, and required cushions to see over the
control panel and extenders to reach the foot ped-
als. When her father suggested that she try to be-
come the youngest person to pilot a plane coast to
coast, Dubroff committed herself. The record re-
quired that she control the plane at all times, except
in case of emergency. Since Dubroff ’s eighth birth-
day was three weeks away, the record attempt may
have influenced the adults’ better judgment.
Impact Dubroff ’s death inspired vigorous debate
about the responsibility of parents, media, and au-
thorities for children’s safety, and children’s compe-
tence to choose adventures. Congress passed the
Child Pilot Safety Act in October, 1996, mandating
that a person must have pilot and medical certifica-
tion to control a plane involved in competition or an
attempt to accomplish a feat or record. Dubroff is re-
membered as a smart, brave, and special person.
Further Reading
Farrey, Tom.Game On: The All-American Race to Make
Champions of Our Children. New York: ESPN Books,
2008.
Tofler, Ian, and Theresa Foy DiGeronimo.Keeping
Your Kids Out Front Without Kicking Them from Be-
hind: How to Nurture High-Achieving Athletes, Scholars,
and Performing Artists. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2000.
Jan HallSee also Hobbies and recreation. Duke, David
Identification White supremacist and Republican
member of the Louisiana House of
Representatives, 1989-1992
Born July 1, 1950; Tulsa, Oklahoma
Duke was the most high-profile white supremacist in the
United States and a candidate for numerous public offices
in the 1990’s.
David Duke’s public career began in 1969, when he
was a student at Louisiana State University and the
leader of the National Socialist Liberation Front, an
organization affiliated with the neo-Nazi National
Socialist White People’s Party. From 1974 until 1980,
Duke was Grand Wizard of the Louisiana-based
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1980, he started an-
other white supremacist group, the National Associ-
ation for the Advancement of White People.
Duke was narrowly elected to the Louisiana
House of Representatives as a Republican in 1989.
He described himself as a white rights advocate and
used issues such as affirmative action and immigra-
tion to appeal to disgruntled white voters. In 1990,
Duke ran for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana against in-
cumbent J. Bennett Johnston. Though Duke lost, he
received 60 percent of the white vote and 43.5 per-
cent of the total vote. In 1991, he ran for governor of
Louisiana. Though he was unsuccessful, he received
approximately 700,000 votes, including a majority of
the white vote. In 1992, Duke mounted a short but
unsuccessful campaign for the Republican Party’s
presidential nomination. Following this effort,
Duke left politics. During this period, he co-owned a
bar, attempted to sell insurance, started a new publi-
cation called theDavid Duke Report, and hosted a ra-
dio talk show in Covington, Louisiana.
In 1996, Duke once again entered the Louisiana
Senate primary. This time he received approxi-
mately 141,000 votes, finishing fourth in a field of fif-
teen. Finally, in 1998 Duke ran for his state’s FirstThe Nineties in America Duke, David 277