Amelia earhart: Who was she? By

GP didn’t like the style at all on AE and urged her to wear

something else, although he tried to market a version of

the hat with AE’s signature on it. She emphatically vetoed the idea.

Initially, Earhart was engaged to Samuel Chapman, a chemical engineer from Boston, but broke it off on November 23, 1928. During the same period, Earhart and G.P. Putnam had been spending a lot of time together, forming a relationship. Putnam, who was known as GP, was divorced from his wife, Dorothy Binney Putnam in 1929. He began proposing frequently to Earhart, until after the sixth time, when they were married on February 7, 1931. Earhart hesitated greatly before consenting. They were married in Putnam's mother's house in Noank, Connecticut. Earhart later referred to their marriage as a "partnership" with "dual control." In a letter Earhart wrote to Putnam and hand delivered to him on the day of the wedding, she wrote, "I want you to understand I shall not hold you to any midaevil [sic] code of faithfulness to me nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly."

Earhart's ideas on marriage were liberal for the time, as she believed in equal responsibilities for both partners and made it a point to keep her own name rather than being referred to as Mrs. Putnam. The New York Times, per its usual stylistic rules, insisted on referring to her as Mrs. Putnam, but Earhart good naturedly laughed it off. GP was soon to learn that he would be called "Mr. Earhart" by the media. Since Earhart embarked immediately upon a nine-day cross-country tour promoting autogiros for the Beechnut Gum Company, there was no honeymoon for the newlyweds. Although the union produced no children, Putnam had no children, he had two sons by his previous marriage to Dorothy Binney.

During the tour, Earhart set a world altitude record of 18,415 feet (5,613 m) in a borrowed company machine. In Abilene, Texas, the aviatrix’ career nearly ended in a spectacular accident with her autogiro. During takeoff, Earhart lost control of the machine which then dropped down, hitting two parked cars. Luckily, nobody was hurt. She later told the press: “The air just went out from under me. Spectators say a whirlwind hit me.  I made for the only open space available.  With any other type of plane, the accident would have been more serious.”