World War I service Shortly after the United States declared war on Germany, much to the chagrin of his mother, Vanderbilt enlisted in the U.S. Army in July 1917, at the age of 19. He was originally assigned to the headquarters of the ammunition train of the
27th Division of the New York National Guard, commanded by Major General
John F. O'Ryan. His first posting was in
Spartanburg, South Carolina where he was a wagoner driving mules. As this assignment was not to his liking, Vanderbilt made a deal with General O'Ryan's orderly into changing his orders to go with the division overseas. In exchange, Vanderbilt became the orderly's assistant and helped with various chores. He went overseas with the division in May 1918 aboard the transport
Great Northern. Upon arriving in
Brest, France, he was assigned as an orderly to the commander of the U.S. Army stockade there. Vanderbilt disliked his commander, whom he referred to as "my torturer". By chance, he was able to get a temporary assignment as driver to General
Douglas Haig, the commander of the British forces in France. He got the posting when he was in a group of soldiers who asked if anyone knew how to drive a
Rolls-Royce. Vanderbilt raised his hand since his family only used Rolls-Royces and he was familiar with the peculiarities of their operation. After his posting with General Haig, Vanderbilt was reassigned to the 27th Division's headquarters where he served as a driver delivering dispatches. While driving on one mission, Vanderbilt had a near fatal accident. Vanderbilt's father was promoted to brigadier general in July 1918. Both Vanderbilts returned to the United States in August 1918 after three months of service in France. His father was reassigned as a brigade commander at
Camp Lewis in Washington state. The younger Vanderbilt was promoted to the rank of wagoner (equivalent to a
corporal) on August 24 and served as a transportation instructor at
American Lake, adjacent to Camp Lewis for the remainder of his military service. Vanderbilt was honorably discharged from the Army on January 25, 1919. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to 2nd lieutenant of the Infantry branch in the
Officers Reserve Corps.
Post war life To his parents' dismay, he decided to become a
newspaperman. His parents detested the press, seen by them as an invasion of privacy. He worked as a staff member of the
New York Herald and later
The New York Times in which he had several articles published. Considered a
bohemian by his parents, he was frequently at odds with them. In the early 1920s, Vanderbilt launched several newspapers and tabloids; the
Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News, the
San Francisco Illustrated Daily Herald and the
Miami Illustrated Daily Tab among them. Despite claiming to uphold the highest standards of journalistic excellence, his publishing career lasted only two and a half years, and Vanderbilt Inc. ceased operations with losses amounting to nearly $6 million. Vanderbilt subsequently went to work as an assistant managing editor of the
New York Daily Mirror. In 1922, he joined the newly organized New York
Civitan Club, an organization whose purpose is "to build good citizenship by providing a volunteer organization of clubs dedicated to serving individual and community needs with an emphasis on helping people with developmental disabilities." In 1926, he interviewed
Benito Mussolini in Italy. Mussolini's car, with Vanderbilt as passenger, hit a child at high speed, killing the child, while the car kept going. Mussolini turned to Vanderbilt and said, "What is one life in the affairs of a state?" Vanderbilt repeated the story at an Affiliated Bureaus of America convention in New York on November 30, 1930. When a guest at the convention, Major General
Smedley Butler repeated the story at a speech in Philadelphia on January 19, 1931, it created an international incident, with Secretary of State
Henry L. Stimson apologizing to Mussolini, while Butler was court-martialled. In 1929, he released
Reno, a novel about
divorce set in
Reno, Nevada, where he had been living since his first divorce in 1927. The book was adapted into the similarly titled 1930 film
Reno, starring
Ruth Roland in her
sound film debut. Then, in 1931, he was engaged by
Columbia Pictures to make a comedy about the city, in association with
John P. Medbury, a humorist
''Hitler's Reign of Terror'' In 1934 Vanderbilt made the anti-
Nazi documentary, ''
Hitler's Reign of Terror''. This film was made covertly by Vanderbilt while visiting Nazi Germany shortly after Hitler's rise to power. As its name implies, it is an exposé of the Nazi regime and is regarded as the first anti-Nazi film produced. It particularly highlights the Nazis' oppression of Jews. In the film, Vanderbilt describes Hitler as a combination of politician
Huey Long, preacher
Billy Sunday and gangster
Al Capone. It featured several re-enacted scenes including a brief meeting with Hitler and an interview with former German emperor
Kaiser Wilhelm, which was necessary as the original encounters were not filmed. In his autobiographical
Farewell to Fifth Avenue, Vanderbilt recounts attempting to interview Hitler a second time but balking at a Nazi demand that he make a $5,000 donation to the party, ostensibly to benefit the families of Nazis who died in the
Beer Hall Putsch. When ''Hitler's Reign of Terror
was released on April 30, 1934, a diplomatic protest was made against it by the German embassy. It was banned in New York state, and Illinois would not allow its showing until the title was changed to Hitler Reigns''. It received poor reviews and one reviewer scoffed at its prediction that Germany under Hitler would eventually pose a threat to world peace. The film was believed lost for many years until a single surviving copy was found in Belgium. The film was screened at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2013.
Farewell to Fifth Avenue In 1935 Vanderbilt published his autobiography named
Farewell to Fifth Avenue. The book provides significant insight to life of those in high society in the early 20th century. In the book Vanderbilt recounts vacationing in Europe on his father's yacht
North Star, his military experience in the First World War and his experiences as a newspaper publisher. As the book's title implies, it was also Vanderbilt's point of no return in his rejection of the artifice of high society. Vanderbilt examines the artificial distinctions by which one is considered worthy to be a member of "society". He comments, "all of them building high fences and beating their heads against a stone wall, hating each other and boiling in their own juices and ... playing, for all it's worth, the game called Society." The book also recounts Vanderbilt acquaintance with a number of high-profile personages, some of whom he was able to interview during his trip to Europe in 1933, while gathering material for his film ''Hitler's Reign of Terror''. These include President
Franklin Roosevelt,
Kaiser Wilhelm,
Benito Mussolini, Pope
Pius XI,
Joseph Stalin, and
Al Capone. In addition to
Farewell to Fifth Avenue, Vanderbilt authored other books, including a biography of his mother titled
Queen of the Golden Age and
Personal Experiences of a Cub Reporter.
World War II service In 1938, Vanderbilt was commissioned in the
United States Army Reserve. As of 1941 he was on active duty with the rank of major in the Intelligence Corps. He was presented with a commendation by the
FBI, probably for counterintelligence work, in 1942. As of December 1942 he was hospitalized at
Walter Reed Hospital and was discharged from the Army in 1943 due to poor health.
Later life In 1945, Vanderbilt became a member of the
Society of the Cincinnati in
Rhode Island by right of his descent from his granduncle, Major Ebenezer Flagg of the
1st Rhode Island Regiment, who was killed in battle in 1781. Vanderbilt made his home in
Reno, Nevada, and continued to write and lecture on world affairs. In 1948 he was a strong supporter of the newly created state of
Israel. In 1960, he joined
Airtronics International Corporation of
Fort Lauderdale, Florida as a vice president and director. In that role, he acted as a liaison executive between Airtronics and its civilian customers. ==Personal life==