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CHRONOLOGY OF JOHN HERSCHEL GLENN, JR.
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July 18, 1921 - John Herschel Glenn, Jr. was born in Cambridge, Ohio. His father, John H. Glenn, Sr., was a plumber and businessman, and his mother, Clara Sproat Glenn was a schoolteacher. When John was two years old, the family moved to New Concord, Ohio. 1929 - Glenn’s father took him, at age eight, on his first airplane ride aboard a barnstormer’s dual cockpit WACO aircraft. 1938 - Glenn and his father traveled to the Cleveland National Air Races. 1939 - Glenn graduated from New Concord High School and enrolled in Muskingum College. 1941 - Glenn took flying lessons at an airport outside of New Philadelphia, Ohio, and earned his pilot's license. |
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1942-1943 - Glenn left college before earning a diploma to participate in World War II. He joined the U.S. Navy, then transferred to the U.S. Marine Corps, and earned his airman's wings. He planned to become a commercial airline pilot after the war. 1943 - Glenn married Anna (Annie) Margaret Castor, his sweetheart since 8th grade and the daughter of a dentist in New Concord. 1944-1945 - Glenn flew 59 combat missions in the Pacific Theater of the Second World War. His first combat mission was on July 10, 1944. Most of his missions involved bombing and strafing targets located on Japanese controlled atolls in the Marshall Islands. Glenn received two Distinguished Flying Crosses and ten Air Medals and gained recognition as a leader and trainer of pilots during the war. Glenn remained in the military as a Marine pilot after the war. |
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1953 - Glenn flew 63 combat missions during the Korea War; many with baseball star Ted Williams as his wingman. During the war, Glenn, noted for low bombing and strafing runs, sustained heavy damage to his aircraft from enemy fire on two missions. For his exploits, Glenn won two more Distinguished Flying Crosses and an additional eight Air Medals. In June, Glenn volunteered for a pilot exchange program with the U.S. Air Force. During the last two months of the war, Glenn flew 27 missions patrolling the border between North Korea and China. Glenn downed three enemy jet fighters during these patrols and earned the nickname, “MiG Mad Marine.” |
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1954 - Glenn won an assignment as a test pilot at the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland. 1957 - Glenn planned and piloted a flight he named “Project Bullet” from California to New York that established a new transcontinental speed record. He broke the existing record by twenty-one minutes, flying at an average speed of 723 miles per hour in the first coast-to-coast supersonic flight. Much publicity followed for Glenn, including an appearance on the television show "Name That Tune." The flight earned Glenn his fifth Distinguished Flying Cross. |
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October 1957 - The Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first Earth orbiting satellite. July 1958 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). When President Eisenhower confined the selection of NASA astronauts to military test pilots, Glenn volunteered. However, Glenn was handicapped by age (37), height (at 5 feet, 11 inches he was considered too tall), and the lack of a college degree. Glenn had taken numerous courses since leaving Muskingum College, but was not awarded a degree until after his space flight in 1962. Glenn excelled at NASA’s physical and mental tests, and was especially noted for his stable personality and judgment under stress. April 1959 – NASA selected Glenn as one of the seven Mercury astronauts from an original pool of 508. Glenn and the other astronauts signed a contract with Life magazine for $500,000 in exchange for exclusive access to their private lives, homes, and families. January 19, 1961 - Alan Shepard was selected as the astronaut for NASA’s first space flight, much to Glenn's great disappointment. Shepard, and then Gus Grissom in NASA’s second space launch, both fly sub-orbital space flights. |
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February 20, 1962 - After ten postponements, NASA launched Glenn into space aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft. During the flight, Glenn manually piloted the spacecraft after a malfunction in the automatic flight controls. A false reading indicating a loose protective heat shield caused much concern prior to the spacecraft’s re-entry. Despite these problems Glenn orbited Earth three times and successfully landed. He became an instant national hero. After the flight, President John F. Kennedy awarded Glenn with NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal, Glenn gave a speech to a joint session of Congress, and rode in a New York City ticker-tape parade. President Kennedy ordered NASA not to employ Glenn on another dangerous mission. He considered Glenn too valuable to the space program as a national hero to be put at risk. President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy encouraged Glenn to think about a career in politics. |
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January 17, 1964 - Glenn announced his intent to challenge Steve Young in the Democratic primary for Young’s seat in the U.S. Senate. February 26, 1964 - An accidental fall hospitalized Glenn with severe vertigo. It took Glenn nearly nine months to recuperate from his injury. March 30, 1964 - Glenn withdrew from the Democratic primary election. January 1965 - Glenn retired from the U.S. Marine Corps as a colonel and developed a business career. Glenn joined the Royal Crown Cola Company, first as a member of the board of directors and later as the president of Royal Crown Cola International. 1967 - Glenn retraced the route through Africa taken by Sir Henry Stanley in his search for Dr. David Livingstone for the television series "Great Explorations." 1968 - Glenn campaigned for his close friend, Robert F. Kennedy, during Kennedy’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Glenn was present when Kennedy was assassinated, and the Kennedy family asked Glenn to tell six of the Kennedy children about the assassination. Glenn was a pallbearer at Kennedy’s funeral. 1969 - Glenn resigned from Royal Crown Cola as an executive officer but remained on the board of directors. 1970 - Glenn campaigned for the U.S. Senate, but lost in the Democratic primary to Howard Metzenbaum. Glenn entered into a partnership with Henri Landwirth, a motel operator whom Glenn had known during his career as an astronaut in Florida, to build a Holiday Inn near Disney World outside of Orlando. This became a profitable investment. Glenn worked for the campaign to elect John Gilligan as governor of Ohio. Glenn headed the Buckeye Executive Club, a group of businessmen in favor of the Democratic governor. 1971 - Glenn chaired the Citizens Task Force on Environmental Protection, which was instrumental in the formation of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. 1972 - Glenn supported Edward Muskie’s presidential campaign. 1974 - Glenn won a landslide election to the U.S. Senate. In the U.S. Senate, Glenn established a reputation as hard working, very knowledgeable, and problem-oriented. Glenn took an active role in creating policies regarding nuclear technology, energy management, and the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty. |
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1976 - Glenn was one of three men considered to be Jimmy Carter's vice president. However, Glenn's keynote address at the Democratic National Convention failed to impress the delegates and the nomination went to veteran politician Walter Mondale. 1978 - The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act was in large part an achievement of Senator Glenn. This was the first of six major legislative bills Glenn introduced against the spread of nuclear weapons enacted into law during his Senate career. |
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1979 - As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Glenn introduced and helped pass into law the Taiwan Enabling Act, establishing continued relations with Taiwan after the recognition by the U.S. of the People’s Republic of China. 1980 - Glenn won re-election in a landslide, despite Ronald Reagan’s victory over Jimmy Carter in Ohio April 1983 - Glenn announced his candidacy for U.S. President in the 1984 election. |
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1984 - The movie, "The Right Stuff," based on Tom Wolfe’s book about the original seven Mercury astronauts opened in theaters. March 1984 - Glenn withdrew from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. 1985 - Glenn resigned from the Foreign Relations Committee to become a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Through this committee Glenn helped lead opposition to the deployment of both the MX missile and the Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly known as “Star Wars.” 1986 - Glenn was re-elected to his third term in the U.S. Senate. He became chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee and worked to clean up the environmental and safety problems at the nation’s nuclear weapons facilities. He also introduced legislation designed to stop waste, fraud, and abuse in federal governmental spending. |
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1987 - Glenn became co-chairman of the Great Lakes Task Force, a bi-partisan coalition of U.S. Senators involved in environmental and economic issues affecting the Great Lakes. 1990 - The Senate Ethics Committee investigated Glenn for his ties with savings and loan financier, Charles Keating. After much publicity and lengthy hearings, the committee exonerated Glenn of all charges against him. 1992 - Glenn was re-elected to the U.S. Senate as the first four-term U.S. Senator from Ohio. December 17, 1996 - Glenn, along with co-pilot Phillip Woodruff, set a new record of an average speed of 229 miles per hour in a 367-mile flight from Dayton, Ohio to Washington, D.C. flown in his twin engine Beechcraft Baron. 1997 - Glenn co-chaired, with Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearings on campaign finance reform. February 20, 1997 - Glenn announced that he would not seek re-election in 1998. October 1997 - Glenn announced the donation of his papers and memorabilia to The Ohio State University. |
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January 1998 - NASA announced Glenn would return to space as a payload specialist on the Space Shuttle Discovery Mission STS-95 scheduled for launch in October. September 1998 - A press release announced the creation of the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy at The Ohio State University. Glenn became an adjunct professor in OSU’s School of Public Policy and Management and in the Department of Political Science. October 29, 1998 – NASA launched Space Shuttle Discovery Mission STS-95 with Glenn on board. Glenn spent nine days in space undergoing various experiments to research possible links between the human aging process and the negative symptoms experienced by astronauts exposed for a lengthy period of time to the weightlessness of space. November 7, 1998 – Space Shuttle Discovery Mission STS-95 returned to Earth. |
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1999 - President William Clinton appointed Glenn as co-chairman, with former Senator Robert Dole, of the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching. 2000 - Glenn became chairman of the National Commission on Service Learning. 2003 - Glenn was Secretary General of Inventing Flight: Dayton 2003, an organization in Dayton, Ohio formed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first airplane flight flown by the Wright Brothers. 2006 - The John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy merges with the School of Public Policy and Management to form the John Glenn School of Public Affairs. |
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1921-1945