[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 107 (Monday, July 18, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4634-S4635]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     COMMENDING JOHN HERSCHEL GLENN

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I am here today to celebrate a 
friend and a statesman, a former Member of the Senate, a marine 
aviator, a pioneering astronaut, a beloved family man, and an American 
hero.
  Today is the 90th birthday of John Herschel Glenn.
  I was 10 years old when John Glenn observed three sunsets, three 
sunrises, and the wonder of the universe in just under 5 hours while 
orbiting the Earth.
  I was 16 years old when John Glenn presented to me and another couple 
dozen Eagle Scouts in Mansfield, OH, our Eagle Scout Award, teaching us 
yet again about community service and community pride.
  When I was 54, in one of the most memorable moments of my 
professional life--with John's wife Annie and my wife Connie in the 
gallery--John Glenn escorted me into this Senate Chamber to be sworn in 
as a Senator from Ohio.
  As a grandfather and a father, a husband and a Senator, I continue to 
be inspired by the example of a life well lived--a life in public 
service, a life fighting for the public good.
  Born in Cambridge, OH, 150 miles east of Dayton, where the Wright 
brothers first figured out how to fly, he attended public school and 
became an Eagle Scout in New Concord.
  It was there where he would meet his childhood sweetheart and future 
wife Annie. As children, they literally shared a playpen. John says: 
``She was part of my life from the time of my first memory.''
  On April 6, 1943, Annie and John married. Since then, they have 
earned the adulation and admiration from people around the world for 
their accomplishments and for their devoted love. By 1941, he had 
studied mathematics at nearby Muskingum College and earned his pilot's 
license.
  After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he dropped out of college to enlist 
in the Navy and after 2 years of advanced aviator training was 
reassigned to the U.S. Marine Corps. John Glenn flew 59 combat missions 
with the Marines in World War II and 90 combat missions with both the 
Marines and Air Force in Korea. On some of these flying missions, he 
had baseball great Ted Williams on his wing. John Glenn was awarded 
numerous commendations and citations for his heroic military service.
  In 1959, he was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA) as one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. 
In 1962, President Kennedy made John Glenn the first American to orbit 
the Earth, and 35 years later, John Glenn was asked by another 
President, Bill Clinton, to fly into space for a second time as a 
mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Discovery. At the age of 77, he 
became the oldest human being to fly in space, conducting a series of 
scientific investigations into the physiology of the human aging 
process and exploring the effects of space flight and aging.
  By the 1960s, Glenn's service to his country had expanded into a 
career in politics. He was with Senator Robert F. Kennedy that fateful 
day in June in California, and he served as a pallbearer a few days 
later at Arlington National Cemetery.
  In 1974, John Glenn was elected to the Senate from my State of Ohio, 
serving four consecutive terms until his retirement 24 years later in 
1999. He served as chairman of the Committee on Governmental Affairs. 
He was the chief author of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act of 1978.
  Throughout the years, he continually championed the advancement of

[[Page S4635]]

science and technology, especially NASA, so much that 12 years ago, the 
NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland--the only NASA facility north 
of the Mason-Dixon Line--was officially renamed the NASA John H. Glenn 
Research Center.
  After his retirement from the Senate, he and Annie founded the John 
Glenn School for Public Affairs at The Ohio State University saying: 
``If there is one thing I've learned in my years on this planet, it's 
that the happiest and most fulfilled people I've known are those who 
devoted themselves to something bigger and more profound than merely 
their own self-interest.''
  Whether he was flying in the air or floating in space, walking the 
campaign trails or in this Chamber, he remained grounded in his New 
Concord roots and always by the steady hand and constant love of Annie. 
When my family and I decided I should run for the Senate in the fall of 
2005, the first people we called were Annie and John Glenn.
  Annie's advice to Connie then and now has been to ``be yourself and 
not allow others to tell you who you should be.'' Connie, who was a 
noted writer in Ohio, writes for the Cleveland Plain Dealer--Connie had 
this to say about Annie:

       ``Annie Glenn refuses to draw attention to herself, which 
     is one of the reasons so many of us cannot get enough of her. 
     She is that rare person who is genuinely interested in 
     whomever is standing right in front of her. You will never 
     capture her looking over your shoulder searching for someone 
     more interesting, more important. If you are looking into the 
     eyes of Annie Glenn, you have just become the most 
     fascinating person in the world. This is not to suggest Annie 
     is a wallflower. She was won many honors, changed many lives, 
     through her advocacy.
       She is as engaging as she is generous, full of opinions 
     earned by living life at full throttle, even when she was 
     scared to death. And that is a crucial truth about Annie: 
     Americans rightly ooh and aah over John Glenn's courage in 
     space. But let us never forget the hero of a wife who gave 
     her public blessing, and then privately prayed until his safe 
     return.''

  John and I traveled across Ohio on the campaign trail, hearing each 
other so often that we could finish each other's speeches and roll our 
eyes at the same jokes we would tell.
  John and Annie teach all of us about our own capacity for 
selflessness and to have the confidence to serve with humility and with 
honor. They are dedicated public servants and trailblazers whose sense 
of humor and smiles brighten any room and in whose presence we better 
understand the meaning of love and compassion. It is a love and 
marriage that everyone from lifelong New Concord friends to U.S. 
Presidents, to colleagues in this Chamber have described with 
affection.
  Barack Obama said during a campaign stop in Columbus:

       The thing I admire most about John Glenn is his 
     relationship to his wife, Annie. They have been married for 
     65 years--

  That was then. Now it is 68--
     and you should see the way he treats her. He's in love. 
     Sixty-five years later he's still in love. And no wonder, 
     because she is a remarkable woman.

  Through John and Annie's remarkable American lives, we reveal and 
remember the greatness of our country, our capacity to love and to 
wonder and to see something greater than ourselves.
  My wife Connie and I are fortunate to call Annie and John friends, 
and they remain trusted mentors and role models for us and so many. 
When his country was attacked, he enlisted. When his President asked, 
he served. When his country needed it, he instilled a confidence in the 
American spirit of scientific discovery. When his State needed his 
leadership, he represented the people of our State with honor.
  Happy 90th birthday, John Glenn. Your life tells our Nation's story 
in the 20th century, our triumphs and our turbulence, and it tells how 
our Nation's spirit of discovery could be found in the humility of a 
hometown hero from New Concord, OH.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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