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John Glenn Did Jobs That Made Americans Proud

The hero of the space-race had never publicly shown his temper until that day.

He had been every mother’s son and every woman’s ideal husband; he had employed the hopes of every father of what his boy could be. He was a man the other men emulated. He was “Buck Rogers” come to life for his contemporaries and a “G.I. Joe” action figure — complete with space capsule — for those lucky enough to have been youngsters when he orbited the earth. He was larger than life and equally liked and well known as America’s dynamic and youthful President, John F. Kennedy. In February, 1962, John Glenn was 40 years of age while President Kennedy was 44.

But on that day, May 4, 1974, the stoicism, the coolness, “The Right Stuff” that Tom Wolfe would chronicle a few years later, went off to his checklist.

On that day, John Glenn, career Marine aviator, astronaut and American icon, would rebuke his primary opponent, then-incumbent Sen. Howard Mettzenbaum, for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate by over 90,000 votes. During the campaign, Metzenbaum had said Glenn had never met a payroll or held a job.

“You go with me on Memorial Day coming up and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends than I’d like to remember, and you watch those waving flags … I’ll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were some men — some men — who ‘held a job.’ And they required a dedication of purpose and a love of country and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself. And their self-sacrifice is what made this country possible. I have held a job, Howard!”

And what jobs he has held. Glenn had become a licensed pilot in college, but dropped out at age 20 after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Army Air Corps. When he was not called up, he enlisted as a naval aviation cadet; then, chose to become a Marine aviator after advanced flight training.

During World War II, Glenn not yet 25 years of age, flew 59 combat missions in the Pacific Theater. In the Korean War, he flew 90 combat missions over two tours. Glenn’s wartime service earned the Distinguished Flying Cross (five times) and the Air Medal (19 times).

As a test pilot, he would be awarded another DFC for the record-breaking “Project Bullet” cross-country flight where he averaged a speed of 725 mph in order to prove the durability of a jet engine at that high speed.

In Project Mercury, in 1962, Glenn cemented his place in history by becoming the first American to orbit Earth.

Retiring from the Marines as a full “bird” colonel in 1964 after over 20 years of service, Glenn first made a short-lived run for the Senate from Ohio; then, spent a few years as a beverage company executive and an investor in Florida hotels before re-entering politics. He barely lost a 1970 primary, than ran again in the 1974 primary race that gave rise to his rebuke of Metzenbaum. He won the seat and spent the next 28 years representing the people of Ohio.

In the Senate, Glenn was a center-left moderate Democrat, who was beloved by his colleagues on both sides of the political aisle. He authored the 1978 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act and supported arms control, enhanced education standards, technology investment, and was a fierce defender of America’s Space Program. He won his 1980 re-election campaign with a staggering 69 percent of the vote, and carried all but one of Ohio’s 88 counties. Glenn received 55 percent of voters who voted for Ronald Reagan as he carried Ohio over President Carter.

In 1998, John Glenn, then age 77, returned to space to test the effects of space flight on the elderly and to compare the effects of two spaceflights separated by 36 years, inspiring a new generation of Americans including myself.

As Glenn celebrates his 95th birthday this Monday, we remember the man of humble origin born in Cambridge, Ohio, who spent nearly his entire career in service to his nation.

John Glenn, indeed, “held a job”: the job of making us remember who we are, as a nation and a people, and what every American child, wherever born can aspire to be.

Happy birthday, John Glenn!

Adam Sackowitz is a graduate student studying history at St. John’s University in New York. He has worked for several years to highlight and to preserve the many accomplishments of John Glenn, including heading efforts to preserve landmarks related to John Glenn in Cambridge, Ohio. Sackowitz was on hand last week at the dedication ceremony of the newly designated John Glenn Columbus International Airport, and presented a proclamation to the family of Senator Glenn on behalf of Mayor Orr.

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