John Glenn

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John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921-2016) was a United States Marine Corps aviator, explorer, cosmologist, businessman, and politician.

In 1962, he became the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times.

Following his retirement from NASA, he served from 1974 to 1999 as a Democratic United States senator from Ohio and 1998, and he returned to space at age 77. Glenn was a respected fighter pilot in World War II, China, and Korea before joining NASA.

He shot down three MiG-15s and was given six Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen Air Medals.

He made the first supersonic transcontinental flight through the United States in 1957.

The first continuous, panoramic photograph of the United States was captured by his on-board camera. He was one of the nation's first astronauts in 1959, and he was one of the Mercury Seven, military test pilots selected by NASA in 1959.

Glenn launched the Friendship 7 mission on February 20, 1962, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth and the fifth American to orbit space.

He received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1962, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Glenn resigned from NASA in January 1964.

Glenn was first elected to the Senate in 1974 and served for 24 years until January 1999. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Glenn flown on the STS-95 mission in 1998, making him the first person to fly in space and the only person to fly in both the Mercury and Space Shuttle programs. He was also a sitting senator.

Glenn, the Mercury Seven's oldest and last living member, died in 2016 at the age of 95.

Annie Glenn, a disability advocate and communicator, is surviving him.

Early life and education

John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born in Cambridge, Ohio, on July 18, 1921, the son of John Herschel Glenn Sr. (1895–1966), a plumber, and Clara Teresa Glenn (1997–1971), a teacher. His parents had married shortly before John Sr., a member of the American Expeditionary Force, was sent to the Western Front in World War I. The family moved to New Concord, Ohio, right after his birth, and his father started the Glenn Plumbing Company, his own firm. When Glenn Jr. first met Anna Margaret (Annie) Castor, who would later marry her, he was only a toddler. The two people would not be able to recall a time when they did not know each other. When he was eight years old, he first flew in an airplane with his father. He became obsessed by flight and created model airplanes from balsa wood kits. He and his adopted sister Jean attended New Concord Elementary School together. He washed cars and sold rhubarb to buy a bike, then he took up selling The Columbus Dispatch newspaper. He was a member of the Ohio Rangers, a Cub Scout-like group. The boyhood home in New Concord has been refurbished as a historic house museum and education center.

Glenn attended New Concord High School, where he competed as a center and linebacker on the varsity football team. He has served on the varsity basketball and tennis teams as well as being affiliated with Hi-Y, the YMCA's junior branch. Glenn studied chemistry, joined the Stag Club fraternity, and played on the football team after graduating in 1939. Annie trained in music with minors in secrecy and physical education, and she competed on the swimming and volleyball teams, graduating in 1942. Through the Civilian Pilot Training Program in 1941, Glenn obtained a private pilot license and a physics course credit for free. He did not complete his senior year in residence or take a proficiency exam, both of which were mandatory by the school for a Bachelor of Science degree.

Personal life

John David and Carolyn Ann, two children, and two grandchildren, and they were married for 73 years until his death.

Glenn, a Freemason, was a member of Concord Lodge No. 1. In New Concord, Ohio, 688 people were killed. He obtained his degrees in full at a Mason at the Grand Master of Ohio's Sight ceremony in 1978, 14 years after petitioning his lodge. Glenn became a 33rd-degree Scottish Rite Mason in the Valley of Cincinnati, 1999 (NMJ). DeMolay International, a Masonic youth group for boys, recognised him as an adult as a member of the DeMolay Legion of Honor.

Glenn was an ordained elder of the Presbyterian Church of St. John Paul II. His religious faith arose before he was a space explorer, and was expanded after he travelled in space. After his second (and final) space journey, Glenn said, "to look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible." He saw no contradiction between faith in God and the belief that evolution is "a fact" and that evolution should be taught in schools: "I don't think I'm any less religious" and that evolution is a mystery, but that's a good thing." It doesn't mean that it's less impressive, and it doesn't mean that there can't be any more power than those of us that has been left behind and is responsible for what's going on."

Glenn was reported to have flown aboard a private plane of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on August 9, 2019, according to Virginia Louise Giuffre's defamation lawsuit against him. In Maxwell's 2021 sex trafficking lawsuit, Epstein's personal pilot Larry Visoski testified that he remembered flying Glenn on one of Epstein's private planes on November 30, 2021. Visoski also said he never seen sexual activity nor that such conduct had occurred.

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Military career

Glenn left college to enlist in the United States Army Air Corps as the United States entered World War II. He was not called to service by the Army and enlisted as a United States Navy aviation cadet in March 1942. Glenn went to Iowa City for pre-flight training and made his first solo flight in a military plane at Naval Air Station Olathe, Kansas, where he went for primary training. He accepted an invitation to transfer to the United States Marine Corps during advanced training at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas. Glenn was appointed as a second lieutenant after completing his flight school in March 1943. On April 6, 1943, Glenn married Annie in a Presbyterian service at College Drive Church in New Concord, Ohio. He was assigned to the Marine Squadron VMJ-353, which subsequently operated R4D transport planes from there, after advanced training at Camp Kearny, California.

The fighter squadron VMO-155 was also on Camp Kearny, riding the Grumman F4F Wildcat. Glenn approached Major J. P. Haines, the squadron's commander, who said he might try a transfer. Glenn was posted to VMO-155 on July 2, 1943, two days before the squadron moved to Marine Corps Air Station El Centro in California, which was approved. By this time, the Wildcat was out of service, and the F4U Corsair had been re-equipped in September 1943. In October 1943, he was promoted to first lieutenant and then sent to Hawaii in January 1944. On February 21, the VMO-155 became part of the midway Atoll garrison, then moved to the Marshall Islands in June 1944 and landed 57 combat missions in the area. He received two Distinguished Flying Crosses and ten Air Medals.

Glenn was sent to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina and then to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, at the end of his one-year tour of service in February 1945. In July 1945, he was promoted to captain and then sent back to Cherry Point. He joined VMF-913, another Corsair squadron, and learned that he had applied for a regular commission. He was stationed in March 1946 to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in southern California. He applied for service in North China, fearing that it would be a short visit. He joined VMF-218 (another Corsair squadron) at Nanyuan Field near Beijing in December 1946 and served on patrol missions until VMF-218 was transferred to Guam in March 1947.

Glenn was first introduced to NAS Corpus Christi as a student at the Naval School of All-Weather Flight in December 1948 before becoming a flight instructor. He went to the Amphibious Warfare School at Marine Corps Base Quantico in northern Virginia in July 1951 for a six-month course. He then joined the Marine Corps Schools as the commandant's staff. He maintained his skills (and flight cost) by flying on weekends due to his limited flying time per month. In July 1952, he was promoted to major. Glenn was awarded the World War II Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with one actor), the Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp), and the China Service Medal for his service.

Glenn returned his family to New Concord after a short absence, and after two and a half months of jet training at Cherry Point, he was sent to South Korea in October 1952, just after the Korean War has come. He applied to fly the F-86 Sabre jet fighter-interceptor through an inter-service exchange with the US Air Force before setting out for Korea in February 1953. He arranged with Colonel Leon W. Gray to check out the F-86 at Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts, in preparation. On February 3, 1953, Glenn reported to K-3, a South Korean airbase, and was designated as the operations officer for VMF-311, one of two Marine fighter squadrons stationed there while waiting for the exchange assignment to be completed. The F9F Panther jet fighter-bomber was used on VMF-311 in a combat mission. On February 26, Glenn's first mission was a reconnaissance flight. He served on 63 combat missions in Korea with VMF-311, and was dubbed "Magnet Ass" for the number of flak attacks he carried out on low-level close air support missions; twice, he returned to base with over 250 holes in his plane. He flew with Marine reservist Ted Williams (a future Hall of Fame baseball player with the Boston Red Sox) as his wingman for a time. "Absolutely afraid of Glenn," Williams later described the situation. The best I've ever seen. It was an honor to fly with him." Ralph H. Spanjer, the upcoming major general, also flew with Glenn.

Glenn began serving with the USAF's 25th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in June 1953 and completed 27 combat missions in the F-86, a much faster aircraft than the F9F Panther, patrolling MiG Alley. The MiG-15, which was quicker and more armed, was regarded as a rite of passage for a fighter pilot. Pilots who had been in the Air Force bus that carried the pilots out to the airfields before dawn could sit, while others who did not had to stand could sit. Pilots also viewed air-to-air combat as the ultimate measure not only of their machines but also of their own personal determination and flying skills," Glenn later wrote. I was not the exception." Since John F. Bolt, he aspired to become the second Marine jet flying ace. When Glenn's USAF squadron mates complained about there being no MIGs to fire at, they painted "MiG Mad Marine" on his plane. On July 12, 1953, he fired down his first MiG in a dogfight, downed another one on July 19, and a third on July 22 after four Sabres shot down three MiGs. These were the final air victories of the war, which culminated in an armistice five days later. Glenn received two more Distinguished Flying Crosses and eight more Air Medals for his work in Korea. The Korean Service Medal (with two campaign stars), the United Nations Korea Medal, Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal (with one actor), and the Korean War Service Medal were all given to Glenn.

Glenn applied for testing pilots while still in Korea with combat experience as a fighter pilot. He spoke to the United States. Naval Test Pilot School at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, opened in January 1954 and graduated in July. James Stockdale, the future Medal of Honor winner, tutored him in physics and mathematics at Patuxent River. When his cockpit depressurized and the oxygen system malfunctioned, Glenn's first flight test mission, which was testing the FJ-3 Fury, nearly killed him. He also tested aircraft, such as the Vought F7U Cutlass and F8U Crusader, on armament. He was from November 1956 to April 1959 and attended the University of Maryland.

He made the first supersonic transcontinental flight on July 16, 1957. He designed the flight not to fly but also to publicly demonstrate the F8U Crusader, despite disliking his Bureau of Aeronautics' desk work. At the time, the transcontinental speed record, held by an Air Force Republic F-84 Thunderjet, was 3 hours 45 minutes, and Glenn estimated that the F8U Crusader could do it quicker. Glenn's Flight Project Bullet was quicker than that of a.45 caliber bullet because it was faster than that of a.45 caliber bullet. Despite three in-flight refueling stations when speeds dropped below 300 mph (3,935 kilometers per hour), he flew an F8U Crusader 2,445 miles (3,935 km) from Los Alamitos, California, to Floyd Bennett Field in New York City in 3.2 minutes, 8.3 seconds, averaging supersonic speed. The first continuous, transcontinental panoramic photograph of the United States was taken by his on-board camera. He was awarded his fifth Distinguished Flying Cross for this mission and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on April 1, 1959. Glenn was a minor celebrity on the cross-country flight. In The New York Times, a profile was published, and he appeared on the television program Name That Tune. Glenn now had almost 9,000 hours of flying time, including over 3,000 hours in jets, but knew that at 36 years old, he was already old to fly.

NASA career

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, on October 4, 1957. This eroded American confidence in its technological savvy, resulting in a wave of anxiety dubbed the Sputnik crisis. President Dwight D. Eisenhower began the Space Race in reaction. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established on October 1, 1958, as a civilian agency that was dedicated to the advancement of space technology. On December 17, 1958, one of the company's first efforts was announced. Project Mercury, which was designed to bring a man to Earth orbit, safely back to the Earth, and determine his space capabilities.

Glenn was given access to recent spaceflight news, such as the X-15 rocket plane, from his Bureau of Aeronautics. Glenn read everything he could find about space while on duty at Patuxent and Washington. As part of NASA's efforts to re-enter vehicle models, his office was asked to send a test pilot to Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to perform tests on a spaceflight simulator. In addition, the pilot will be sent to the Naval Air Development Center in Johnsville, Pennsylvania, and will be exposed to high G-forces in a centrifuge for comparison with results obtained in the simulator. His application for the position was accepted, and he spent many days at Langley and a week in Johnsville for the testing. Glenn was one of the rare pilots to have undergone such testing, and he had become an expert on the subject. NASA has asked military service members to assist in the preparation of a spacecraft mockup. He was sent to the McDonnell plant in St. Louis as a service consultant to NASA's spacecraft mockup board after being involved in the Langley and Johnsville experiments. Glenn, who was enthroned himself in the car, said that the passenger would have to be able to control the spacecraft. McDonnell engineers warned him of the importance of illuminating the car as much as possible, so Glenn began exercising to lose the 30 pounds he lost.

NASA sent Eisenhower to select its first astronauts from military test pilots. Out of 508 graduates of test pilot schools, 110 met the minimum requirements. Two Marine Corps pilots were mistakenly dismissed at first, including Glenn; two others were soon discovered, including Glenn. Candidates must be younger than 40, have a bachelor's degree, or equivalent, and be 5 foot 11 inches (1.80 m) or less. Due to the Project Mercury spacecraft's size, only the height restriction was strictly followed. Glenn, who barely met the requirements and lacked a science-based degree, but he took more classes since leaving college than was needed for graduation. Glenn was otherwise a promising candidate, and his commanding officer, who was teaching at the university, visited NASA headquarters to insist that Glenn will be the perfect astronaut.

The results from the centrifuge were used to show that he had done fine on a measure that perhaps no other candidate had taken. Glenn, associate director of Project Mercury, shared the results from the experiment. Donlan also noticed that Glenn stayed late at night to study the Mercury spacecraft's schematics. He was one of the first 69 candidates to pass the first step of the assessment and was eager to continue, which was sufficient for the astronaut corps NASA needed. A grueling sequence of physical and psychological tests started at the Lovelace Clinic and the Wright Aerospace Medical Laboratory on February 27.

Glenn was already participating in Project Mercury, while other contenders were in Wright, on March 17, he and the majority of those who would choose the astronauts visited the McDonnell plant that was also working to inspect its progress and make improvements. Although Glenn did not rank highest on any of the questionnaires, a member of the selection committee recalled how he had impressed everyone with his "strength of personality and his dedication." Donlan called Glenn to join Project Mercury, one of seven candidates selected as astronauts on April 6th. Glenn was thrilled while Annie was supportive, but he was afraid of the risk; during his three years at Patuxent, 12 test pilots had died.

On April 9, 1959: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Glenn, Gus Grissom, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton were named during a press conference at Dolley Madison House in Washington, D.C. Glenn "came out as the best of it among seven very fair-haired boys," Tom Wolfe said in The Right Stuff. He held the most quotable, most photogenic, and the lone Marine, with the hottest record as a pilot. The threat to them was made clear a few weeks earlier, on the night of May 18, 1959, when the seven astronauts assembled at Cape Canaveral to watch their first rocket launch, a SM-65D Atlas, which was identical to the one that carried them into orbit. It exploded in a few minutes after liftoff, lighting up the night sky. The astronauts were awed. "Well, I'm glad they got that out of the way," Shepard said.

Following his promotion, Glenn remained an officer in the Marine Corps and was posted to the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where he was assigned to the NASA Space Task Group. In 1962, the task force moved to Houston, Texas, where it became part of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center. The astronauts' training began in the classroom, where they learned about space science. In addition, the team underwent hands-on training, which included scuba diving and work in simulators. Astronauts also played a key part in the spaceflight program, in the capacity of providing pilot input in design. The astronauts were divided into two groups and assigned their respective tasks. For the Mercury and early Apollo programs, Glenn's specialization was cockpit layout and control system implementation. He pressed the other astronauts to lead by example, adopting a squeaky-clean image of them in Life magazine, a position that was not common with the other astronauts.

On the first two crewed Project Mercury flights, Glenn served as the back-up pilot for Shepard and Grissom, as well as the Mercury-Redstone 3 and 4 sub-orbital missions. Glenn was selected for NASA's first crewed orbital flight aboard Mercury-Atlas 6, with Carpenter as his backup. One of Project Mercury's most important objectives is deploying a man in orbit. Shepard and Grissom had named their spacecraft Freedom 7 and Liberty Bell 7. The number 7 had been used to represent Shepard's spacecraft initially, but it was later extended to reflect the Mercury 7 in Shepard's production number. Glenn named his spacecraft number 13, Friendship 7, and the text on his F-86 was painted on the side like the one on his F-86. Glenn and Carpenter completed their preparations for the mission in January 1962, but postponement of the launch allowed them to resume rehearsing. Glenn spent 25 hours and 25 minutes on the spacecraft, as well as 59 hours and 45 minutes in the simulator, as well as hangar and altitude tests. He flew 70 simulation missions and responded to 189 simulated system failures.

Friendship 7 was lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on February 20, 1962, after a long line of delays. During the countdown, there were eleven delays due to equipment failures, upgrades, and the weather. A malfunction of the automatic-control unit was detected during Glenn's first orbit. Glenn was forced to operate in manual mode on the second and third orbits as well as re-entry. Telemetry data collected later in the flight indicated that the heat shield had loosened. Glenn and his spacecraft would have died on re-entry if this information had been correct. Ground controllers decided that leaving the retrorocket pack in place would help keep the loose heat shield in place after a lengthy discussion about how to solve the problem. They gave Glenn these instructions, but they did not inform him that the heat shield was possibly loose; despite being confused at this point, they obeyed. During re-entry, the retrorocket pack burst into swaths of flaming dust that swung through the window of his capsule; Glenn believed this might have been the heat shield. "Fortunately, it was the rocket pack," he told an interviewer, "or I wouldn't be asking these questions." The heat shield was not loose during the flight, and the sensor was defective; it was determined later.

After Glenn's 4-hour, 55-minute flight, Friendship 7 safely crashed 800 miles (1,290 km) southeast of Cape Canaveral. "I am a stranger," the flight's note read. I'm safe. In the event that he landed near the southern Pacific Ocean islands, bring me to your leader, there will be a huge reward for you in eternity." Glenn was supposed to hatch through the top hatch, but he was uncomfortably warm and decided that egress through the side hatch would be quicker. He made the flight with 7.8 G of acceleration and travelled 75,679 km (28,200 km/h) at 17,500 mph (28,200 km/h). The flight brought Glenn to a maximum altitude (apogee) of about 162 miles (261 km) and a minimum altitude of 100 kilometers (160 km). Glenn stayed within the spacecraft during landing unlike the crewed missions of the Soviet Union's Vostok program. Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth, the third American in space, and the fifth human in space. The mission, which Glenn described as the "best day of his life," has restored American optimism. His flight occurred during a Cold War war and battle in the Space Race, with the United States and the Soviet Union embroiled in the Cold War.

Glenn, the first American to orbit, met President John F. Kennedy and was treated with a ticker-tape parade in New York reminiscent of those commemorating Charles Lindbergh and other heroes. According to NASA administrator Charles Bolden, Kennedy would not "risk putting him back in space again." The Kennedys and Margaret Glenn's fame and political potential were lauded, and he became a Kennedy associate, a friend of Kennedy's. President Kennedy awarded him the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for his Friendship 7 flight on February 23, 1962. "I would like to think I was a figurehead for this whole massive, brilliant effort," Glenn said on his award, "and I am very proud of the medal on my lapel." Glenn earned his sixth Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts. He was one of the first group of astronauts to be given the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. President Jimmy Carter gave the award to him in 1978. After his 1962 space flight, NASA suggested that Glenn be rewarded with the Medal of Honor, but Glenn did not agree that it was appropriate. In 1978, his military and space awards were stolen, but he remarked that he would hold this medal in a safe.

NASA considered sending women to the astronaut corps by the Mercury 13 in 1962, but Glenn delivered a letter opposing sending women into space to the House Space Committee in which he stated: "This is why I do not want to send women into space."

Glenn was quoted in the Miami Herald in May 1965 as saying that NASA "offers a serious chance for space women" as scientist astronauts.

There was no official policy banning women, but the suggestion that astronauts be tested pilots effectively excluded them. When six women were chosen, none as pilots, NASA dropped the astronaut criteria in 1965, but no one was selected as astronauts until 1978. Valentina Tereshkova, a female cosmonaut, was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union in June 1963. No women of any nationality flocked in space again until August 1982, when the Soviet Union launched pilot-cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya. Glenn is reported to have supported Space Shuttle Mission Specialist Judith Resnik in her career in the 1970s.

Senate career

During his first year as senator, Glenn requested to be divided into two committees: the Government Operations Committee (later known as the Committee on Governmental Affairs) and the Foreign Relations Committee. He was immediately attached to the Government Operations Committee and waited for a seat on the Foreign Relations Committee. Glenn began serving as the Chair of the Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Federal Services Subcommittee of the Governmental Affairs Committee in 1977. Abraham Ribicoff, chair of the Government Affairs Committee, said he could chair the subcommittee if he also chaired the less popular Federal Services Subcommittee, which was in charge of the United States' government. The Postal Service is located in the United States. The previous chairs of the Federal Services Subcommittee lost seats due in part to poor customer reviews that linked to the chairmen's poorly-regarded mail service, but Glenn accepted the bid and became the chair of both subcommittees. One of his objectives as a new senator was to create environmental policies. To combat the energy crisis in the 1970s, Glenn introduced legislation on energy policy. Glenn later introduced legislation promoting nuclear non-proliferation, and he was the primary author of the 1978 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act, one of six major pieces of legislation he wrote on the subject.

From 1987 to 1995, Glenn chaired the Committee on Governmental Affairs. He was in this capacity that he discovered safety and environmental issues with the country's nuclear facilities. Glenn was made aware of the issue at the Fernald Feed Production Center in Cincinnati, and within minutes, it was discovered that it was affecting numerous locations around the country. Glenn requested an investigation from the General Accounting Office of Congress and held multiple hearings on the subject. The Glenn Report also contained a study on the possibility of hazardous waste disposal at former nuclear weapons manufacturing sites. He spent the remainder of his Senate tenure in acquiring funds to clear up the nuclear waste that had been left at the plant.

Glenn's other focus was on lowering government waste. He introduced legislation requiring CFOs for major government departments. To help find waste and fraud, Glenn introduced a bill to expand the inspector general's office to federal departments. He also drafted legislation that would block the federal government from imposing regulations on local governments that do not have funding. Glenn formed the Great Lakes Task Force, which helped protect the Great Lakes' climate.

Glenn became the most ranked minority member of the Committee on Governmental Affairs in 1995. Glenn denied that the focus on illicit Chinese contributions to the Democrats had been on the Democrats, but that Republicans had also egregious fundraising problems. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, the committee chair, disagreed and started the probe. During the probe, Thompson and Glenn continued to work together ineffective ways. Thompson would only give Glenn the details he was legally obliged to. Glenn refused to approve a larger budget and instead expanded the scope of the probe to include members of the Republican Party. "A lot of things strung together that paint a very bad picture," Thompson wrote after the investigation ended with a Republican-written report. "The China strategy was not intended or affected the 1996 presidential election," the Democrats, led by Glenn, said in the study.

Glenn was the vice chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, a subcommittee of the Committee on Governmental Affairs. Glenn became the top minority member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations when the Republican Party regained power of the Senate in 1996, before Carl Levin replaced him. During this period, the committee looked at topics such as internet fraud, mortgage fraud, and day trading securities.

Glenn's father spent his retirement money fighting cancer and may have lost his house if not for Glenn's intervention. Parkinson's disease also affected his father-in-law. He wanted a seat on the Special Committee on Aging due to his health and finances.

Glenn was regarded as a science and technology specialist due to his experience. He was a fan of the continuing B-1 bomber program, which he regarded as fruitful. This clashed with President Carter's inability to finance the B-2 bomber program. Glenn did not fully endorse the B-2's construction because he had reservations about the stealth technology's reliability. He made a plan to slow down the construction of the B-2, which may have saved money, but it was turned down.

Glenn was elected to the Foreign Relations Committee in 1978. For which he travelled to Japan, Korea, the Republic of China, and the People's Republic of China, he became the chairman of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee. Glenn was a pioneer in the enactment of the Taiwan Enabling Act of 1979. Glenn's SALT II treaty position in the same year caused another controversies with President Carter. Glenn did not expect that the US had the capability to monitor the Soviet Union properly enough to ensure compliance with the treaty due to the absence of radar listening posts in Iran. During the US' Ohio launch ceremony, he spoke about his reservations about ensuring treaty compliance. Rosalynn Carter, the First Lady, appeared at the function, although she chastised Glenn for speaking out against the issue in public. In part, the Senate never accepted the treaty, owing to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Glenn served on the committee until 1985, when he switched it for the Armed Services Committee.

In 1987, Glenn became chairman of the Armed Services Committee's Manpower Subcommittee. During the Gulf War, he introduced measures such as increasing pay and health for American troops in the Persian Gulf. He served as chairman until 1993, before being appointed chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Readiness and Defense Infrastructure.

Glenn was one of the Keating Five—the United States. Senators with the savings and loan crisis have received a $200,000 campaign donation from Lincoln Savings and Loan Association President Charles Keating. Senators were accused of delaying the seizure of Keating's S&L, which cost taxpayers an additional $2 billion during the crisis. An investigation was launched into the senators due to a mixture of apparent political pressure and Keating's financial contributions.

Robert Bennett, the outside counsel on the Ethics Committee, wanted to exclude Republican senator John McCain and Glenn from the investigation. Democrats did not want to exclude McCain because he was the only Republican being prosecuted, so they could not excuse Glenn from the probe. The Senate commission found that McCain and Glenn had exercised "poor judgment." Rather than Glenn's "poor decision," the Republicans focuses on Glenn's "poor judgement" rather than what Glenn saw as complete exoneration. "John Glenn misjudged Charles Keating," GOP chairman Robert Bennett said. He also misjudged Ohio's taxpayers' allowance, whose bill is expected to cover almost $2 billion." "They so firmly put this thing to bed," Glenn said after the Senate's report, "there isn't much there to be concerned about." "I didn't do anything wrong," says the narrator. "These hearings were the lowest point of my life," Glenn wrote in his autobiography. He was charged $520,000 in court fees. The connection of his name with the scandal boosted Republicans' hopes that he would not be defeated in the 1992 race, but Glenn defeated Lieutenant Governor Mike DeWine to keep his seat.

Glenn announced on February 20, 1997, the 35th anniversary of his Friendship 7 flight, that his resignation from the Senate would take place at the end of his term in January 1999. "There is still no cure for the common birthday," Glenn said of his old age.

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