This series of articles seeks to examine the character attributes of highly successful leaders, regardless of their adherence to a strong faith or moral standard. In presenting these thoughts, Leadership Ministries is not agreeing with or advocating these traits or practices, but rather presents these as ideas for discussion and development in your own leadership journey.
John Hershel Glenn, Jr. (1921-2016) was an American Marine aviator, test pilot, businessman, politician, and one of the first seven American Mercury astronauts. He was the first person to orbit the earth, circling three times in 1962. He flew in space again in 1998 aboard the space shuttle, becoming the oldest astronaut in space at age 77. Glenn’s orbit mission leapfrogged Soviet efforts in the space race, reinvigorating US ambitions. His triumph in the tiny Mercury capsule became a source of national pride and kick started NASA’s push to land on the moon, just seven years later.
Pursue your first love. Glenn grew up in rural Ohio, washing cars and running a paper route to earn money. He played football, basketball and tennis in high school. He was a member of the Ohio Rangers, an organization similar to Boy Scouts. But was an airplane flight his father took him on at the age of eight that left an indelible mark—John loved flying and wanted to be a pilot. During his time at Muskingum College, Glenn got a pilot’s license. He quit the university in 1942, and immediately applied to the Army Air Corps. When they didn’t commission him to fly, he eventually transferred to the US Marines, where he was assigned to a Marine air squadron.[1]
During World War II, Glenn flew the Grumman F4F Wildcat on 57 combat missions in the Pacific theater. Later in Korea, he flew the F9 Panther on 63 combat missions. Glenn was highly decorated, receiving the World War II Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with one star), Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp), the China Service Medal, Korean Service Medal (with two campaign stars), United Nations Korea Medal, Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal (with one star), and the Korean War Service Medal.
John Glenn’s Mercury capsule, Friendship 7, on display at the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian. Photo: Public Domain
Take a risk. As the Korean War wound down, John Glenn applied to be a test pilot and was accepted. His first flight in the FJ-3 Fury nearly killed him as the cockpit depressurized on a test flight. In 1957, Glenn set the transcontinental speed record in the F8U Crusader, crossing the US in 3 hours and 23 minutes, at an average speed faster than a .45 caliber bullet. After more than 9,000 flying hours, and at the age of 36, Glenn turned his attention to space, applying to be one of America’s first astronauts at for the newly-formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
One of the requirements for astronauts was to be less than 5 feet, 11 inches tall, so they could fit in early space capsules. Glenn was exactly that height, and he often worked and studied with books on his head in an attempt to compress his height further. He was announced as one of the Mercury Seven in 1959. Author Tom Wolfe wrote of Glenn in The Right Stuff, that he “came out of it as tops among seven very fair-haired boys. He had the hottest record as a pilot, he was the most quotable, the most photogenic, and the lone Marine.” A few weeks into training, the astronauts gathered to watch an unmanned launch of an Atlas rocket—it exploded spectacularly shortly after takeoff, creating a palpable picture of the risks involved in this new endeavor.
Glenn’s flight aboard the Mercury Friendship 7 capsule launched on February 20, 1962. Glenn had 60 hours in the simulator, flying 70 test missions and reacting to 189 simulated failures. The flight was plagued with delays, and during the first orbit, the automatic control system malfunctioned. Glenn piloted orbits two and three manually, splashing down in the south Atlantic after a 4 hour and 55 minute flight. Glenn called the mission “the best day of my life” and became a national hero. He met President John F. Kennedy, had a ticker-tape parade in New York, and was interviewed for newspapers, television and radio. He was among the first group of astronauts to be awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Glenn presents President Kennedy with a US flag flown on his historic mission to orbit the earth in 1962. Photo: Public Domain
Another chapter. So valuable was Glenn’s contribution to the space program, administrators told him they would not risk his death by giving him another space flight. Glenn retired from NASA in 1964, and at the urging of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, ran for the US Senate in Ohio. He suffered a fall and injury at home and could not campaign, so he dropped out of the race. For a while he worked in business, appointed as a Vice President and Board member of RC Cola, and owning a number of hotels near the newly-opened Disney World in Florida.
Following Robert Kennedy’s assassination in 1968, Glenn was a pallbearer at the funeral. In 1970, Glenn again decided to make a run for the US Senate in Ohio, but was defeated. Having learned from the experience, John Glenn went on to win the Senate race in 1974. He continued to serve for five terms. During the Reagan presidency, Glenn became involved in environmental legislation, and nuclear non-proliferation. He was the chief author of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978.
Glenn chaired the Committee on Governmental Affairs from 1987 to 1995. It was in this role that he discovered safety and environmental problems with the nation's nuclear weapons facilities. He spent the remainder of his Senate career acquiring funding to clean up the nuclear waste left at the facilities. In 1989, Glenn was accused of corruption as a member of the Keating Five, a savings and loan scandal that eventually cost the US taxpayers $2 billion. Glenn wrote, "outside of people close to me dying, these hearings were the low point of my life."
At the age of 77, he lobbied to fly as a payload specialist on the Space Shuttle Discovery and did participate in the 9-day space mission. Glenn retired from the Senate in January 1999, believing that he was too old to run again. Aside from his career, Glenn was an ordained elder of the Presbyterian Church. He and his wife, Annie, had two children and two grandchildren and were married for 73 years until his death. He continued to fly until age 90. He died in 2016 age the age of 95 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glenn
Cover photo: Creative Commons
John Glenn was an American Marine aviator, test pilot, businessman, politician, and one of the seven Mercury astronauts. He was the first person to orbit the earth, circling three times in 1962.