Portman, Brown Announce Passage of Resolution Celebrating the Life of John Glenn

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced passage of a resolution they introduced to honor the life and service of former U.S. Sen. John Glenn, who passed away this week.

Glenn was born July 18, 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio. In addition to being a United States Senator, he was an American aviator, engineer, and astronaut. Glenn was one of the “Mercury Seven” group of military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA to become America’s first astronauts and fly the Project Mercury spacecraft.

Full text of the resolution is below.

RESOLUTION

Relating to the death of John Glenn, former United States Senator for the State of Ohio, and the first American to orbit the Earth;

Whereas John Glenn was born in Cambridge, Ohio in 1921 to John Herschel Glenn, Sr. and Clara Sproat Glenn;

Whereas at the age of two, John Glenn moved to New Concord, Ohio, the town where he met his childhood sweetheart and future wife;

Whereas in March 1942, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, John Glenn, then a student at New Concord’s Muskingum College, entered into the Naval Aviation Cadet Program;

Whereas John Glenn went on to serve in the Marine Corps from 1942 to 1965, flying 59 combat missions in World War II and 63 combat missions in Korea, and earning six, separate Distinguished

Flying Cross awards and the Air Medal with 18 Clusters for his service;

Whereas in 1959, John Glenn was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to serve as one of the original seven astronauts of the U.S. space program;

Whereas on February 20, 1962, John Glenn guided Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7 into space and circled the globe three times, traveling a distance of 3.6 million miles and becoming the first American to orbit the Earth;

Whereas in 1974, John Glenn arrived in the United States Senate, where he went on to represent his home state of Ohio for 25 years before retiring in 1999;

Whereas during his time in the Senate, John Glenn served on the Committee on Governmental Affairs, Foreign Relations Committee, Armed Services Committee, Select Committee on Intelligence, and Special Committee on Aging;

Whereas as chairman of the Committee on Governmental Affairs John Glenn worked on a bipartisan basis to eliminate waste and make the government more efficient;

Whereas in 1998, as a 77-year old sitting United States Senator, John Glenn boarded the space shuttle Discovery for nine days, again setting history as the oldest individual to fly in space;

Whereas in 2008, Ohio State University founded the John Glenn School of Public Affairs, which later became the John Glenn College of Public Affairs in 2015, with the mission to “inspire citizenship and develop leadership” in the public sector;

Whereas John Glenn was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on November 16, 2011;

Whereas John Glenn was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on May 29, 2012;

Whereas one author described John Glenn as “the last true national hero America has ever had”;

Whereas John Glenn is survived by his wife of 73 years, his two children, and his two grandsons;

Whereas this nation is deeply indebted to John Glenn for his passion for exploration, commitment to public service, and desire to make the world a better place;

Resolved, That the Senate extends its deepest condolences and gratitude to the family of John Glenn;

Resolved, That the Senate honors the legacy and life of John Glenn, his commitment to the United States,
and his service to this body and this country;

Resolved, That when the Senate adjourns today, it stands adjourned as a further mark of respect to the memory of the late John Glenn.