John Glenn, 33°
Astronaut And Senator

Ivan M. Tribe, 32°
111 East High Street, McArthur, Ohio 45651–1111

In an age where cynicism is common and heroes few, Ill. John Glenn, 33°, transcends his age in many respects. A product of small-town Ohio, Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, and 36 years later, he went back into space. In between, Brother Glenn spent 24 years in the U.S. Senate. Having retired from 20 years in the U.S. Marines prior to entering politics, Ill. Glenn's long career in public service indeed ranks as honorable and outstanding.

John Herschel Glenn, Jr., was born on July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio. His father, a Mason, was a railroad conductor who became proprietor of a plumbing and heating business. The future astronaut and his sister Jean grew up in New Concord, a small college town a few miles from the larger city of Zanesville. As a teenager, young John maintained an active schedule winning letters in basketball, football, and tennis at New Concord High School while earning academic high grades, serving as president of his junior class, and playing the lead role in his senior class play. After graduation in the spring of 1939, he enrolled at Muskingum College, a Presbyterian liberal arts institution in New Concord.

As a collegian, Glenn again played football, did well in the classroom, majored in chemistry and, after the U.S. entered World War II, joined the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. On March 31, 1943, he became a commissioned officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and was promoted to First Lieutenant six months later. In the meantime, Lt. Glenn married Anna Castor in April 1943. They subsequently parented two children, Carolyn and David.

In February 1944, the young officer got his orders and went to the Pacific as part of the Marine Fighter Squadron 155. Over the next year, Glenn flew 59 missions in the Marshall Islands campaign. Back in the states in July 1945, he became a Captain. Remaining in the Marines when the war ended, Captain Glenn served in various locales until July 1952, when he became a Major and received an assignment to Korea where he flew 90 missions during the last seven months of the conflict. The missions included air combat near the Yalu River, where he destroyed three enemy planes and won more Distinguished Flying Crosses to match the two he had been awarded in the war against Japan.

After the Korean War ended, Major Glenn spent much of the remaining years of the 1950s in test pilot work. His principal feat during that period came on July 16, 1957, when he took a F8U-1 Crusader plane from Los Angeles to Floyd Bennett Field in New York in three hours and 23 minutes. The achievement not only set a new record but also won Glenn his fifth Distinguished Flying Cross. On April 1, 1959, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

Shortly afterward, Glenn and six other test pilots received word they had been selected for training as astronauts in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Project Mercury. Other selectees included Brothers Leroy Cooper, Virgil Grissom and Walter Schirra. In May 1959, the seven began training at Langley Research Center and, later, at other locales. In May and July 1961, Alan Shepard and Virgil Grissom respectively became the first and second astronauts actually launched into space. John Glenn was to be the third but the first actually to orbit the Earth. On February 20, 1962, Friendship 7 was launched into orbit with Glenn at the controls. The space capsule encircled the planet three times in a flight of nearly five hours at an altitude ranging from 99 to 162 miles. Soon afterward, Current Biography stated: "Glenn's successful ride did much to restore the confidence of Americans in their nation's [space program] prowess." The Colonel himself later described his feelings in a New York Sunday News interview: "I was fully aware of the danger ... and certainly there was apprehension. No matter what preparation you make, there comes the moment of truth. You're playing with big stakes—your life. But the important thing to me wasn't fear, but what you can do to control it."

Within two years of his historic orbit, John Glenn opted to leave the space program, retire from the Marine Corps and, after considering politics, accept a corporate position as vice president of Royal Crown Cola International Ltd. He also purchased an interest in several Holiday Inn franchises and in 1968 hosted a series of television programs on Great Explorations. While keeping his political options open, he supported Robert Kennedy's ill-fated 1968 presidential run.

In 1970, he announced his candidacy for the U. S. Senate seat of Stephen M. Young who was retiring. Opposed by Cleveland millionaire Howard Metzenbaum, Glenn put up a good fight but lost by a narrow 13,000 votes to the more politically savvy party veteran of Young's two campaigns. Metzenbaum, however, lost in the fall election to Cincinnati Republican Robert Taft, Jr.

Four years later, Glenn and Metzenbaum squared off again in an effort to replace the retiring Republican Senator, Ill. William Saxbe, 33°, a member of the Valley of Dayton, Ohio. Governor John Gilligan had appointed Metzenbaum to fill the unexpired term, but this time Glenn gained the upper hand and won over Metzenbaum in the primary election. Then in November of 1974, he won an easy victory over the GOP candidate, Cleveland Mayor Ralph Perk. Ill. Glenn went on to win three more Senate terms, all in fairly easy contests.

As an U.S. Senator, John Glenn had a mixed record. Tom Diemer, the Cleveland Plain Dealer's bureau correspondent in Washington, D.C., said: "Enormously popular and seemingly 'Teflon coated' back home, Glenn was a second-tier Senator in Washington." Part of this situation resulted from the fact that the Senator's committee assignments did not make him a major player.

Regarding Senator Glenn's Masonic background, Allen Roberts, the well-known Masonic historian, probably best described the situation in his authoritative Frontier Cornerstone. Paraphrasing Roberts, it can be noted Ill. Glenn petitioned Concord Lodge No. 688 of New Concord, Ohio (now merged with Malta Lodge No. 118, Norwich, Ohio) in 1964 and was elected to receive the Degrees, but for varying reasons this was impossible.

Then, on August 19, 1978, with hundreds of Master Masons present, Scioto Lodge No. 6 of Chillicothe opened a Master Masons Lodge in the gymnasium of the Chillicothe High School. Grand Master Jerry C. Rasor then opened the Grand Lodge of Ohio, and the Degrees were conferred. Fourteen years after being elected to receive the Degrees, Glenn became a Master Mason and member of Concord Lodge No. 688. The Senator received additional "Masonic Light" on April 11, 1997, in the Valley of Cincinnati, when he received the Scottish Rite Degrees. His highest Masonic honor came on September 10, 1998, when the 33° was conferred upon him. Two Republican Senate colleagues, Brothers Charles Grassley (see an article by Sen. Grassley in this issue) and Conrad Burns, were present, as was former Ohio congressman Brother Clarence Brown, Jr. of the Valley of Dayton.

Bro. Glenn then went back into training for another astronaut mission aboard a space shuttle making him the first "senior citizen" and the first 33° Mason to orbit the earth (others attained that honor later). Having opted not to seek another term, Glenn retired in January 1999, just after being feted by outgoing Ohio Governor George Voinovich who had been elected to replace him in the U. S. Senate. Ill. Glenn continues his interest in the Scottish Rite today and is presently serving as honorary chairman of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction's Learning Centers for Children.

The Glenn saga has not all been one of glory and success. His 1984 quest for the Presidency went nowhere, but rolled up a sizable, largely unpaid, campaign debt. In 1987, he came under criticism for having taken a $200,000 contribution from Charles Keating, a financier who was subsequently imprisoned. Although it exonerated Glenn of wrongdoing, the Senate Ethics Committee decided Glenn had used "poor judgment." More recently, his long-established bipartisan image suffered as a result of his actions on the Thompson committee where he was viewed by many as more interested in shielding the administration than in getting to the truth.

Yet in the final analysis, what reporter Tom Diemer called Glenn's 'Teflon coated' image remains strong. His October 1998 return to astronaut status probably did more to increase his stature than anything he did in four terms in the Senate. It led Brother Glenn to rank as one of the five most-admired men in America. The Scottish Rite is pleased to join in honoring this outstanding American and Mason.

Ivan M. Tribe is a Master Mason in Albany Lodge No. 723, Albany, Ohio; a Knight of the York Cross of Honor and active in the York Rite Bodies of Athens, Ohio; and a 32° Scottish Rite Mason, Valley of Cambridge, Ohio, N.M.J. He is a professor of history at the University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Ohio.