Senator glenn died december 8 2016 at the age of 95. Up next on American History tv. National air and space museum remembers the life of john glenn on his 96 birthday in a discussion with david pryor and catherine sullivan, veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and the first woman to walk in space. This is about one hour. Great to see this crowd. This is a john glenn event. Good evening. I am jack daly. Of the smithsonian air and space museum, it is my pleasure to welcome you to a very special john glenn lecture in space history. We established this lecture series in 2004 to spotlight legendary figures in aviation. And over the last 13 years, we have welcomed extraordinary individuals. But none of them has loomed larger in the history books then our programs namesake, john glenn. For many years, john glenn hosted these events. The last few years when they were unable to come in person, they were with us in spirit. Senator glenn passed away in december after a lifetime of service to his country. He was a marine aviator and a veteran of two wars. The First American to orbit the year, a United States senator and a great friend. It is now up to us to carry on in his honor and celebrate his legacy of friendship and discovery. That is why we are here tonight. Today would have been his 96 birthday. We had him for nearly a century and that still was not enough. Fewughout history, americans have so perfectly era. Ied the ideals of our and his example will continue to inspire for generations to come. Wouldntings program be possible without the generous sponsorship of boeing. E to represent boeing is an air force. Would you stand and be recognized . [applause] thank you to boeing for their many years of support to the john h glenn lecture series and are so many other important programs. We wouldnt be the museum we are today without your help. We are joined tonight by some of senator glenns colleagues who will reflect on their time with him. Proper job ofo it introducing our panelists, i would take the rest of the hour. So i have taken the liberty of consolidating their incredible careers into a few short sentences. Sullivan is a distinguished scientist, astronaut and oceanographer. She was the First American woman to walk in space. Was theith recipient of the very First National air and space museum trophy. ,er three space flights including the mission to launch the hubble telescope, was the beginning of a career in adventure and exploration. Dr. Sullivan was the inaugural director of the center in the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at the ohio state university. She served as undersecretary of commerce and the chief scientist noaa. She was named as one of the 100 most influential people. She is currently our museums chair of aerospace history. And beginning in 1961, the honorable david pryor served people of arkansas in a state house of representatives. The u. S. House, the Governors Mansion and the United States senate. After three terms in the senate, he was named a fellow in law and Public Affairs. Senator pryor went on to serve as director of the institute of politics at the Harvard Kennedy school of government before becoming the inaugural director of the university of arkansass Clinton School of Public Service. Bob schieffers story in journalism began in the United States air force by way of an rotc program. Following stints with a dallas tv station, he joined cbs news where he remained for 46 years. He became the networks chief washington correspondent in 1982 and has covered every major beat from white house to the hill and from the pentagon to the state department. He began abecame tenure of face the nation. He is a recipient of eight emmys. 2013, was named a Living Legend by the library of congress. It doesnt get any better than that. It is now my pleasure to turn the program over to our moderator for the evening. [applause] Bob Schieffer thank you. Thank you. In the age of instant celebrity, where it is possible to become ,amous for simply being famous it is easy in times like that to border the line between heroes and celebrities. But we are here tonight to talk about heroes. The one we are talking about also became a celebrity. Childst of all, he was a american hero. Some heroes become famous for doing great things and some do great things and few even know about it. Parents who sacrifices to make a good life for a child with special needs, the teacher who becomes a role model for young people who go on to do great things and have great lives. What is important to remember and that is why im so happy to be here tonight, is that america came to be what it is because of heroes. Great heroes. Some we knew all about them. Some, few knew what they had done. But they remained heroes. The man we talk about tonight was both a celebrity and a hero. We know a lot about him. We hope you will know more about him from these two people who knew john glenn so well, in different periods of his life. He was also a friend of mine. I covered him when he was in the United States senate and some of his campaigns, got to know him and any and we became real friends. Newthe people youre here him as well as anybody. And i want to start tonight by asking both of them david pryor and Kathy Sullivan senator pryor, you probably knew him first . You, whenask both of did he become part of your lives and when did you first get to know him . thank you, it is a pleasure to be here tonight with you to celebrate the life of john glenn. 1978. T met john glenn in , was a member of the new class 1978 bill bradley and whole onch of us came in and i was the train on my way over to the u. S. Capital for some signing in on the trainperson in the pushcart, was john glenn. I sat by him and we talked all the way. And if you asked me if one person, what we talked about, i couldnt tell you. I didnt know. I didnt know what this was about. Nor did i know what a longstanding friendship i would moment. Ng at that it was a special bond of friendship and he was a special human being. And he was a hero. Sullivan john came into way as an an indirect girl of 10 years old. Watching and reading life magazine every week and watching the television and seeing these amazing men clad in their silver suit send watching them go off on these extraordinary adventures. , oh my gosh, how do they do that . It never register to me that there was an issue about they were all men when i was a little girl. These are people doing i sawrdinary things and in them the magic of a life of adventure and creation. Directly into my life in 1996. Thed been recruited by saints ministry. I didnt know anyone in columbus. So they were introducing the new kid who was going to have to lead to this organization through a major transformation. And the board that had hired me had asked john glenn to come out and introduce me to the community. It was a big event in the statehouse atrium. All of the elected leaders. And here was john glenn for the first time as a human being. The guy i watched on tv. Neil armstrong, john glenn and down here somewhere is me. He got on the stage and his can i tell was you how jealous i am of this woman . [laughter] be up john glenn building to his hometown audience and basically endorsing me to them as someone they should embrace and trust and welcome into their community. D. C. Fory flu from that event and back that day. Just to do that. And i was floored that the john glenn i had watched since 10 years old would go to that effort for me. Bob schiffer let me ask you the question that im often asked about famousstion people that i know. People want to know what they were really like. Was onlike he television . And the answer was, exactly like he was on television. I would like to ask both of you what was john glenn like . Kathy the man i read about and watched on television as a andgster, was a think shallow caricature of the man who really was. Then anything that came through in a magazine. Was that passionate and dedicated and patriotic. And all of that came in such a carings package of humanity that was extended so generously to anyone he came in contact with. I think that john glenn was in person on a daily basis, was the same person that came across on television. There was no pretense. There was no attempt to sell there was no attempt to sell that part of john glenn. And i would have to describe him as authentic. He was an authentic individual. He was authentic from the time he grew up in rural ohio, in a small little town where his father used to take enough money out to the airport to left them lessons. In flying an airplane. Fellohn glenn at that time in love with flight. Flight was his first love. And i think when he fell in love with flight, all the other things assimilated together and as a result of that that love , iair he had with flight think he pretty well decided at that moment that it was going to be, in some part or another, part of his life. And he was very much wedded to that idea. I think to really understand the impact that orbit, when john glenn went into orbit, i know there are a lot of people here, i expect most people here are younger than i am. But it is impossible to describe the National Psyche at that point. It was as if america had lost its groove. In 1957i was in high school and that was when sputnik went around. , before johnre glenn went up, two russians had orbited the earth. Askingas if people were the cold war was getting close and people were worried about a nuclear confrontation. And all of a sudden the soviet union could put a man up in space. Almost terrifying. And people were really worried about it. And then, they had the launch when john glenn went up and he made three orbits and you could almost see a change. I remember watching it on a black and white television. And we were so relieved that he got up there and it was more we were just relieved about his safety. It was almost like, were back. Where were you when that happened and what do you remember about that day . David i had gone to law school later in life and i had my family in little rock, arkansas. I had one son at that point. And we watched it. I guess, from a time early in the morning until late at night and there is another interesting thing about that flight. Letter toople wrote a john glenn. 350,000 human beings sat down and wrote him a letter, thanking him for his leadership and his vision in this particular field. It shattered every public human aspect of everything. It was shattered at that time. And it was a good program for all of us. Had a tickertape section in new york. And it was a fabulous time of life. Great day for america. i was in grade school. I would have been 10 or 11. I am one of the people who is younger than you, bob. [laughter] we were all glued to the tv. The world stopped and classes stopped and televisions were rolled in and in the assembly was held and everybody watched. There is a backdrop piece of the wasy and that his, where the United States in trying to catch up . We did have a Rocket Program that came out of Navy Activities but it was stumbling in a horrific fashion. So i think we all sensed how daring they were in the first three flights. Notch andack another right as they are getting ready to fly, the guys up the river are trying to get started on the american Rocket Program, they blew up 13 rockets in a row. It worked so not well that they blew up. One of them flew sideways up the river. An encouraging prospect. Said, dont you worry, weve got this. It will be just fine. It was just such an astonishing thing. do either of you think this was his great achievement ,n engineering, do you think either of you, that john glenn himself understood the impact he had on the american psyche . Im naturally he did. Of thei can only comment smaller aspect of being a national and continually discovering their response that i get, and again, im not armstrong or john glenn and i have a list of people who are higher than i am. Fades because being a national business. There is something that captures our imagination and every best thing we hope we are and we all love to touch those things. And it does permeate the psyche and personality of a culture in strange ways. Johns feet came at the very dawn of the era. The first generations of human beings of humankind to live in a space in the, where people leave the planet, where we look back at the planet from afar and get those perspectives to help us understand this place and how it works. And to be someone who helped launch such a transformative era, and to be one of the best emblems of that era bob did he ever talk about that when you came to know him . David no. He never talked about the impact he was having on the people and say ittion to that, some was john glenn but i dont know who it was, another astronaut, they pulled a huge contraption around that they climbed in. And he said, when he was climbing up in there, the only thing he could think about was that this contraption was built by the lowest bidder. [laughter] he tried to keep things simple and direct. He tried to minimize the heroism that went with that practice. And john glenn did not ever, for one minute, look upon himself as a hero. He never looked at himself as a hero. that was the impression that i got of him. And i was thinking about him as i prepared for this tonight. Maybe the reason was that this was not new for him. And that is part of the things that i think people today dont understand. 70s was somebody who flew combat missions in world war ii . As a Fighter Pilot . 59 combat missions then 90 pacific and combat missions in the korean war. So this was not the first courageous thing he ever did in his life. And david told me Something Interesting tonight that i never knew, guess who the fluid in korea . David he flew with ted williams. Itself, they in said that his eyesight was so far superior to everybody elses that everybody wanted to gather around williams and join him in his flight. It couldnt be managed, of course. But a lot of the guys that get to fly with williams and he was a very good leader. Kathy i want to push back on what you said about him reacting the way he did because it wasnt the first courageous thing he did. That may have been a factor. That every time i was around 10, folks, he didnt do that for him. He really do this as part of being an american. Advancing the country. It was about all of us. Serving the country. And i dont think it had to do with anything about serving first he just didnt see it as him standing out. He saw it as a way for him to help all of us. Bob he always said that what happened to him would have been what happened to anybody who had came down the same path. Kathy the right place, the right time, that led him to not himself out as something totally special. It wasnt about him. It was about us, country. He didnt get to do a wholealso lot of flying in the mercury. Flew all his life. I remember even when he was in the senate and i used to talk with him, he reminded me of the people i was with in the air force. He talked like in a pilot. He is phrases like no sweat. I hadnt heard that phrase since the air force. One old story i tell a lot. I was asked, ive been there probably two years and john glenn was invited to speak in the event. I was want to fly down. I got in a plane with john glenn at his private plane. Wonderful hero who is fabulous. He said in the backseat seat, we sat in front two seats. Flight, threethis out of five hours. I finally realized this place and having mens room in it. [laughter] something wasnt quite right. I made it to little rock and was ready glad to make it to little rock. Hell is used to kid me about that and io is given a hard time. And he always gave me a hard time. I think annie wouldve happily cut that out. 90 was a big important number in his life. He kept his pilot license until he was 90. He complained about having to sell the airplane. He didnt want to give it up. Go on these very rigorous pilot proficiency courses every year. And wisely like any pilot he would religiously go down. I think what he said if i recall when he finally did sell the airplane, it was not because he couldnt fly it. He felt like it was too hard on his knees to climb up on the wing to get into the cockpit. That is why. Those were pretty high steps. I want to go back to what you said about he didnt get to fly much after that first orbit. Many people thought of the time the reason president kennedy wouldnt let him fly, he was afraid that he was becoming so popular that he might someday want to run against president kennedy. That turned out not to be true. In december of that year, Robert Kennedy invited them out to dinner and said you really ought to think about running for senate in ohio. Thing we remember them as astronaut and a senator. It took him a while for it to get the political career off the ground. John had two Unsuccessful Senate races. Slipped his career he on one weekend comes with a bathmat and hit his head. He had to resign from the race. Race, hearticular received 200,000 votes in the primary when he was not even a candidate that year. That is something i think is amazing. Race. Ther unsuccessful say there is safe to was no love lost between the two. I wont say that. [laughter] i think in the third race he was successful. The by wellin over 100,000 votes. An amazing tribute to him and his capabilities. Tothat was when you began share the stage with him from time to time and you talk about one lovely story about how he would put the spotlight on you. What was it like sharing a stage with john glenn . It started in my nasa flight history. We would stop at watering holes and the representatives. His office was always a calling spot from his reasons. Following the fine example of our senior senator, i want make a contrast between one senator and another. By senator glenns office, he would talk about your flight. I wont comment on who the other senator was. The event that really stands out for me, there was a Childrens Charity that ran therapy camps and had a largerthanlife guy who ran it. He was the loudest oversized sports codes. They would have these fundraisers over very carnivallike. They asked if i could be in a booth and sign autographs. I said sure.