New York Times, February 20, 1962, reports John Glenn is first American to orbit the earth.

(Update: I started this post three years ago and never made it public. I guess I thought I’d never get a job a prospective employer googled me and discovered how old I am. But there’s no hiding it now! 🙂

February 20, 1962.

I learned about this event when I was a young child, and, for some reason, it became part of my sense of identity very early on. I suppose when there is nothing too remarkable in one’s life, accidents of coincidence can stand in. In any case, my father would recount the coincident events with a clear sense of pride, and John Glenn was a hero in our household, as he was in many others.

Thank goodness he turned out to be a democrat when he ran for office. My father, the FDR democrat, would have been sorely disappointed if it had been otherwise.