Political Quotes

“Madam President, our Nation and the world lost a historic figure yesterday, a legend, John Glenn. As a relatively new Senator, I had the good fortune to take a trip with him. He led the trip with Ted Stevens of Alaska. It was a wonderful trip. We were in Austria. The Iron Curtain was down. We went into Czechoslovakia and had all the Russian soldiers checking the train. They had dogs. But around the world, everyone knew that John Glenn was leading that trip, and a number--three, to be exact--of the soldiers, when none of the others were looking, asked if he would autograph for them just a piece of paper they had, and he did that. Everyplace we went, in Poland--we were all Senators, but there was only one John Glenn. Everyplace we went, he was beloved. He really was an icon. In reading the morning newspaper, I was disappointed it had a headline, John Glenn known for his space exploits. John Glenn was known for far more than that. Of course, he was our first to circumvent the globe. He told all of us he wore that space capsule, it was so small. In all the news last night, it showed him climbing into that. If you were claustrophobic, you could not get in that, it was so tight. He could reach out and touch both sides of it. Here this great aviator told me and whoever else was listening that when that came down in the ocean, if they had waited another minute to pick him up, he would have had to throw up. Here was a guy who never got sick any time, but he was getting sick then.…”