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 program's 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. wouldn'ting's 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 wouldn't be the museum we are today without your help. we are joined tonight by some of senator glenn's 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 governor's 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 arkansas's clinton school of public service. bob schieffer's 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 doesn't 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 i'm 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 campaign's, got to know him and any and we became real friends. newthe people you're 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 couldn't tell you. i didn't know. i didn't know what this was about. nor did i know what a long-standing 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 didn't 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 i'm 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, we're 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, don't you worry, we've 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? i'm naturally he did. of thei can only comment smaller aspect of being a national and continually discovering their response that i get, and again, i'm 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. john's 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 don't 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 don't 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 else's that everybody wanted to gather around williams and join him in his flight. it couldn't 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 wasn't the first courageous thing he did. that may have been a factor. that every time i was around 10, folks, he didn't 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 don't think it had to do with anything about serving first -- he just didn't 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 wasn't about him. it was about us, country. he didn't 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 hadn't heard that phrase since the air force. one old story i tell a lot. i was asked, i've 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 men's room in it. [laughter] >> something wasn't quite right. i made it to little rock and was ready glad to make it to little rock. he'll 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 would've 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 didn't 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 couldn't 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 didn't get to fly much after that first orbit. many people thought of the time the reason president kennedy wouldn't 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 won't 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 glenn's office, he would talk about your flight. i won't comment on who the other senator was. the event that really stands out for me, there was a children's charity that ran therapy camps and had a larger-than-life 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. discovered and i john had agreed to do it as a late-breaking bit of pop-up news. we will put you right next to him. i'm going to entertain people other way for john's signature. i can just go home. sure enough we are side by side and i'm entertaining people while they are waiting for john's autograph. every now and then someone would say can i get yours. this went on for about five or 10 minutes. then john reach across and dragged me over to his booth and said the price went up. it is a 2-for-1 and proceeded to each person came up even if they tried to get past me, he said you know what she did? it was like he was my agent. [laughter] >> he wouldn't let me be there is a second wheel. he wouldn't let me be overlooked. he wrapped me in his orbit and we slay them on the fund-raising. >> ut similar that. it wouldnow and then happen with pilots being how they are. the university was going to .onor john and annie beforehand football games are big crowds, the university called up and asked about like to come to the game and then asked about like to come to the president's luncheon. would i be willing to speak at the luncheon? possibly the closing remarks and maybe they wouldn't need to be completely serious and i said i can do that. , hearing johns glenn, speaker after speaker. john literally took his watch off and said after all that piling up and need to get my watch off so it doesn't get dirty. had built this old geezers shtick and tone down all his adulation. i put together a top 10 list of things that are slightly different than the last time you were flying. things like you'll be broadcasting color tv so people will be able to tell if you're turning green with space sickness. [laughter] >> there won't be parachutes, there will be wheels and pires, you won't get your feet wet. you will have to share a bathroom this time. the number one thing that was different than the last time with a i said it supercool momento that the control stick had -- the university have from friendship seven. , anything you want to can take with it. you even have the hand control. john, their eight hand control is on the spacecraft and then we promise you they all belong to kirk brown. if you so much as touch one, you might come home with your severed hand in a glass case. [laughter] >> he and annie were cracking up the whole way through. he was very competitive wasn't he? if either of you you can confirm the story. when he was trying to get into the astronaut program going around. he did all the things your supposed to do. they had a height limit where you can only be 5'11" inches. i'm told he would often put weights on his head trying to compress his body down so he wouldn't be over the height limit. >> i can't confirm that. i can confirm when you get a zero gravity, your spine it does expand. >> there was one story where someone walked in the library where it was reading andy at a book on his head. did he ever do that? >> never in the senate. >i wouldn't be surprised if you done it. my knowledge it never occurred. it was just one of those great that goesk stories with being a hero. his senatek of a days. what was he like in the senate? we know he was very strong voice on weapons systems and avionics and things like that. it is special interest in nuclear -- antinuclear proliferation. he was passionate about the nuclear proliferation legislation. he had been in the senate before whenr four years ultimately he passed the nuclear proliferation legislation. that passed largely through his and thee interest emphasis he showed that went with the whole system. then he -- there was another system he was very -- do you want me to open that for you? [laughter] -- here was another program i can't open this. [laughter] >> i've got it. >> the other program he was interested in came out a few years later. it got 70 cosponsors for these of legislation but could never get it before the right committee or zeroed in. this was the legislation to , theurse the japanese japanese-americans in california and western coast and arkansas for example had two. displacement. gardens they grew, rj painted. that's really something that lives on in arkansas. so, he got9 or behind that legislation and said i'm going to get behind this legislation and we're going to pass it. they did. he was passionate about that issue. he was passionate because he 'slt like these people constitutional rights had been -- they had lost their rights. japanese-americans citizens. he went to that and got that legislation passed. thousand was another situation where he was very involved. >> he later went to the wasommittee on aging but he very involved in that. that provided the rationale for him going back into space. chairman -- begin the on that. on the big he went tour. >> that was really something you really wanted to do. conversation,one he didn't want to quite -- he didn't quite have the deal sealed. he was close. the spatial had two decks. four seats for launch landing. everyone else on the lower deck. something would be riding down below. asked, up and basically do you think i have to push to take a seat on the flight deck? i told them, you are john glenn. you can have any seat you want in that orbiter. right now you are an added seat to the crew. if you go for a flight deck see, your bumping what the career folks working for a long time to get to ride up there. more importantly, you have -- you are all over this paying full when you are flying friendship seven. you had no time to just absorb the sites and the sounds of the power of where you are embedded. don'turaged him to just wage that fight. get on the mid deck, you can closure arise if you want to, just take in all the power, the sites and the sounds and the whole world will want to watch you and they will be better able to watch from down there. that's what he ended up doing. >> i can testify to how excited he was about this. i had known john glenn and have covered the congress for 15 years. i was up there a lot of the years that he was there. it does mean you run around with them. i've owes a great relationship with him. he was the straightest straight arrow that ever was and i could never recall a time that he ever gave me a story, in other words before was supposed to be announced. he was a military guy. he went through the channels. it was always easy to get along with them, but you are never going to get one of those sources said kind of stories from john glenn until that. he was so excited about it, he was a good child who would come home with a great aon is full report card. he said guess what, i'm going back into space and i said what? i hadn't been paying attention much to that. anyway, i got the scoop. [laughter] >> that is the one and only story i ever got from john glenn. it's a pretty good one. ,hat i always thought about john glenn always came along when we really needed it. country, we were worried about our existence and what is going to happen and then he went into space. -- second time around, that bill clinton was president and it had been this horrendous fights in the government shutdowns at all of that stuff going on. iwas thinking, one day i wish had some good news to report every once and a while if not just to stay in practice because we had not had any in so long. then i got that story and it made me feel good. the feeling didn't last much longer because it got more complicated. i will always remember that. i want to ask each of you, because we are getting to the time. there's one thing i know what to do is get off time. we would like to ask -- take some questions from the audience. so be thinking about if you have a question. .et me just ask you this kathy, i will start with you. if you had one thing you would like this group to remember about john glenn or if you've a favorite memory, you just heard mind. what is your favorite memory and what would you like people most to remember about john glenn? >> i think my favorite memory are all the half a dozen times i got to go over to the club have a private lunch with any and john. nie and john. of the truly finest in every sense of the word. smart, confident, courageous. finest human beings that ever walked the planet. you talk about getting the story. one of the things that struck me about what john did when he was flying on his shuttle flight. he was the eye candy, he was the shiny toy for the media. that is everybody wanted. the rest of this is some sort of boring science engineering. john was happy to be the magnet and the eye candy. i watch a lot of that flight and i don't think john was ever more than about a minute in one of those spots before he did what the rest of his crews when you done with me at that fundraising event and he said let me bring in the pilot and he would pull in one of the crew to make sure they got celebrated and the stage. he was only part of something bigger than him and he had that confidence and integrity, the he was sond humility rich in sharing the spotlight with people. >> one of the people given that confidence that he always had was his wife. was a unique individual. they had unique relationship. went up one he friendship seven, minutes before he was sitting there on the capsule ready to cast off and scott -- he decided he was going to plug john glenn's telephone into annie's in alexandria, virginia. they talked and he said i'm not going anywhere, but i'm going down to the corner to get a pack of chewing gum. she said don't be long. that's kind of what she -- how she left it. don't be long. glenn was a special person. e bondedand in anni because were roommates on the senate wives committee meetings around the world. bonded, they were close friends. she says the thing show is remembers about that was the glenn and john glenn, talking maybe at midnight or 1:00 before she went to sleep. ever lose did she fact they were like two college ,ids or high school kids giggling on the phone and laughing about the day's events and having a good time. was them. >> you had a little poem you talked about. i don't know where that is. that card, this was during the early training john glenn. seriously. training he decided he thought he knew every test, every exercise he had to look at. he finally found that was not the case. he was put in a room totally dark, black is the ace of spades and he sat there at an old desk. he didn't know what to do. a littlewn he wrote poem. use all of your inborn talents, use them every day. add to mankind's store of knowledge, make them glad you pass this way. that was john glenn and i think that some them up. it did some good. >> thank you all very much. [applause] >> now i think we could have a couple of questions. don't be bashful. here is one. i'm sure there is a lot of history, do people in the program now, not just astronauts are candidates, the everyday worker, duly appreciate -- do they appreciate the history of the program? do they know wally sherard was? today of an appreciation for the history? >> the question is people now did they have an appreciation of the history? i'm sure it is mixed. positionfolks in the have been drawn to that because of the power in the importance of the drama of the stories. they may not know every single name, that may not know every single flight, but they know a lot and at least for the astronaut corps, some fairly conscientious works to pass that on. when we joined, we -- we're the sequence of lectures to get a sense of what was gemini and apollo. why would i put together the way they were, what was it like to be a master not in the program. those are not editorial lectures, those -- they would bring the flight crews from those missions back. one of the most magical days is having neil armstrong and mike collins spent five hours with us talking about what was apollo 11 designed to do and what was it like being on the crew and what went wrong. when you forget on a flight, watch out for this. it was pretty cool. >> who else? right here. i don't know. i spent the same role of spaceflight applied as in my era which means is no such thing as a bad spaceflight. flying sooners better than later . long flights are better than short flights. when in doubt, resort rule number one. [laughter] >> is a competitive bunch, everyone. that it wasine still sort of dimly received. how the public would react, alan shepard was the first american in space. john was the first to orbit. i bet no one quite recognized which way the public swivel would break. [indiscernible] what advice to someone who really wants to be an astronaut. from a young woman. >> a great question. i would say two things. -- always believe in your dreams, chase your heart and the of thing i would say is every day in school is the equivalent of the first ambassador not training. invest in your education. put your best efforts to every day in school. give it your best. >> one more because we have a surprise here. my question is, what is your single most valuable lesson that you got from mr. glenn? >> i think the john glenn did more to restore faith in this country and our system of government and i think he did this by being an example to the rest of us. to all the young people who were there. -- we our example and he followed him. we followed him at that time anywhere. i think it was a great testimony to leave that with us and that was i think what i will remember most about john glenn. i just keep thinking of them ofthe sort of archetype integrity, caring. if i can come in here for those standards, i would consider a good job. >> he was a true american hero. as we live in this age now he was famous for all the right reasons. heroes, he became famous because he did not care about being famous. he cared about doing the job that he felt needed to be done. i liked him so much covering capitol hill because he always told the truth. rarer andecoming rarer in these troubled times. [laughter] -- [applause] you could always -- always find john glenn if the news is bad or good. it's not hard to find a lot of politicians when the news is good about them. but the ones you really come to admire and trust are the ones you can find when the news may not be good. maybe they will tell you it's something i can't talk about, that's ok. at least they were there. i didn't have anything else to say but to say this is been a great evening to remember a hero. he was a true hero. in my thinking he was one of the great heroes i've had the chance to serve with. i'm always glad for that opportunity. here tonight is john glenn's daughter. we want to bring her out. [applause] >> hi, everyone. here onleased to be dad's birthday. everything that was said was more than true. said that when a person walked up to me the first time and said what's it like to have john glenn is your father? the very first thing i thought was he's just my dad. he's just my dad. reminded ofhink i'm -- the way he was perceived something there really was like everything that even said. that was not in our family's nature to even consider. on this flight because he wanted to serve the country. patriotism and serving the country was what was most important dam. he lived his whole life in service of the country. nowink those are qualities that some of said are quite lacking is that service of the country. dad was in theen senate, he went back to ohio and initially it was an institute lenn colleges the g of public service and affairs. in that is a legacy of think he wants to live way longer than anything else in his life. that each generation must take responsibility and each generation must serve this great country. it isn't about individuals. know that's one of his greatest legacies. that he would say that as well. i just had a couple of corrections. [laughter] >> dad knew you was the oldest astronaut and so when he left nasa, he left primarily for that reason and because he had always been a just and politics from the time he was a little boy. told, years later he was he assumed he would fly because it been older. he was told president kennedy thatold the people at nasa would allow the fly again does there are very concerned they were identified -- it was only much after the fact that he heard that. that is why he left when he did. the first time he ran in politics, the senator mentioned he fell. , theeople in ohio politicians wanted to continue to run. he refused and his name was rad, he wanted them to vote for him because of his ideas and what he thought for the country. shows his nature. him sitting with books on his head. [laughter] >> i never saw that, bob. what can i say. he was aware of being a little out of standard for the nasa parameters at that time, but i think more than anything, he probably just took it down just a smidge. remembert's hard to how new it was when dad went up. how new spaceflight was. when he went into space, we didn't even know his eyes would work because our eyes are filled with water. it was so new that even something like that was not known. knew he was very proud a living human being was going to space and there was not any plan for to carry a camera. he bought a camera at the local store where we lived in arlington and he outfitted it to use it. if i remember, he told them he might -- able to bringe back images that would show the people what it would be like. he did that. also, sorry, bob, mom and dad remarried for 74 years. >> close enough for government work. [laughter] >> now i want to do something. i want general daily to please come up. he doesn't know anything about this. nothing. after dad died, i was going through some of the things on his desk and i found this box. this is the first thing. i found this box and in this box was another box. was a pouch. in that pouch is a tie clasp dad carried back into space. he had that for you. he had your name on the box. it's for you. [applause] >> something else that you are man isy don't know, this a marine. my dad was a marine. years, around this museum and being marines, they certainly cap in touch. bob, this man -- he is a golden eagle. alson eagles, many of them -- literally took my dad to his grave on april 6. mom and dad's 74th wedding anniversary. this also relates to something that senator pryor said. when dad left for combat and later to space flights, he gave mother and me a stick of double mint gum. he said here, and going to the store to buy another pack. i'll be back. a statement of reassurance and connection to those he left behind. jack, you will have to open this one. so here for you, a stick of double mint gum as a statement of reassurance and connection. made also be a reminder of the friendship and kinship use dad.d -- you shared with i'm so grateful for your presence in his life. [applause] is the one, i told him when dad was ray said and i asked him how many people left the use to fly with? said is there anybody left the you can really talk with about flying and being in combat and immediately he said they are all gone except jack daly. jack would call and kept in touch and that kind of connection was what made dad truly who he was because that was what is most important. thank you so much. [applause] >> i had this designed and made. it's needlepoint and i did the needlepoint. peoplethese just for the , this is for people who were there with and for dad. and very much a part of his life. we will take this and go back to our seats. of course you can have the box. [laughter] >> out give you both boxes. >> thank you so much. >> i also have another letter just for you. we can talk about that later. [laughter] [applause] >> i had a snappy ending but i care memory what it was. [laughter] >> thank you so much, this means a lot to me. that includes the program folks. [laughter] to thank all of you for being here and it want to thank boeing for making this possible. we want to thank our panel for sharing their remembrances of a great man. there was one story i thought would be told here tonight and i'll take the liberty of adding it because i mentioned you came every time with a lecture. he always had something that he would leave with us. on several occasions, you probably need of heard this. after one of these events where he had been lauded all evening by multiple speakers and given trophies and things like that. as he was putting the coats up he said there really aren't that many great men in the world. saidut hesitation, annie there is one less than you think there are. [laughter] >> unless anybody has another story, thanks for being here. [applause] please exit through the rear of the theater. thank you. >> this week at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. a civil war special featuring american history tv highlights. on monday, the emerging civil war symposium where we look at the great defenses of the civil war, including gettysburg, antietam, and the siege of vicksburg. tuesday, we focus on civil war leadership of the longwood university civil war seminar with talks on generals robert e lee, ulysses s grant and confederate colonel john mosby. wednesday through friday -- friday, the days bird conference. -- the gettysburg conference. on thursday, john marcil lack and on friday, we conclude with tj stiles. american history tv possible war special all this week beginning monday 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1970 nine, c-span was created as a public service by america's tale vision -- television companies and is brought you buy a cable or satellite provider. this year, c-span's touring cities across the country, exploring american history. a look at the reason visit to tacoma, washington. you're watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. the area we are standing in right now is in the southern section of puget sound which is sort of washington state of the pacific northwest great inland water. when the transcontinental railroad came, there was talk about one day being able to span puget sound. it really was not an undertaking anybody was prepared to do. during the depression, federal programs, like the building of the grand coulee dam, and stuff that were big job creating public works project in the no

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