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    "localId": "193650",
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    "id": "193650",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "John Glenn Oral Histroy Interview",
    "description": "Interview with Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr. by Walter B. Sohier, General Counsel, National Aeronautics and Space Administration June 12, 1964 Seabrooke, TX",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193650",
    "creators": [
        "Glenn, John, 1921-2016"
    ],
    "collections": [
        "John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program",
        "John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program: John F. Kennedy Oral Histories."
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (10/01/1958 - )",
        "Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963",
        "Interviews",
        "Astronauts",
        "Space programs"
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    "seq": 22,
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    "ocrText": "Interview with Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr.\n22\nbut very seldom was it evident and he certainly never\ntalked about it very much. Did anything involving his back\never come to your attention?\nColonel Glenn: No, just that one time. I remember Dave\nhad to brace his feet and really pull on the tiller to keep\nthings under control this particular day, and the President\nwould give him instructions as to what direction he wanted\nto go and exactly how to handle things. That pulling on\nthe tiller, though, was apparently more than he thought he\nshould do.\nThe following day we went swimming off the Honey Fitz (the\nKennedy yacht) while it was anchored in the bay. I remember\nI was surprised when he dived from the yacht deck, which was\nsome seven or eight feet above water level.\nMr. Sohier: Yes. While we're talking on the subject of\ncourage, I think one aspect of the President's character\nthat has been noted was his great respect for people with\ngreat war records--for example, people who have proven them-\nselves as courageous in one way or another. You may remember\nthat, at the time of the Billie Sol Estes matter, he defended\nSecretary [of Agriculture] Orville Freeman at his press\nconference, and the main thing he mentioned was his war\nrecord, how he had half his jaw shot off, and how a guy with\nthat kind of record obviously was a guy that you could have\nconfidence in.\nIt seems to me that his tremendous interest in the space\nprogram, his personal interest in you and other astronauts,\nis related to this very point. Is there any aspect of this\nthat comes to mind in terms of the President's character in\nthis respect?\nColonel Glenn: As you say, he was very interested in these\nareas. He was curious about my background in combat, not\nso much in World War II but mainly in Korea, where we got\ninto jet air-to-air combat for the first time. He was\ninterested in how this had all worked out and what things\nwere like along the Yalu and so on. He seemed to be"
}