In 1962 a United States Marine Corps aviator who later on won re-election to a fourth term, coinciding with Bill Clinton's narrow win during the presidential election, became the first what?
John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was a United States Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, and United States Senator from Ohio. In 1962 he became the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times.
Hewitt T. Wheless Hewitt Terrell Wheless (October 13, 1913 – September 7, 1986) was a United States Air Force officer known for his heroism on a bombing mission against Japanese ships in the Philippines on December 14, 1941, a week after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and mentioned by name in Franklin Roosevelt's Fireside Chat on April 28, 1942. In 1947, he was assigned to the Strategic Air Command and was named SAC chief of staff in 1962. He was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in 1963 and retired in June 1968 as Assistant Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force.