Pithy Exchange Between Senators John Glenn and Howard Metzenbaum–Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
Said to be debate between Senators John Glenn and Howard Meztenbaum on the floor of the Senate.
Metzenbaum accused Glenn of never having held a real job.
Glenn responded by saying he had served 23 years as a Marine including 2 wars, flying 149 missions, having his plane hit 12 times by anti-aircraft fire plus his years in NASA and as an astronaut.
He asks Metzenbaum to go with him to visit wounded soldiers or the families of the Apollo astronauts who were killed and tell them those veterans didn’t have a real job.
Glenn then says he did indeed have a real job and asks Metzenbaum, “How about you.”
The eRumor closes with the comment that during World War II Metzenbaum was an attorney representing the Communist party.
The Truth:
This exchange did take place but not on the floor of the Senate, but the wording of Glenn’s words if fairly accurate.
It was during the campaign debate in 1974 when Metzenbaum was running for reelection and Glenn was challenging him.
Glenn and Metzenbaum had also run against each other for the same seat four years earlier, a race that Metzenbaum had won.
A few days prior to the debate, Metzenbaum made a widely publicized statement that said that Glenn had never met a payroll (he didn’t actually say that he’d never held a real job).
In other words, Glenn had been a military man not a businessman, like Metzenbaum, who had created a major newspaper and a nation-wide parking company.
Metzenbaum did not repeat that charge during the debate, but Glenn came prepared to respond to it and did it so powerfully that he also went on to win the election.
If Howard Metzenbaum represented the Communist party as an attorney during World War II, we have not found substantiaton for that.
Last updated 3/1/05