The Politicians of the National Aviation Hall of Fame
Written by James Freeland, January 2025
From the Wright Brothers and their bicycle repair shop to James Stewart and Cliff Robertson and their silver screen fame, many National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) Enshrinees have had a variety of careers outside of aviation. A few of them even ventured into the realm of professional politics. Whether it be in local, state, or national political positions, some Enshrinees have made a deep and meaningful impact in the governments they have served. Allow me to share the stories of three of these Enshrinees and the political impacts they made.
The city of Urbana, Ohio, is a small community that lies approximately forty miles to the west of Columbus. It is the county seat of Champaign County and is a quaint midwestern town with a current population of 12,000 people. During the mid-1930s, Urbana became home to one of the NAHF’s Enshrinees who has become synonymous with aviation safety. Warren G. Grimes, known as the “Father of the Aircraft Lighting Industry,” moved to Urbana after having worked for Henry Ford (another NAHF Enshrinee) and produced lights for his Ford Tri-Motor Aircraft. Grimes established his company, The Grimes Manufacturing Company, in 1933. The business was expanded at the onset of World War II to manage the demand of aircraft production needed to keep America’s fighting force flying safely.
In 1943, Grimes ran for mayor of Urbana and won. During his four years in office, he used his own wealth and fame to better the community around him. Grimes understood that having a quality community led to retaining and attracting quality talent needed for Grimes Manufacturing. His business became the largest single-site employer in Champaign County, with fifteen percent of Urbana’s workforce employed by Grimes by 1960.
He was instrumental in bringing modern grocery stores and Mercy Hospital to Urbana. Grimes had been a distinguished donor to his community in many other ways as well. In 1941 he opened the Gloria Theater, named after his daughter, where you can still see motion pictures to this day. He gifted the city with the land where Grimes Field: Urbana Municipal Airport is located, just north of the city. Today, this site is home to not only the airport, which is part of the National Aviation Heritage Area, but also to Midwest Corporate Air Flight School, The Champaign Aviation Museum (home to the B-17 restoration project), the Grimes Field Flying Lab Museum, the Mid-America Flight Museum, the Airport Café, and one of the bases for Miami Valley Hospital’s medical helicopter, Careflight. Grimes also provided funds to build the Urbana High School press box along with scholarships to students to attend The Ohio State University. In addition, he provided space to the city for offices and the fire department for just $1 after a fire destroyed the former city building in 1952.
Grimes served only one term as mayor of Urbana, stepping away at the end of 1948. He continued to live in Urbana until his death in 1975, but his contributions have not only lasted in the aviation community into the twenty-first century, but his lasting impression in the community in which he lived also lives on and can be felt by the citizens yet today.
After having an illustrious career as a Marine fighter pilot in World War II and becoming America’s first “Ace of Aces” of that war, Joe Foss was awarded the Medal of Honor in May 1943. In 1948, Foss entered the world of politics. Using one of his planes during the campaign, he was elected as a Republican representative to the South Dakota legislature. Foss first ran for governor of South Dakota in 1950, losing in the Republican primary to Sigurd Anderson. He then returned to work at the statehouse until a second run for governor in 1954. This time he won the South Dakota governorship.
Over the next four years he would help to grow the state’s economic footprint by promoting the positive business climate of South Dakota all throughout the nation. With a true love for all things outdoors, Foss was also instrumental in building outdoor recreation facilities on the Missouri River Lakes region. He also created programs for highway construction and expansion in his state, along with wide-ranging measures to not only upgrade state universities, but also to grow them. In what may be his crowning achievement while serving as governor, he signed legislation repealing all state laws that discriminated against Native Americans.
As you can see by his record, Joe Foss was not only a military hero, but was a huge economic proponent for South Dakota, a civil rights leader for the Native Americans of his state, and a champion of education. He retired to Arizona, where he lived out his final days and on January 1, 2003, he passed away. Foss was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
As a native son of the Buckeye State, John Glenn had already established himself as a household name by becoming the first American to orbit Earth, in Friendship 7, in 1962. After retiring from the United States Marine Corps and NASA, Glenn made a run for Ohio’s Democratic nominee to the U.S. Senate in 1964, but following a fall in his home that left him with a very serious head injury that would take months to recover from, he withdrew his name from the ballot. Unable to inform voters in person of his position on public policy issues and not wanting to be voted for solely on his fame as a Mercury astronaut, Glenn dropped out of the race on March 31, 1964.
In the following years Glenn would stay active in politics in and around Ohio. He was a strong backer of Robert Kennedy during Kennedy’s Presidential run until its tragic end in 1968. Glenn was appointed to the Citizens Task Force on Environmental Protection by Ohio Governor John Gilligan. The findings of this task force were very instrumental in forming Ohio’s Environmental Protection Agency. That same year Glenn ran for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, losing to Cleveland businessman Howard Metzenbaum. The two of them would go head-to-head again in 1974 for the spot in the Senate. After Metzenbaum accused Glenn “of never holding a real job,” Glenn’s answer was to give his “Gold Star Mother’s Speech,” asking Metzenbaum to look any Gold Star Mother in the face and tell her that her son had never had a real job. This turned the tide heavily in his favor and he was elected to the Senate in the fall of 1974.
John Glenn quickly became a rising star in the Senate. He served on many committees, and in 1977 he became chairman of the Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Federal Services Subcommittee of the newly formed Government Affairs Committee. He also became chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, which called him away to Asia on missions to gather facts about international relationships between Eastern nations of Asia and the United States. But most importantly was the cementing of the ties between the United States and Taiwan after the recognition of the government of the People’s Republic of China.
By the largest margin ever documented in any Ohio election, Glenn was re-elected to a second term in the Senate in 1980. After winning in such a landslide victory, he started to have thoughts of a bigger office in politics—the presidency. In April of 1983, in his hometown of New Concord, Ohio, Glenn formally announced his candidacy for the Democratic ticket for President of the United States. But it wasn’t to be. Just under a year later, after poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, Glenn made the agonizing decision to withdraw from the race, in March of 1984. He returned to the Senate once again with renewed vigor to make government work for common citizens. Winning his third term in 1986 he was appointed to the Government Affairs Committee as chair. He discovered several nuclear installations that were being mismanaged and neglected, showing how nuclear waste was being disposed of in a dangerous way. Like a bulldog, Glenn worked to have funding and appropriations for cleanup at these sites.
John Glenn spent the rest of his tenure in the Senate working on policy and reform. He was a vigorous supporter of funding for U.S. participation with the International Space Station. He also pushed for federal support and funding research in science and technology. And his support did not stop there. On the thirty-fifth anniversary of his Friendship 7 flight, Glenn announced his retirement from the Senate. Glenn’s heart, however, remained with science, and he became known as a tireless advocate for science and health research. In 1998, while still a senator, Glenn returned to space at the age of 77 to study the effects of space on aging.
Grimes, Foss, and Glenn were not the only NAHF Enshrinees to enter the political arena. Jackie Cochran traveled with and campaigned for Dwight Eisenhower during his bid for president. Barry Goldwater was a city council member in Phoenix, a U.S. Senator from Arizona, and the Republican presidential candidate in 1964. William “Bill” Anders was the ambassador to Norway for Presidents Ford and Carter. Admiral James Stockdale was a third-party candidate for Vice President as the running mate of Ross Perot (also a nominee for the NAHF) in 1992. William “Pete” Knight served as city council member and mayor of Palmdale, California, and later as the California State Assembly member representing the thirty-sixth district. All of these mentioned made significant contributions to the advancement of aviation and made great impressions in their political careers. The National Aviation Hall of Fame is thankful for the political contributions of those we recognize as aviation legends and look forward to those who have yet to make their mark in both.
References
2024. “Champaigne County Historical Society.” Urbana, Ohio.
Dearborn, Carly. n.d. The Ohio State University Library. Accessed December 2024.
https://library.osu.edu/john-glenn-political-career.
2022. National Medal of Honor Museum. July 15.
Ogden, Cheryl, interview by James Freeland. 2024. City of Urbana Mayor’s Office (December 10).
Senate, U.S. n.d. www.senate.gov. Accessed December 28, 2024.
https://www.senate.gov/senators/FeaturedBios/Featured_Bio_Glenn.htm.
Venhuizen, Tony. 2021. trailofgovernors.com. Accessed November 2024.
https://www.trailofgovernors.com/governor-joe-foss/.
