People: Aug. 3, 1962

Those who felt funny about black cats, spilled salt and hooting owls would have departed in a hurry. To honor John Glenn, who sailed through space in Mercury capsule No. 13, thirteen U.S. Senators gathered at 10:13 a.m. on Capitol Hill to give the ebullient astronaut a gold watch, all of whose numerals read 13 o'clock. Smashing a mirror to open the meeting, Illinois' Republican Everett Dirksen tried to hex Glenn: "If you'll talk 13 seconds, we'll love you. If you talk 13 minutes, we'll wonder how you ever got in...

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