John Glenn Gilligan, the Ohio Governor at the time, appointed Glenn to be the chairman of the Citizens Task Force on Environmental Protection in 1970. The task force was created to survey environmental problems in the state and released a report in 1971 detailing the issues. The meetings and the final report of the task force were major contributors to the formation of Ohio's Environmental Protection Agency. In 1973, President Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Richardson refused and resigned in protest, triggering the Saturday Night Massacre. Ohio Senator William Saxbe, elected in 1968, was
John Glenn election, beginning a Senate career which would continue until 1999. In the 1976 presidential election, Jimmy Carter was the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. Glenn was reported to be in consideration for the vice-presidential nomination because he was a senator in a pivotal state and for his fame and straightforwardness. Some thought he was too much like Carter, partially because they both had military backgrounds, and that he did not have enough experience to become president. Barbara Jordan was the first keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention. Her speech electrified the crowd, and was filled with applause and standing