To: AllPolitics
From: Candy Crowley/CNN
In: Washington
Posted: 2-19-97

Subject: Sen. Glenn To Announce Retirement

CNN has been told that Senator John Glenn (D-Ohio) will give what a source called "a major, dramatic speech" Thursday at his alma mater, Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio. The news comes after the Cleveland Plain Dealer, quoting an unnamed source, reported that Glenn has decided to retire in 1998, at the end of his fourth term in the Senate.

As to Glenn's plans, the source said "if the Senator is not 100 percent sure (about whether to retire), he is close to a decision," The source declined to say which decision Glenn is close to.

Glenn's thursday speech takes place on the 35th anniversary of his Space Flight, and there is plenty of nostalgia surrounding the event. Glenn and his wife grew up in the Muskingum area.