26 Facts About Jake Garn

Edwin Jacob "Jake" Garn was born on October 12,1932 and is an American politician from the US state of Utah.

Jake Garn was born in Richfield, Utah and the son of World War I pilot Ed Jake Garn and the former Agnes Fern Christensen.

Jake Garn attended East High School, Clayton Middle School, and Uintah Elementary School.

Jake Garn earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business and finance from the University of Utah in 1955, where he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Jake Garn served in the United States Navy as a Martin P5M Marlin pilot.

Jake Garn served as a pilot of the 151st Air Refueling Group of the Utah Air National Guard, where he flew the Boeing KC-97L and KC-135A.

Jake Garn was promoted to brigadier general after his Space Shuttle mission.

Jake Garn had flown 17,000 hours in military aircraft when he flew in space.

Jake Garn was the last Republican to hold that office to date.

Jake Garn was active in the Utah League of Cities and Towns and served as its president in 1972.

In 1974, Jake Garn was the first vice-president of the National League of Cities, and he served as its honorary president in 1975.

Jake Garn was re-elected to a second term in November 1980 with 74 percent of the vote, the largest victory in a statewide race in Utah history.

Jake Garn was chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and served on three subcommittees: Housing and Urban Affairs, Financial Institutions, and International Finance and Monetary Policy.

Jake Garn was a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and served as chairman of the HUD-Independent Agencies Subcommittee.

Jake Garn served on four other Appropriations subcommittees: Energy and Water Resources, Defense, Military Construction, and Interior.

Jake Garn served as a member of the Republican leadership from 1979 to 1984 as secretary of the Republican Conference.

Jake Garn is a supporter of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

Jake Garn asked to fly on the Space Shuttle because he was head of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that dealt with NASA, and had extensive aviation experience.

Jake Garn had previously flown a Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit prototype and driven a new Army tank.

Jake Garn began publicly asking NASA about flying on the Shuttle in 1981, and the agency had long planned to fly "citizen passengers" such as artists, journalists, entertainers, and the Teacher in Space Project, but the November 1984 announcement that a member of Congress would go to space surprised most observers.

The space sickness Jake Garn experienced during the journey was so severe that a scale for space sickness was jokingly based on him, where "one Jake Garn" is the highest possible level of sickness.

Jake Garn was in excellent physical condition and began flying at the age of 16.

Jake Garn worked out extraordinarily well, and quite frankly, I think the US space program, NASA, has benefited a lot from both his experience and his firsthand relation of NASA and the program back on Capitol Hill.

Jake Garn first married Hazel Rhae Thompson on February 2,1957 in the town of Biloxi, Mississippi.

Jake Garn is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1986, Jake Garn donated a kidney to his 27-year-old daughter, Susan, who was experiencing progressive kidney failure as a result of diabetes.