Why was john glenn such an appealing astronaut candidate?

Glenn became the first American to be in orbit, but in July 1962 Glenn testified before the House Space Committee in favor of excluding women from the NASA astronaut program. No female astronaut flew on a NASA mission until Sally Ride in 1983; in the meantime, the Soviets had flown two women on space missions, and none piloted a mission until Eileen Collins in 1995, more than 30 years after the hearings.