My penchant for biographical material continues. I just started "The Astronaut Wives Club" by Lily Koppel. I'm only a few chapters in but if the rest of the book is as informative and entertaining -- something not always associated with historical material -- I'm in for a treat. Even though they were from diverse backgrounds and might not necessarily have been otherwise, the women banded together to help support each other.
The press invaded these women's lives, even more so than they do to celebrities today. They even barged into their homes unannouced, and tried to film through their windows when they couldn't get in. The wives soon learned that they needed to keep their curtains closed on the days when their husbands were launched into space. Annie Glenn shot down LBJ's demand to be with her in her home while her husband, John Glenn, was making history as the first American to orbit the Earth. Annie had a terrible stutter that caused her embarrassment, but she was even more concerned because LBJ wanted to bring in cameramen and reporters from the three major networks. The astronauts had signed over exclusive rights to being in their homes during launches to Life magazine, which provided life insurance for them as part of the deal. Seeing as how no one else was willing to insure the astronauts. if Annie had let those other reporters in, all the astronauts would have lost their life insurance.