When I heard this question, or more specifically the answer, I suggested that the correct answer was Yuri Gagarin (even though it was in 1961).
I was shouted down. Well ... OK, not actually shouted. But I was a lone voice and my objection was dismissed out of hand.
Naturally, when I came to look at these questions in detail, I checked. And I can cite any number of websites (within reason), to confirm that Yuri Gagarin completed a little over one orbit of the Earth: Wikipedia, Britannica, Space.com, the BBC, NASA, History.com ... and that's just from the first page of my Google results.
John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth. He wasn't even the second person; that was Gherman Titov (Vostok 2, 6 August 1961). Titov orbited 17 times; Glenn, six months later, only did four.
The only people to go into space without orbiting were Alan Shepard (Mercury 3, 5 May 1961 – 23 days after Gagarin orbited) and Virgil Grissom (Mercury 4, 21 July 1961).
At least it wasn't my question.
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