Говард Уолтер Кэннон: Невадалық саяхатшы және сенатордың өмірі мен қызметі

United States politician (1912–2002)
the American author

Howard Walter Cannon (January 26, 1912 – March 5, 2002) was an American politician from Nevada. Elected to the first of four consecutive terms in 1958, he served in the United States Senate from 1959 to 1983. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Born in St. George, Utah, Cannon graduated from Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona Law School. In 1940, Cannon won his first election as county attorney for Washington County, Utah. The following year with the start of World War II, Cannon served in the United States Army for a year and then in the United States Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1946, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Cannon later served in the Army Air Forces Air Reserve as a major general. In 1949, Cannon returned to politics, winning election as city attorney for Las Vegas, Nevada. After four consecutive terms in that office, Cannon defeated Republican incumbent U. S. Senator George W. Malone in the 1958 election. As senator, Cannon chaired multiple committees, including the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Rules and Administration. Cannon also sponsored the Airline Deregulation Act, a bill signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 that lowered airfares through deregulation of the airline industry. Cannon's final Senate term was mired in a scandal after the revelation of a 1979 meeting with Teamsters union president Roy Lee Williams where Cannon was offered a bribe to block the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. The scandal contributed to Cannon losing re election in 1982 to Republican challenger Chic Hecht. After leaving the Senate, Cannon remained in Washington as an aviation and defense consultant for nearly a decade before retiring to Las Vegas in the mid 1990s.

Cannon was born in St. George, Utah. His grandfather, David Cannon, was the younger brother of George Q. Cannon and a leading figure in the building of the St. George Temple, who was later the third president of that temple. His father Walter Cannon was one of David Cannon's 31 children. Howard's parents Walter Cannon and Leah Sullivan married in 1909. When Cannon was two years old his father left for England to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints for two years. Cannon went to Woodward School in St. George, close enough to his home he could walk home for lunch. He then went to Dixie High School. During summers, he worked as a bell hop at the North Rim Lodge along the Grand Canyon. In the evenings he would form a small band where he used his skills as a saxophonist to entertain guests. He delivered copies of the Deseret News around St. George on horseback. He graduated from Dixie Junior College (now Utah Tech University) and received a bachelor's degree in music education from Arizona State Teachers College (now Northern Arizona University) in 1933. He then received an LL. B. from the University of Arizona Law School in 1937. While studying at the University of Arizona he was the director of the university pep orchestra. Between the summer of his second and third year he directed this group at a hotel in Seattle, Washington. In the summer of 1936 after his graduation he directed an orchestra of four, performing on the SS Jefferson on a cruise from Seattle, Washington, to Yokohama, Japan. Also during his law school years Cannon competed in rodeos and learned to be an airplane pilot. Also in the summer of 1936, Cannon began dating Dorothy Pace of Alamo, Nevada. They married on December 21, 1945. After he finished law school he returned to St. George. Among his actions on his return was buying a house adjacent to Dixie College as an investment property.

Cannon became a lawyer after passing the bar exams in Arizona (1937), Utah (1938) and Nevada (1946). He served as a reference and research attorney for the Utah State Senate in 1939, and won election as county attorney of Washington County, Utah in 1940. Continuing to fly in the Air Force Reserve, he achieved command pilot status and ultimately retired from the Air Force Reserve with the rank of major general.

In 1946 Cannon established law offices in Las Vegas. In 1949 he was elected Las Vegas City Attorney, and he served four consecutive terms.

In 1964, Cannon voted for the Civil Rights Act. He also helped increase funding for Nellis Air Force Base, turning Nellis into one of the most important military facilities worldwide. Cannon also introduced the Airline Deregulation Act, a bill signed in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter that stopped the federal government from regulating airfare and airline routes. Deregulation led to lower air fares and contributed to the growth of Las Vegas as a tourist destination. Americans for Democratic Action, an organization that has long issued 100 point "Liberal Quotient" scores to members of Congress, rated Cannon a 69 in 1965, 41 in 1971, 30 in 1977, and 50 in 1982. The American Conservative Union (ACU) often rated Cannon as unfavorable to conservative causes in its 100 point scale, such as 20 in 1972 and 29 in 1981. However, the ACU scored more Cannon favorably in some years: 50 in 1971, 100 in 1978, and 59 in 1982. In 1981, he won the Tony Jannus Award for his distinguished contributions to commercial aviation. In 1980 he took a familiarisation ride in the SR71 Blackbird. (http://www. sr71. us/pg011. htm)

He had an interest in the rules and administration of the Congress, serving as chairman of several committees on that subject, including the Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and Committee on Rules and Administration.

After leaving Congress in 1983, Cannon remained in Washington as a defense and aviation consultant for 11 years. The U. S. Senate confirmed Cannon by unanimous consent on March 3, 1988. On March 5, 2002, Cannon died at age 90 in a Las Vegas hospice due to congestive heart failure; he was previously diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

The passenger terminal at Reno Tahoe International Airport is named after him. The Cannon Center for Survey Research is named after him. The Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum, located in Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport, is also named after him.