Howard Cannon

Cannon was born in Saint 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 had married in 1909, his mother was Leah Sullivan. When Cannon was two years old his father left for England to served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years.[1]

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.[1]

He graduated from Dixie Junior College, 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. degree from the University of Arizona Law School (1937).[2] 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. She went to Los Angeles, California to study at the Sawyer School of Business and then worked as a secretary there in her uncle's company. Their relationship did not progress much at this time. For the next few years Cannon dated Carma Fawcett who was killed in a car accident in 1940.

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.

During World War II, Cannon served as a troop carrier pilot in the United States Army Air Corps and its subsequent incarnation as the United States Army Air Forces. Assigned to the European theater, he dropped paratroopers at Saint-Come-du-Mont, Normandy and during the following combat mission in September 1944 was shot down over the Netherlands. He spent 42 days trying to return to the Allied lines with the assistance of the Dutch underground. Released from active duty in 1946, he joined the Army Air Forces Reserve until 1947 when he transitioned to the Air Force Reserve concurrent with the establishment of the U.S. Air Force as a separate service. 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. His military decorations included the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart and the Air Medal (three awards).

In 1946 Cannon established law offices in Las Vegas. In 1949 he was elected Las Vegas City Attorney, and he served until 1958. In 1958 he won election to the U.S. Senate after defeating incumbent George Malone by a wide margin. He won reelection in 1964, 1970, and 1976.[3]

• The passenger terminal at Reno-Tahoe International Airport is named after him.
• The Cannon Center for Survey Research is named after him.[5]
• The Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum, located in Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport, is also named after him.[6]

• United States Congress. "Howard Cannon (id: C000120)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Appearances on C-SPAN