|
|
|
|
|
Joe Cannon (Politician)Joseph Gurney Cannon (1836 - 1924), was born in rural Indiana, the oldest of two sons to a country doctor. His father drowned when Cannon was ten trying to reach a sick patient by crossing a flooded river. He became the sole support of the family farm. At age 19 he traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio to attend a semester of law school. Thereafter, Cannon learned the law by running errands and being tutored over poker games for a county judge and reading law books. Finding little business, he moved to Danville, Illinois by the late 1850s. He became a follower of Abraham Lincoln during the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. After Lincoln was elected President in 1860, Cannon received an appointment as a regional prosecutor. Joe Cannon was first elected to Congress from Danville in 1880. Except for two isolated terms, he served in Congress until 1922. Cannon was a conservative Republican known for fierce party loyalty and stubborn adherence to his rural Midwestern roots. He attempted to gain the Speakership four times before succeeding. His antic speaking style, diminutive stature and pugnacious manner were his trade marks. The newspapers frequently lampooned him as a colorful rube. He was elected Speaker of the House in 1900, the year that President McKinley was reelected and the Republicans controlled both chambers. He followed Thomas B. Reed, a widely respected Speaker who had resigned in a party split with the McKinley administration. Cannon set up a political machine in the US House, autocratically controlling legislation and openly defying President Theodore Roosevelt. Cannon's tyrannical rule lasted until 1911, when a bipartisan coalition engaged in a running battle over parliamentary rules lasting several weeks. The result was that Cannon retained the title "Speaker" while losing all power. The position of Speaker did not regain full authority until Nicholas Longworth became Speaker in the 1920's. The Cannon House Office Building was named for him as a gesture of magnanmity by his colleagues. Cannon returned to Congress in 1914 and became a fierce critic of President Woodrow Wilson and US entry into World War I. He was also an outspoken critic of Wilson's League of Nations. Cannon retired to Danville in 1922, wrote his memoir and died in 1924.
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|