Background
Clarence Cannon was born on April 11, 1879 in Elsberry, Missouri, United States; the son of John Randolph Cannon, a prosperous merchant, and Ida Glovina Whiteside.
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congressman politician statesman
Clarence Cannon was born on April 11, 1879 in Elsberry, Missouri, United States; the son of John Randolph Cannon, a prosperous merchant, and Ida Glovina Whiteside.
Clarence attended La Grange College (now Hannibal-La Grange College), and earned the B. A. (1903) and M. A. (1904) from William Jewell College. He next studied law at the University of Missouri, and received the LL. B. in 1908.
A quiet and industrious young man, Cannon worked while obtaining his education as a teacher and principal in public schools and later as a teacher of history at Stephens College (1904 - 1908).
After practicing law for three years, Cannon moved to Washington, D. C. He worked first as confidential secretary for his congressman, Champ Clark, who was then the Speaker of the House. Cannon later became journal clerk and parliamentarian. In 1920 he was appointed parliamentarian of the Democratic National Convention, a post he held until 1960. Cannon took a scholarly approach to his duties. Beginning in 1918, he published several books and articles concerned with the business of the House, its procedures and rules, and parliamentary law. These works sharply reduced the time Congress spent debating parliamentary questions, and guided speakers and others on ways of behaving and deciding matters in the House. Cannon was a storehouse of information on House rules, and he knew how to put them to good use. In 1922 Cannon was elected to the House of Representatives. He won election after election by developing and maintaining close ties with his constituents and serving their interests. He delivered the public works desired by the district, battled for veterans of World Wars I and II, and paid careful attention to the wants of commercial farmers. Legislative proposals he favored provided veterans with a variety of benefits, combatted flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and raised farm prices. In 1941 he became chairman of the powerful Committee on Appropriations, and he held the post for all but four of the next twenty-three years. Since money bills originated in Appropriations, congressmen depended on it for the funds needed for their pet projects. Cannon did not have the power of appointment to the committee, but he did distribute assignments within it, creating and dissolving subcommittees, defining their jurisdictions, changing their sizes, selecting their Democratic members, and appointing their chairmen when the Democrats controlled the House. Much of the time he served on all subcommittees and chaired the one concerned with public works. Cannon used his power to affect the level of federal appropriations. He supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt's requests for the funds required to fight and win World War II, including the money for the atomic bomb project. At the same time he worked to cut spending on nonwar programs. After the war, while talking economy and reduction of the national debt, he supported the defense and foreign programs of President Harry Truman, including the European Recovery Program. He also worked for passage of the spending proposals of the Air Force. During his last years Cannon was often at odds with the executive branch and the House leadership. Frequently resisting pressure, he emphasized the value of his committee as the guardian of the national treasury and sought to guarantee that programs cost no more than he regarded as necessary. He became especially critical of foreign aid, and he called the program to land a man on the moon a "moondoggle. " Cannon also clashed frequently with the Senate. He regarded senators as wasteful, and fought against their restoration of cuts his committee had made. A major battle in 1962 pitted Cannon against the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Carl Hayden, also an octogenarian. It involved the authority of the appropriations committees and the control of the House-Senate conferences designed to iron out disagreements on money bills. Cannon died in Washington, D. C.
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Cannon eagerly sought elective office, but his first two campaigns, for county school superintendent and state representative, ended in defeat. His political fortunes changed after his congressman, Champ Clark, hired him as a confidential secretary in 1911. When Democrats elected Clark Speaker of the House that year, Cannon found himself near the center of power in Washington.
Enjoying Clark's patronage, Cannon advanced to the positions of House journal clerk from 1914 to 1917 and House parliamentarian from 1917 to 1920. A quick study, he rapidly established himself as a leading authority on parliamentary procedure. His skills proved so impressive that the Republicans retained him after winning the House in 1918. In 1920 he became parliamentarian of the Democratic National Convention, a position he held through 1960. Cannon exercised lasting influence over the workings of Congress through publications such as Procedure in the House of Representatives (1920) and Cannon's Precedents of the House of Representatives (1936).
After resigning as House parliamentarian, Cannon returned to his law practice in Elsberry. In 1922 voters in Clark's old congressional district elected Cannon to his mentor's seat in the House of Representatives. Popular with his constituents, he repeatedly won reelection, often without opposition, until his death.
He is the longest-serving member ever of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Missouri.
Cannon had a large nose and ears; he usually wore a black suit, a black tie, and a dour expression on his lined face. When accused of being two-faced, he snapped: "If I had another face, don't you think I'd use it?" When relaxed, he could tell good stories; but on Capitol Hill he seldom relaxed. Cannon was extremely stubborn, quick-tempered, and combative, even resorting to physical force on occasion. He had a sharp, sarcastic tongue, and became increasingly impatient and irascible with age. He abstained from alcohol, tobacco, and small talk, lived a quiet life, and seldom attended parties. Support from his constituents, hard work, and ability, not charm, made Cannon a power in Washington.
On August 30, 1906, he married Ida Dawson Wigginton; they had two daughters.