Frank Jenne Cannon (January 25, 1859July 25, 1933) was the first

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

from

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, who served from 1896 to 1899.

Early life

Born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, Cannon was the eldest child of Sarah Jenne Cannon and George Q. Cannon. His father was an

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church) and later was a member of its First Presidency. After attending the school in Salt Lake City, Frank Cannon studied at

University of Deseret The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of ...

, graduating at the age of 19. He married Martha Brown of Ogden in 1878.

Political career

In 1891 he helped to organize the Utah Republican Party. After a failed bid to become delegate from the

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state ...

, he succeeded and served from March 4, 1895, to January 4, 1896. Cannon was chosen in 1896 to serve as senator by the Utah Legislature in spite of LDS church leadership favoring his father for the job. He served in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

, initially, as a member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

; however, he later became a member of the

Silver Republican Party The Silver Republican Party, later known as the Lincoln Republican Party, was a United States political party from 1896 to 1901. It was so named because it split from the Republican Party by supporting free silver (effectively, expansionary moneta ...

, founded by his successor (and future employer at ''

The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...

'')

Thomas Kearns Thomas Kearns (April 11, 1862 – October 18, 1918) was an American mining, banking, railroad, and newspaper magnate. He was a US Senator from Utah from 1901 to 1905. Unlike the predominantly Mormon constituents of his state, Senator Kearns wa ...

. Cannon lost re-election in 1899. Utah's state legislators indicated they would not support Cannon for re-election shortly after the November 1898 elections. Cannon had voted against the

Dingley Act The Dingley Act of 1897 (ch. 11, , July 24, 1897), introduced by U.S. Representative Nelson Dingley Jr., of Maine, raised tariffs in United States to counteract the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act of 1894, which had lowered rates. The bill came in ...

, which would have raised

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and p ...

s on sugar and helped the Utah sugar industry. It was strongly supported by the LDS Church hierarchy, who now opposed his re-election. Other factors were his support for

Free Silver Free silver was a major economic policy issue in the United States in the late 19th-century. Its advocates were in favor of an expansionary monetary policy featuring the unlimited coinage of silver into money on-demand, as opposed to strict adhe ...

, rumors about immoral acts he may have committed while living in Washington, DC, and the fact that the Utah legislature was controlled by Democrats.

Alfred W. McCune Alfred William McCune (June 11, 1849 – March 28, 1927) was an American railroad builder, mine operator, and politician from the state of Utah.Whitney, 1904, p. 505–508. Owner of several retail and construction businesses, he helped build the ...

, one of Salt Lake City's most prominent businessmen, sought and won the backing of the LDS Church in his bid for the seat. But the legislature quickly deadlocked over the election. One-hundred and twenty-one ballots were cast, and no winner emerged. On February 18, a state representative accused McCune of trying to buy his vote. A seven-member legislative voted 7-to-2 to absolve McCune of the charge, and although ballotting resumed on March 8 McCune still lacked enough votes to win office (he had only 25 votes). The legislature adjourned without having chosen a senator, Utah's U.S. Senate seat remained vacant until January 1901. The Republicans regained their majority in the state legislature in the election of 1900 and elected a wealthy mine owner

to fill the seat. The election was still hotly disputed. Kearns received only 8 votes on the first ballot, and balloting continued for four more days. On January 22, Kearns won the election by a vote of 37-to-25 (with a unanimous block of Republican votes). Cannon affiliated with the Democratic Party in 1900 and served as its state chairman 1902–1904.

Later life

After failing to be re-elected to the U.S. Senate by the Utah legislature, in part due to opposition by the Mormon hierarchy, Cannon worked as the editor of several newspapers, including ''The Salt Lake Tribune'', the ''Ogden Herald'' (

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

) and established the '' Ogden Standard'' in 1888. Between 1904 and 1911, Cannon consistently supported the

anti-Mormon Anti-Mormonism is discrimination, persecution, hostility or prejudice directed against the Latter Day Saint movement, particularly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The term is often used to describe people or literat ...

American Party in newspaper editorials. Cannon later rejected Mormonism and wrote a book, with Harvey J. O'Higgins, called ''Under the Prophet in Utah'' exposing the rigidly hierarchical nature of the Mormon organization. The book denounced what the authors described as the "church" leadership's "absolutism" and "interference" in politics: " ormonslive under an absolutism. They have no more right of judgment than a dead body. Yet the diffusion of authority is so clever that nearly every man seems to share in its operation... and feels himself in some degree a master without observing that he is also a slave". The book details the negotiations Cannon participated in on Utah's behalf leading to statehood in exchange for official rejection of polygamy and LDS leadership's domination of civil politics during the 1890s, and the subsequent back-sliding he observed in the years following statehood. During the last two decades of his life, he lectured against Mormonism and in support of "

free silver Free silver was a major economic policy issue in the United States in the late 19th-century. Its advocates were in favor of an expansionary monetary policy featuring the unlimited coinage of silver into money on-demand, as opposed to strict adhe ...

" policies (as opposed to the

Gold Standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from th ...

). He died, at the age of 74, in Denver, in 1933.

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

* * *
Frank J. Cannon letter, MSS SC 2042
at

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