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1
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Joseph Gurney Cannon was born in Guilford County,
3North Carolina on May 7, 1836; his parents, Gulielma
4Hollingsworth and physician Horace F. Cannon, moved the family
5to Indiana when he was four; and
 
6    WHEREAS, After his father's death, Joe Cannon apprenticed
7himself to an attorney and then studied at the Cincinnati Law
8School; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Joe Cannon moved to Tuscola and was named States
10Attorney for the 27th Judicial District; in 1868, he ran for
11Congress and began a 46 year Congressional career; and
 
12    WHEREAS, In 1876, Joe Cannon moved to Danville, where he
13resided for the rest of his life; he married Mary P. Reed in
141862, and they had two daughters; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Joe Cannon's first leadership post was as
16chairman of the Appropriations Committee; in 1903, he was
17elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives,
18and throughout his speakership, he remained a fierce defender
19of the rights of the House; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Members chafed under Joe Cannon's iron-fisted

 

 

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1rule; in 1911, a coalition of reform-minded Republicans joined
2with the Democrats to depose him from the speakership; he was
3defeated for re-election the following year, but like a true
4political survivor, he ran and won again in 1914; he served
5another four terms in Congress before retiring permanently in
61922; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Joe Cannon declined to run in the 1922
8congressional election and retired at the end of his last term
9in 1923; he was featured on the cover of the first issue of
10Time magazine on the last day of his last term in office; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Joe Cannon is the second longest-serving
12Republican representative, surpassed only by Alaska
13congressman Don Young; he was the first member of Congress, of
14either party, to surpass 40 years of service
15(non-consecutive); his congressional career spanned 46 years
16of cumulative service, a concurrent 50 years, and held a
17record not broken until 1959; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Joe Cannon died in his residence in Danville on
19November 12, 1926; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Joe Cannon was one of the most effective Speakers
21of the House in American history, so it was not a surprise when
22he was chosen as the namesake for the first House office

 

 

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1building; later, buildings would be named for Speakers Sam
2Rayburn and Nicholas Longworth as well former Congressman and
3President Gerald Ford; therefore, be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
5HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
6SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we designate the section of
7Illinois Route 1 in Danville beginning at Gibson Drive and
8ending at West Steidl Road as "Speaker Joe Cannon Highway";
9and be it further
 
10    RESOLVED, That the Illinois Department of Transportation
11is requested to erect at suitable locations, consistent with
12State and federal regulations, appropriate plaques or signs
13giving notice of the name "Speaker Joe Cannon Highway"; and be
14it further
 
15    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
16presented to the family of Joe Cannon, the Mayor of Danville,
17and the Secretary of Transportation.