Cannon, Lou(is S.) 1933-

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CANNON, Lou(is S.) 1933-

PERSONAL: Born June 3, 1933, in New York, NY; son of Jack and Irene (Kohn) Cannon; married Virginia Oprian, February 2, 1953 (divorced, 1982); children: Carl, David, Judith, Jack. Education: Attended University of Nevada, 1950-52, and San Francisco State College (now University), 1952. Religion: Catholic.

ADDRESSES: Home—Summerland, CA. office—c/o Washington Post, 1150 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20071.

CAREER: Truck driver, 1954-56; reporter for various newspapers, 1956-59; Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, CA, managing editor, 1959-65; San Jose Mercury-News, San Jose, CA, copyeditor, 1961-65; State Capitol bureau chief, Sacramento, CA, 1965-69; Ridder Publications, Washington, DC, correspondent, 1969-72; Washington Post, Washington, DC, White House correspondent, beginning 1972. Military service: U.S. Army, 1953-54.

MEMBER: The Newspaper Guild, Sigma Delta Chi.

AWARDS, HONORS: American Political Science Association Award, 1968, for distinguished reporting of public affairs; California Taxpayers Award, 1969, for editorial writing; Beckman Award, 1984, for best overall White House coverage; Washington Journal Review "Best in Business" award, 1985; Merriman Smith award for excellence in presidential news coverage, 1986; Gerald R. Ford Prize, 1988, for distinguished reporting on the presidency.

WRITINGS:

Ronnie and Jesse: A Political Odyssey, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1969.

The McCloskey Challenge, Dutton (New York, NY), 1972.

Reporting an Inside View, California Journal Press, 1977.

(Compiler) Ronald Reagan, Political Profiles, 1980.

Reagan, Putnam (New York, NY), 1982.

President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1991, reprinted, Public Affairs (New York, NY), 2000.

official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD, Times Books (New York, NY), 1997.

Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio: A History Illustrated from the Collection of the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum, Public Affairs (New York, NY), 2001.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power, 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: A long-time journalist and White House correspondent, Lou Cannon has followed the career of former president Ronald Reagan since 1964, and has written three major books about Reagan at various stages of his career. Cannon once told CA: "I care a good deal, or think I do, about our political system and my intention is to write books that contribute to the understanding of that system and those who inhabit it."

Cannon's first book, Ronnie and Jesse: A Political Odyssey, was written at the start of Reagan's political career—he had recently been elected governor of California. In 1982, Cannon published Reagan, in which he traces Reagan's ascent to the presidency while only briefly examining the former president's early experiences in office. Writing in the New York Times, David E. Rosenbaum predicted that Reagan would "surely become a standard reference work for reporters and scholars. And, besides that," he added, "it's a good read."

Kevin Phillips described Reagan as a "well-crafted biography" in the Washington Post Book World, but noted that the book was short on analysis—probably because Cannon wanted future journalistic access to Reagan. Meanwhile, William E. Leuchtenburg criticized Cannon in the New Republic for mythologizing Reagan after having painstakingly pointed out the serious shortcomings of the man. Although Leuchtenburg praised Reagan for its wealth of research and for "any number of lively bits of information," the reviewer went on to fault its author for drawing conclusions inconsistent with the evidence presented.

Cannon's President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime is both a biography of Reagan and an account of his two-term presidency. Time magazine reviewer Laurence I. Barrett described Cannon's third book on Reagan this way: "The volume's heft and density are intimidating, but President Reagan is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the star of politics in the 1980s."

Praised by most major reviewers, Cannon's book is frequently described as a devastating portrait of the former president. In the New Republic, Hendrik Hertzberg called President Reagan "devastating and superb." Hertzberg noted that Cannon has covered Reagan for more than twenty-five years, and "is looked upon by Reagan's friends and enemies alike as a fair witness and an impartial judge." It is for this reason, argued Hertzberg, that the criticisms leveled are so disturbing. For instance, Cannon documents how a protective staff and Reagan's ever-watchful wife, Nancy, tried to downplay the former president's failings, such as his propensity for napping during high-level meetings and his practice of watching movies during most of the 183 weekends he spent at Camp David.

Sidney Blumenthal described Cannon's book in a similar manner in the Los Angeles Times Book Review.

"Cannon's diligent effort to understand the inner Reagan," wrote Blumenthal, "is utterly devoid of the slightest smirk. It is partly because Cannon's motives and methods are unimpeachable that his book is the most devastating of all." Blumenthal noted that Cannon's sympathy for his subject "at times crosses over into an unusual empathy," as when Cannon ascribes some of Reagan's shortcomings to having been raised by an alcoholic father. Finally, Michael Gartner, writing in the Washington Post Book World, observed that Cannon "devastates Ronald Reagan with facts, with details, with quotes, with examples and with anecdotes—tales the story-loving president would probably relish if they were not about him." In the Chicago Tribune Books, Richard Norton Smith commented upon Cannon's even-handed treatment of the former president, which leads Cannon to conclude that while not a great president, Reagan was a great American. Smith observed, "Admiring Reagan's political skills more than the causes for which they were enlisted, Cannon is always thoughtful and never yields to caricature." Gartner summed up Cannon's achievement when he wrote: "This is a major work of history, of biography, of politics. Ronald Reagan, and all of us, are lucky to have had Lou Cannon taking notes."

Departing from presidential topics, Cannon published official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD in 1997. The book takes an inside look at one of the most controversial events in late twentieth-century America: the 1991 videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King by a group of white Los Angeles police officers, and the subsequent acquittal of those officers on charges of criminal conduct. The court decision, made by an all-white jury, sparked civil unrest in the city, including store looting and attacks that left dozens dead and hundreds injured.

Cannon argues that the popularized perception of that case—an innocent African-American man set upon by the arbitrarily racist Los Angeles Police Department—is far from the complete story. Indeed, as Cannon's account reveals, "those generalizations turn out to be often over-simplified and sometimes just flat wrong," as Nation reviewer Peter Schrag wrote. The LAPD indeed had a history of racism, and charges of excessive force had been leveled against the lawenforcement system. But at the time of his beating, King "was not merely the innocent 'black motorist' of the news reports," Schrag noted. On that night in 1991 King, who had an arrest record, "was almost certainly drunk and very possibly under the influence of drugs; had led the cops on an eight-mile chase at speeds reaching 115 m.p.h….Hehad resisted arrest whenhe finally stopped; had thrown a 'swarm' of cops off his back when they tried to handcuff him by less violent means; had been seemingly impervious to two subsequent attempts to subdue him with an electric nonlethal 'taser' weapon; and had charged at the cop, Laurence Powell, who would do most of the beating with his baton when King was on the ground."

Those trial facts were little-reported in the news coverage of the case: "Reporting and fairness and Rodney King—three concepts that throughout the whole literally bloody saga in L.A. rarely made a joint appearance," as Scott Shuger commented in Washington Monthly. Many reviewers commented on the author's balanced portrayal of the officers and of King; Cannon "saves his harshest condemnations for the judges and politicians whose thoughtlessness created the conditions for the riots," said Commonweal's Ann Chih Lin. The author argues that the judge's decision to move the trial from diverse Los Angeles to mostly white Simi Valley—a famously pro-police community—was "for no reason other than personal convenience," as Lin wrote. "This would be heartbreaking, were it not for the rage that arises as story after story of irresponsibility, inexperience, or personal pique is carefully linked to the eventual riots. 'Official negligence' indeed—Cannon's story is one of venality compounded into catastrophe."

In attempting to explain the acquittal verdict by the Simi Valley jurors, Cannon "offers three reasons," noted New Republic reviewer James Wilson. The area's pro-police stance is one reason. Another proposed by Cannon, "is the trial use of the videotape. Most people thought, quite reasonably, that the edited version unmistakably revealed police brutality in operation. But at the trial, the complete tape, not the edited tape, was used; and as even prosecution lawyers admitted, this version shed a somewhat different light on the incident." The unedited tape shows blurry but accurate footage of King lunging at the police officers. Because of the poor quality of this segment, the action by King was not shown on broadcast television. Cannon's third reason concerns the LAPD's use of force. The "choke hold" procedure for subduing people under arrest had been a controversial one; in the seven years leading to its abolishment in 1982, fifteen people had died in chokeholds, seven of them African-American. The metal baton was considered the accepted alternative. Ironically, "when it was put into use, the number of complaints about excessive LAPD force shot up," wrote Wilson. "Astonishingly, the LAPD never trained its officers to subdue an unruly suspect by having a few officers drag him to the ground, which is a common police practice in many other cities."

In Official Negligence, Cannon tells not only the King story but also recounts two other traumatic moments from that time: the shooting death of a black teenager Latasha Harlins by Soon Ja Du, a Korean grocer who wrongly accused the girl of theft; and the attack by black rioters on white truck-driver Reginald Denny, broadcast live on television. The latter incident sparked nationwide emotion at what appeared to be black-on-white thuggery, but again, the news reports did not include all the facts. While television broadcast again and again the beating of Denny, few stories mentioned that the citizens who rushed to the man's aid were black, as were some of the doctors who treated the critically injured Denny.

The author recreates these incidents in what Jewell Taylor Gibbs called in San Francisco Chronicle a "'Rashomon' technique, which creates repetition (and reader burnout). Cannon presents versions of each case from differing perspectives. He thus shares with the reader his insights about the anxieties and assumptions of the police when they encountered a drunken Rodney King, who was fearful of violating his parole; of Ja Du and Harlins, who were mutually suspicious of each other's racial and cultural differences; [and] of Denny and his assailants, whom [Cannon] portrays as gang-member ensnared in an explosion of rage and resentment over racial injustice."

"It is my belief that I wrote about these events even-handedly and have a reputation for fairness," Cannon commented in an online question-and-answer session hosted by the Public Broadcasting System's News Hour. Critics overall agreed that he had accomplished his goal. "Cannon reminds us that few of the principals in this story survived unscathed," stated Schrag. "The four officers were all dismissed from the force…. King's permanent physical injuries compounded the problems of alcoholism." To the critic, Cannon deserves praise for writing "a major chapter in the urban history of this country, a story more about individuals than about great movements but one that in combining the two so elegantly, illuminates both."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, November 15, 1997, Mary Carroll, review of official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD, p. 522; December 1, 2001, Gilbert Taylor, review of Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio, p. 626.

Books & Culture, July, 1998, review of official Negligence, p. 38.

Commonweal, December 6, 1991; August 14, 1998, Ann Chih Lin, review of official Negligence, p. 28.

Criminal Justice Ethics, winter-spring, 2000, Peter Manning, review of official Negligence, p. 44.

Current, July-August, 1998, James Wilson, review of official Negligence, p. 34.

Economist, March 14, 1998, review of official Negligence, p. S3.

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, December, 1999, James Dudley, review of official Negligence, p. 17.

Guardian Weekly, April 19, 1992.

Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 1997, review of official Negligence, p. 1747.

Library Journal, January, 1998, Gregor Preston, review of official Negligence, p. 119.

Los Angeles Daily Journal, March 2, 1998, Jill Boekenoogen, "Revisiting Police, Court Role in L.A. Riots," p. 7.

Los Angeles Times, November 28, 1969; February 1, 1998, Jim Newton, review of official Negligence, p. 3.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, September 26, 1982; April 21, 1991, Sidney Blumenthal, review of President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, p. 1; February 1, 1998, review of official Negligence, p. 3.

Nation, January 15, 1983; March 9, 1998, Peter Schrag, review of official Negligence, p. 25.

National Review, February 10, 1970; April 20, 1998, Robert Edgerton, review of official Negligence, p. 52.

New Republic, December 6, 1982, William E. Leuchtenburg, review of Reagan; September 9, 1991, Hendrik Hertzberg, review of President Reagan; May 11, 1998, James Wilson, review of official Negligence, p. 30.

Newsweek, February 16, 1998, George Will, review of official Negligence, p. 80.

New Yorker, March 14, 1983; May 27, 1991.

New York Law Journal, April 28, 1998, Heather Ward, review of official Negligence, p. 2.

New York Review of Books, June 13, 1991.

New York Times, November 11, 1969; November 2, 1982, David E. Rosenbaum, review of Reagan; April 24, 1991.

New York Times Book Review, October 3, 1982, p. 1; September 23, 1984; May 5, 1991, p. 3; February 23, 1992; February 8, 1998, William Marimow, "Doing the Wrong Thing," p. 21.

Observer, June 7, 1992.

Publishers Weekly, December 15, 1997, review of Official Negligence, p. 38.

Rapport, number 3, 1998, review of official Negligence, p. 38.

Reason, June, 1998, Fred Siegel, review of official Negligence, p. 72.

San Francisco Chronicle, February 8, 1998, Jewell Taylor Gibbs, "The Legacy of Rodney King," p. 1.

Time, April 15, 1991, Laurence I. Barrett, review of President Reagan, p. 64; February 9, 1998, review of official Negligence, p. 99.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), April 21, 1991, Richard Norton Smith, review of President Reagan, p. 1; February 16, 1992.

Wall Street Journal, February 5, 1998, Christopher Caldwell, review of official Negligence, p. A20.

Washington Journalism Review, February, 1985.

Washington Monthly, January-February, 1998, Scott Shuger, review of official Negligence, p. 48.

Washington Post Book World, September 19, 1982, Kevin Phillips, review of Reagan, p. 1; August 19, 1984; April 21, 1991, Michael Gartner, review of President Reagan, p. 1; February 9, 1992; March 1, 1998, review of official Negligence, p. 7.