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Clip 1 from interview with Renee Diamond, November 20, 2014

Audio file

Audio file
Download jhp000148-001.mp3 (audio/mpeg; 1.53 MB)

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Narrator

Description

In this clip, Diamond recounts meeting Senator Howard Cannon in a local store.

Digital ID

jhp000148-001
    Details

    Publisher

    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    When Leo and I moved into this apartment, I wanted to line the shelves. So we went to Woolco when the kids went to school. Because Leo was retired, we'd look for things to do. Wake up in the morning and take the kids to school. No, they walked actually. Sent them to school. And Leo would say, "What do you want to do today? Do you have a doctor? Do we need to do shoe repair?" So I said, "Let's go to Woolco." And we're pushing a cart through Woolco. And I was always involved in politics, Beverly Hills Young Democrats and democratic politics, always issues, never a personality. So I mean it was always about fair housing and integration and so on. And so we came here and we were pushing the cart through Woolco and I said, "Oh, my God, Leo, that's U.S. Senator Howard Cannon. He's like on TV." TV wasn't the big thing it is now, so it was unusual. But I remembered him from the Democratic Convention. And he sees me. Senator Cannon is there with his wife, Dorothy, and he sees me whispering to Leo. And he walks over and holds his hand out and says, "Hello, I'm Howard Cannon. This is my wife, Dorothy." And we said, "Oh, we're new here. I'm so excited. I love politics." He says, "Oh, you have to join the Democratic Party." Blah, blah, blah. But when we left there, I said to my husband, "In L.A. and in California in general what are the chances of meeting a U.S. Senator? Slim and none." Even when the Beverly Hills Young Democrats, the local congress member, we all supported him and worked for him, but he never showed up at anything. Well, in Las Vegas everybody showed up for everything. That was just stunning to me.