From the Howard Cannon Photograph Collection (PH-00192). Officially opening the Howard W. Cannon Senatorial papers to the public.

From the Howard Cannon Photograph Collection (PH-00192). Officially opening the Howard W. Cannon Senatorial papers to the public.

From the Howard Cannon Photograph Collection (PH-00192)

Description given with photo: "Prepare to Move "Hercules" Wing, Culver City, Calif. -- One of the two 34-ton wing sections of Howard Hughes' eight-engined Hercules, world's largest flying boat, is put on house-moving dollies in Culver City, Calif., before beginning the 28-mile journey to Los Angeles Harbor, where the mammoth airplane will be assembled for its first test flight, supposedly around the first of the year. A two-day trip will see the wing- 19 feet high, 49 feet wide, 160 feet long - at the $200,000 graving dock at Terminal Island, Calif., which was built specifically for the assembly of the craft. Note comparative size of men working on the wind. Credit (ACME). 6-12-46."

An unidentified man (left) stands with U. S. Nevada Senator Howard Cannon (Center), and Las Vegas Mayor Oran K. Gragson (right). The location where the photograph was taken is unknown. Oran Kenneth Gragson (February 14, 1911 – October 7, 2002) was an American businessman and politician. He was the longest-serving mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1959 to 1975. Gragson, a member of the Republican Party, was a small business owner who was elected Mayor on a reform platform against police corruption and for equal opportunity for people of all socio-economic and racial categories. Gragson died in a Las Vegas hospice on October 7, 2002, at the age of 91. The Oran K. Gragson Elementary School located at 555 N. Honolulu Street, Las Vegas, NV 89110 was named in his honor. Howard Walter Cannon (January 26, 1912 – March 5, 2002) was an American politician. He served as a United States Senator from Nevada from 1959 until 1983 as a member of the Democratic Party. In 1956, Cannon ran for the United States House of Representatives to succeed Republican incumbent Clarence Clifton Young, who ran for the U.S. Senate, but lost the Democratic primary to former Congressman Walter Baring, who then won the general election. In 1958, he was elected to the United States Senate, unseating Republican Senator George W. Malone with 58% of the vote.. Cannon was nearly defeated in his first re-election bid in 1964, holding off Republican Lieutenant Governor Paul Laxalt in one of the closest Senate elections ever.

Typed onto a piece of paper attached to the image: "As Howard Hughes Was Welcomed to Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Cal. -- Mayor Frank L. Shaw of Los Angeles, Howard Hughes, Will Hays, "Czar" of the movies, and Governor Frank Merriam of California (left to right) are pictured at the luncheon in the Biltmore Hotel which followed the wild ovation for Hughes and his four companions on his record-smashing world flight as they arrived in Los Angeles from their triumph from the East. Credit Line (ACME) 8/2/38"