[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 40 (Thursday, March 21, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H2655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRIBUTE TO MARTHA HUGHES CANNON IN CONJUNCTION WITH WOMEN'S HISTORY 
                                 MONTH

  Mr. ORTON. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, in conjunction with Women's History Month, I rise today 
to pay tribute to an extraordinary woman in the political history of 
our Nation: Martha Hughes Cannon.
  Born on July 1, 1857, Martha Hughes Cannon led a distinguished life 
that included completing medical school at the age of 23, starting a 
medical practice in Utah, working tirelessly for the cause of women's 
suffrage, establishing Utah's first training school for nurses, and 
becoming the first woman in the history of our Nation to be elected to 
a State Senate.
  Martha Hughes Cannon was elected to the Utah State Senate in 1896--
her achievement all the more noteworthy since she ran in a field that 
pitted her against her husband, Angus M. Cannon. As a State senator, 
she introduced legislation to provide education for deaf and blind 
children, to create a State board of health, and to provide for rules 
and regulations in a number of sanitation and public health areas.
  In 1898, she traveled to Washington to deliver a powerful speech to a 
Congressional Committee in favor of granting women the right to vote in 
the United States.
  This year, Utah celebrates the 100th anniversary of its statehood. As 
part of statehood celebrations, a statue of Martha Hughes Cannon will 
be unveiled in the Utah State Capitol rotunda on July 24, 1996. It is a 
fitting tribute to her tremendous contribution to our State.

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