Cavendish Wells Cannon (1895-1962)

Cavendish Cannon at the Danube River Conference, 1948.

   Endowed with a name that sounds more at home with English nobility than with U.S. diplomacy, Cavendish Wells Cannon was a Utah native who, after several postings in U.S. Consulates, achieved ambassadorial rank in 1947, when he was named as U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia. Following two years of service in that post, Cannon went on to hold other ambassadorships, including to Syria, Portugal, and Greece, and concluded his foreign service career as Ambassador to Morocco. The son of prominent newspaper editor John Quayle Cannon (1857-1931) and the former Elizabeth Ann Wells, Cavendish Wells Cannon was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 1, 1895. 

  A student in the public schools of Salt Lake City, Cannon went on to attend the University of Utah, graduating in 1916. Born into the Church of Latter-Day Saints, Cannon was at various times a member of the Pioneer Stake Sunday school board, a church organist, and for a time taught school in Hyrum, Utah. Following American entrance into World War I, Cannon enlisted in the Marine Corps and during the war was stationed in France. At the conclusion of his service, Cannon remained in Paris, where he undertook further study at the University of Paris. 

  Following the study of music in Vienna, Cannon elected to start a career in the diplomatic service, and, after completing the appropriate examination, was named by the state department to his first diplomatic post in Vienna in February 1920. He was named to the American legation in that city in 1921 and continued service in that country until 1927. Cannon would meet his wife Marie Lucia Otilie Horzetsky during his tenure and was married in January 1921. The couple were married for over forty years and would remain childless.

  In 1927 Cavendish Cannon was appointed as U.S. Consul in Zurich, Switzerland. His time in that city extended until 1933 when he joined the American legation at Sofia, Bulgaria, and in March of that year was designated 3rd secretary and Vice Consul. He advanced to Consul at Sofia in 1935 and following four years of service in that country was transferred to the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece.

From the Foreign Service Journal's 1936 photo supplement.

  Cannon's first stint as a diplomat in Greece saw him in the additional role of Consul for the Italian Islands of the Aegean beginning in 1939, and in March of that year was named 2nd secretary of the American legation in that country. During the Nazi invasion of Greece in 1941 Cannon was forced to relocate to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where he and his wife experienced further bombing by German aircraft, and by May 1941 had returned to New York. The following month Cannon began work in the state department's Division of European Affairs, and in 1944 he had advanced to the post of assistant chief of the Division of Southern European Affairs for the state department. 

   In May 1945 Cannon was dispatched to Lisbon, Portugal to serve as First Secretary and Consul. His time in Lisbon extended until early 1947 when President Harry Truman appointed him as U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia, a country then designated as "a stronghold of communist influence." Cannon's rise to ambassadorial rank proved to be noteworthy, as he was the "first Foreign Service officer to be upped from third class to ambassador". The American Foreign Service Journal further lauded Cannon's appointment, remarking:

"Cannon is rated as an outstanding expert in the Balkans. During the war he worked his way up to be chief of the State Departent's Division for Souther European Affairs. He accompanied Secretary Hull to the Moscow Conference of 1943 and was a political advisor at the Berlin Conference of 1945 and at the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in London."

From the Buffalo Courier Exchange, August 5, 1947.

    Cavendish Cannon's two-year tenure at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade saw him intercede as a troubleshooter in diplomatic strains between Yugoslavia and the United States, including the banning of two American news correspondents in 1947,  and the arrest and detainment of U.S. soldiers at Trieste in 1947 and 1948. In June 1948 Cannon was recalled to the United States for consultation in regards to growing tension between Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980) and Russia. Following his return to his post, Cannon is remarked as "strengthening" Tito's stand against Soviet interference, and in July of that year served as America's chief delegate to the Danube River Conference, an eleven nation gathering that argued control of Danube River shipping.

   Appointed as U.S. Ambassador to Syria in 1950, Cannon's time in Damascus saw the March 1951 bombing of the American legation in that city via dynamite. Despite not being home at the time of the bombing, Cannon's residence was damaged and a houseboy injured, with newspaper reports blaming Syrian nationalists as being behind the attack. 

  In February 1952 Cannon added another diplomatic feather to his cap when he was designated Ambassador to Portugal, a post he would fill for only a year before being named Ambassador to Greece. Cannon's tenure at Athens saw northern Greece greatly impacted by snowstorms in January-February 1956, storms that also impacted other parts of Europe and the Mediterranean. Following a plea from Cannon to the state department, a contingent of American transport planes flew to Greece from Wiesbaden Air Force Base in Germany and air-dropped 52 tons of food, clothing, and supplies, with further plans being made to assist Italy by boat.

From the Saratoga Saratogian, 1956.

  Cavendish W. Cannon began his final diplomatic assignment in 1956, being named as Ambassador to Morocco, a country that had only achieved independence from France in April of that year. He retired from the foreign service in 1958 and in the final years of his life resided with his wife in homes in Tangier, Morocco, and Lisbon, Portugal. Stricken with a gallbladder ailment in late 1962, Cannon would undergo an operation in October at an American military hospital in Seville, Spain. Just days after the operation Cannon suffered a heart attack and died at that hospital on October 7, 1962, aged 67. He was survived by his wife and was interred at a cemetery in Seville.

From the Provo Daily Herald, October 8, 1962.