page_title: Pat McCarran
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Pat McCarran / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: U.S. Senator Pat McCarran handing mail bag to Pony Express rider, Dedication Ceremony, McCarran Air Field, Las Vegas, Nevada Subjects: Airports Places: Las Vegas Notes: Title from item. Extent: 1 print (postcard)&#160;: linen texture, color&#160;; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. Accession #: 06_10_015504
context_page_description: Patrick Anthony McCarran was a Democratic United States Senator from Nevada from 1933 until 1954. McCarran was born in Reno, Nevada, attended Nevada State University, and was a farmer and rancher. In 1902 he won election to the Nevada Assembly, but in 1904 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Nevada State Senate. He completed private law studies and was admitted to the bar in 1905; in 1906 he won election as Nye County's district attorney. He served a two-year term, after which he relocated to Reno.
  From 1913 to 1917, McCarran was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada, and he served as chief justice from 1917 to 1919. In 1932 McCarran defeated Republican incumbent Tasker Oddie for Nevada's Class 3 Senate seat to become the state's first U.S. Senator born in Nevada; he was reelected three times, and served from 1933 until his death. In his Senate career, McCarran served as chairman of the District of Columbia, Judiciary, and Joint Foreign Economic Cooperation Committees. He died in Hawthorne, Nevada and was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Reno. McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas was later named in his honor.
context_section_description: McCarran is remembered as one of the few Democrats to oppose President Franklin D. Roosevelt and reject the New Deal. In addition, he was a proponent of the aviation industry; he was a sponsor of the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 and the Federal Airport Act of 1945, and was a proponent of establishing the United States Army Air Forces as the United States Air Force separate from the Army. He was also an ardent anti-Communist.
  Harold L. Ickes described McCarran as "easy-going, old-shoe 'Pat'" in a column criticizing McCarran as a tool of the oil companies, for not supporting certain regulations Ickes favored. American journalist John Gunther was also critical of McCarran's alleged corporate ties, writing that he resembled gold "in that he is soft, heavy, and not a good conductor."
  McCarran International Airport located in Las Vegas, Nevada is named after Senator McCarran.  McCarran Boulevard in Reno is named for Pat McCarran, as is McCarran Street in North Las Vegas.
  A statue of McCarran is included in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol.  Each state is allowed to display likenesses of two individuals; Nevada's are those of McCarran and Sarah Winnemucca.
caption: Postcard depicting McCarran at the dedication ceremony for the original McCarran Field, now Nellis Air Force Base
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