Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Letter to the editor:

McCarran legacy worth forgetting

As a 40-year Las Vegas resident, I take pride in my city. But it’s difficult for me to justify to visitors why our airport is named for an undeniably bigoted senator, who ruined many innocent lives by the laws he initiated.

The pork barrel projects Sen. Pat McCarran brought to Nevada are not sufficient justifications for honoring this anti-Semitic, anti-gay and anti-immigrant Nevadan.

Many current Las Vegas residents are unfamiliar with McCarran. I am old enough to remember how friends and members of my family suffered because of the immigration policies he authored as a senator.

In 1994, the Cannon International Airport in Reno removed the name of the esteemed Sen. Howard Cannon and renamed it Reno-Tahoe International Airport. No significant cost to Reno was incurred. Similarly, the cost of changing the Las Vegas airport name will be minimal compared to the value of the resulting enhancement of the Las Vegas image.

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