Lou Cannon, a veteran political reporter who became one of the most closely read chroniclers of Ronald Reagan’s rise from California politics to the White House, has died. He was 92. Cannon died Dec. 19 at a hospice facility in Santa Barbara, California, from complications of a stroke, his son Carl M. Cannon told The Washington Post.
Cannon built a career on reporting that treated access as a tool, not a trophy. After joining The Washington Post in 1972, he covered multiple administrations and wrote the weekly “Reagan & Co.” column during the 1980s, leaning on relationships he had built years earlier while covering Sacramento. Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said Cannon’s Reagan books “have never been transcended.” Cannon interviewed Reagan repeatedly across decades and wrote a string of books that began with “Ronnie and Jesse: A Political Odyssey” in 1969 and culminated in major volumes such as “President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime” (1991) and “Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power” (2003).
His reporting did not flatten Reagan into a mascot. Cannon wrote about achievements credited to Reagan, including tax cuts and Cold War-era diplomacy, while also documenting failures and scandals, including Iran-contra and the administration’s handling of AIDS. He framed Reagan as a skilled performer who prized presentation and could ad-lib, a point Cannon made in interviews after leaving daily White House coverage.
Colleagues described Cannon as tough-minded and fair. Journalist Ann Louis Bardach said he interviewed sources “over and over” and could press hard without cheap shots. In Santa Barbara, Cannon also weighed in on newsroom independence during the News-Press upheaval of the 2000s, backing journalists who protested ownership interference and trading public barbs with the paper’s publisher. He distilled his ethic in a line he repeated later in life: “Facts are precious. Opinions are cheap.”
Born June 3, 1933, Cannon began as a sports stringer in Nevada, served in the U.S. Army, and moved through California newsrooms before becoming a national political correspondent. He is survived by his wife, Mary L. Shinkwin, and his children Carl, Judith and Jackson Cannon, along with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
