Let’s call it the Las Vegas International Airport!

The Las Vegas International Airport

The Clark County Division of Aviation, the people who run McCarran International Airport, (more commonly called the Las Vegas Airport) has now decided that they, after all these years, it need to change its name.  Why?  Because suddenly the man it’s named after, Senator Pat McCarran has been discovered to be… wait for it… a racist!

What’s worse is that they want to rename it for a truly despicable and truly racist senator who created the modern race relations nightmare a reality. They want to rename our main airport for the race-baiting Senator Harry Reid!! 

I know, shocking, isn’t it. A man who lived in the time when racism was a fact of life, is being demonized in order to be replaced by a man who is a racist in a time we know that it’s WRONG!  But the Democratic leaders in this state think it’s a better name.  Welcome to the great State of Nevada! 

I’m not a fan of rewriting history to appease some small group of people. And in this case, I am certainly not in favor of the name change for the simple reason is that it doesn’t make sense. You are wanting to rename an international airport because you think the man it’s named after was a racist in a time of racism, and you want to rename it for a man who used race as a political weapon when we know racism is wrong. How is that better??

McCarran International Airport

The airport most Las Vegas-bound tourists fly into is actually called The McCarren International Airport. It opened in 1948 and was given that name to honor the late Senator from Nevada, US Senator Pat McCarran. A member of the Democratic Party who contributed greatly to the development of aviation both in Las Vegas and the United States.

He’s the one who got Las Vegas to be the home to what is now known as Nellis Air Force Base and all the other projects that have come along because we are home to one of the most sophisticated Military pilot training bases in the world. This man’s actions resulted in thousands of new businesses being created. The airbase is always creating new technology that is adding thousands of new jobs and businesses into the Las Vegas economy annually.

And now they want to take that away for the sake of social politics.

Senator McCarran’s influence in aviation is legendary. He helped create the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the precursor to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  He was one of the legislators who pushed for the creation of the United States Air Force and he was instrumental in bringing what is now called Nellis Air Base to Las Vegas.

If it were not for Senator McCarran, we might not be home to the US Air Force Thunderbirds, The nuclear test site, and of course, Area 51. His importance to the aviation industry and to the Las Vegas aviation community (and our economy) can not be stressed enough. He did great things for ALL the people in this region.

 Yes, he lived in a time when racism was normal, it was part of everyday life.  So yes, how he lived, what he did, and how he reacted to events in his life when looked at and judged by our view of life today, could be seen as being racist. Dah! It’s how people lived back then.

In reality, some of what Senator McCarran accomplished could be seen as anything but being a racist. And that may explain the need for the democratic party to expunge his name from the history books. He did something to help the people he represented and that goes against the modern-day Democratic playbook.  

The Man Did Great Things

In 1952, Senator McCarran was co-sponsor of the McCarran–Walter Act, a law that abolished racial restrictions found in United States immigration and naturalization statutes going back to the Naturalization Act of 1790. He fixed a 230-year-old wrong. And it also imposed more rigid restrictions on quotas for immigrants entering the United States. It also stiffened the existing law relating to the admission, exclusion, and deportation of dangerous aliens under the McCarran Internal Security Act.

The Alternative is a New Version of the Old Version

Now, in replace of this man who did so much for this city and state, they want to rename this airport for a man who used race as a political tool at his command. A man who has done more harm to this region’s economy, than overall good.  A man who orchestrated the racial division in America that is still active today. He made the use of race the central part of how election campaigns are run today. 

Do they want to rename the Las Vegas international airport in “honor” of the former United States Senator from Nevada, Harry Reid?? What a joke!   Remember how Harry Reid described Obama? 

In his own words, Harry Reid described Obama as a “light-skinned African American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one”  – If that came from almost anyone else, they would have been tarred and feathered.  But not for Harry… That was his normal.

Living in Las Vegas, I have heard from others who know Harry and they all said basically the same thing “and?”  Meaning, for Harry Reid, that was pretty much normal language for him, the racist from Nevada.  

Let’s Not and Do This Instead

How about we not do that and just give it the name most people call it? Name it The Las Vegas International Airport!  Who can be offended by that?  And it works. Ok! No politics, no games. The name makes sense. It’s a simple, generic name that a lot of people use to describe the airport anyways.

If you are serious about changing the name of the international airport that serves the Las Vegas valley, that’s the best, drama-free name for it.

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