CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Postwar Recovery

The horrors¹ and devastation of World War II finally ended in 1945. President Heber J. Grant died on 14 May of that year, just one week after the fighting in Europe had ended and three months before the surrender of Japan. His successor, George Albert Smith, faced the challenge of leading the Church during an era when the world needed to rebuild and overcome the hate that existed following the war. Church leaders reminded the Saints and the world that the only hope for an enduring peace was adherence to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A Loving Leader for the Postwar Years

President George Albert Smith’s experience and Christlike love for others suited him well for this task. President Smith affirmed, “I do not have an enemy that I know of. . . . All men and all women are my Father’s children, and I have sought during my life to observe the wise direction of the Redeemer of mankind—to love my neighbor as myself.”²

George Albert Smith was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1903. He represented the fourth generation of the Smith family to serve as a General Authority. At the time of his call, his father, John Henry Smith, was serving as an Apostle. This was the first and only time in Church history that a father and son have served simultaneously in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

From 1919 to 1921, Elder George Albert Smith had presided over the European Mission. In the aftermath of World War I, several countries refused to readmit the missionaries. As Elder Smith negotiated with these governments to gain permission for missionaries to enter their borders, he gained vital experience that proved valuable when the Church faced similar circumstances following the close of World War II.

Upon his return home from the European Mission, Elder Smith was called to preside over the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association. He served in this capacity for over a decade. For years he had been vitally interested in the youth. He was a prime booster of the Boy Scout movement from its earliest days. In 1932 he was elected to the national executive committee of the Boy Scouts of America. Two years later Elder Smith received the Silver Buffalo, the highest award presented by this national organization, in recognition of his outstanding service. His concern for young people assisted President Smith as he counseled returning servicemen about meeting their challenges following the end of World War II.

Beginning with the latter months of 1945, thousands of Latter-day Saints were discharged from military service. The return to civilian life was not without problems, and the Church took steps to help its members successfully make this transition. Bishops interviewed servicemen promptly and saw to it that they received Church callings. Priesthood quorums sponsored welcome home parties for the servicemen and assisted them in finding employment. The Mutual Improvement Association played a key role in fellowshipping veterans through athletic and social activities.

Helping the Saints in War-Torn Europe

A high priority for Church leaders following the close of World War II was reestablishing contact with the Saints in war-devastated Europe where communication had been cut off for up to six years. Hundreds of Saints were left homeless when cities were destroyed, especially in Germany and Holland. An acute shortage of food after the war greatly compounded their suffering.

Latter-day Saint servicemen in the Allied armies brought the first help to these suffering members. Hugh B. Brown, president of the British Mission, was the first Church official to visit the European continent following the end of the war. Only two months after the hostilities in Europe had ended, President Brown flew to Paris. There, in the large ballroom of an exclusive hotel, he conducted a meeting attended by 350 servicemen and local Saints. He then continued his journey by train to Switzerland for a hectic series of meetings. Everywhere he went he sought to engender faith and hope among his listeners.

In the fall of 1945 the Church was sending relief supplies to Europe. Since they were sent through the regular mail, only small packages were accepted, and the cost was prohibitive; nevertheless, by January 1946 the Church had shipped thirteen thousand of these packages. Many more were mailed by individual members of the Church. In the meantime the Church sought means of shipping larger quantities. This required the cooperation of government officials. Consequently, President George Albert Smith, together with Elders John A. Widtsoe and David O. McKay, went to Washington, D.C., where they spent a considerable amount of time conferring with ambassadors and other officials of some of the foreign nations. President Smith later described his twenty-minute interview on 3 November with President Harry S. Truman at the White House:

“‘I have just come to ascertain from you, Mr. President, what your attitude will be if the Latter-day Saints are prepared to ship food and clothing and bedding to Europe.’

“He smiled and looked at me, and said: ‘Well, what do you want to ship it over there for? Their money isn’t any good.’

“I said: ‘We don’t want their money.’ He looked at me and asked: ‘You don’t mean you are going to give it to them?’

“I said: ‘Of course, we would give it to them. They are our brothers and sisters and are in distress. God has blessed us with a surplus, and we will be glad to send it if we can have the co-operation of the government.’

“He said: ‘You are on the right track,’ and added, ‘we will be glad to help you in any way we can.’”³

On 14 January 1946 the First Presidency announced that Elder Ezra Taft Benson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who had extensive experience in national agricultural organizations, was assigned to reopen the missions in Europe and attend to the spiritual and temporal needs of those Saints. The First Presidency promised, “Your influence [will] be felt for good by all you come in contact with, and . . . you and they [will] be made to feel that there is a power and spirit accompanying you not of man.”⁴ Events would amply demonstrate the prophetic nature of this promise.

Elder Benson was accompanied by Frederick W. Babbel, who had served in the Swiss-German Mission just before the outbreak of the war. They left Salt Lake City on 29 January 1946 for England. During this great mission they frequently referred to a scriptural promise, which they regarded as being fulfilled in their behalf: “And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I the Lord have commanded them” (D&C 1:5). Elder Benson related in general conference, “Barriers have melted away. Problems that seemed impossible to solve have been solved, and the work in large measure has been accomplished through the blessings of the Lord.” Two days after arriving in London, they secured ideal facilities for their headquarters, despite a severe housing shortage.⁵

Elder Ezra Taft Benson became the first civilian American authorized to travel throughout all four occupied zones of Germany. His travels were often characterized by an amazing series of events enabling him to meet his demanding schedule. He and his associates accepted these circumstances as manifestations of divine intervention. Typical were these experiences as he traveled with LDS chaplain Howard S. Badger from Paris to the Hague. Railway officials in Paris advised him that there would be a day’s delay because Holland could only be entered through the eastern border rather than through a more direct route. Elder Benson noticed a train preparing to leave and asked the stationmaster where it was going. He was told it was going to Antwerp, Belgium.

“I told him we would take that train and he assured me that we would lose an extra day because all connections between Antwerp and Holland had been cut off as a result of the war.

“But I felt impressed to board that train in spite of his protestations. . . .

“When we arrived at Antwerp, . . . the stationmaster was very upset and advised us that we would have to back-track somewhat and lose an extra day. Again I saw another train getting ready to leave and inquired where it was going. We were advised that this was a local shuttle-service which stopped at the Dutch border where the large bridge across the Maas river still lay in ruins. I felt impressed that we should board that train in spite of the stationmaster’s protests.

“When we reached the Maas river, we all had to pile out. As we stood picking up our luggage, we noticed an American army truck approaching us. Brother Badger flagged it down and, upon learning that there was a pontoon bridge nearby, he persuaded them to take us into Holland. When we arrived at the first little village on the Dutch side, we were pleasantly surprised to find this local shuttle-service waiting to take us into The Hague.”⁶

One of Elder Benson’s early visits was to Karlsruhe, a key German city on the Rhine River. Upon inquiring where the Latter-day Saints might be meeting, Frederick W. Babbel recounted that the group was directed to an area of nearly demolished buildings.

“Parking our car near massive heaps of twisted steel and concrete, we climbed over several large piles of rubble and threaded our way between the naked blasted walls in the general direction which had been pointed out to us. As we viewed the desolation on all sides of us, our task seemed hopeless. Then we heard the distant strains of ‘Come, Come Ye Saints’ being sung in German. . . .

“We hurried in the direction of the sound of the singing and arrived at a badly scarred building which still had several usable rooms. In one of the rooms we found 260 joyous saints still in conference, although it was already long past their dismissal time. . . .

“With tears of gratitude streaming down our cheeks, we went as quickly as possible to the improvised stand. Never have I seen President Benson so deeply and visibly moved as on that occasion.”⁷

Elder Benson later described his feelings during the meeting in this way: “The Saints had been in session for some two hours waiting for us, hoping that we would come because the word had reached them that we might be there for the conference. And then for the first time in my life I saw almost an entire audience in tears as we walked up onto the platform, and they realized that at last, after six or seven long years, representatives from Zion, as they put it, had finally come back to them. Then as the meeting closed, prolonged at their request, they insisted we go to the door and shake hands with each one of them as he left the bombed-out building. And we noted that many of them, after they had passed through the line went back and came through the second and third time, so happy were they to grasp our hands. As I looked into their upturned faces, pale, thin, many of these Saints dressed in rags, some of them barefooted, I could see the light of faith in their eyes as they bore testimony to the divinity of this great latter-day work, and expressed their gratitude for the blessings of the Lord.”⁸

Elder Benson felt a sense of urgency to visit the scattered Saints in what had been East Prussia (a part of Germany) but now was Polish territory. Repeated visits to the Polish embassy in London, however, failed to secure the needed visas to Warsaw. Brother Babbel reported:

“After a few moments of soul-searching reflection, Elder Benson said quietly but firmly, ‘Let me pray about it.’

“Some two or three hours after President Benson had retired to his room to pray, he stood in my doorway and said with a smile on his face, ‘Pack your bags. We are leaving for Poland in the morning!’

“At first I could scarcely believe my eyes. He stood there enveloped in a beautiful glow of radiant light. His countenance shone as I imagine the Prophet Joseph’s countenance shone when he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.”⁹

After flying to Berlin, Elder Benson obtained the necessary clearances for his party to go to Poland, although they had been definitely told that the Polish Military Mission in Berlin had no authority to issue them visas without first consulting with Warsaw, a fourteen-day process. Upon arriving in Poland, Elder Benson’s party drove to the small town of Zelbak where a German branch of the Church had been located. Not a sign of life was visible upon the streets as they entered the village. They asked the only woman in sight where they might find the branch president. Elder Babbel again recalled:

“We had spotted the woman hiding behind a large tree. Her expression was one of fear as we stopped, but upon learning who we were she greeted us with tears of gratitude and joy. . . .

“. . . Within minutes the cry went from house to house, ‘The brethren are here! The brethren are here!’ Soon we found ourselves surrounded by about fifty of the happiest people we had ever seen.

“Having seen our strange jeep approaching with what they feared to be Russian or Polish soldiers, they had abandoned the streets as if by magic. Likewise, when they learned of our true identity and mission, the village became alive with joyous women and children—women and children, because only two of our former twenty-nine priesthood holders remained.

“That morning in fast and testimony meeting over one hundred saints had assembled together to bear their testimonies and to petition Almighty God in song, in fasting and prayer, to be merciful to them and let the elders again come to visit them. Our sudden and unheralded arrival, after almost complete isolation from Church and mission headquarters since early 1943, was the long-awaited answer, so wonderful that they could scarcely believe their good fortune.”¹⁰

Elder Benson found the European Saints eager to move forward again in promoting the Lord’s work. Nevertheless, substantial problems had to be overcome before Church programs could be reimplemented. Many branches could not be fully organized because so many of their priesthood leaders were lost during the war. Furthermore, when meetinghouses and homes were destroyed, the Saints lost not only material possessions, but items of spiritual importance as well. In some branches, for example, not even copies of the scriptures remained. Nevertheless, Elder Benson reported, “We found that our members had carried on in a marvelous way. Their faith was strong, their devotion greater, and their loyalty unsurpassed.”¹¹

One of Elder Benson’s most important assignments was to supply desperately needed food and clothing for the Saints in Europe. In Germany, where the needs were particularly serious, members had already exhibited courage, faith, and resourcefulness in meeting the emergency. During the last months of the war, they had gathered clothing, hidden it in safe places, and shared it cooperatively. Richard Ranglack, the mission president in Berlin, compared these German members to the early Latter-day Saints who were driven closer together by the difficulties they suffered.¹²

As the war ended, Dutch Saints planted potatoes wherever they could obtain land. They shared their harvest with their brothers and sisters in Germany even though their nations had recently been enemies. By mid-March, Elder Benson had made the necessary arrangements with government and military authorities in Europe to have additional relief supplies sent from America.

To supplement the supplies already in storage in the United States, the Church had launched drives for used clothing and other goods. President George Albert Smith took the lead in demonstrating his love and concern for the suffering Saints in Europe. He donated at least two suits fresh from the cleaners and several shirts still in their wrappings from the laundry. During a visit to Welfare Square to inspect the results of these clothing drives, he took off his topcoat and laid it on one of the piles of clothing being prepared for shipment to Europe. Despite the protests of his associates he insisted on returning to the office without his coat.¹³

Military and other officials in Europe were amazed at the speed with which the shipments arrived from the Church in America. European Church leaders openly wept for joy and gratitude as they examined clothing and felt the sacks of grain when visiting the storehouses where the welfare goods arrived. In all, some ninety-three railroad carloads of supplies were sent.

Elder Benson was also instrumental in extending missionary work to Finland. On 16 July 1946, atop a beautiful hill near Larsmo, Finland, he dedicated and blessed that land that it might be receptive to the gospel. The following day, a surprising 245 persons attended a public meeting in Helsinki and manifested genuine interest.¹⁴ A separate Finnish mission was organized the following year.

Elder Benson returned home in December 1946 having traveled more than sixty thousand miles during his ten-month assignment in Europe. By this time newly called presidents were once again directing the missions there.

Reopening the Pacific

Reopening missionary work in the Pacific was not as difficult as it was in Europe. Although missionaries had been withdrawn, except from Hawaii, mission presidents had remained in their assigned countries. Furthermore, most of these areas were never in actual combat zones. Following the end of the hostilities missionaries were again assigned there without difficulty.

The appointment of Elder Matthew Cowley as president of the Pacific Mission was announced by the First Presidency in late 1946. Prior to this Elder Cowley had presided for eight years over the New Zealand Mission, including the war period, and had been called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles almost immediately following his release from his mission assignment. He fulfilled a function to the missions of the Pacific similar to that of Elder Benson in Europe. During the next three years Elder Cowley traveled widely in the Pacific and had many remarkable experiences. On one occasion, for example, he gave blessings to fifty people. On another day he blessed seventy-six people, many of whom got in line as early as 5 A.M.

Elder Cowley noted in his journal, “This seemed the usual thing. . . .

“And they are made well, such is their faith. . . . I know that when I lay my hands upon their heads that they are made whole. It is not my faith. I just have faith in their faith.”¹⁵ Elder Cowley’s great love for the peoples of the Pacific, his deep faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and his enthusiastic leadership helped provide the impetus for Church growth throughout the area.

The Church faced a particularly great challenge in Japan. The mission there had been closed since 1924. By 1945 only about fifty members remained in the Land of the Rising Sun, but Latter-day Saint servicemen among the American occupation forces made an important contribution to the future of the Church in Japan. Many were anxious to bless the Japanese people with the spirit and message of the gospel. When three Mormon soldiers were offered a cup of tea in a curio shop in the village of Narumi, they declined and took the opportunity to explain the Church’s teachings concerning the sanctity of the body. This led to further gospel conversations with one of the people there, and soon Tatsui Sato and his family became the first postwar converts baptized in Japan. Members of this family became stalwarts in the gospel. Brother Sato served as the Church’s chief translator in Japan. The young serviceman who baptized Mrs. Sato was Boyd K. Packer, a future member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.¹⁶ Other convert baptisms followed, and thus foundations were laid for the eventual reopening of the Japanese Mission.

In 1947 the First Presidency called Edward L. Clissold, who had served as a military officer in Japan with the Allied occupation forces, to return and open the mission there. Upon his arrival, he found the climate far more conducive to successful missionary work than in former decades. There was a spiritual void that needed to be filled, and many people actively sought for meaning in life. The first five missionaries assigned to Japan were former servicemen who returned to share the gospel with the nation that had so recently been their enemy. By 1949 there were 135 Church members in Japan.

The years following the close of World War II were years of continued growth in various areas of North America where Latter-day Saints sought employment during the war. Furthermore, the Church reached a significant milestone in 1947 when membership passed the one million mark. The postwar years were also a period of revitalization for the Church’s varied programs and activities.

Postwar Revival in Church Activities

Missionary work and the construction of Church buildings were undoubtedly the activities most hampered by wartime restrictions. With the ending of hostilities, however, these and other programs were not only revived, they were expanded in order to better meet the needs of the Saints. As wartime restrictions on calling missionaries were lifted, many young men who had been forced to postpone their missions accepted the opportunity to serve. The rapid influx of missionaries pushed their numbers to new highs. From an average of only 477 missionaries serving in 1945, the number soared to 2,244 a year later. As before the war, most of the missionaries were young elders. This meant that there were many new missionaries serving in the field who lacked experience in teaching the gospel and could profit from some help and direction.

The most widely circulated postwar proselyting outline was prepared by Richard L. Anderson in the Northwestern States Mission. He built on methods he had worked out while serving as a stake missionary when he was in the military. According to his plan, the missionary’s goal was not merely to hand out tracts, but to be invited into homes where the gospel message could be presented. Doctrinal discussions stressed a careful study of the scriptures and were arranged in a logical sequence leading to conversion. As these improved methods were adopted throughout the mission, the results were apparent. In 1949 the Northwestern States Mission had more than one thousand convert baptisms in a single year.

As the pace of missionary work picked up, the administrative load of mission presidents increased. Therefore, in 1947 the General Authorities directed mission presidents around the world to call counselors from among the missionaries and local Melchizedek Priesthood bearers. Elder Spencer W. Kimball later declared that this decision to appoint counselors had been a revelation to the Presidency of the Church.¹⁷

While mission organization was being strengthened and proselyting missionaries were refining their methods of teaching the gospel, the Church also took advantage of other means to share its message with the world. With the end of wartime gasoline rationing and the resulting upsurge in travel, Temple Square became a tremendous missionary tool. In 1948 the number of visitors to Temple Square topped the one million mark for the first time.¹⁸ That same year the annual Hill Cumorah pageant, “America’s Witness for Christ,” was resumed as a missionary tool that presented the story of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel.

Also during these postwar years the Church became increasingly involved in motion picture production. New Latter-day Saint films were produced during the late 1940s about Church historic sites, Temple Square, and the welfare program. Likewise, as television developed during the postwar years, the Church was quick to make use of it.¹⁹ The October 1949 general conference was the first to be telecast.²⁰

The shortage of critical materials had almost halted the Church building program during the war. As supplies once again became available, the Church embarked on an ambitious chapel-building program. By 1949, two hundred local meetinghouses were completed, and the total reached nine hundred only three years later. In the mid-1950s, more than half of all Latter-day Saint buildings in use had been constructed since the end of World War II. Expenditures for these building projects accounted for more than half of the appropriations from general Church funds during these years.

In 1937, President Heber J. Grant had announced plans to build a temple in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and construction began two years later. On 19 October 1941 the capstone was laid, and from the outside the structure appeared to be completed. Less than two months later, however, the attack on Pearl Harbor propelled the United States into war, and the temple’s completion was delayed as building materials suddenly became scarce. By mid-1945 the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple was finally ready for dedication. In his dedicatory prayer, President George Albert Smith expressed gratitude for the cessation of war and prayed that the peoples of the world might be inclined to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, thereby making peace permanent.

The microfilming of vital records for genealogical purposes, interrupted by the war, resumed even before the conflict ended. In March 1945 the Church began microfilming 365 English parish registers. During 1947, Archibald F. Bennett, secretary of the Genealogical Society, spent four months in Europe conferring with government and religious officials, where he obtained permission for the society to microfilm in England, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, northern Italy, and France. In the wake of war most archivists eagerly cooperated with the microfilmers to ensure that a copy of their records would be preserved in case the originals were destroyed. The society also presented each library or church with a copy of the material microfilmed, allowing the public to have access to the information without handling fragile originals.

By early 1950 twenty-two full-time microfilmers were at work in the United States and several European countries. As copies of these vital records became available through the Church’s genealogical library, the Saints were better able to conduct the research necessary to identify those people whom temple ordinances could be performed for.

Postwar social trends placed stress on the family and caused Church leaders to give added attention to the home. The end of the war witnessed a sharp increase in the number of marriages, followed by a postwar baby boom. There were more new families and new parents than at any previous time in the Church’s history. Unfortunately, however, the rate of divorces in the United States almost doubled between 1940 and 1950. Therefore the Church gave considerable attention to the home and family during the postwar years. In 1946 several Church organizations inaugurated programs to strengthen families and promote a regular “family hour.”

The uprooting of families and other wartime pressures posed significant challenges for the youth of the Church, causing General Authorities to instruct local leaders to look out for their welfare. To provide wholesome recreational activities for the youth, the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Associations sponsored road shows and other dramatic presentations, speech contests, and music festivals. Hundreds of colorfully costumed dancers filled football fields in regional dance festivals. Ward softball and basketball teams played for stake, region, and finally Churchwide championships; these Church-sponsored activities were thought to be the largest athletic leagues in the world. The varied programs blessed the Church’s youth and attracted widespread attention and praise.

Church leaders encouraged the Saints to make spiritual growth a priority in their homes. They emphasized honoring Sunday as a holy day of worship. On Sunday morning men and boys attended an hour-long priesthood meeting. Afterward the entire family went to Sunday School; the half-hour “opening exercises” included two-and-a-half–minute talks given by two young people of the ward. The congregation would then have a ten-minute hymn practice followed by nearly an hour of class instruction from the scriptures and other related gospel topics. Families again returned later in the afternoon or evening for sacrament meeting. This meeting also lasted an hour and a half and featured inspirational music, often by the ward choir, and talks on religious subjects given by both the youth and adult members of the Church. On one or more Sunday evenings during the month, youth and adult groups conducted “firesides,” informal discussions followed by refreshments. The Saints’ Church activity increased rapidly during the postwar years.

During the postwar years the Church also continued efforts to enhance the health care of its members. Hospitals in Salt Lake City and Ogden were renovated and enlarged, and the Church cooperated with rural communities in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming to open and operate small hospitals. Construction began in 1949 for the 1.25-million-dollar Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, which was to replace the small facility being used on North Temple Street. This modern facility would provide care to children of all religions and races. Care was given free to families unable to pay.

Concern for the Lamanites

The 1940s brought a significant expansion of Church programs for the American Indians and related groups identified as descendants of the Book of Mormon peoples. Twentieth century missionary work among the native Americans began in 1936, when the First Presidency directed the Snowflake Stake in northeastern Arizona to open formal missionary work among the Navajos, Hopis, and Zunis. Soon other stakes became similarly involved.

These efforts received a significant boost in November 1942 when George Jumbo, a Navajo Latter-day Saint, went to Salt Lake City for back surgery. Before returning home, his wife Mary expressed the desire to meet President Heber J. Grant. Arrangements were made, and Mary stood before him and “pled with the President for missionaries to be sent amongst her people.” President Grant, with tears running down his cheeks, turned to Elder George Albert Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and said, “‘With all of your great responsibilities as the President of the Council of the Twelve would you please accept one more assignment and get this missionary work started amongst those people . . . and will you please see to it that it gets started on a permanent basis and that it will grow and increase instead of diminishing and fading away.’”²¹ Early the following year the Navajo-Zuni Mission was organized. Missionaries were soon sent to other tribes, reaching Indians throughout the United States and Canada.

Beginning in 1945 another group of Lamanites was blessed in quite a different way. Many Spanish-speaking members did not understand the full meaning of the temple ceremonies as presented in English. To assist these members, the Mesa Arizona Temple presented the ordinances in Spanish for the first time. At a special Lamanite conference in Mesa early in November 1945, about two hundred people gathered, some coming from as far as Mexico City. Most of these Saints made a substantial economic sacrifice to travel the long distances to Mesa; some even gave up jobs. President David O. McKay, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, congratulated those who had come. The history-making Spanish-speaking endowment sessions commenced two days later.²² Those who attended the Lamanite conference discovered that the Church included more than just the small branch where they worshiped each week. During succeeding years the Lamanite conference and Spanish-speaking temple sessions at the Mesa Arizona Temple became eagerly anticipated annual events.

In 1946, President George Albert Smith called Elder Spencer W. Kimball to give special attention and leadership to the Lamanite people. Elder Kimball reflected:

“I do not know when I began to love the children of Lehi. . . . It may have come from my patriarchal blessing which was given to me by Patriarch Samuel Claridge, when I was nine years of age. One line of the blessing reads:

“‘You will preach the gospel to many people, but more especially to the Lamanites. . . .’

“. . . and now, forty-two years after the promise, President George Albert Smith called me to this mission, and my blessing was fulfilled.”²³

While touring the Mexican Mission in 1947, Elder Kimball envisioned a glorious future for the Lamanite people, which he spoke of at the Lamanite conference in Mesa during November of that year. He saw them not as the servants of others, but as the owners of banks and businesses. He envisioned them as construction engineers, political leaders, lawyers, and doctors. As newspaper publishers and as authors of books or articles, he anticipated that they would have great influence. Elder Kimball stated, “I saw the Church growing in rapid strides and I saw wards and stakes organized. I saw stakes by the hundreds.

“I saw a temple and expect to see it filled with men and women.”²⁴

Thirty years later President Kimball presided over the area conference in Mexico City, where he again told the people of his 1947 vision and remarked that he could see it was well on its way to fulfillment.

One of the Indians’ most critical needs was for education. A unique program to help meet this need had its beginning in central Utah during the late 1940s. Golden R. Buchanan was a member of the Sevier Stake presidency in Richfield, Utah. During the autumn of 1947 he observed the deplorable condition of some migrant Indian agricultural workers in the area. Speaking at a stake conference he admonished the Saints to take better care of their Lamanite brethren.

Shortly afterward a member from a neighboring town came to President Buchanan and told him of a teenage Indian girl named Helen John who did not want to return to the reservation with her family but was determined to remain and go to school. She pleaded with her Latter-day Saint employers, “‘If you’ll let me pitch my tent out back of your house, I promise I won’t be any bother to you. I’ll take care of myself, but I would like to live where I can go to school with your girls.’” President Buchanan was impressed with the idea. He envisioned that “if a program of this sort were undertaken by the Church that literally hundreds of Indian children would have the privilege of living in LDS homes where they not only could be taught in school but they could be taught the principles of the gospel.” He outlined his ideas in a letter to Elder Spencer W. Kimball. Elder Kimball personally invited the Buchanans to take Helen into their home. Several other Indian youth were also placed in other homes in the area.

From these beginnings the program grew. It became an official Church-sponsored activity in the 1950s. Eventually, as many as five thousand students a year were placed in Latter-day Saint homes, especially throughout the western United States and Canada.

The Pioneer Centennial

In the midst of the postwar revival of Church activity, the celebration of the pioneer centennial in 1947 focused the Saints’ attention on their heritage. President George Albert Smith headed the civic committee planning appropriate observances. Few Church leaders, if any, excelled President Smith’s zeal in commemorating the achievements of the past. During the spring and summer, dozens of musical performances, art exhibits, sporting events, and dramatic productions marked the occasion. The pageant, “Message of the Ages,” which had been so popular during the 1930 centennial, was again staged in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Fourteen hundred people were involved in the production, and a total of 135,000 people witnessed the twenty-five performances.

A new musical production, “Promised Valley,” was presented in the University of Utah stadium for two weeks with more than 85,000 people attending. Featuring original music by Crawford Gates, a noted Latter-day Saint composer, this production depicted the frustrations and dedication of the early pioneers. It was presented throughout the Church by local MIA groups and later became a popular summer attraction in Salt Lake City. A group driving seventy-two automobiles outfitted with canvas covers and plywood oxen to look like covered wagons reenacted the original pioneer trek from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley.

The centennial celebration climaxed on 24 July, exactly one hundred years from the day the first pioneer company entered the Salt Lake Valley. A gigantic “Days of 47” parade included numerous floats honoring these early founders, and the United States post office issued a commemorative stamp in memory of the pioneers. The highlight of the celebration was President George Albert Smith’s dedication of the sixty-foot-high “This Is the Place” monument near the mouth of Emigration Canyon east of Salt Lake City. The goodwill developing between the Saints and other people on this occasion was symbolized by President Smith’s picture on the cover of Time magazine.

Reflecting on the significance of the pioneer centennial, the First Presidency declared: “As that small group of Pioneers looked upon what appeared to be a sterile desert, so today the Church faces a world lying in moral lethargy and spiritual decline. A sense of responsibility to build up the Kingdom of God . . . should be and is in the Church today.” The Presidency compared the physical dangers faced by the pioneers with the temptations confronting the Church, particularly the youth, in the twentieth century and charged the Saints to be as prepared to meet these challenges as their forebears were.²⁵

The midpoint of the twentieth century was reached with the end of 1950. Just over three months later, President George Albert Smith died and a new leader was sustained. Both of these milestones provided occasion for the Latter-day Saints to reflect on the Church’s status—what had been accomplished and what still lay ahead.

The first half of the twentieth century was a period of substantial growth for the Church. Membership passed the one million mark only three years before mid-century. At the general conference held in April 1950, President George Albert Smith shared his feelings about this growth: “The Church has increased during the past year more than any other year since it was organized. . . . How happy we should be, not that we have increased in numbers in the organization that we belong to, but that more of our Father’s children, more of his sons and daughters, have been brought to an understanding of the truth.”²⁶

Endnotes

1. This chapter was written for the Church Educational System; also published in Richard O. Cowan, The Church in the Twentieth Century (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1985), pp. 194, 196–230, 279.

2. George Albert Smith, “After Eighty Years,” Improvement Era, Apr. 1950, p. 263.

3. In Conference Report, Oct. 1947, pp. 5–6; see also “President Smith in East on Mission of Mercy,” Church News, 10 Nov. 1945, p. 1; “President Smith Returns from Successful Trip to Capital,” Church News, 17 Nov. 1945, p. 1.

4. In Frederick W. Babbel, On Wings of Faith (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1972), p. 46.

5. In Conference Report, Apr. 1947, p. 153.

6. In Babbel, On Wings of Faith, pp. 7–8.

7. Babbel, On Wings of Faith, p. 36.

8. In Conference Report, Apr. 1947, p. 154.

9. Babbel, On Wings of Faith, p. 132.

10. Babbel, On Wings of Faith, pp. 148–49.

11. In Conference Report, Apr. 1947, p. 154; see also Babbel, On Wings of Faith, pp. 25–26.

12. See “Reports Tell of Saints in Europe,” Church News, 24 Nov. 1945, pp. 5, 9.

13. See Joseph Anderson, Prophets I Have Known (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1973), p. 103.

14. See Babbel, On Wings of Faith, pp. 126–28.

15. In Henry A. Smith, Matthew Cowley: Man of Faith (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954), p. 160.

16. See Harrison T. Price, “‘A Cup of Tea,’” Improvement Era, Mar. 1962, pp. 161, 184, 186; Spencer J. Palmer, The Church Encounters Asia (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1970), pp. 65–69; Boyd K. Packer, in Conference Report, Apr. 1975, p. 155; or Ensign, May 1975, p. 104.

17. See “Mission Heads Will Select Two Counselors to Form Presidency,” Church News, 12 Apr. 1947, p. 1; Spencer W. Kimball, in James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965–75), 6:256–58.

18. See Melvin Kay Johnson, “A History of the Temple Square Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to 1970,” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1971, pp. 50–51.

19. See David Kent Jacobs, “The History of Motion Pictures Produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University, 1967, pp. 69–99.

20. See “Telecast Sessions Make New History,” Church News, 9 Oct. 1949, pp. 12–13.

21. Ralph William Evans Oral Dictation, LDS Historical Department, Salt Lake City, p. 5.

22. See “200 Lamanites Gather in History-Making Conference, Temple Sessions,” Church News, 10 Nov. 1945, p. 1.

23. In Conference Report, Apr. 1947, pp. 144–45.

24. “Emotional Farewell in Mexico,” Church News, 19 Feb. 1977, p. 3; see also Spencer W. Kimball, “Hope Sees a Star for the Sons of Lehi,” Church News, 20 Dec. 1947, p. 9.

25. “A Centennial Message from the First Presidency,” Improvement Era, July 1947, p. 422.

26. In Conference Report, Apr. 1950, p. 6.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Growth into a Worldwide Church

President George Albert Smith¹ died on his eighty-first birthday, Wednesday, 4 April 1951, just two days before the scheduled opening of general conference. The Saturday sessions of conference were canceled for President Smith’s funeral. The conference had been scheduled to conclude on Sunday, but a special solemn assembly session was convened on Monday, 9 April, at which David O. McKay was sustained as the ninth President of the Church.

As he accepted this high and holy office, President McKay acknowledged, “No one can preside over this Church without first being in tune with the head of the Church, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is our head. This is his Church. Without his divine guidance and constant inspiration, we cannot succeed. With his guidance, with his inspiration, we cannot fail.”²

President McKay’s seventy-eight years of unusually rich experiences prepared him well for his calling as President of the Church. He was born in September 1873, when Brigham Young still served as President of the Church. The gold spike completing the first American transcontinental railroad had been driven only four years before his birth, and yet he lived to watch the first man land on the moon. In 1897 he was called as a missionary to the British Isles. At an unusually spiritual missionary conference two years later in Glasgow, Scotland, James L. McMurrin, counselor in the mission presidency, turned to Elder McKay and said, “If you will keep the faith you will yet sit in the leading councils of the church.”³

In April 1906, at the age of thirty-two, David O. McKay was called to the Council of the Twelve, and in October of the same year he became a member of the general Sunday School presidency. During the next three decades he also served as commissioner of Church education and as chairman of the General Priesthood Committee and other committees assigned to correlate various Church programs. His 1920–21 world tour to assess conditions in the Church’s missions and his two years of presidency over the European Mission substantially broadened his horizons. In 1934 he became a member of the First Presidency, serving as a counselor to both Heber J. Grant and George Albert Smith. Thus, President David O. McKay was well prepared to lead the Church during an era of rapid expansion.

An Era of Unprecedented Growth and Challenges

By 1950 the Church was 120 years old, and membership had reached approximately 1.1 million. During the next twenty years the number of Latter-day Saints almost tripled, reaching more than 2.9 million. Taking into account those who had died during this period, nearly three-fourths of all Church members living at the beginning of 1970 had probably known no other president than David O. McKay. During the 1950–60s Church membership increased about twice as fast as it had in earlier decades. The Church was not only becoming strong numerically, its members were more widely distributed throughout the world. This came about through increased missionary success worldwide and through Church leaders’ urging the Saints to remain in their own lands and build up the kingdom.

As the Church expanded into more areas of the world, its members increasingly faced a diversity of challenges and opportunities. Gospel principles had to be understood and applied by Saints who lived in many different environments and cultures. In some parts of Europe, the aftermath of war and slowly increasing prosperity brought religious apathy. Some countries, which required their citizens to pay taxes to support established state churches, reported attendance of less than 5 percent at their Sunday services. High taxes and other economic pressures made having more than one or two children a real sacrifice and required many mothers to work outside of the home. Lax moral standards and liberal laws on pornography also threatened to undermine strong families. Among some Europeans, drinking of alcoholic beverages was an accepted part of life. Finally, because so many diverse languages are spoken by peoples of the world, Church conferences, temple sessions, and other activities generally needed to be multilingual.

The Polynesians of the South Pacific have been characterized as some of the most lovable people on earth. Their spirituality was evidenced by remarkable healings and inspiring manifestations of the gift of tongues. Traditions describe how their forebears sailed thousands of miles in primitive craft from the Americas to the South Pacific. Speaking at an area conference in New Zealand, President Spencer W. Kimball affirmed that the Maori’s origin is recorded in the Book of Mormon.⁵ Hence, Latter-day Saints in Polynesia came to identify themselves with the Book of Mormon people. The importance of families to the Polynesians is evidenced by elaborate genealogies memorized and recited or intricately carved in wood. The Church flourished among these people.

Nowhere outside of Utah was there a higher ratio of Church members among the total population. In 1970 the ratio was 13 percent in Samoa and approximately 20 percent in Tonga, as compared to only 1 percent in the United States as a whole. Nevertheless, life in this tropical paradise was not always easy. In some areas dependence on a single crop provided only a meager living. Latter-day Saint missionaries sometimes had to overcome opposition from governments strongly influenced by European missionary societies. Transportation was a practical challenge Church leaders faced as they visited local units on separate islands.

The Saints in Latin America faced a different set of challenges. Perhaps nowhere else is a single religion so pervasive throughout the culture, as evidenced in place names and holidays and other aspects of everyday life. Conversion to the restored gospel represented more of a change for people here than in other areas. Church members in Latin America, especially in Mexico, Central America, and Western South America, regarded themselves as being among the descendants of the Nephites and Lamanites described in the Book of Mormon and hence as heirs to the great promises contained there (see 2 Nephi 30:6). In no other area was there greater Church growth during the third quarter of the twentieth century. Church membership in Latin America skyrocketed from less than nine thousand members in 1950 to over two hundred thousand by 1970.

North American missionaries carrying the gospel to Asia felt they were entering a different world. Christians represented only a very small minority, and not even the familiar western alphabet was used. Despite the cultural differences, the gospel took root in several of the nations of Asia, and the Church began to experience rapid growth there. The Latter-day Saint emphasis on the importance of families struck a responsive chord in the hearts of many whose families had for generations revered their ancestors.

Even though the Church was growing rapidly in many parts of the world, some forces threatened to block this progress. In 1950 international tensions led to the closing of missions in the Near East and in Czechoslovakia. The 1949 Communist takeover in China and the 1950 outbreak of the Korean War also led to the temporary closing of the Chinese Mission in Hong Kong.

The impact of the Korean War was not limited to the Far East, however. As the United States assumed a major role in the United Nations peacekeeping force, young men were again being drafted. This meant that fewer elders were available for missionary service. In contrast to the 3,015 missionaries called by the First Presidency in 1950, only 872 received mission calls two years later.

In the midst of the Church’s rapid growth, President McKay felt the need to stress the vital importance of spiritual as well as numerical growth. He was convinced that “man’s chief concern in life should not be the acquiring of gold, or of fame, or of material possessions. It should not be development of physical powers, nor of intellectual strength, but his aim, the highest in life, should be the development of a Christ-like character.”⁶

He believed that in order to live on this loftier plane, man must overcome the worldly or carnal aspects of his character. “The world needs to be saved, first, from the dominating influence of animal instincts, of passions, of appetites.” Selfishness, he believed, was a major cause of man’s ills.⁷

President McKay insisted, “The development of our spiritual nature should concern us most. Spirituality is the highest acquisition of the soul, the divine in man; ‘the supreme, crowning gift that makes him king of all created things.’ It is the consciousness of victory over self and of communion with the infinite. It is spirituality alone which really gives one the best in life.”⁸

President of a Worldwide Church

David O. McKay became the most widely traveled President in the history of the Church. In 1952 he visited the missions in Britain and on the European continent. The following year he returned to Europe to dedicate sites for the first temples outside of North America or Hawaii. In 1954 he stopped briefly in London on the first leg of a thirty-seven-thousand-mile tour that took him to South Africa and Latin America. On this trip he became the first General Authority ever to visit South Africa (the one area he had not visited during his 1921 tour) and the first President of the Church ever to be in South America.

In 1955 he traveled throughout the South Pacific, returning to places where he had enjoyed sacred experiences some thirty-four years earlier. While on this trip he announced plans to construct a temple in New Zealand—a further step in making the blessings of the house of the Lord available to the Saints in various parts of the world. A few months later he was in Europe for the fourth time in four years, this time to dedicate the Swiss Temple in Bern, Switzerland. In 1958 he returned to the Pacific to dedicate the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. While in that country, he also organized the Auckland Stake, the first outside of North America or Hawaii, and a further evidence of the Church’s international growth. Later that same year he returned to England to dedicate the London England Temple.

Everywhere President McKay went he was greeted with love and respect. He was the first living prophet most of the Saints had ever seen in person. At airport after airport they welcomed him with tear-filled eyes and choked voices as they sang the familiar strains of “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet.”

President McKay often felt the reality of divine blessings and guidance as he traveled. In 1955, for example, his flight was delayed because of warnings that a hurricane was headed toward Fiji, his next stop. By the time the plane reached the area, however, it was able to land safely. Officials in Fiji were puzzled as to why the hurricane “had suddenly reversed its course at the same time of his arrival at Suva and President McKay remarked that something very unusual had happened.”⁹ Heavy tropical rains delayed the Prophet’s departure from Fiji.

Until he unexpectedly met two elders, President McKay was not aware that only three months earlier Latter-day Saint missionaries had been assigned in the area. He arranged to meet the following day, which was Sunday, with the small group of Saints living in Suva. They met at the home of Cecil B. Smith, who, all alone, had kept this little flock of Saints together for many years. As Brother Smith welcomed God’s prophet to his home and to their meeting “he broke down and wept tears of joy and thanksgiving. . . .

“The congregation sung so sweetly, ‘We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet.’ . . . With tears of joy in their eyes they said every word as if it were a prayer. . . .

“In his remarks President McKay declared this was a significant meeting. He explained we had not intended to remain in Suva over Sunday because our schedule called for us to be somewhere between Suva and Tonga but we were delayed a day because of the hurricane warnings. He explained we were not aware there were Church members in Suva.

“. . . He explained that circumstances have provided that they were here today to preach the Gospel in Suva and commence the building up of the Kingdom of God. ‘Surely,’ he said, ‘God has had a hand in changing our schedule so that we can be with you members of the Church.’”¹⁰

President McKay’s travels were a source of inspiration to more than just those scattered Saints he visited. The Church News carried day-by-day accounts of his experiences, and they were followed with great interest. Even those in the strong central areas of the Church found their faith strengthened as they read about the faith and gratitude manifested by their fellow Saints in far-flung countries.

“Every Member a Missionary”

President David O. McKay recognized that effective missionary work was the key to the Church’s continued growth. The first proselyting plan officially published by the Church appeared in 1952. Missionary presentations were condensed into six discussions featuring a logical presentation of gospel principles bolstered by scripture reading, testimony bearing, and sincere prayer. In 1961 Church leaders convened the first worldwide seminar for mission presidents. Under the leadership of the General Authorities the mission presidents pooled their experience to further refine proselyting methods.

Using the slogan “Every Member a Missionary,” President McKay stressed the Saints’ role in finding and fellowshipping potential converts.¹¹ He admonished Church members to lead exemplary lives that would win the respect of others and open the way for gospel discussions. The Saints were encouraged to invite nonmember friends into their homes to hear the missionaries’ message. This enabled missionaries to use their time more effectively in teaching rather than in looking for people to teach. Furthermore the families who introduced their friends to the missionaries could also fellowship them as they became converted to the gospel, helping them make the transition from one way of life and circle of friends to another.

During these years the Church continued to refine its orientation for outgoing missionaries. A significant step came in 1961. Elders were experiencing lengthy delays in obtaining visas to enter Argentina and Mexico, so a special language training program was set up for them at Brigham Young University. Instruction focused on conversation; the “live your language” program encouraged missionaries to speak only in the tongue they were learning. There was also opportunity to practice the proselyting discussions with native speakers posing as contacts. Furthermore, the elders and sisters adhered to standards of missionary life and conduct and developed proper habits and attitudes even before reaching the mission field. Because of the program’s success, it was officially organized in 1963 as the Language Training Mission. Instruction in numerous other languages was added during subsequent years.

To supplement the personal contacts of proselyting missionaries, the Church employed a variety of other methods, including the mass media, to present its message to the world. Visitors’ centers and broadcasting media played an increasingly important part in improving public understanding of the Church and its members.

As the volume of travel increased following World War II, the annual number of visitors to Temple Square soared past the million mark. In 1966 the Church built a more spacious visitors’ center on Temple Square, equipped with dioramas and other displays designed to explain various facets of the gospel.

In light of the success on Temple Square, the Church continued its program of opening visitors’ centers at other historic sites, such as Joseph Smith’s birthplace in Vermont; the Sacred Grove and Hill Cumorah in New York state; Independence, Missouri; and Nauvoo, Illinois. Because of the continuing positive response to the Hill Cumorah pageant, additional pageants at Independence, Nauvoo, the Manti Utah Temple, and other locations became another important means of sharing the gospel message with the public.

The restoration of the old Mormon city of Nauvoo began during the 1960s. This ambitious project was patterned after the very successful restoration of the American colonial city of Williamsburg, Virginia. The Nauvoo Temple site was landscaped with a row of stones in the lawn indicating where the original structure had stood. Missionary guides escorted visitors through homes and shops restored to their 1840s appearance and functions. The objective was to depict interesting facets of Nauvoo life in the 1840s when Nauvoo was one of the largest cities in the state of Illinois. Also, more importantly, its purpose was to communicate the faith of the Saints who sacrificed to build the city and then were forced to leave it in the face of religious persecution.

The Church also took advantage of opportunities to share the gospel with the public at fairs and expositions. More than three million people visited the Mormon pavilion at the New York World’s Fair during 1964–65. For this exhibit the BYU Motion Picture Studio produced a new film entitled Man’s Search for Happiness depicting the Latter-day Saint concept of life before and after mortality. Experience with displays and methods of presentation at the fair enabled the Church to transform its visitors’ centers into more effective tools for teaching the gospel.

As television was perfected during the years immediately following World War II, the Church quickly made use of it. As early as April 1948, sessions of general conference were being carried from the Tabernacle by closed circuit television to other buildings on Temple Square. In October 1949 the conference was broadcast for the first time beyond Temple Square. Television coverage of conference was extended to California by the late 1950s, and in 1962 sessions were carried from coast to coast for the first time. The Church paid to get the conference broadcast to the local stations, many of which in turn donated air time as part of their public service commitment.

Beginning in 1952 the priesthood session of general conference was transmitted by closed circuit direct wire to selected stake centers and other Church buildings. In time, well over a thousand groups of priesthood bearers throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Australia, New Zealand, and several other countries had the privilege of simultaneously hearing these conference sessions. Still another broadcast medium was employed in 1962 when shortwave radio carried general conference sessions in English to Europe and Africa and in Spanish to Latin America.

Over the years the Church developed materials to be used by the media. For example, the Radio, Publicity, and Mission Literature Committee distributed radio programs, filmstrips, and literature. As demands increased, a division of responsibility was effected in 1957 when the Church Information Service came into being to handle nonmember contacts. The primary objective was to promote missionary work by projecting a positive image of the principles and activities of the Church. It maintained a photo library; coordinated publicity for such special events as conferences and temple dedications; and prepared feature articles on such phases of Church activity as the welfare plan, family home evening, or youth activities. It also provided posters, displays, and support for open houses conducted in local chapels.

A hosting service introduced important visitors to Church headquarters, including government and business officials, heads of other churches, artists, and entertainers. The groups were taken to such points of interest as Temple Square and Welfare Square. These visitors often appreciated being entertained in individual Latter-day Saint homes as well as attending church services in local wards.

Expanded Opportunities for Education Provided Worldwide

The basic character of the Church’s educational program had been established in the 1930s, placing the emphasis on part-time religious education to help supplement the instruction available in the public schools.

From then on growth, especially following World War II, has been a major focus of the Church in education. Enrollment in the Church’s various educational programs increased approximately five-fold during the two decades when David O. McKay presided over the Church. President McKay’s background and personal commitment to education suited him well to lead the Saints during this era of phenomenal growth.

In 1953, President McKay directed the formation of a unified Church Educational System including schools, seminaries, and institutes of religion worldwide. Surging enrollments following the close of World War II created great pressures on the Church’s educational programs. Furthermore, in 1950 the First Presidency affirmed that they wanted Brigham Young University to become “the greatest educational institution in the world.”¹²

BYU therefore launched an unprecedented building program. The capacity of on-campus student housing was tripled; other facilities, including a motion picture studio, student center, and new stadium, were added. Major new academic buildings were constructed. Ernest L. Wilkinson, president of BYU at the time, took steps to see that academic progress kept pace with physical growth. In 1960, BYU offered a doctorate program for the first time. In the same year the university also launched an honors program, which allowed more serious students to enjoy small classes with some of the university’s most outstanding faculty members.

The church activity of students was also a source of concern. Some students became careless in their church attendance while away from home. Wards adjacent to college campuses became overcrowded by the attendance of active college-age students. As early as 1947 two branches were formed to meet the needs of both the married and single students at Brigham Young University. At first these units were considered experimental, but they soon demonstrated their success by setting the highest attendance record in the East Provo Stake. As enrollment at the university grew, the first student stake in the Church was organized at BYU in 1956. This made a unique and significant contribution to life at BYU and to the students’ personal development.

Soon student wards and stakes were organized on many other campuses, wherever numbers were sufficient. Typically the bishop was a faculty member or an adult from the community, but students filled most other ward positions. Students thus gained experience as quorum and auxiliary leaders, teachers, and clerks. Mature students even had the opportunity to serve as counselors in bishoprics or as members of the stake high council. In contrast to campuses of most major universities, which were almost deserted on Sundays except for the handful attending chapel services, at Brigham Young University and Ricks College the buildings where student wards met were as crowded on Sunday as on weekdays. President Wilkinson, reflecting on his two decades of leadership at BYU, declared that the organization of these student stakes and wards was “the most satisfying accomplishment during the time I have been here.”¹³

Significant progress was also being made in Church educational programs for part-time religious education. Seminaries and institutes were being started throughout the United States and around the world to meet the needs of high school and college students.

Adaptations in the seminary program made possible rapid growth in the number of high school students enrolled. Originally all seminaries were the “released-time” variety, with students attending classes in a seminary building near a high school. As the Latter-day Saints spread beyond the Intermountain stakes, however, this arrangement was not possible. Therefore early-morning and home-study programs were developed to meet the needs of Church members.

Early-morning seminary classes were inaugurated in Salt Lake City and Pocatello, Idaho, in 1929; however, the program in Pocatello was discontinued after only one year. The need existed in other areas. As early as 1941 the institute director in southern California reported that five high schools in the Los Angeles area each had more than one hundred Latter-day Saint students, and that several others approached that number. Wartime restrictions, however, precluded any new programs being developed at that time. In 1950 the eleven Los Angeles area stake presidents unanimously urged that early-morning seminaries be started at once.

Formidable obstacles had to be overcome: many classes had to serve more than one high school. Differences in school schedules meant that seminary could only be held at 7 A.M. or even earlier. Almost no chapels were located within walking distance of the high schools, so car pools or other transportation had to be arranged. In September 1950, six pilot classes were inaugurated, and their success led to the addition of seven more classes that same school year. Despite the difficulties, the 461 southern California seminary students registered had an average attendance of 88 percent that first year.

Three years later there were fifty-nine classes, with an average attendance of 92 percent. This record was a tribute to the devotion of the students and their parents who were willing to get up as early as 5:00 A.M. to support a religion class before school. During the next quarter century, early-morning classes made seminary instruction available to Latter-day Saint students in many parts of the world, especially in centers of Church population in the United States and Canada outside the Intermountain area.

Home-study seminaries were established where there were not enough students to make a regular daily class possible. These were started as a pilot project in the Midwest during the 1966–67 school year. The young people studied their seminary lessons at home during the week and met Sunday with a volunteer teacher to go over the material. About once each month all the students from a district gathered at a central location under the direction of a full-time seminary coordinator. During the morning they reviewed the highlights of their past month’s study. In the afternoon they enjoyed social or recreational activities conducted by Mutual leaders, while the volunteer teachers received a preview of the coming month’s lessons from the seminary coordinator. Home-study programs have made seminary instruction available to Latter-day Saints everywhere. A similar home-study institute course for college students was inaugurated in 1972.

In the Pacific and in Latin America, two areas of particularly rapid Church growth, public education was not widely available. Church leaders were concerned that a substantial portion of the Saints lacked the opportunity for even an elementary education. In these areas, therefore, the Church returned to the practice of nineteenth-century pioneer times and established schools to teach the basics of secular education along with religious instruction.

During the early twentieth century, several of the Pacific missions had conducted schools for the benefit of Latter-day Saint children. These were usually small, but an outstanding example was the Maori Agricultural College in New Zealand. Full-time missionaries were called on to act as teachers in these schools. Church growth after World War II heightened the need for expansion of these schools. During the early 1950s the Church opened the Liahona College in Tonga, the Pesega and Mapusaga high schools in Samoa, the Church College of New Zealand near Hamilton, and several elementary schools in these countries. Even though two of these schools were called colleges, they included work only to the high school level. Buildings for these badly-needed schools were constructed through the building missionary program, which had its beginning at this time in the South Pacific. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, hundreds of labor missionaries were called to help build chapels, schools, and other Church-sponsored projects. The program of using labor missionaries to construct church buildings was stopped when it was no longer cost effective.

The Church College of Hawaii, a two-year institution of higher education at Laie, opened in 1955. In 1957 it became a four-year institution. The school came to serve about a thousand students, most coming from the Pacific Islands. Emphasis on teacher education made it possible for many Polynesian young people to return to their homelands and become faculty members in the Church schools there. In 1958, President David O. McKay dedicated a complex of new buildings on the Church College of Hawaii campus. A 33-foot mosaic on the facade of the administration building depicted the flag-raising ceremony that had prompted Elder McKay to prophesy some thirty-seven years earlier that Laie would one day become the educational center for the Saints in the Pacific.

In 1963 the Church opened the Polynesian Cultural Center adjacent to the college campus. This center not only helped to preserve and share the unique cultures of several Pacific peoples, but it also became a very popular tourist attraction, which created goodwill for the Church and provided meaningful employment for a large number of Polynesian students at the Church College of Hawaii. In 1974 the Church College of Hawaii was renamed the Hawaii Campus of Brigham Young University, emphasizing subjects that could be taught more advantageously in the Pacific setting than on BYU’s main Provo campus.

The expansion of the Church’s educational program in Latin America also came between 1950 and 1975. The Juarez Academy in the Mormon colonies of northern Mexico was started in 1897. Beginning in 1960, however, with the encouragement of President David O. McKay, a system of forty elementary and secondary schools was established to meet the educational needs of the Saints in various parts of Mexico. Over two thousand students, many at the college level, attended the Church’s school Benemerito de las Americas, near Mexico City. Here again, emphasis was on teacher training. As in the Pacific, these schools made a significant contribution to Latter-day Saint activity as a whole since a sizable number of local Church leaders were graduates from them. For a time, the Church also operated a few schools in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

An especially important contribution was made by the Church’s literacy program. In some developing areas, people who did not know how to read or write were being called as leaders and teachers. Under the direction of Brigham Young University, a simple plan was developed to teach these basic skills. In Bolivia, for example, Spanish-speaking members received fifteen hours of individual instruction teaching them how to read. After they completed this course, an additional four hours of training prepared these people to teach others. In this way hundreds of Latter-day Saints were enabled to read the scriptures, as well as handbooks, lesson manuals, and other Church literature. Many were able to obtain better employment, and their self-esteem received a substantial boost. One branch president commented that before he had learned to read, opportunities had been like a closed book for him; now his life was rich and full like an open book.

Endnotes

1.This chapter was written for the Church Educational System; also published in Richard O. Cowan, The Church in the Twentieth Century (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1985), pp. 230–31, 234–35, 237–47, 249–54, 263, 267, 281–82, 284–89.

2. In Conference Report, Apr. 1951, p. 157.

3. In Francis M. Gibbons, David O. McKay: Apostle to the World, Prophet of God (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1986) p. 50.

4. David O. McKay, “Ye Shall Know Them by Their Fruits,” address delivered at the dedicatory services of the Sauniatu Church edifice in Sauniatu, Upolu, Samoa, 15 Jan. 1955, Addresses and papers, 1906–70, LDS Historical Department, Salt Lake City, p. 3.

5. See New Zealand Area Conference 1976, p. 3.

6. Jeanette McKay Morrell, Highlights in the Life of President David O. McKay (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1966), p. 240; see also Conference Report, Oct. 1953, p. 10.

7. David O. McKay, “The World Needs to be Saved from Dominating Animal Instincts,” Instructor, June 1962, pp. 181–82.

8. In Conference Report, Oct. 1936, p. 103.

9. “Hawaiian and Fiji Islands Members Greet Church Leaders,” Church News, 22 Jan. 1955, p. 2.

10. “South Sea Islands Members Pay Devotions to Leader,” Church News, 29 Jan. 1955, p. 2.

11. See Conference Report, Apr. 1959, p. 122.

12. See Ernest L. Wilkinson and W. Cleon Skousen, Brigham Young University: A School of Destiny (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1976), p. 433.

13. Decades of Distinction: 1951–1971, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year (Provo, 9 Mar. 1971), p. 7.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
An Era of Correlation and Consolidation

Over the years¹ the General Authorities have taken steps to ensure that the Church and its programs were perfecting the Saints and preparing a people worthy to establish Zion on earth. Their concerns became more urgent as the Church membership doubled in just a decade and a half and passed the two million mark in 1963. Church leaders became increasingly convinced that the varied organizations had to work harmoniously together under the direction of the priesthood, that families had to be strengthened, and that administration needed to be streamlined in order to more adequately meet the complex needs of the Saints. Hence the Church’s unprecedented growth during the 1950s set the stage for the emphasis on correlation and consolidation that characterized the 1960s and early 1970s. To this end they conducted periodic reviews to be sure that all Church organizations and their activities were properly correlated.

Emphasis on Priesthood Correlation

A thorough correlation effort began in 1960 when the First Presidency directed the General Priesthood Committee under Elder Harold B. Lee of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to conduct “an exhaustive, prayerful study and consideration” of all programs and curriculum in the light of the Church’s ultimate objectives “so that the Church might reap the maximum harvest from the devotion of the faith, intelligence, skill and knowledge of our various Auxiliary Organizations and Priesthood Committees.”² Elder Lee and his committee recognized that more was needed than simply ensuring that all gospel topics were being treated adequately in the Church’s curriculum. They realized that an organization was needed at the general Church level to correlate the teaching of doctrines in the varied priesthood auxiliary quorums and organizations.

At the fall general conference in 1961, Elder Lee outlined the basic principles that would guide what came to be known as priesthood correlation. He quoted Paul’s comparison of the Church to a perfectly functioning human body (see 1 Corinthians 12:14–28) and then quoted from a modern revelation, which declared: “Let every man stand in his own office, and labor in his own calling; and let not the head say unto the feet it hath no need of the feet; for without the feet how shall the body be able to stand? Also the body hath need of every member” (D&C 84:109–10).

Elder Lee stressed, “Each organization was to have its specific function, and it was not to usurp the field of the other, which would be like the eye saying to the hand, ‘I have no need of thee.’” He also reemphasized the First Presidency’s 1940 declaration, “The home was the basis of a righteous life and that no other instrumentality can take its place nor fulfil its essential functions and that the utmost the auxiliaries can do is to aid the home in its problems, giving special aid and succor where such is necessary.” Church leaders often referred to the family as the central unit in Church organization.

At this time Elder Lee announced the formation of an all-Church coordinating council consisting of certain General Authorities and executives of various Church organizations. This council’s purpose was to formulate policies governing the planning and operation of all Church programs. Under this council’s direction, separate committees for children, youth, and adults were to write courses of study and coordinate activities for their respective age groups. The various auxiliary organizations would then carry out the programs prepared by these three committees. Under the direction of the Church coordinating council, four general priesthood committees gave direction and emphasis to the home teaching, genealogy and temple, missionary, and welfare programs Churchwide. Elder Lee further explained, “In the adoption of such a program, we may possibly and hopefully look forward to the consolidation and simplification of church curricula, church publications, church buildings, church meetings, and many other important aspects of the Lord’s work.”³

In 1962, Elder Richard L. Evans, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles working with the correlation effort, explained the intent:

“That the gospel be taught as completely as possible at least three times during these three age levels of life: children, youth, and adults.

“Within these major groupings there will be many minor groupings, taking into account school associations, social interests, priesthood ages, missions, marriage, and other factors. . . .

“The basic program for the various age groups will be made flexible enough to meet the varying needs and circumstances of individuals and of wards and stakes and branches and missions.”⁴

Although significant strides had been taken in coordinating the planning of programs at the general level, more needed to be done among the wards and stakes. The first steps were taken in 1964. In weekly meetings of the ward priesthood executive committee, the bishopric and Melchizedek Priesthood leaders gave direction to coordinate all ward activities. Monthly ward council meetings also included auxiliary and other leaders; here they could correlate schedules and activities and, most importantly, discuss how the ward’s programs could best meet the needs of individual members and families. Similar organizations were implemented at the stake level three years later.

A key step in priesthood correlation at the local level was the inauguration of home teaching in 1964. Home teachers became the major means to bring the varied Church programs to the family. They replaced contacts formerly made separately by ward teachers, representatives of priesthood quorums, or members of auxiliary classes. The home teachers’ regular visits, made at least monthly, provided a channel for two-way communication between the family and the ward priesthood leaders.

A new Melchizedek Priesthood handbook published in 1964 affirmed that the Church had three major objectives:

“1. Perfect the Saints—To keep the members of the Church in the way of their full duty and to help them to walk uprightly before the Lord.

“2. Missionary Work—To teach the Gospel to those who have not yet heard it or accepted it.

“3. Temple Work—To have every member worthy to go to the temple for his own endowments and have his family sealed to him. Also to perform genealogical research and vicarious temple ordinances so that the worthy dead may participate in the blessings of the gospel.”⁵

Further steps to correlate Church activities continued. An important improvement came in 1967 with the adoption of a uniform Church year. Previously some Church organizations had commenced their lesson work at the beginning of the local school year, while others had operated on a calendar year. Now all priesthood and auxiliary organizations began their courses of instruction at the same time. Furthermore, age groupings were standardized from one organization to another. This enabled teachers in various ward organizations to work more closely to meet the needs of any given group of young people.

During the 1960s young Latter-day Saints in many parts of the world became increasingly active in sharing the gospel with their friends, and youth missionary committees were formed. In 1967 the scope of these committees was expanded to form bishop’s youth councils, which brought youth and adult leaders together monthly in each ward to consider the needs of the youth and to coordinate activities. In addition, collections of teaching aids formerly maintained by each organization were consolidated into a single meetinghouse library. Similarly, separate teacher training programs sponsored by each auxiliary were combined under a single ward teacher development director.

Strengthening the Family

One of the most important thrusts of priesthood correlation was to strengthen Latter-day Saint families. Church leaders gave renewed emphasis to family home evenings. Beginning in 1965 the Church published manuals with weekly lessons to be used by families around the world. While instruction in priesthood and auxiliary classes presented gospel principles, the activities in the home focused on the practical everyday application of those principles. In addition to the Church’s home evening manuals, various organizations issued suggestions for family activities. The Relief Society provided specific helps for mothers, and Melchizedek Priesthood quorums conducted training for fathers.

Elder Harold B. Lee testified that this program was inspired: “My mind has been filled with the realization that in 1964 and the year just preceding, we have been receiving as pertinent and important divine direction as has ever been given to the Church in any similar period in its history through the prophet and leader who now presides as the President of this Church.”⁶

In the preface to the first family home evening manual, President David O. McKay declared, “The problems of these difficult times cannot better be solved in any other place, by any other agency, by any other means, than by love and righteousness, and precept and example, and devotion to duty in the home.”⁷

A later manual contained this promise: “Families who prayerfully prepare and constantly hold their weekly Home Evenings, and who work together during the week to apply the lessons in their lives, will be blessed. There will be better feelings between husband and wife, between parents and children, and among children. In such homes the Spirit of the Lord will be made manifest.”⁸

Encouraged by such promises, Latter-day Saint parents around the world gratefully implemented this new program. Whether the family home evening was held in a New York City apartment, a Navajo hogan, or in a Polynesian thatched home, there were usually certain common elements: family members took turns conducting the program, offering prayers, leading the singing, and presenting the lesson. Families often combined these elements of their home evenings with special recreational activities and almost always served refreshments. In 1970 Church leaders announced that Monday evenings were set aside for these family gatherings and that no other Church activities were to be held on that night.

Even missionary work was affected by the Church’s emphasis on the family. Wholesome family relationships were the theme of a series of brief announcements the Church produced for radio and television. Many of these “Homefront” messages earned awards for excellence from religious and broadcasting groups. Showing families how to conduct home evenings was an effective way for missionaries to introduce nonmembers to the gospel. Following this initial contact, missionaries frequently were invited back to present their regular proselyting discussions.

President David O. McKay often endorsed the importance of the family. In an oft-quoted declaration he affirmed, “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.⁹ . . . The poorest shack of a home in which love prevails over a united family is of greater value to God and future humanity than the richest bank on earth. In such a home God can work miracles and will work miracles. . . . Pure hearts in a pure home are always in whispering distance of heaven.”¹⁰ Following President McKay’s death early in 1970, his successors continued his emphasis on priesthood correlation and the family.

Presidents Joseph Fielding Smith and Harold B. Lee

During the early 1970s the Church was led by two outstanding latter-day prophets. Joseph Fielding Smith served as President of the Church for two and a half years, and Harold B. Lee occupied the office for eighteen months. In each case these brief presidencies were the culmination of long and significant service to the Church.

Joseph Fielding Smith was born in 1876—one year before the death of Brigham Young. Varied experiences and assignments during his long life had prepared him well to make a substantial contribution to the progress of God’s work on earth. In 1910 he was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and was ordained an Apostle by his father, President Joseph F. Smith. Joseph Fielding Smith served in the Quorum for sixty years, longer than any other member. Elder Smith was also appointed as Church historian and recorder in 1921, a position he held until he was sustained as President of the Church a half century later.

As with several other Church presidents, Joseph Fielding Smith made some of his greatest contributions to the Church in the years preceding his service as Church president. His entire apostolic ministry was characterized by his notable defense of the teachings and the doctrines of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the message of the Restoration.

Joseph Fielding Smith received his patriarchal blessing from Patriarch Joseph D. Smith in 1913. In his blessing he was promised that he would never be confounded as he defended the divinity of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s mission: “You have been blessed with ability to comprehend, to analyze, and defend the principles of truth above many of your fellows, and the time will come when the accumulative evidence that you have gathered will stand as a wall of defense against those who are seeking and will seek to destroy the evidence of the divinity of the mission of the Prophet Joseph; and in this defense you will never be confounded.”¹¹

Consider the impact just one of his more than two dozen books—Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith—has had on doctrinal understanding and clarity in the Church. Joseph Fielding Smith’s journal explained that the book was compiled because many Church teachers had “accepted too readily the views of uninspired educators.”¹³ Since its first printing, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith has been a basic reference for doctrinal interpretation, Church policy, and Church government.

In vindication of what he had written and said during his five decades as an Apostle, President Joseph Fielding Smith declared in his first message as Church president:

“All my days I have studied the scriptures and have sought the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord in coming to an understanding of their true meaning. The Lord has been good to me, and I rejoice in the knowledge he has given me and in the privilege that has been and is mine to teach his saving principles.

“. . . What I have taught and written in the past I would teach and write again under the same circumstances.”¹⁴

In the two and one-half years of his administration, President Smith continued to proclaim the basic principles of the Restoration as revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith. His administration emphasized and interpreted the timeless teachings and doctrines of the Prophet Joseph Smith to an expanding international Church in the 1970s. A few passages excerpted from his message as Church president illustrate how President Smith emphasized and interpreted the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith to the Church.

“God is our Father. . . . He is omnipotent and omniscient; he has all power and all wisdom. . . .

“. . . I am grateful that we know he is an infinite and eternal being who knows all things and has all power and whose progression consists not in gaining more knowledge or power, not in further perfecting his godly attributes, but in the increase and multiplying of his kingdoms. This also is what the Prophet taught.”¹⁵

“The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that man is saved no faster than he gains knowledge of Jesus Christ and the saving truths of the gospel, and that no man can be saved in ignorance of these things.”¹⁶

President Smith assumed the reins of leadership at the advanced age of ninety-three. With the help of his two able counselors, Harold B. Lee and N. Eldon Tanner, President Smith directed the implementation of a variety of improvements in Church activities and programs. He traveled widely, conducted conferences, dedicated buildings, and in other ways strengthened the Church and its members. After serving as President of the Church for nearly thirty months, Joseph Fielding Smith died peacefully just two weeks before his ninety-sixth birthday.

Following President Smith’s death, Harold B. Lee was sustained as the eleventh President of the Church. Like his predecessor, President Lee had already made significant contributions that had had a far-reaching impact on the Church and its programs. Perhaps best known were his roles in the innovative projects that influenced the welfare plan he later helped to introduce throughout the Church and his leadership in the development of the priesthood correlation program. During the late 1930s he traveled extensively, instructing stake leaders in the new welfare program.

Elder Lee was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in April 1941. After World War II broke out, he was named as the first chairman of the Church Servicemen’s Committee in October 1942. By 1960 he had become chairman of the General Priesthood Committee. It was in that capacity he received the assignment to conduct an exhaustive study of Church curriculum and programs. During the next several years, he reported in general conferences on the progress of priesthood correlation and the introduction of such key activities as home teaching, priesthood executive committees, ward correlation councils, and family home evenings. All these experiences provided Harold B. Lee with a rich background for his service as President of the Church.

At a press conference on the occasion of his assuming the leadership of the Church, President Lee declared, “The safety of the church lies in the members keeping the commandments. There is nothing more important that I could say. As they keep the commandments, blessings will come.”¹⁷ President Lee led the Church for only a year and a half before he died unexpectedly on 26 December 1973. Though brief, his administration continued the important trends that had been inaugurated by his predecessors, particularly in terms of consolidating and streamlining Church programs in the midst of continued rapid growth.

Consolidation during the Early 1970s

During the four years that Joseph Fielding Smith and Harold B. Lee led the Church, the membership climbed from 2.8 to 3.3 million. Early in 1970, on the day President David O. McKay died, the five hundredth stake was organized. During that same year sixty-four stakes were formed (the previous record for one year had been twenty-nine). These included stakes in Tokyo, Japan, the first in Asia; Johannesburg, South Africa, the first in Africa; and Lima, Peru, the first on the west coast of South America. Efforts to sustain this growth through sharing the gospel also continued. Over six million people visited the Church’s pavilion at “Expo ‘70” in Osaka, Japan. This made the Church’s programs and teachings more widely known than ever before in Japan and other countries of east Asia. In 1972 the Church opened a visitors’ center in San Diego where the Mormon Battalion had concluded its epic march. The Church also opened a public relations office in New York City. The following year a complex of restored buildings was dedicated in Nauvoo, and Japanese language tours were inaugurated at the Laie Hawaii Temple visitors’ center.

Yet the early 1970s were not only an era of growth and expansion. These years also witnessed a consolidation of administrative responsibilities at Church headquarters, a continuing effort to improve the Church’s varied programs, and an intensified desire to help each individual member cope with the mounting challenges of the modern world.

Some important reorganizations at Church headquarters grouped related agencies and activities into several large departments. One of the departments consolidated responsibilities for writing, editing, and translating magazines, lesson manuals, and other instructional materials. The Public Communications Department coordinated broadcasting, visitors’ centers, and other public relations activities. Real estate, construction, and building maintenance became responsibilities of the Physical Facilities Department. The Historical Department was given the responsibility to gather and preserve records and make them available for research. A tangible consolidation of Church administration came with the construction of a twenty-eight-story office building just north of the Church Administration Building in Salt Lake City. When this facility opened in 1972, offices previously located in rented space in a dozen downtown buildings were housed under one roof.

In the spirit of correlation and consolidation, several formerly separate Church activities were combined. For example, the Aaronic Priesthood youth and programs for the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association were combined; quorum advisers became the ward Young Men’s presidency. A similar streamlining reduced the number of officers and teachers in the Young Women’s MIA. Beginning in 1971 the Church published only three magazines in English: the Ensign for adults, the New Era for youth, and the Friend for children. Auxiliary and other Church organizations had previously issued their own magazines. Now a single staff under the direction of the General Authorities was set up to handle production and circulation.

Changes during this period often involved abandoning the traditional names of Church programs. After ninety-nine years, the title “Deseret Sunday School Union” was replaced by the designation “Sunday School of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” Other names that were discontinued during these years included Trail Builders (nine- to eleven-year-old boys in Primary), M Men and Gleaners (young single adults), and even the name Mutual Improvement Association or MIA itself. The shift from senior Aaronic to prospective elder, for older male members who had not yet received the Melchizedek Priesthood, represented a new emphasis for this program. The former title seemed to reflect a man’s past failure to advance beyond the lesser priesthood, while the new name reflected hope for future progress. Giving the elders quorum responsibility for reactivating these men placed them in the mainstream of priesthood activity and associations. Recently returned missionaries, usually members of the elders quorums, could employ the same skills in working with their inactive brethren that they had used in teaching nonmembers.¹⁸

President Joseph Fielding Smith’s interest in gospel scholarship was reflected in another refinement of Church activity. In 1972, the adult Gospel Doctrine class in Sunday School began a systematic study of the standard works. Up to this time a variety of manuals had been prepared for this class, but beginning in 1972 the scriptures themselves became the sole text. The Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants were studied in rotation, two years (later only one) being spent on each. The Pearl of Great Price was studied in conjunction with relevant sections of the other standard works. Church leaders anticipated a spiritual resurgence as a result of the Saints’ added contact with the scriptures.

Under the leadership of Presidents Smith and Lee, the momentum in temple activity continued. In 1972 the Ogden Utah and Provo Utah Temples were dedicated. With their use of technological advances and locations in areas with large populations of Church members, these immediately became the most productive temples in terms of the number of ordinances performed. Construction of the Washington D.C. Temple was commenced in 1971. The extensive remodeling of five existing temples was also announced. Permission was granted to submit names for temple ordinances individually rather than only as family groups, which sparked an upsurge in genealogical and temple activity.

Guidelines for Church Education

Consistent with the objective of consolidating related activities, the Church streamlined its Church Educational System. In 1970, Neal A. Maxwell, an administrator at the University of Utah, was called as commissioner of education. He and his staff gave thorough consideration to the Church’s efforts in education and issued a report in 1971 that identified three major principles.

(1) “Literacy and basic education are gospel needs. . . . Education is often not only the key to the individual member’s economic future, but also to his opportunities for self-realization, for full Church service and for contributing to the world around him.” To meet this need, the Church operated seventy-five elementary and secondary schools in Latin America and the South Pacific. Without them, members in these areas would have been left with very little opportunity for education. Later, however, as local governments began providing more public education, some of these Church schools were closed.

(2) “Church programs will not duplicate otherwise available opportunities especially in higher education.” The commissioner pointed out that post-high school education was within reach of a majority of Church members. “Of the more than 200,000 members . . . enrolled in colleges and universities, only 32,000 of them are in a Church school. However, 50,000 LDS college students on 321 other campuses are enrolled in LDS institutes of religion to receive instruction in religion and enjoy social and cultural opportunities.”

(3) “Ultimately, all high school and college-age Latter-day Saints should have access to weekday religious education, in tandem with secular education. The greatest impact, in terms of numbers of individuals served by Church educational programs, comes from seminary and institute programs which enroll 190,000 students,” the commissioner concluded.¹⁹

Formation of the Latter-day Saint Student Association (LDSSA), beginning in 1966 on campuses in Utah and southern California, was a specific example of how correlation applied to the Church’s educational program. Under the direction of priesthood leaders, LDSSA coordinated the efforts of student wards or branches, as well as institutes of religion and Church-related social organizations. Rather than competing, these programs were to function unitedly in promoting the students’ spiritual and intellectual development. LDSSA also sponsored activities of its own and sometimes provided an official link between Church programs and student organizations on campus.

The 1969 international convention of LDSSA, held at the University of Utah institute, was a memorable spiritual experience for the over three hundred students in attendance. Church leaders wanted to strengthen these carefully chosen student leaders from campuses throughout the United States and Canada so that they might be beacon lights in an era of general unrest and confusion among college students. Elder Harold B. Lee was the featured speaker at the convention.

“He related personal experiences of true modern miracles which had occurred to him. . . .

“Then, considerably more than midway in his sermon of one hour and fifteen minutes, the mood changed. . . .

“. . . Elder Lee concluded his sermon with considerable emotion, firmly and fervently witnessing to the truth of his convictions as they had been expressed, and bearing personal, heartfelt testimony that God lives. He told of how he had come to know this truth as one of His special witnesses on the earth. Everyone there knew that he knew!” For some time following the closing prayer, everyone remained seated in silence, nobody wanting to break the spirit of the occasion. Elder Marion D. Hanks, who had conducted the meeting, then went with Elder and Sister Lee to the foyer. “Elder and Sister Lee shook hands with an absolutely mute and generally tearful group of young people as they filed by.”²⁰

Meeting New Challenges

The decades following World War II brought a general disintegration of institutions and traditions that in earlier years had provided social stability and security. Crime rates increased. The growing number of divorces broke up more families. More people were living in urban areas rather than rural environments. City life typically was hectic with an array of attractions pulling family members in many directions. Although the gospel offered defenses against these social problems, Latter-day Saints were not immune. President Harold B. Lee was concerned about these difficulties and stressed the need of blessing each member with the full program of the Church. Some of the greatest challenges for members were in the areas of emotional well-being and physical health. To meet these challenges the Church established social service and health programs.

Over the years the Church established three programs to meet specific social challenges: The Relief Society social welfare department served as an adoption agency and provided foster homes for disadvantaged children. Since the mid-1950s the Indian student placement program helped thousands of children gain a better education. The youth guidance program provided counseling, foster care, and day camps to youth in need. All three of these programs were required by law to employ licensed professional social workers. In 1969 they were unified to form the new Social Services department.

From this beginning, the program expanded to provide a wide variety of services. Special foster homes assisted unwed mothers, and Church leaders encouraged them to marry where appropriate. The Church’s adoption agency helped provide children for childless couples and found Latter-day Saint homes for children needing adoption. Services to Church members in prison and their families included counseling and rehabilitation; special home evenings were arranged for inmates. In working with members who had drug or alcohol problems, Church Social Services coordinated with public agencies and also provided instruction for local Church leaders. In areas where Church membership was more concentrated, particularly in the western United States and Canada, the Church established social service agencies. These employed professionally trained and licensed personnel, and operated in accordance with government regulations.²¹

Since its earliest years the Church had stressed the importance of physical health, the Word of Wisdom being a well-known example. By the second half of the twentieth century the number of hospitals operated by the Church in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming reached fifteen. The early 1970s, however, brought a new and broader emphasis in the Church’s health program.

In 1971 the Church called its first health missionaries. In addition to doing regular proselyting, they provided specialized instruction in health principles, nutrition, and sanitation. While other governmental and religious agencies typically sponsored clinics where doctors could treat relatively few, the Church’s health missionaries stressed prevention of illness through education and thus were able to serve thousands. These missionaries worked through the regular Church organizations. Using posters and other teaching aids, they taught Primary children the importance of washing before eating, and instructed Relief Society women in methods of preserving and preparing wholesome foods. In later years they received broadened assignments and were called welfare services missionaries or missionaries with special assignments.

The new emphasis in the Church’s health program was reflected in the 1974 decision to give up ownership of its hospitals. The First Presidency declared, “The growing worldwide responsibility of the church makes it difficult to justify provision of curative services in a single, affluent, geographical locality.” Instead, the Church put its resources into improving the health of members throughout the world by education. An independent corporation, Intermountain Health Care, Inc., was set up to own and operate the hospitals formerly belonging to the Church.²²

In 1973 the General Welfare Program, Health Services, and Social Services were brought together to form the new Welfare Services department under the supervision of the Presiding Bishopric. This was done to “unify activities in meeting the total needs of the whole man.”²³

Over the years the Church has published literature in braille or in recorded form for Church members who are blind. A continuing concern for meeting the unique needs of handicapped members has continued and expanded. Special education seminaries are provided for those with learning disabilities. Bishops have received instructions on how to involve handicapped members more fully in Church activities. Sighted companions have been invited to help blind teachers prepare lessons. Home teachers can help members in wheelchairs get to Church. Young people have learned sign language and interpreted Church services for deaf friends. The number of special branches for the deaf has expanded throughout the United States. A conference in 1972 considered how the Church could better meet the needs of deaf Latter-day Saints. A film was produced to show how priesthood ordinances can be performed without the use of speech, and a dictionary was compiled to standardize signs used to interpret unique gospel or Church-related terms to the deaf.²⁴

The early 1970s was an era of growing minority consciousness. Ethnic groups became increasingly proud of their unique heritages. The Church took steps to meet the particular needs of these groups. In 1970 the name of the Indian committee was changed to Committee for Lamanites and Other Cultures to reflect a broader scope. This committee did not administer programs of its own but rather coordinated efforts of existing Church organizations in behalf of various minority groups. The committee considered different ways gospel principles could be taught more effectively in terms of the understanding of the various cultural groups. It also sought to “glean from and preserve those contributions of the various cultural groups which might benefit other members of the Church.”²⁵

In 1972, President Harold B. Lee and his counselors instructed local priesthood leaders to assume the responsibility for adequately meeting the needs of minority groups residing within their boundaries. Special attention was given to those not speaking the language of the majority. As a result, translation facilities, classes taught in the minority language, or even separate branches or wards were provided. Although particular needs were to be met, the basic goal was to involve minority members as fully as possible in the mainstream of Church activity.

Another group with unique needs was the growing number of single adults in the Church. Traditional couple-oriented activities did not adequately meet the needs of these individuals. A branch for single adults was started in August 1973 in Salt Lake City. Later wards were organized to meet the needs of single adults. The Church also enhanced its activities for singles through programs sponsored by the Melchizedek Priesthood and the Relief Society.

The formation of social, health, and related programs in the twentieth century illustrates how, under inspired direction, the Church is able to respond to new needs as they arise.

Lines of Communication Worldwide

During these years when existing activities were being refined and correlated and when others were emerging in response to new needs, the General Authorities keenly felt the need to enhance channels of communication in order to strengthen the Saints and their leaders worldwide. This was accomplished in at least three distinctive ways.

In 1936 regions had been formed to coordinate the efforts of several stakes in operating welfare projects. In 1964 the scope of these regions was broadened to include all priesthood-sponsored activities. Three years later the First Presidency announced the appointment of Regional Representatives, experienced men who would give greater guidance and direction to stake leaders.²⁶ Under the direction of the General Authorities they conducted instruction meetings in their assigned regions to introduce or emphasize the Church’s programs and activities. Originally sixty-nine Regional Representatives were called. In subsequent years the number and duties of these men were greatly expanded.

Area conferences, begun in 1971, became a second means of enhancing communications with Church members worldwide. The first of these conferences convened in Manchester, England, in August of that year. The news media provided extensive coverage as time for the conference drew near. Lengthy articles in such noted British papers as the Guardian, Times, and Sunday Telegraph traced the Church’s progress in Britain and commented favorably on such principles as the Word of Wisdom and latter-day prophecy. The Mormons were also the subject of a fifty-five minute documentary aired on BBC television. Principal meetings convened in the Belle Vue Exhibition Center in King’s Hall, which took on the appearance of the Salt Lake Tabernacle as the Brethren were seated in high-backed red chairs on the stand. From twelve to fourteen thousand people attended general sessions, a number approximately equal to one-fifth of the Church’s total membership in Britain. Addressing this vast throng, President Joseph Fielding Smith asserted:

“We are members of a world church, a church that has the plan of life and salvation, a church set up by the Lord himself in these last days to carry his message of salvation to all his children in all the earth.

“The day is long since past when informed people think of us as a peculiar group in the tops of the Rocky Mountains in America. . . .

“But now we are coming of age as a church and as a people.”²⁷

Speaking in the concluding session Sunday afternoon, Regional Representative Derek A. Cuthbert, who had coordinated local arrangements for the conference, said, “There is no longer a need for British Church members to leave their homeland to partake of the blessings of Church membership.”²⁸

As the conference ended, the entire congregation stood as President Joseph Fielding Smith prepared to leave the stand. Nobody moved, and conversations were in subdued tones. “It was as though they did not want to leave the spirit that had prevailed in the meeting. There was a sacred air about King’s Hall and as a testimony to the spirit the audience burst into spontaneous singing of ‘We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet.’” Then they sang “God Be with You Till We Meet Again.”²⁹

A similar area conference convened in Mexico City the following year, only one month after Harold B. Lee became President of the Church. At great sacrifice, Saints traveled as far as three thousand miles to be present. A group from Tijuana, Mexico, journeyed fifty-three hours by bus; they took turns standing because there were ten more people on board than seats. The “Folklorico” cultural program Friday evening featured talented musicians and dancers from throughout Mexico and Central America. On Saturday evening, President Lee spoke to Aaronic Priesthood, Young Women, Relief Society, and Melchizedek Priesthood groups convened simultaneously at several locations around Mexico City. President Lee rotated to each meeting, where he spoke and inspired those in attendance. The Tabernacle Choir presented its regular Sunday morning broadcast from the national auditorium in Chapultepec Park. The choir brought tears of appreciation to the eyes of many as it presented several of its numbers in Spanish. During the morning session, the new First Presidency, with all three members present, was sustained for the first time in an area general conference.

At this conference, Elder Bruce R. McConkie clearly enunciated the updated understanding of the principle of the gathering: “The place of gathering for the Mexican Saints is in Mexico; the place of gathering for the Guatemalan Saints is in Guatemala; the place of gathering for the Brazilian Saints is in Brazil; and so it goes throughout the length and breadth of the whole earth. Japan is for the Japanese; Korea is for the Koreans; Australia is for the Australians; every nation is the gathering place for its own people.”³⁰

In succeeding years similar area conferences were held in Germany, Sweden, and in other parts of the world. The Saints in these areas were similarly edified and uplifted.

The International Mission, organized in 1972, became a third means of keeping in touch with Church members throughout the world, particularly with those who did not live within the boundaries of an organized stake or mission. Thousands of Latter-day Saints lived in such scattered locations as Tanzania, Zambia, Morocco, Guiana, New Guinea, Hungary, and the Soviet Union. Typically they were diplomatic or foreign service envoys, representatives of major business corporations, or advisers for agricultural or other developmental projects. Sometimes these individuals were accompanied by their families; others were alone. While most came from the United States or Canada, some were from England, France, Germany, Scandinavia, and many other parts of the world.

Wherever they lived, these Saints generally valued Church membership and activity. Elder Bernard P. Brockbank, the International Mission’s first president, explained:

“The organization of this mission was wisdom in that the member need not feel alone. He or she has someone to contact for supplies, to have questions answered, for counseling or just to keep in contact with the Church. . . .

“. . . wherever he is, . . . the Church is as close as the nearest mailbox.”³¹

Primarily by means of correspondence, the International Mission facilitated the ordering of Church supplies, maintained membership records, received and issued receipts for tithes and other donations, and coordinated interviews for priesthood advancement and temple recommends. Subsequently, the International Mission also played a key role in opening new areas of the world for gospel teaching and Church activity. With these lines of communication in place, and with its programs more perfectly correlated, the Church was ready to lengthen its stride in fulfilling its global mission.

Endnotes

1. This chapter was written for the Church Educational System; also published in Richard O. Cowan, The Church in the Twentieth Century (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1985), pp. 254–55, 305–8, 310–12, 315–16, 324–26, 333, 336, 338–57, 414–15, 417–18, 421.

2. Harold B. Lee, in Conference Report, Apr. 1963, p. 83.

3. In Conference Report, Sept. 1961, pp. 77, 79, 81.

4. In Conference Report, Oct. 1962, pp. 74, 76.

5. Melchizedek Priesthood Handbook, 1964, pp. 18–19.

6. In Conference Report, Oct. 1964, p. 137.

7. Family Home Evening Manual, 1965, p. iii.

8. Family Home Evening Manual, 1967, pp. iii–iv.

9. David O. McKay first used this thought in general conference April 1935 (p. 116). He was quoting J. E. McCulloch, Home: The Savior of Civilization (Washington, D.C.: Southern Cooperative League, 1924), p. 42.

10. In Conference Report, Apr. 1935, p. 116.

11. Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., and John J. Stewart, The Life of Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972), p. 195.

12. “Joseph Fielding Smith—Our New President,” Instructor, Mar. 1970, p. 78.

13. In Smith and Stewart, Life of Joseph Fielding Smith, p. 212.

14. In Conference Report, Oct. 1970, p. 5.

15. Joseph Fielding Smith, “The Most Important Knowledge,” Ensign, May 1971, p. 3.

16. Cited in Joseph Fielding Smith Scrapbooks, 1970–72, address delivered at Southern Utah State College, 28 May 1971, LDS Historical Department, Salt Lake City, p. 5.

17. In “Presidency Meets the Press,” Church News, 15 July 1972, p. 3.

18. See “Elders Presidency Magnified,” Church News, 29 Jan. 1972, p. 3.

19. “Seek Learning Even By Study and By Faith,” report for 1971 from Commissioner of Education of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 1.

20. L. Brent Goates, Harold B. Lee, Prophet and Seer (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1985), pp. 394, 396.

21. See Marvin J. Ashton, “The Church Focuses on Social and Emotional Problems,” Ensign, Jan. 1971, pp. 30–31; “Help Available Here,” Ensign, Dec. 1973, pp. 54–56.

22. “Church Divests Self of Hospitals,” Church News, 14 Sept. 1974, p. 3.

23. “Three Welfare Units Joined,” Church News, 7 Apr. 1973, p. 4.

24. See “Needs Identified at Seminar for LDS Deaf,” Church News, 19 Aug. 1972, pp. 7, 12.

25. “New Name, More Duties Given Church Indian Committee,” Church News, 27 June 1970, p. 6.

26. See Conference Report, Oct. 1967, pp. 25–26.

27. In Manchester England Area Conference 1971, p. 5.

28. “No Longer Need to Leave Homeland, Members Told,” Church News, 4 Sept. 1971, p. 13.

29. “Prophet Leads Conference; British Saints Rejoice,” Church News, 4 Sept. 1971, p. 3.

30. In Mexico and Central America Area Conference 1972, p. 45.

31. “Unique Mission Serves World,” Church News, 1 Feb. 1975, p. 3.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
The Church Lengthens Its Stride

Following the unexpected¹ death of President Harold B. Lee on 26 December 1973, Spencer W. Kimball became the twelfth President of the Church. He humbly announced, “We will, in large measure, carry forward the same program, which we have helped in a small way to make and give it greater emphasis to carry forward the work as much as our talents and abilities will permit.”² Despite this modest declaration, President Kimball’s administration would be noted for numerous and far-reaching innovations.

Preparation of a Prophet

Spencer W. Kimball was born in Salt Lake City on 28 March 1895. When he was only three years old his family moved to southeastern Arizona, where he lived until his call as a General Authority. From his parents, Spencer learned the importance of tithe paying and obedience. He demonstrated an early interest in spiritual things—memorizing the Articles of Faith while milking the cows, reading the scriptures by the light of a coal oil lamp, and maintaining a nearly perfect attendance record at Church meetings. As a boy he also set a pattern of hard work, pitching hay alongside the men, using a special short-handled fork his father provided. Spencer suffered facial paralysis, which was overcome by a priesthood blessing. He drowned while swimming in a canal, but was successfully revived. His mother died when he was only eleven years old. Such experiences taught him important lessons of patience, courage, and faith.

Following service in the Central States Mission, he married Camilla Eyring, and they became the parents of four children. As a banker and businessman, he soon became a community leader. He was twenty-three years old when he was called to be a stake clerk, and he became a counselor in the stake presidency just a few years later. When the new Mount Graham Stake was created in 1938, he became its first president. He was serving in this capacity when his call to the apostleship came five years later.

A phone call from Salt Lake City in 1943 completely changed Spencer W. Kimball’s life. President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., phoned to notify him of his call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Kimball recalled, “I sensed immediately my inability and limitations and I cried back, ‘Not me, Brother Clark! You can’t mean that!’” For the next several weeks he settled his affairs, taking steps to ensure that no one felt he had dealt with him or her unfairly.

Elder Kimball continued, “I remember reading that Jacob wrestled all night, ‘until the breaking of the day,’ for a blessing; and I want to tell you that for eighty-five nights I have gone through that experience, wrestling for a blessing. Eighty-five times, the breaking of the day has found me on my knees praying to the Lord to help me and strengthen me and make me equal to this great responsibility that has come to me.”³

As a member of the Twelve, Elder Kimball’s influence was quickly felt throughout the Church. He became an important member of the committees that prayerfully considered how the tithing funds of the Church should be spent. His appointment as chairman of the Church’s Indian committee was particularly close to his heart because of his long-standing interest in the Indian people. His masterful discourses had a powerful impact on the Latter-day Saints. Using vivid imagery, he effectively taught the Saints the importance of personal purity and pleaded with them to carry out the Church’s responsibilities toward the various groups identified as Lamanites.

Serious health problems plagued Elder Kimball. In 1957 throat cancer threatened to rob him of his voice. He agonized, “Shall I ever speak at another temple dedication? Shall I ever preach again?” Following much prayer and fasting, however, the needed operation proved to be less radical than expected. Nevertheless, Elder Kimball lost most of his vocal cords. As he learned to speak again, he continued to ask himself, “Will my gruff fringe voice be an affront to the people?”⁴ It was not long, however, until the Saints came to respect and heed and love Elder Kimball’s “new voice.”

Then in 1972 a problem with his heart recurred, and he underwent a particularly complicated open-heart operation. With the faith of many people and through the outstanding skill of a devoted Latter-day Saint surgeon, Dr. Russell M. Nelson, Elder Kimball’s life once again was spared. Just prior to the surgery, the First Presidency blessed Dr. Nelson. “They blessed me that the operation would be performed without error, that all would go well, . . . for I had been raised up by the Lord to perform this operation.” It went flawlessly. As Elder Kimball’s heart resumed beating with power and vigor, Dr. Nelson recalled, “The Spirit told me that I had just operated upon a man who would become president of the Church.”⁵ Despite physical difficulties, Elder Kimball set a legendary example of long hours of selfless and devoted service in building up the kingdom of God. A motto prominently displayed on his desk proclaimed simply “Do It.” These experiences helped prepare Spencer W. Kimball to lead the Church when the call came.

Challenge to Lengthen Our Stride

As Spencer W. Kimball assumed the presidency of the Church, he chose to retain the same counselors who had served with his predecessor. This meant that N. Eldon Tanner, First Counselor, had served as a counselor to four Presidents of the Church, a record not exceeded in Church history. President Tanner not only provided inspired counsel to the Saints and capable administrative leadership to the Church, but he also reached out to bless the community as a whole. Non-Latter-day Saint businessmen and educational leaders in Salt Lake City honored him for his selfless and effective community service. President Kimball’s second counselor, President Marion G. Romney, had served as a General Authority longer than anyone else in the First Presidency, having been named as one of the original Assistants to the Twelve in 1941—two years before President Kimball had been called to the Twelve. For more than three decades his powerful leadership and scripture-centered teachings had motivated the Saints to improve both their spiritual and temporal welfare.

At the Regional Representatives’ seminar in April 1974, Elder W. Grant Bangerter remembered that President Kimball had not spoken very long when “we became alert to an astonishing spiritual presence, . . . different from any of our previous meetings. It was as if, spiritually speaking, our hair began to stand on end. . . . President Kimball was opening spiritual windows and . . . inviting us to view with him the destiny of the gospel and the vision of its ministry.”⁶

President Kimball spoke for forty-five minutes to the Regional Representatives, delivering what became one of his most oft-quoted discourses and set the pace for his administration:

“It seems to me that the Lord chose his words when he said [the gospel must go to] ‘every nation,’ ‘every land,’ ‘uttermost bounds of the earth,’ ‘every tongue,’ ‘every people,’ ‘every soul,’ ‘all the world,’ ‘many lands.’

“Surely there is significance in these words!

“. . . A universal command!

“My brethren, I wonder if we are doing all we can. Are we complacent in our approach to teaching all the world? . . . Are we prepared to lengthen our stride? To enlarge our vision? . . .

“I believe the Lord can do anything he sets his mind to do.

“But I can see no good reason why the Lord would open doors that we are not prepared to enter. Why should he break down the Iron Curtain or the Bamboo Curtain or any other curtain if we are still unprepared to enter?

“I believe we have men who could help the apostles to open these doors—statesmen, able and trustworthy—but, when we are ready for them. . . .

“A year ago now I was in Japan and Korea, and . . . I seemed to envision a great movement when there would be thousands of local men prepared and anxious and strong to go abroad. . . . I seemed to envision again Mexican youth and Latins from Central and South America in great numbers qualifying themselves for missionary service within their own country and then finally in other lands until the army of the Lord’s missionaries would cover the earth as the waters cover the mighty deep.”⁷

“When President Kimball concluded, President Ezra Taft Benson arose and with a voice filled with emotion, echoing the feeling of all present, said, in substance: ‘President Kimball, . . . we have never heard such an address as you have just given. Truly, there is a prophet in Israel.’”⁸

Reaching Out Worldwide

In order to promote this worldwide expansion of the gospel, the First Presidency called David M. Kennedy to be a special consultant on diplomatic affairs. Brother Kennedy, who had served in a stake presidency in Chicago, had ample secular background for this significant assignment. He had been chairman of the board and chief executive officer of one of the United States banks most heavily engaged in international business. He had also served as United States secretary of the treasury, ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and ambassador at large for the United States. In succeeding years he played a key role working with governments of many nations in order to resolve problems that had hindered the Church’s activities there.⁹ He was instrumental in arranging for mature couples to serve as special representatives of the Church in countries where traditional missionary work was not yet possible. One of his outstanding achievements in 1977 was securing legal status and official recognition for the Church in Poland. This opened the way for a visit by President Kimball to Warsaw, where he “dedicated the land of Poland and blessed its people that the work of the Lord might go forth.”¹⁰

During these same years, others were involved in negotiations with the government of Israel that led to the Church developing the five-acre Orson Hyde Memorial Garden on the western slope of the Mount of Olives, overlooking the old city of Jerusalem.¹¹

President Kimball emphasized the importance of every young man being worthy and prepared to serve a mission. In 1976 the Church’s Language Training Mission moved into a new multi-building complex near the campus of Brigham Young University. In 1978 the Salt Lake City mission home was closed, and English-speaking missionaries, primarily from the United States and Canada, began to receive instruction at this new facility, which was renamed the Missionary Training Center. Since 1978 training centers have been established in many countries to enhance the preparation of local young men and women called to serve in those areas.

Latter-day Saint performing groups from various college campuses became another effective means of building goodwill toward the Church. In 1978 a group from BYU presented music and dance variety shows in Poland and in the Soviet Union. Before their tour, the performers spent several weeks studying the cultures and languages of the peoples they would visit so that they could announce their numbers in the local language and greet audience members individually following the performances. They were eager to communicate the spirit of the gospel by setting a good example and by radiating love. In both countries the performers were well received and their performances were taped for later release on nationwide television. The following year, another group made similar preparations for a tour of mainland China. Here again their presentations in the most prestigious concert halls of the country, as well as impromptu performances in factories, were highly appreciated. Additional tours in succeeding years continued to spread goodwill throughout the world.¹²

BYU sports teams also helped make friends for the Church. In the fall of 1984 the BYU Cougars were the only undefeated major college football team in the United States, and at the end of the football season they were ranked number one in the nation by both the coaches and sports writers. Numerous articles in national publications presented favorable views of the BYU players, their school, and their religion.

The Church’s worldwide nature was reflected in the increasingly international make-up of the General Authorities. Among those called to the First Quorum of the Seventy through President Spencer W. Kimball were five Europeans, Elders Charles A. Didier from Belgium, Jacob de Jager from the Netherlands, F. Enzio Busche from Germany, Derek A. Cuthbert from England, and Hans B. Ringger from Switzerland; the first of oriental ancestry, Elder Adney Y. Komatsu; the first from Asia, Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi; and two from South America, Elders Angel Abrea and Helio R. Camargo. These leaders brought to the presiding councils of the Church a firsthand awareness of international challenges and opportunities facing the Church in their areas.

The Priesthood Extended to All Races

Perhaps few events have had a greater impact on the worldwide spread of the gospel than did the 1978 revelation received through President Spencer W. Kimball extending the priesthood to worthy males of all races. For some time, the General Authorities had discussed this topic at length in their regular temple meetings. In addition, President Kimball went frequently to the temple, especially on Saturdays and Sundays when he could be there alone, to plead for guidance. “I wanted to be sure,” he explained.¹³

On 1 June 1978 President Kimball met with his counselors and the Twelve and again brought up the possibility of conferring the priesthood upon worthy brethren of all races. He expressed the hope that there might be a clear answer received one way or the other. Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve recalled, “At this point President Kimball asked the brethren if any of them desired to express their feelings and views as to the matter in hand. We all did so, freely and fluently and at considerable length, each person stating his views and manifesting the feelings of his heart. There was a marvelous outpouring of unity, oneness, and agreement in the council.”¹⁴

After a two-hour discussion, President Kimball asked the group to unite in formal prayer and modestly suggested that he act as voice. He recalled:

“I told the Lord if it wasn’t right, if He didn’t want this change to come in the Church that I would be true to it all the rest of my life, and I’d fight the world against it if that’s what He wanted.

“. . . But this revelation and assurance came to me so clearly that there was no question about it.”¹⁵

President Gordon B. Hinckley was at the historic meeting. He remembered: “There was a hallowed and sanctified atmosphere in the room. For me, it felt as if a conduit opened between the heavenly throne and the kneeling, pleading prophet of God who was joined by his Brethren. . . .

“Every man in that circle, by the power of the Holy Ghost, knew the same thing. . . .

“. . . Not one of us who was present on that occasion was ever quite the same after that. Nor has the Church been quite the same. . . .

“Tremendous, eternal consequences for millions over the earth are flowing from that manifestation. . . .

“. . . This has opened great areas of the world to the teaching of the everlasting gospel. This has made it possible that ‘every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world.’

“We have cause to rejoice and to praise the God of our salvation that we have seen this glorious day.”¹⁶

Brother Anthony Obinna, a convert in Nigeria who had prayerfully waited for baptism for thirteen years, wrote to President Kimball after hearing about the revelation:

“We are happy for the many hours in the upper room of the temple you spent supplicating the Lord to bring us into the fold. We thank our Heavenly Father for hearing your prayers and ours and by revelation [confirming] the long promised day . . . to receive every blessing of the gospel.”¹⁷

Only five months after the revelation came, two experienced couples were sent to open missionary work in the black African nations of Nigeria and Ghana. “In black Africa . . . the revelation on the priesthood was, in effect, the restoration of the gospel for them. . . . Within one year there were more than 1,700 members in 35 branches in West Africa.”¹⁸

“After only nine and a half years of missionary work, Elder Neal A. Maxwell organized the Aba Nigeria Stake on May 15, 1988—the first stake in which all priesthood leaders were black—and he noted that this was ‘a historic day in the Church in this dispensation . . .’ (in ‘Nigerian Stake,’ Church News, 21 May 1988, p. 7).”¹⁹

When one considers how many people were “affected by this revelation—which includes millions on the earth and billions on the other side of the veil—we can see why President Kimball said that it brought ‘one of the greatest changes and blessings that has ever been known’ [Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 451].”²⁰

Warning Voice

As the prophet of the Lord, Spencer W. Kimball increasingly felt compelled to raise a warning voice on a wide variety of subjects. In his first two general conferences as President of the Church, for example, he reaffirmed the Saints’ political responsibilities to elect wise leaders and to obey constitutional law. He challenged the Saints to clean up and repair their homes and farms and urged them to plant gardens, store food (in areas where it was legal), and avoid waste. He also reminded them of the virtues of work, industry, and thrift. He urged the Saints to keep the Sabbath holy and refrain from taking the name of the Lord in vain. He counseled against the use of playing cards. He also warned the Saints to have nothing to do with apostate groups.

Many of President Kimball’s teachings were centered in the family. He encouraged all young Latter-day Saints to marry and have children. He said, “We call upon all people to accept normal marriage as a basis for true happiness.” He lamented the growing number of divorces and believed that selfishness was a major cause of family break-ups. He regarded abortion as a related evil. “Certainly the terrible sin of premeditated abortion would be hard to justify. . . . We place it high on the list of sins against which we strongly warn the people.”

He reaffirmed that “the Church has consistently opposed the improper and harmful use of drugs or similar substances under circumstances which would result in addiction, physical or mental impairment or in lowering moral standards.”

President Kimball saw immoral or improper use of the body as a major threat to family happiness: “The human body is the sacred home of the spirit child of God, and unwarranted tampering with or defilement of this sacred tabernacle can bring only remorse and regret. We urge: stay clean, uncontaminated, undefiled.” The President also spoke out against the sin of homosexuality, “unisex” attempts to blur the distinction between masculine and feminine, and the practice of couples living together without marriage. Although President Kimball vigorously denounced such evils, he also offered hope to those who had become ensnared in them. This was the prime message of his widely read book, The Miracle of Forgiveness, published a few years earlier.

President Kimball particularly stressed the importance of the mother’s role: “‘Motherhood is near to Divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels. . . .’ [“Message of the First Presidency,” Deseret News Weekly Church Edition, Oct. 1942, p. 5.]”²¹ President Kimball emphasized the responsibility of parents to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to their children, including such virtues as honor, integrity, and honesty. “The home is the teaching situation. Every father should talk to his son, every mother to her daughter. Then it would leave them totally without excuse should they ignore the counsel they have received.”²²

In the United States few family-related issues generated more discussions both in and out of the Church than did the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, which sought to provide that equal treatment under the law not be denied or abridged on account of gender. At first these provisions seemed wholly commendable, but further analysis raised some concerns. In 1976, though reaffirming the Church’s commitment to equal opportunities for women, the First Presidency opposed passage of the proposed amendment.

“It would strike at the family, humankind’s basic institution. . . .

“Passage of ERA, some legal authorities contend, could nullify many accumulated benefits to women in present statutes.”²³ The Presidency also feared that the amendment would undermine the unique status of women. Although this stand was approved by the vast majority of Latter-day Saints, a small but vocal minority saw it as a threat to women’s rights, refused to accept it, and even mounted disruptive demonstrations at general conferences. In various areas of the United States, groups of Latter-day Saints organized to work with legislators and in other ways mobilized public opinion to defeat the amendment.

The Equal Rights Amendment was not ratified by the 1981 deadline, but attention continued to be focused on the role of women. Articles in national periodicals increasingly lauded women who found fulfillment in careers outside the home, and described traditional homemaking as demeaning drudgery. Church leaders were aware of the pressures such attitudes placed on Latter-day Saint women. Therefore, in 1978 the Church inaugurated annual meetings for women, preceding the fall general conferences. Like the priesthood sessions for men, these gatherings in the Salt Lake Tabernacle were carried by closed circuit to hundreds of meetinghouses throughout the United States and in other countries. Speaking at the first of these sessions, President Spencer W. Kimball urged women to have programs of self-improvement and to reach for new levels of achievement and self-fulfillment. He said:

“We want our sisters to be scholars of the scriptures as well as our men. . . .

“. . . Let there be no question in your mind about your value as an individual. . . .

“Much is said about the drudgery and confinement of the woman’s role. This is not so. . . . There is divinity in each new life, challenge in raising each child. Marriage is a partnership. Please be a contributing and full partner.”²⁴ Because many women would face the challenge of earning a living for themselves or for their families, Church leaders encouraged them to obtain education, while not losing sight of their primary role as mothers in the home.

More than twenty thousand Church members gathered for the dedication of the Relief Society Monument to Women at Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1978. Thirteen bronze statues stand in a two-acre park. “The statues represent various spheres of a woman’s circle of influence. . . .

“President Kimball commented upon the statuary garden and said, ‘As we walk through the garden, we are reminded of the great, powerful influence of women upon the world.’”²⁵

The Standard Works

Under President Spencer W. Kimball’s leadership, three new items were added to the scriptural canon—the first additions to the standard works in nearly three-quarters of a century.

Two of these additions, which became sections 137 and 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants, shed light on the subject of life after death. Concerning their importance, Elder Bruce R. McConkie declared: “Their contents have been known; their provisions have been in force; their principles have been widely taught. But now, at this hour, with their addition to the formal scriptures of the saints, they become a new commandment—they become a new divine pronouncement both to say and to do all that is required in the soul-expanding doctrine of salvation for the dead.”²⁶ The third addition, Official Declaration 2, gives the text of the First Presidency letter announcing that the priesthood would now be available to all worthy males regardless of race.

These items explained in greater detail the doctrinal foundations of vicarious work for the dead. Hence their addition to the canon of scripture fittingly anticipated the era of unprecedented temple construction with resulting increase in temple activity, which would characterize the final years of President Kimball’s administration.

The issuing of new editions of the scriptures was the second major scripture-related development of President Kimball’s administration. In 1979 a new edition of the King James Bible was published. Although the biblical text itself was not changed, this new edition featured an improved footnote system, excerpts from the Joseph Smith Translation, cross-references to related passages in the other standard works, more meaningful chapter headings, a 598-page Topical Guide and concordance, a 194-page dictionary section reflecting unique understanding available through latter-day revelation, and a gazetteer and maps. Two years later a new edition of the triple combination—the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price—became a companion to the new edition of the Bible. It contained many of the same improvements.

These publications were the result of at least a decade of intense effort. A committee consisting of Elders Thomas S. Monson, Boyd K. Packer, and Bruce R. McConkie gave constant direction to the project. Elders Marvin J. Ashton and Howard W. Hunter also served for a time. They were assisted by a task committee made up of three members of the BYU religion faculty, who in turn were assisted by hundreds of volunteers. Those who worked on this project testified that at key points the right person was available to provide expertise and enable the work to move forward. Elder Packer regarded these new editions of the scriptures with their improved study aids as extremely important:

“With the passing of years, these scriptures will produce successive generations of faithful Christians who know the Lord Jesus Christ and are disposed to obey His will.

“. . . They will develop a gospel scholarship beyond that which their forebears could achieve. . . .

“As the generations roll on, this will be regarded, in the perspective of history, as the crowning achievement in the administration of President Spencer W. Kimball. . . .

“These references from the four volumes of scripture constitute the most comprehensive compilation of scriptural information on the mission and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ that has ever been assembled in the history of the world.”²⁸

With the continued expansion of the Church, President Kimball and other Church leaders increasingly took measures to meet the needs of the Saints worldwide.

Endnotes

1. This chapter was written for the Church Educational System; also published in Richard O. Cowan, The Church in the Twentieth Century (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1985), pp. 330, 378–398.

2. “First Presidency Meets with News Media,” Church News, 5 Jan. 1974, p. 14.

3. In Conference Report, Oct. 1943, pp. 15–16.

4. Spencer W. Kimball, One Silent Sleepless Night (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1975), pp. 35, 51.

5. Russell Marion Nelson, From Heart to Heart (Salt Lake City: Russell M. Nelson, 1979), pp. 164–65.

6. In Conference Report, Oct. 1977, p. 38; or Ensign, Nov. 1977, p. 26.

7. Spencer W. Kimball, “‘When the World Will Be Converted,’” Ensign, Oct. 1974, pp. 5, 7, 14.

8. W. Grant Bangerter, in Conference Report, Oct. 1977, p. 39; or Ensign, Nov. 1977, p. 27.

9. See “Diplomatic Affairs Consultant Appointed,” Church News, 13 Apr. 1974, p. 17.

10. “Poland Dedicated by President Kimball,” Church News, 17 Sept. 1977, p. 3.

11. See “Gardens to Blossom in Israel,” Church News, 29 Oct. 1977, p. 3.

12. See “Performers Tour Russia,” Church News, 15 July 1978, p. 5; “Y Students a Success in China,” Church News, 11 Aug. 1979, p. 9.

13. See “‘News’ Interviews Prophet,” Church News, 6 Jan. 1979, p. 4.

14. Bruce R. McConkie, “The New Revelation on Priesthood,” Priesthood (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981), p. 127.

15. “‘News’ Interviews Prophet,” p. 4.

16. “Priesthood Restoration,” Ensign, Oct. 1988, pp. 70–71.

17. E. Dale LeBaron, “African Converts without Baptism: A Unique and Inspiring Chapter in Church History,” Brigham Young University 1998–99 Speeches, 3 Nov. 1998, p. 6.

18. LeBaron “African Converts without Baptism,” pp. 5–7.

19. LeBaron “African Converts without Baptism,” p. 7.

20. LeBaron, “African Converts without Baptism,” p. 5.

21. In Conference Report, Apr. 1974, pp. 7–9; or Ensign, May 1974, pp. 6–8.

22. In Conference Report, Oct. 1974, p. 8; or Ensign, Nov. 1974, p. 7.

23. “First Presidency Opposes ERA,” Church News, 30 Oct. 1976, p. 2.

24. “Women Urged to ‘Reach for Stars,’” Church News, 23 Sept. 1978, pp. 3, 10.

25. “Nauvoo Park Honors Women,” Church News, 8 Jul. 1978, p. 3.

26. Bruce R. McConkie, “A New Commandment,” Ensign, Aug. 1976, p. 8.

27. In Conference Report, Oct. 1982, p. 75; or Ensign, Nov. 1982, p. 53.

28. In Conference Report, Oct. 1982, pp. 75–76; or Ensign, Nov. 1982, p. 53.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Meeting the Needs of a Worldwide Church

Church membership had reached 3,321,556 when Spencer W. Kimball became President of the Church at the end of 1973,¹ and it continued to grow rapidly under his leadership. By the early 1980s the Church was gaining over a quarter of a million new members each year. In 1982 the Church membership passed the five million mark. Such growth within a single decade posed many challenges: How could the General Authorities effectively maintain contact with the rapidly expanding number of Church units and Saints throughout the world? How could Church programs and activities best meet the needs of members living in widely varying circumstances? How could the blessings of the temple be placed within their reach? The growing Church needed expanded leadership to help meet the challenges of a new era.

First Quorum of the Seventy Organized

The growing number of stakes and missions in the Church put additional time pressure on the General Authorities. There were more stake conferences for them to attend and more mission districts that needed supervision. Five high priests had been called in April 1941 to serve as Assistants to the Twelve to help with expanding administrative duties. As the Church continued to grow over the years, additional Brethren were called to this position. By October 1976 there were thirty-eight Assistants to the Twelve (see current Deseret News Church Almanac):

1. Marion G. Romney
2. Thomas E. McKay
3. Clifford E. Young
4. Alma Sonne
5. Nicholas G. Smith
6. George Q. Morris
7. Stayner Richards
8. ElRay L. Christiansen
9. John Longden
10. Hugh B. Brown
11. Sterling W. Sill
12. Gordon B. Hinckley
13. Henry D. Taylor
14. William J. Critchlow, Jr.
15. Alvin R. Dyer
16. N. Eldon Tanner
17. Franklin D. Richards
18. Theodore M. Burton
19. Thorpe B. Isaacson
20. Boyd K. Packer
21. Bernard P. Brockbank
22. James A. Cullimore
23. Marion D. Hanks
24. Marvin J. Ashton
25. Joseph Anderson
26. David B. Haight
27. William H. Bennett
28. John H. Vandenberg
29. Robert L. Simpson
30. O. Leslie Stone
31. James E. Faust
32. L. Tom Perry
33. J. Thomas Fyans
34. Neal A. Maxwell
35. Wm. Grant Bangerter
36. Robert D. Hales
37. Adney Y. Komatsu
38. Joseph B. Wirthlin

Added responsibilities were also given to the seven General Authorities who constituted the First Council of the Seventy. In September 1961 President David O. McKay announced that these Seventies had been ordained to the office of high priest and given the authority to organize stakes and wards, including setting apart stake presidents and bishops, under the direction of the Twelve.² Previously the First Council supervised stake seventies quorums throughout the Church but had not been given authority to set in order stakes and wards.

In 1975 President Spencer W. Kimball announced that the time had come to organize the First Quorum of the Seventy. These Brethren would assist the existing seven Presidents of Seventy in furthering the Lord’s work, “especially in the missionary area.”³ The First Presidency subsequently stated that members of the First Quorum of the Seventy were to have the same authority as Assistants to the Twelve.

At the October 1976 general conference, President Kimball announced that the First Presidency “felt inspired to call all of the Assistants to the Twelve into the First Quorum of the Seventy.” President Kimball continued, “With this move, the three governing quorums of the Church defined by the revelations,—the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the First Quorum of the Seventy,—have been set in their places as revealed by the Lord [see D&C 107:22–26]. This will make it possible to handle efficiently the present heavy workload and to prepare for the increasing expansion and acceleration of the work, anticipating the day when the Lord will return to take direct charge of His church and kingdom.”⁴ As part of an ongoing process, more members were added to the First Quorum of the Seventy at each of the next several general conferences.⁵

Keeping in Touch with Saints throughout the World

While members of the Seventy were providing needed help at Church headquarters, steps were also being taken to strengthen links with far-flung local units. Regions, which had been operating welfare projects since 1936, and areas, which had been coordinating missions since the 1960s, were reorganized. Then each mission area was placed under the personal supervision of a General Authority. In 1966 eleven of these Brethren were living outside the United States. By 1975 regions and stakes were also brought under the jurisdiction of these resident General Authorities, or Area Supervisors.⁶

A key development came in 1984 when the world was divided into thirteen broadened areas, each to be headed by a presidency consisting of three Brethren of the Seventy. This change brought new strength to Church government at that level. The knowledge and experience of the General Authorities in the Area Presidencies helped them direct their areas according to the needs and circumstances of the Saints in their part of the world. President Gordon B. Hinckley, second counselor to President Spencer W. Kimball, stressed that the Church’s growth required flexibility in administration, even though its divine mandate did not change.⁷

The General Authorities were also responsible for administering the numerous departments and committees at Church headquarters. In 1977 the First Presidency announced a delineation between the responsibility of the Presiding Bishopric for temporal affairs on one hand, and that of the Twelve Apostles and Seventy for ecclesiastical and spiritual affairs on the other. Members of the First Quorum of the Seventy received major responsibility for the day-to-day administration of the missionary, temple, and family history programs of the Church as well as for the various departments that directed the work of the priesthood quorums and auxiliaries. As the members of the Quorum of the Seventy assumed this responsibility, the Twelve Apostles were free to give broader attention to the needs of the Church worldwide.

As the Church grew, the expense of bringing local leaders to general conference twice a year became a heavy burden, and Church leaders decided it would be better to train local leaders in their own countries. Beginning in 1971 General Authorities began to hold area conferences around the world. These conferences were held in large auditoriums and sports arenas so many people could attend.

Area conferences were not merely for the training of local leaders, however. Local members, many of them from small, remote branches, were grateful to be able to hear the counsel of General Authorities and to congregate with thousands of their fellow Saints. Eventually even area conferences became too large and impractical. By the mid-1980s regional or multiregional conferences, attended by small delegations of General Authorities, began to take the place of the larger gatherings.

In 1975 President Kimball announced that auxiliary conferences at Church headquarters would be discontinued. The conferences had been held annually by the Relief Society, the Young Men (YMMIA), the Young Women (YWMIA), Sunday School, and Primary. Instructions to local leaders from then on were to be given at regional meetings and general conferences.

In the same spirit of consolidation, general conference was shortened in 1977 from three days to two and was held the first weekends of April and October. The April conference, therefore, did not always include 6 April, the Church’s organization anniversary. By holding general conference on the weekends, more stake presidents and others were able to attend since they did not have to leave home during the work week. In conjunction with the two-day semiannual general conference of the Church, limited auxiliary workshops and open houses were conducted on Thursday and Friday prior to the conference.

On a more local level, in 1979 stake conferences were changed from four per year to two. This was done “to ease the burdens of time, travel and money upon members of the Church.”⁸ By the mid-1980s members of the Quorum of the Twelve increasingly attended regional or multiregional conferences rather than individual stake conferences.⁹

Activities Refocused

Church leaders continued to take steps to ensure that the objectives of the Church were met without undue demands on the time or finances of the Saints. General Authorities cautioned local leaders not to sponsor youth trips or other elaborate activities that would put a strain on members’ resources. The Young Men and Young Women organizations had previously called music, drama, speech, and sports directors in each ward. In 1977 these callings were discontinued, and three-member activities committees were instituted to coordinate all such activities for each ward. The purpose of these ward and stake committees was to relieve priesthood quorum and auxiliary organization presidencies from the responsibility for ward or stake activities. This allowed presidencies to focus on the duties and responsibilities unique to those they were responsible for. The activities committee, consisting of a chairman, a cultural arts director, and a physical activities director, became a resource to priesthood and auxiliary presidencies and fostered cultural arts, sports, recreation, and physical fitness. Specialists were called to the activities committee on a temporary basis to promote specific activities and events, such as musical or theatrical productions, dances, speech festivals, personal and family fitness, and family activities for the overall good and development of the Saints.

Many Latter-day Saints throughout the world could not enjoy the full range of such activities because they were isolated from other Church members. In many cases, only two or three member families lived in a widespread area and could not conduct the programs of a fully-organized ward. These families held Church meetings in their homes, with all family members taking turns speaking and filling assignments.

In 1978 the Church inaugurated a “basic unit” program to assist such isolated members. This program served Church units in areas of the world that needed to begin simply and progress through various stages of development. A special handbook explained what officers they needed to call and what activities they could conduct at each level of development. A guide for families indicated what meetings should be held if a family were isolated and completely on its own.

Members all over the world benefitted from the guidance that the basic unit program offered. Even in areas with fully organized stakes, the simplified program was adopted for small groups of members isolated from the majority by geographical settings or language barriers. Gospel Principles, one of six manuals developed for use in small units, became popular among all Latter-day Saints as an excellent compendium of doctrinal teachings. The Church’s favorable experience with an abbreviated program for these scattered units also provided a precedent for consolidating other Church programs.

For decades priesthood and Sunday School meetings had been held on Sunday mornings, and sacrament meetings were held in the afternoon or evening. Relief Society meetings for women, Primary classes and activities for children, and Mutual Improvement Association (MIA) for youth were held during the week. In 1980 the basic ward meetings—priesthood, Relief Society, Young Women, Primary, Sunday School, and sacrament meeting—were restructured and consolidated to fit into a single three-hour block on Sunday morning or afternoon. Such long-standing traditions as the Sunday School’s half-hour opening exercise were discontinued. The Junior Sunday School was combined with the Primary Association. A youth activity night (Mutual), a monthly Relief Society homemaking meeting, periodic activity and achievement days for Primary children, and occasional other activities continued to be held during the week.

The First Presidency explained that the new Church meeting schedule was designed to give families more time for scripture study, gospel discussion, and other family activities at home.¹⁰ The consolidated schedule also allowed Saints to become more involved in community service. Another benefit the schedule provided was reduced travel costs for members and reduced costs of heating and lighting meetinghouses.

Increase in Temple Activity

The 1970s¹¹ were only the beginning of an unprecedented era in temple construction and activity. The Washington D.C. Temple was dedicated by President Kimball in 1974. It was the second twentieth-century temple to have a large priesthood assembly room on an upper floor, the other being the Los Angeles California Temple. It had six rooms for presenting the endowment.

A year earlier, the Mesa Arizona and St. George Utah Temples had been closed for renovation. These temples were redesigned to present the endowment with motion picture equipment. The rebuilding was so extensive that two years later, in 1975, these two temples were reopened for public open houses and then rededicated, the first time this had ever been done. The Laie Hawaii and Logan Utah Temples were similarly remodeled and rededicated later in the decade.

The year 1975 also brought the announcement of three new temples to be built at São Paulo, Brazil, the first in South America; Tokyo, Japan, the first in Asia; and Seattle, Washington, the first in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

Latter-day Saints in these areas were full of gratitude for these long-awaited temples. For example, “A wave of emotion swept through the Area General Conference in Brazil as President Spencer W. Kimball announced March 1 that a temple would be built in São Paulo.

“‘I have an important announcement,’ he said, making it the first order of business, even before the opening prayer. . . .

“‘A temple will be built in Brazil,’ he said.

“A gasp could be heard across the congregation.

“‘It will be built in São Paulo,’ the president continued.

“By now tears filled the eyes of many. They openly wept for joy.”¹²

The pace of temple construction increased as the 1970s drew to a close. Plans for the Mexico City D.F. Mexico Temple were announced in 1977, and the following year Church leaders disclosed that the Jordan River Utah Temple would be built in the southern part of the Salt Lake Valley. The year 1980 brought the unprecedented announcement of seven new temples at once. They were to be built in Atlanta, Georgia, the first in the southeastern United States; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; Sydney, Australia; Nuku’alofa, Tonga; Papeete, Tahiti; and Apia, Samoa. President Spencer W. Kimball declared:

“There now begins the most intensive period of temple building in the history of the Church. . . .

“We look to the day when the sacred ordinances of the Church, performed in the temples, will be available to all members of the Church in convenient locations around the globe.”¹³

In the early 1980s Church leaders announced plans to construct even more temples, including one in South Africa and another in the German Democratic Republic (Communist East Germany).

Six temples, an unprecedented number, were dedicated during 1983. By mid-1984 there were twenty-one additional temples planned or already under construction. Completion of these new temples brought the total to forty-seven, compared to only fifteen in service when President Kimball began his administration. The previous record had been three temples being built at once, when the Salt Lake, Logan, and Manti Temples were under construction in Utah during the 1880s. For the first time in the Church’s history, temples would be located on every populated continent.

For years many families had sacrificed most of their material possessions to make the once-in-a-lifetime trip to the nearest temple. Almost a full year’s wages were required for one Tahitian family to travel to the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. A shoemaker in Costa Rica had to sell his automobile and his entire stock of shoes in order to take his wife and seven children to the Mesa Arizona Temple so that their family could be sealed for eternity. During the eight-thousand-mile round-trip their group had to sleep in cultural halls and change buses every time they crossed into a new country. These Saints were willing to make extreme sacrifices to receive the sacred blessings available to them only in temples.

In some countries, such as Korea, government restriction on travel prevented couples from leaving the country at the same time, making it impossible for them to be sealed to each other. In other cases, parents with limited funds had to make the impossible decision of which children to take with them to the temple to be sealed. As new temples began to dot the earth, such hardships were moderated for many Saints.

Advances in Technology

The expansion in temple building¹⁴ was accompanied by significant improvements in methods of gathering genealogical information. The computer became an indispensable tool in genealogical research. In 1961, when more names were needed for temple work, Genealogical Society employees extracted vital information from selected parish and civil records. The computer then quickly alphabetized and printed these names. Until 1969 members submitting names for temple work were required to record them on family group records. But with the computerized tracking system in place, the Church decided to allow members to submit individual names. This greater freedom allowed the Saints to accelerate their genealogical activity, so thousands of names were added each year to the Church’s growing database of deceased individuals whose names were cleared for temple ordinances.

By the mid-1970s more than three million endowments for the dead were being performed annually, but less than one million names were being supplied by the Latter-day Saints doing their own genealogical research. The difference was made up by the Records Tabulation Program operated by Genealogical Department employees. General Authorities felt a growing need for Saints to do their own genealogy, in addition to increasing their involvement in temple work.

In 1978 Church leaders urged the Saints to write personal histories, participate in family organizations, and complete their four-generation records. President Kimball also introduced a new Churchwide program that enabled members to “render second-mile service” by extracting names and genealogical information from microfilmed records. This extraction program was to be supervised by priesthood leaders at the local level.¹⁵

Since most vital records are arranged chronologically, individual researchers must spend countless hours going through the same records to locate their individual ancestors. With the extraction program, volunteers can extract all the names from the original record. These names can then be sorted by computer for easy reference. The Saints’ involvement in this extraction program helped achieve the goal that each temple district supply its own names for temple ordinance work. To this end, temple service centers were established in conjunction with the São Paulo Brazil, Tokyo Japan, and Mexico City D.F. Mexico Temples to expedite the local processing of names for temple work.

The Legacy of Spencer W. Kimball

Elder Spencer W. Kimball had relatively poor health prior to becoming President of the Church, leading some people to predict that his presidency would not last long. His twelve years as President, however, brought many significant accomplishments and were filled with events that had an unforgettable and far-reaching impact. During his administration, the privilege of holding the priesthood was extended to worthy men of all races (see Official Declaration 2). New editions of the scriptures were printed that included important study aids and additions to the scriptural canon. The First Quorum of the Seventy took its revealed place in Church administration. The pattern of Church meetings was streamlined. Temples in unprecedented numbers provided the highest gospel blessings to Saints around the world.

During the beginning of his administration, the tempo of President Kimball’s life matched the rapid pace of the Church’s growth. As he aged, however, his health declined. President Kimball was inspired to call Elder Gordon B. Hinckley as an additional counselor in the First Presidency.

Spencer W. Kimball died on 5 November 1985 following a lengthy illness. He was deeply missed by the millions who had so gratefully sustained him as prophet, seer, and revelator. Speaking of President Kimball, President Hinckley declared: “For forty-two years he served as Apostle and prophet. His moving example of sincere humility, his outreaching love for people, his quiet and earnest declarations of faith have touched all of us. The majesty of his life was found in its simplicity. There was never any of the ostentatious, the boastful, the proud evident in his character. Yet there was an excellence that shone like gold. He was a man from whose life the husk of mediocrity had been winnowed by the hand of God. I loved him with that love which men in the service of the Lord come to feel and know.”¹⁶

In like spirit, Elder Neal A. Maxwell affirmed: “It is not only appropriate but necessary to use some superlatives to describe the ministry of President Spencer Woolley Kimball. . . . His many accomplishments already vie with each other for preeminence in our memories. . . .

“. . . There is a special and discernible dimension of affection for and identification with President Kimball.”¹⁷ Elder Maxwell spoke for members of the Church worldwide when he referred to President Kimball as “Spencer the beloved.”¹⁸

Endnotes

1. See Conference Report, Apr. 1974, p. 27; or Ensign, May 1974, p. 20.

2. See Conference Report, Sept.–Oct. 1961, p. 90.

3. In Conference Report, Oct. 1975, p. 3; or Ensign, Nov. 1975, p. 4.

4. In Conference Report, Oct. 1976, p. 10; or Ensign, Nov. 1976, p. 9.

5. See Richard O. Cowan, The Church in the Twentieth Century (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1985), pp. 405–6.

6. See First Presidency letter, 3 Sept. 1975.

7. See “Area Presidencies Called as Church Modifies Geographical Administration,” Ensign, Aug. 1984, p. 75.

8. Spencer W. Kimball, in “Stake Conferences to Be Semi-annual,” Church News, 1 Apr. 1978, p. 4.

9. See Cowan, Church in the Twentieth Century, pp. 420–23.

10. See “Meeting Schedule Approved,” Church News, 2 Feb. 1980, p. 3.

11. This section was written for the Church Educational System; also published in Cowan, Church in the Twentieth Century, pp. 369–72.

12. J. M. Heslop, “Area Conference in Brazil,” Church News, 8 Mar. 1975, p. 3.

13. In Jay M. Todd, “Report of the Regional Representatives’ Seminar,” Ensign, May 1980, p. 99.

14. Section written for the Church Educational System; also published in Cowan, Church in the Twentieth Century, pp. 372–77.

15. In Conference Report, Apr. 1978, p. 4; or Ensign, May 1978, p. 4; see also Church News, 22 Apr. 1978, p. 3.

16. In Conference Report, Apr. 1986, p. 61; or Ensign, May 1986, p. 46.

17. “Spencer, the Beloved: Leader-Servant,” Ensign, Dec. 1985, p. 8.

18. See Don L. Searle, “President Ezra Taft Benson Ordained Thirteenth President of the Church,” Ensign, Dec. 1985, p. 2.