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Three Myths About Mormons in Latin America

April 30, 2018

For the most part, Mormons have been a socially homogeneous people. True, the initial Anglo-American stock was reinforced from time to time by immigrants from Western Europe, but these converts were quickly absorbed into the Church’s social and cultural mainstream. Although successful missions were established among the Indians and especially among the Polynesians, it was nevertheless the English-speaking white Americans who gave the Church its leadership and set the tone of its culture.

Mormons in the Third Reich: 1933-1945

April 30, 2018

The experience of the Church in non-American countries has not always been easy. In Germany in the 1930’s, for example, the Hitler regime viewed the Mormon Church as an American institution and therefore open to…

Moderation in All Things: Political and Social Outlooks of Modern Urban Mormons

April 30, 2018

Perhaps the most difficult kind of analysis that scholars may presume to make is that of presenting attitudes of people toward various ideas. Any poll can be affected by weakness in the sampling technique, by…

Reed Smoot, The L.D.S. Church and Progressive Legislation, 1903-1933

April 30, 2018

If J. Reuben Clark, Jr., will be remembered largely for his involvement in international affairs, another Mormon leader, Reed Smoot, is notable for his contribution both to international relations and domestic American affairs. In 1902,…

J. Reuben Clark, Jr.: Political Isolationism Revisited

April 30, 2018

Modern Mormonism takes just pride in having produced many men and women of distinction in politics, education, science and the arts. One of these was J. Reuben Clark, Jr., international lawyer, career diplomat, and from…

The Twentieth Century: Challenge for Mormon Historians

April 30, 2018

This year (1972), the Mormon Church is 142 years old, which means that 71 years of its history, or fully half its life, has taken place in the twentieth century. Its written history, on the…

Joseph Fielding Smith: Faithful Historian

April 30, 2018

“To record as truth that which is false, and to palm off as facts that which is fiction degrades [the writer], insults his readers, and outrages his profession.”—Joseph Fielding Smith Joseph Fielding Smith began his service in the…

From Someone Who Did Not Know Him Well

April 30, 2018

Throughout my life images of Joseph Fielding Smith come and go, connected somehow with that of my grandfather who, stern before I was born, gradually mellowed until he ended up raising a grandchild with a…

The Discomforter: Some Personal Memories of Joseph Fielding Smith

April 30, 2018

I was about twelve when I first met President and Sister Smith. They had come to visit the Thirty-Third Ward, Bonneville Stake, and the family of my pal, Doug Myers, my bishop’s son and President…

A Tribute to President Joseph Fielding Smith

April 30, 2018

As many people have remarked, President Joseph Fielding Smith was a man without guile. He presented every question exactly as he saw it and accepted the consequences of his position whether they were pleasant or…