The Reed Smoot Hearings

Salt Lake City--Mitt Romney stands at the crossroads for Mormon achievement in government. His run for the U.S. presidency comes on the heels of four previous members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have sought the nation's highest office: Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in 2000; Morris Udall (D-Ariz.) in 1976, George Romney (R-Mich.) in 1968, and Mormon founder Joseph Smith (ind., Ill.) in 1844. Smith was killed during his campaign.

If Mitt Romney gains momentum, not only will his political record be further scrutinized, so will his faith and the people who share it.

A precedent exists because a century ago Reed Smoot made headlines as the first Mormon to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Controversial for many reasons, Smoot’s 1903 win showed that Mormons could be wooed away from the Democratic Party to the hated Republicans. Smoot was a modernist who wanted his people to join the American mainstream, with a Republican emphasis on business and less attention to theology. He was also unusual, being from Utah, in that he was a monogamist.

Earlier attempts by Mormons to wield influence in Washington were unsuccessful. History professor B. Carmon Hardy of Cal. State Fullerton says about the 1899 election when Utah church leader B. H. Roberts was chosen for Congress, “A petition demanding Roberts be denied his seat in the national legislature produced 7 million signatures.” Few were really surprised when Roberts was sent packing—denied his seat over his Mormon polygamy.

In a similar move, Senate committee hearings were held to block Senator-elect Smoot from retaining his position. The hearings uncovered skeletons in Utah politics and the Mormon Church. Prominent ecclesiastical leaders were subpoenaed to testify, including Joseph F. Smith, then president and prophet of the Mormon Church, drawing further media attention.

A transcript of the hearings, long buried within the recesses of the extensive Congressional Record, has just been published by Signature Books of Salt Lake City—edited and annotated by Michael Harold Paulos of San Antonio. A former archivist from Brigham Young University, Harvard S. Heath, writes in his introduction to The Mormon Church on Trial: Transcripts of the Reed Smoot Hearings: “It is doubtful Mormon officials anticipated the furor that erupted with Reed Smoot's election.”

In fact, what the hearings uncovered was profound for both rank-and-file Mormons and the Senate itself. Mormon leaders had promised over a decade earlier as spelled out in the so-called Manifesto of 1890, that they would abandon polygamy. But they had not. The result was renewed pressure on the church and finally another statement in 1904 that they would become serious about the issue and take action against any member, high or low, who entered into a new polygamous marriage. The next year, Mormon apostles Mathias Cowley and John W. Taylor were released from their callings for taking additional wives. Both were later unchurched.

In another development, the star witness in the hearings, Mormon prophet Joseph F. Smith, shocked the committee when he said: “I have never pretended to nor do I profess to have received revelations. I [have] never said I had a revelation except so far as God has shown to me that so-called Mormonism is God’s divine truth.” For Mormons, it was unnerving to see witness after witness make sweeping admissions such as this. “But these public disclosures were healthy,” states Paulos. “Older, outdated beliefs were jettisoned to make way for a new period of modernity.”

The predictions for Romney are similar. Once again Mormonism, rather than politics per se, has come to the forefront in a national election. Traditional Mormon beliefs have been scrutinized. Some have been defended, others discarded, in part to make the church seem more mainstream and in part because long-held but questionable assumptions have been scrutinized and found wanting, at least in comparison to more fundamental and enduring beliefs.



	The Mormon Church on Trial Transcripts of the Reed Smoot Hearings


	Salt Signature Books News January 18, 2007 The Mormon Church on Trial? New Book Release Salt Lake City--Mitt Romney stands at the crossroads for Mormon achievement in government. His run for the U.S. presidency comes on the heels of four previous members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have sought the nation's highest office: Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in 2000; Morris Udall (D-Ariz.) in 1976, George Romney (R-Mich.) in 1968, and Mormon founder Joseph Smith (ind., Ill.) in 1844. Smith was killed during his campaign. If Mitt Romney gains momentum, not only will his political record be further scrutinized, so will his faith and the people who share it. A precedent exists because a century ago Reed Smoot made headlines as the first Mormon to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Controversial for many reasons, Smoot’s 1903 win showed that Mormons could be wooed away from the Democratic Party to the hated Republicans. Smoot was a modernist who wanted his people to join the American mainstream, with a Republican emphasis on business and less attention to theology. He was also unusual, being from Utah, in that he was a monogamist. Earlier attempts by Mormons to wield influence in Washington were unsuccessful. History professor B. Carmon Hardy of Cal. State Fullerton says about the 1899 election when Utah church leader B. H. Roberts was chosen for Congress, “A petition demanding Roberts be denied his seat in the national legislature produced 7 million signatures.” Few were really surprised when Roberts was sent packing—denied his seat over his Mormon polygamy. In a similar move, Senate committee hearings were held to block Senator-elect Smoot from retaining his position. The hearings uncovered skeletons in Utah politics and the Mormon Church. Prominent ecclesiastical leaders were subpoenaed to testify, including Joseph F. Smith, then president and prophet of the Mormon Church, drawing further media attention. A transcript of the hearings, long buried within the recesses of the extensive Congressional Record, has just been published by Signature Books of Salt Lake City—edited and annotated by Michael Harold Paulos of San Antonio. A former archivist from Brigham Young University, Harvard S. Heath, writes in his introduction to The Mormon Church on Trial: Transcripts of the Reed Smoot Hearings: “It is doubtful Mormon officials anticipated the furor that erupted with Reed Smoot's election.” In fact, what the hearings uncovered was profound for both rank-and-file Mormons and the Senate itself. Mormon leaders had promised over a decade earlier as spelled out in the so-called Manifesto of 1890, that they would abandon polygamy. But they had not. The result was renewed pressure on the church and finally another statement in 1904 that they would become serious about the issue and take action against any member, high or low, who entered into a new polygamous marriage. The next year, Mormon apostles Mathias Cowley and John W. Taylor were released from their callings for taking additional wives. Both were later unchurched. In another development, the star witness in the hearings, Mormon prophet Joseph F. Smith, shocked the committee when he said: “I have never pretended to nor do I profess to have received revelations. I [have] never said I had a revelation except so far as God has shown to me that so-called Mormonism is God’s divine truth.” For Mormons, it was unnerving to see witness after witness make sweeping admissions such as this. “But these public disclosures were healthy,” states Paulos. “Older, outdated beliefs were jettisoned to make way for a new period of modernity.” The predictions for Romney are similar. Once again Mormonism, rather than politics per se, has come to the forefront in a national election. Traditional Mormon beliefs have been scrutinized. Some have been defended, others discarded, in part to make the church seem more mainstream and in part because long-held but questionable assumptions have been scrutinized and found wanting, at least in comparison to more fundamental and enduring beliefs.