Senator George Hoar of Massachusetts fired a question at LDS President Joseph F. Smith. Hoar wondered if church members could question the prophet's revelations and still remain in good standing. Smith responded with the example of plural marriage, saying those who doubted the doctrine were not "cut off." But the Senate would soon hear more nuanced accounts--also that some of the church hierarchy continued to secretly promote polygamy after having publicly promised not to. At issue was whether Senator-elect Reed Smoot of Utah was suited for national office given his position as an LDS apostle. Smoot's election resulted in an intense, four-year scrutiny of Mormons beginning in 1904. Paulos has gathered unexpurgated transcripts of the most important verbal exchanges in the hearings and annotated them with behind-the-scenes material, including previously unpublished letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
After Mitt Romney dropped out of the presidential race, many people gave a sigh of relief that we would not have to possibly endure years of Mormon jokes delivered on late night television. But a century earlier, Reed Smoot--an LDS Apostle who was elected to the U. S. Senate--caused an even greater media controversy. Congress refused to let Smoot take his seat--because, as everyone knew, Mormons were weird. Soon after, Congress did what they do best: held hearings to determine how weird they really were. The Mormon Church on Trial: Transcripts of the Reed Smoot Hearings is the first scholarly examination of this moment in American history. Testimonies by LDS leaders were brought before Congress, ultimately uncovering skeletons in the LDS Church and Utah politics. The major skeleton exposed was the continued practice of polygamy, 14 years after it officially ended in 1890. So Congress did what they do even better, investigate people s sexual relations, because, as everyone knew, a man having sex with more than one woman was weird. These revelations resulted in the church s stronger policy against polygamists, including two apostles who resigned and were later disciplined. Michael Harold Paulos s edited transcripts explore a watershed moment in national politics when the LDS Church finally gave up part of its 19th-century identity and was brought kicking and screaming into the modern age. --Dallas Robbins - Salt Lake City Weekly
About the Author
Michael Harold Paulos is a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin's full-time MBA program. He has published in the LBJ School of Public Affairs Journal, Salt Lake Tribune, Sunstone Magazine, Utah Historical Quarterly, and the Journal of Mormon History.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent primary source of American history,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Mormon Church on Trial: Transcript of the Reed Smoot Hearings (Hardcover)
Originally published along with other government business in four volumes spanning over three thousand pages, The Mormon Church on Trial: Transcripts of the Reed Smoot Hearings is an abridged, annotated, one-volume collection designed to make the Reed Smoot hearings (1904-06) accessible to readers of all backgrounds. The Reed Smoot hearings were, of course, a turning point in this history of the Latter-Day Saints Church (commonly called the Mormon Church). Reed Smoot was the first Mormon to be elected to the U.S. Senate; his election proved that Mormons could be enticed to abandon the Democratic Party and vote for the (widely hated) Republicans. Smoot himself was a modernist, seeking to bring his faith into the American mainstream with more emphasis on business and less on theology. In turn-of-the-century Utah, he was also unusual in that he was a monogamist. The Senate committee hearings were held to block Senator-elect Smoot from his position - hearings that were to unearth many a skeleton in the closets of Utah politics and the Mormon Church. Among the many ecclesiastical leaders subpoenaed to testify were Joseph F. Smith, then president and prophet of the Mormon Church. Perhaps the most far-reaching fallout of the hearings was the renewed pressure on the Church to abandon polygamy, and take action against any of its members who entered into a new polygamous marriage regardless of their rank. An excellent primary source of American history, made thoroughly readable due to the extensive annotations (including even a few political cartoons of the era), enthusiastically recommended for public and college libraries.
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tremendous!,
By
This review is from: The Mormon Church on Trial: Transcript of the Reed Smoot Hearings (Hardcover)
The book was an insightful look into the Reed Smoot hearings. The footnotes were erudite and contextual. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in religious history and politics.
4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tantalizing scholarship,
By
This review is from: The Mormon Church on Trial: Transcript of the Reed Smoot Hearings (Hardcover)
I found this book incredibly interesting, and learned something new on every page. The footnotes are amazing, and provide a new perspective on the difficulties. Smoot encountered behind the scenes while trying to save his Senate seat. Any history buff will find this relatively unknown episode in American history fascinating.The first review of Paulos's book by the cryptic "Orson" is silly. Orson is transparently straining at gnats to get us to swallow his camel of pseudo-scholarship. The LDS church owned newspaper gave a resoundingly positive review of this book, to which I heartily concur-- http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695253301,00.html
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