Reed Smoot

Reed Owen Smoot ( born January 10, 1862 in Salt Lake City, Utah; † February 9, 1941 in Saint Petersburg, Florida ) was an American politician and leading member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints. He was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of April 8, 1900 until his death. Smoot was from 1903 to 1933 for the Utah Senate of the United States. Since 1884, he was married to Alpha M. Eldredge of Salt Lake City, with whom he had seven children.

Life

Smoot was born on 10 January 1862 as a son of Abraham Owen Smoot and Anne Morrison Kerstin in Salt Lake City. In 1874 he moved with his parents to Provo and attended local schools. He took his degree in 1879 from Brigham Young Academy (now Brigham Young University ). He then served as a missionary of his church in England and was subsequently engaged in various business ventures. On April 8, 1900 him President Lorenzo Snow called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, where he was to fill the gap left by the death of Franklin D. Richards. With the approval of the First Presidency, he presented himself from the Republicans in 1902 for the Senate and won the election with re- elections in 1908, 1914, 1920 and 1926., When he took up again in 1930, he lost to Democrat Elbert D. Thomas. Subsequently, he held only his apostleship until his death.

Controversy

Since Smoot was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it came immediately after his election to a violent, four-year debate on whether he would ever morally qualified to sit in the U.S. Senate. The argument was that the membership in a religious community representative polygamy make someone unworthy of the U.S. Senate. The allegation was that the Church, even though they had officially ended with the Official Declaration 1 in 1890, the practice of polygamy, would secretly still include polygamous marriages. As the most prominent witness to the President of the Church, Joseph F. Smith was heard. Finally Smoot was authorized after the church had declared unequivocally in another official statement that there would be no further polygamous marriages more.

Political activity

Smoot was a member of several Senate committees and also took over the chairmanship of some. Together with Senator Willis C. Hawley of Oregon, he wrote as chairman of the Finance Committee of the Smoot- Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. This protectionist Customs Act led to the imposition of very high import duties on agricultural products with the intention of mitigating the economic crisis for U.S. farmers. In addition, Smoot was active in the Republican Party.