David S. King

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For other persons of the same name, see David King.

David Sjodahl King (born June 20, 1917) was a representative from Utah. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

King was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1917. He graduated from the University of Utah in 1937. From 1937 to 1939 he served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Great Britain.^[1] After his mission, King attended and graduated from Georgetown University Law School. After serving as a clerk for Justice Howard M. Stephens of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1943, King returned to Utah.

In Utah, King served as counsel to the Utah Tax Commission from 1944 to 1946. He also was involved in private practice from 1945. From 1946 to 1958 he taught commercial law at Stevens Heneger Business College.

King was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-sixth and Eighty-seventh United States Congresses between January 3, 1959 and January 3, 1963. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1962. He ran for the United States Senate but lost. He was elected to the 89th Congress. He ran for reelection in 1966 but lost. He was appointed United States Ambassador to Madagascar and to Mauritius in January 1967 and in May 1968, respectively, and served in those two positions concurrently until August 1969.

During the 1970s and 1980s, King practiced law in Washington, D.C., and served as an alternate director at the World Bank. He retired in 1986 to devote time serving LDS Church. From 1986 to 1989, he served as mission president of the church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The mission included all of Haiti. King served from 1990 to 1993 as the president of the Washington D.C. Temple in Kensington, Maryland.^[2] He currently (2005) serves as a patriarch for his church stake. Earlier, from 1948 to 1958, King was the second assistant to Elbert R. Curtis, who was the ninth general superintendent of the church's Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association.

King is a resident of Kensington where he lives with his wife of over 55 years, Rosalie King. They are the parents of eight children. His father, William H. King, was a Senator from Utah.