Reed Smoot

Reed Smoot^[1] (January 10, 1862 – February 9, 1941) was a native-born Utahn who was first elected to the United States Senate from Utah in 1903, and served as a Republican Senator until 1933. Smoot is primarily remembered as the co-sponsor of the 1930 Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, which raised U.S. import tariffs on over 20,000 dutiable items to record levels and is widely regarded as having exacerbated the Great Depression. Smoot was a prominent leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), serving as an apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Smoot's role in the LDS Church (together with rumors of a secret LDS policy favoring multiple marriage and a secret oath) led to lengthy controversy, when he was first elected to the Senate, over his eligibility to serve, eventually settled in Smoot's favor. At the time of his death, Smoot was third in the line of succession to lead the LDS Church.

Early life, family, and religious activity

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, Smoot was the son of Mormon pioneer and former mayor of Salt Lake City, Abraham O. Smoot and Anne Kristina (Morrison) Smoot. Reed Smoot attended public schools and the University of Utah, and graduated from Brigham Young Academy (now Brigham Young University) in Provo, Utah in 1879. After graduation, he served as a Mormon missionary in England. He married Alpha M. Eldredge of Salt Lake City on September 17, 1884. They were the parents of seven children. Smoot was a successful businessman and from 1895 became increasingly important in the hierarchy of the LDS Church. On April 8, 1900, Smoot was ordained an LDS Church apostle and member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Smoot (right) with Heber J. Grant, president of the LDS Church, ca 1918-1920.

As a U.S. Senator in the early 1920s, Smoot toured Europe with an official U.S. government passport, and he was able to convince several governments to allow Mormon missionaries to enter.

United States Senate

After becoming an apostle in 1900, Smoot received the approval of LDS Church president Joseph F. Smith to run for office in 1902. He was elected to the United States Senate (58th Congress) on January 20, 1903 as a Republican Senator, representing the state of Utah.^[2] Smoot was introduced to the United States Senate by Utah's Senior U.S. Senator, Republican Thomas Kearns, a Catholic who was elected in 1901. Kearns, a prominent mining magnate, newspaper owner, banker, and railroad owner had denied Smoot this Senate seat two years before, with the blessing of LDS Church president Lorenzo Snow.

Controversy over religious affiliation

His election sparked a bitter four-year battle in the Senate on whether Smoot was eligible or should be allowed to serve, due to his position as a Mormon apostle. Many were convinced that his association with the church disqualified him from serving in the United States Senate. Only a few years earlier, another prominent Utah Mormon, B. H. Roberts, had been elected to the House of Representatives, but was denied his seat on the basis that he practiced plural marriage (polygamy).

Smoot did not practice plural marriage, and the LDS Church had officially renounced future plural marriages in an 1890 Manifesto before Utah became a state. However, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that church leaders continued to secretly approve of new, post-Manifesto plural marriages.^[3] As a result, the Senate began an investigation into Smoot's eligibility.^[4] The Smoot Hearings began on January 16, 1904. The hearings included exhaustive questioning into the continuation of plural marriage within the state of Utah and the LDS Church, and questions on church teachings, doctrines and history. Although Smoot was not a polygamist, the charge by those opposed to his election to the Senate was that he could not swear to uphold the United States Constitution while serving in the highest echelons of an organization that sanctioned law breaking.

Willis C. Hawley (left) and Smoot in April 1929, shortly before the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act passed the House.

There were claims that temple-attending Latter-day Saints took an "oath of vengeance" against America for past grievances. As a leader of the LDS Church, Smoot was accused of taking this oath, which he denied. Five of the U.S. Senators who participated in the investigation agreed, writing, "As to the 'endowment oath,' it is sufficient in this summary to say that the testimony is collated and analyzed in the annexed statement, and thereby shown to be limited in amount, vague, and indefinite in character, and utterly unreliable because of the disreputable and untrustworthy character of the witnesses."^[5] Although the majority of the committee recommended that Smoot be removed from office, on February 20, 1907 the Senate defeated the proposal and Smoot was allowed to serve in the Senate. Smoot was reelected in 1908 and continued to serve in the Senate until March 1933 (following his 1932 electoral defeat).

Career

Senator Smoot (Republican, Ut.)
Is planning a ban on smut.
Oh rooti-ti-toot for Smoot of Ut.
And his reverend occiput.
Smite, Smoot, smite for Ut.,
Grit your molars and do your dut.,
Gird up your l__ns,
Smite h_p and th_gh,
We'll all be Kansas
By and by....

Nash, Ogden (January 11, 1930), "Invocation", The New Yorker: 30.

In 1916, William Kent was the lead sponsor of the legislation in the House of Representatives that created the National Park Service. The similar Senate bill was sponsored by Smoot. The legislation passed the House of Representatives on July 1, 1916, passed the Senate on August 5, and was signed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson on August 25, 1916.^[6]

Smoot was Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1923 to 1933 and served on the Senate Appropriations Committee. He became active in the national Republican Party and served as a delegate to the Republican national convention every four years between 1908 and 1924. He was Chairman of the 1928 Resolutions Committee at the 1928 Republican National Convention and chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Smoot was a co-sponsor of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in 1930, which raised U.S. import tariffs on over 20,000 dutiable items to record levels and arguably exacerbated the Great Depression. U.S. President Herbert Hoover signed the act into law on June 17, 1930.

Smoot served five terms before being defeated in the 1932 election by Democrat Elbert D. Thomas. After his unsuccessful reelection campaign, Smoot moved back to Salt Lake City. He retired from active business and political pursuits to dedicate his remaining years as an apostle for the LDS Church. Smoot died on February 9, 1941 during a visit to St. Petersburg, Florida, and was buried in Provo, Utah.

Notes

↑ Several sources indicate that Smoot's middle name was "Owen", but this is disputed by his descendants, who claim he had no middle name.
↑ "Business of the House: Proceedings Before That Branch Late Yesterday Afternoon.". Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah). January 21, 1903. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
↑ B. Carmon Hardy, Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994) extensively documents Mormon-sanctioned post-Manifesto polygamy.
↑ Kathleen Flake, The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004).
↑ Senate Resolution 205, Fifty-seventh Congress, second session.
↑ Swain, Donald C. (September 1969). "The Founding of the National Park Service". The American West (Palo Alto, CA: American West Publishing Company) VI (5): 6–9.

External links

Media related to Reed Smoot at Wikimedia Commons

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints titles
Preceded by Rudger Clawson	Quorum of the Twelve Apostles April 8, 1900 – February 9, 1941	Succeeded by Hyrum M. Smith
United States Senate
Preceded by Joseph L. Rawlins	U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Utah March 4, 1903 – March 4, 1933 Served alongside: Thomas Kearns, George Sutherland, William H. King	Succeeded by Elbert D. Thomas
Political offices
Preceded by Porter J. McCumber North Dakota	Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee 1923–1933	Succeeded by Pat Harrison Mississippi
Honorary titles
Preceded by Furnifold M. Simmons North Carolina	Dean of the United States Senate March 4, 1931 – March 4, 1933	Succeeded by William E. Borah Idaho
Preceded by Furnifold M. Simmons North Carolina	Most Senior Living U.S. Senator (Sitting or Former) April 30, 1940 – February 9, 1941	Succeeded by Charles Dick Ohio

United States Senators from Utah

Class 1	Cannon Kearns Sutherland King Murdock Watkins Moss Hatch

Class 3	Brown Rawlins Smoot Thomas W. Bennett Garn R. Bennett Lee

Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on Finance

Campbell Eppes Sanford Holmes Lowrie Smith Webster Wright Clay Evans Woodbury Calhoun Lewis Atherton Dickinson Hunter Pearce Fessenden Sherman Fessenden Sherman Morrill Bayard Morrill Voorhees Morrill Aldrich Penrose Simmons Penrose McCumber Smoot Harrison George Millikin George Millikin Byrd Long Dole Packwood Bentsen Moynihan Packwood Roth Baucus Grassley Baucus Grassley Baucus Wyden Hatch

Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

Public Lands (1816–1921)	Morrow Williams Thomas Barton King Kane Poindexter Ewing Walker Smith Woodbridge Breese Felch Borland Dodge Stuart Johnson Harlan Pomeroy Sprague Oglesby McDonald Plumb Dolph Berry Dubois Hansbrough Nelson Smoot Chamberlain Myers Smoot

Public Lands and Surveys (1921–1947)	Smoot Lenroot Ladd Stanfield Nye Kendrick Wagner Adams Hatch

Interior and Insular Affairs (1947–1977)	Butler O'Mahoney Butler Cordon Murray Anderson Jackson

Energy and Natural Resources (1977–)	Jackson McClure Johnston F. Murkowski Bingaman F. Murkowski Bingaman Domenici Bingaman Wyden Landrieu L. Murkowski

Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

J. Smith (1829–44)^[1]
Cowdery (1829–38)^[1]^[2]
Whitmer (1829–38)^[1]^[2]
Harris (unknown–1837)^[1]^[2]
Marsh (1835–39)^[2]
Patten (1835–38)
B. Young, Sr. (1835–77)
H.C. Kimball (1835–68)
Hyde (1835–78)
McLellin (1835–38)^[2]
P.P. Pratt (1835–57)
L.S. Johnson (1835–37)^[2]
Wm. Smith (1835–45)^[2]
O. Pratt (1835–81)
Boynton (1835–37)^[2]
L.E. Johnson (1835–38)^[2]
Page (1838–46)^[2]
J. Taylor (1838–87)
W. Woodruff (1839–98)
G.A. Smith (1839–75)
W. Richards (1840–54)
Wight (1841–48)^[2]
H. Smith (1841–44)^[1]
A.M. Lyman (1842–67)^[3]
Benson (1846–69)
Rich (1849–83)
L. Snow (1849–1901)
E. Snow (1849–88)
F.D. Richards (1849–99)
J.M. Grant (1854–56)^[1]
Wells (1857–91)^[1]
J.W. Young (1855–1924)^[1]
G.Q. Cannon (1860–1901)
J.A. Young (1864–75)^[1]
B. Young, Jr. (1864–1903)
J.F. Smith, Sr. (1866–1918)
Carrington (1870–85)^[2]
Thatcher (1879–1909)
F.M. Lyman (1880–1916)
J.H. Smith (1880–1911)
Teasdale (1882–1907)
H.J. Grant (1882–1945)
J.W. Taylor (1884–1911)^[2]
M.W. Merrill (1889–1906)
Lund (1889–1921)
A.H. Cannon (1889–96)
M.F. Cowley (1897–1911)^[4]
A.O. Woodruff (1897–1904)
Clawson (1898–1943)
Smoot (1900–41)
H.M. Smith (1901–18)
G.A. Smith (1903–51)
Penrose (1904–25)
G.F. Richards (1906–50)
Whitney (1906–31)
McKay (1906–70)
Ivins (1907–34)
J.F. Smith, Jr. (1910–72)
Talmage (1911–33)
S.L. Richards (1917–59)
R.R. Lyman (1918–43)^[2]
M.J. Ballard (1919–39)
Widtsoe (1921–52)
J.F. Merrill (1931–52)
Callis (1933–47)
Clark (1934–61)
A.A. Hinckley (1934–36)
Bowen (1937–53)
S.Q. Cannon (1938–43)
Lee (1941–73)
S.W. Kimball (1943–85)
Benson (1943–94)
Petersen (1944–84)
M. Cowley (1945–53)
Moyle (1947–63)
Stapley (1950–78)
Romney (1951–88)
L. Richards (1952–83)
Bennion (1953–58)
Evans (1953–71)
Morris (1954–62)
Brown (1958–75)
Hunter (1959–95)
G.B. Hinckley (1961–2008)
Tanner (1962–82)
Monson (1963–)
Dyer (1967–77)^[1]
Packer (1970–2015)
Ashton (1971–94)
McConkie (1972–85)
Perry (1974–2015)
Haight (1976–2004)
Faust (1978–2007)
Maxwell (1981–2004)
Nelson (1984–)
Oaks (1984–)
M.R. Ballard (1985–)
Wirthlin (1986–2008)
Scott (1988–2015)
Hales (1994–)
Holland (1994–)
Eyring (1995–)
Uchtdorf (2004–)
Bednar (2004–)
Cook (2007–)
Christofferson (2008–)
Andersen (2009–)
Rasband (2015–)
Stevenson (2015–)
Renlund (2015–)

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Never a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Term ended by excommunication. ↑ Term ended by removal of apostleship; was later excommunicated. ↑ Term ended by suspension of priesthood.

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 121755152 LCCN: n86071142 ISNI: 0000 0001 1701 8571 GND: 118935704 SUDOC: 081946899 BNF: cb167704400 (data) US Congress: S000644

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