Forthcoming: The Mormon Church on Trial, Transcripts of the Reed Smoot Hearings

Forthcoming August 2007

The Mormon Church on Trial
Transcripts of the Reed Smoot Hearings
MICHAEL HAROLD PAULOS, editor
Hardback. 800 pages. / 1-56085-152-X / $49.95

Senator George Hoar of Massachusetts asked LDS President Joseph F. Smith if members could question his revelations and still remain in good standing. Smith responded that many Mormons doubted plural marriage and yet "were not cut off." But the Senate learned the church hierarchy was still secretly promoting polygamy and wondered whether Senator-elect Reed Smoot (R-Utah) was suited for office given his position as an LDS apostle. Smoot's election resulted in an intense, four-year scrutiny of Mormons beginning in 1904. For those who have wondered about the testimony delivered before the Senate investigating committee, the following unexpurgated transcripts contain the most important verbal exchanges, annotated with fascinating behind-the-scenes material, including previously unpublished letters, journal entries, and newspaper articles.