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Footnotes
1. See Alan Holdren and Andrea Gagliarducci, “Full Transcript of Pope’s In-Flight Interview from Korea,” CatholicNewsAgency, Aug. 18, 2014, http://www.catholicnews-agency.com/news/full-transcript-of-popes-in-flight-interview-from-korea-96141/.
2. In the nineteenth century some counselors in the First Presidency were chosen from outside the Quorum of the Twelve and did not have guaranteed lifetime tenure. Since the turn of the twentieth century, all counselors in the First Presidency have remained in the Q15 until death.
3. The current policy, announced in November 2015, calls for excommunication of any Church members who are in legal same-sex marriages, brands them “apostates,” and disenfranchises their children from the Church.
4. The Seventy, an office introduced by Smith in 1844, collectively represent the third-highest council in the church, behind the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve.
5. D. Michael Quinn, “The Mormon Succession Crisis of 1844,” BYU Studies 16, no. 2 (Winter 1976): 187-233.
6. See Steven L. Shields, Divergent Paths of the Restoration: A History of the Latter Day Saint Movement, 4th ed. (Independence, Mo.: Herald Pub House, 2001) and Newell G. Bringhurst and John C. Hamer, eds., Scattering of the Saints: Schism within Mormonism (Independence, Mo.: John Whitmer Books, 2007).
7. Quoted from Gary James Bergera, “Seniority in the Twelve: The 1875 Realignment of Orson Pratt,” Journal of Mormon History 18, no. 1 (Spring 1992): 54, n. 111.
8. Reed C. Durham and Steven H. Heath, Succession in the Church (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1970).
9. Joseph Fielding Smith, Life of Joseph F. Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938), 310-11.
10. Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sept. 13, 1898, 4, https://eadview.lds.org/findingaid/CR%20100%20137.
11. B. L. Plassman et al., “Prevalence of Dementia in the United States: The Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study,” Neuroepidemiology 29 (Nov. 2007):125-32.
12. Maria M. Corrada, et al., “Dementia incidence continues to increase with age in the oldest old: The 90+ study,” Annals of Neurology 67 (2010):114-21.
13. For an extended treatment of this issue, see Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Wright, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005).
14. David Noyce, “At 87, Mormon Leader Thomas S. Monson ‘Feeling the Effects’ of His Age, LDS Church Says,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 1, 2015, http://www.sltrib.com/lifestyle/faith/2465653-155/at-87-mormon-leader-thomas-s on July 9, 2016. Although Church leaders and public affairs officials have steadfastly declined to go on the record and use the word “dementia” to refer to Monson’s mental state, I (Prince) have had private conversations with several LDS General Authorities over the past half-dozen years in which each has independently and voluntarily described Monson’s condition as dementia. Recently, R. B. Scott published an online article in which he wrote, “More of the day-to-day duties of running the worldwide church fall to the counselors of Thomas S. Monson, the 88-year-old 16th president of the church who has long suffered from diabetes and, more recently, from age-related dementia” (R. B. Scott, “With Rising Lifespans of Mormon Prophets Come Increasing Dementia and Leadership Dilemmas,” The Muss, Dec. 15, 2015 (http://www.themuss.net/articles/2016/1/5/with-rising-lifespans-of-mormon-prophets-come-increasing-dementia-and-leadership-dilemmas-1, accessed Jul. 9, 2016).
15. “Minutes by President Alvin R. Dyer of Meeting of First Presidency,” Nov. 12, 1969, in David O. McKay diaries of the same date.
16. The First Presidency Circular Letter was dated December 15, 1969 and was widely read from the pulpit by bishops and branch presidents. For a detailed account of this episode, see Prince and Wright, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism, chapter 4.
17. Lester E. Bush Jr., “Writing ‘Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview’ (1973): Context and Reflections, 1998,” Journal of Mormon History 25, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 267.
18. Fletcher conveyed this information to Lester Bush, who in turn reported it to me (Prince). It is recorded in my diary under the date of May 18, 1983. For a more detailed account, see Gregory A. Prince, Leonard Arrington and the Writing of Mormon History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2016), chapter 27.
19. Vern Anderson, “Cartoonist Says Oaks Lied to Protect Fellow Apostle,” Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 12, 1993, B-1 and B-2.
20. Paul H. Dunn, interviewed by Gregory A. Prince on February 18, 1995.
21. The First Quorum of Seventy had been formed in 1835 but was discontinued in the late 1830s, with the First Council of Seventy (consisting of seven men) being retained and having General Authority status. In 1975 Church president Spencer W. Kimball reconstituted the First Quorum of Seventy and gave it General Authority status.
22. Emeritus status was also granted in 1979 to Eldred G. Smith when his office of Presiding Patriarch was discontinued, and in 2012 to two members of the Presiding Bishopric. None of the three men ever held a position within the Q15.
23. Edwin B. Firmage, interviewed by Greg Prince on October 10, 1996.
Copyright 2016 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
2016
