The making of a (Mormon) president — not

December 7, 2011 By

I’m going to look at an opinion column, which is strange. I know that.

However, I thought this was worth a review by GetReligion because it was written by the executive editor for Washington at Bloomberg News. It’s not terribly insightful, as far as columns go. It’s about what the various GOP presidential candidates might do if their bids for office are unsuccessful. So here’s what Albert R. Hunt theorizes is in the cards for one Mitt Romney:

MITT ROMNEY: If the former Massachusetts governor doesn’t win the presidency he’ll be a political outcast in his own party, which already is suspicious of him. The once hugely successful buyout specialist may go back to making money.

Ultimately, it isn’t hard to see Romney, whose fervor for the Mormon faith runs deep, becoming president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When he was in his 30s, Romney was bishop of his congregation and president of the Boston-area church. He would be the most visible leader of the fast-growing and controversial denomination since Brigham Young.

Age wouldn’t be a barrier for the 64-year-old; the current president is 84, and it’s not uncommon for Mormon presidents to be in their 90s. The prohibition against smoking, drinking and other transgressions leads to a longer lifespan, it would seem.

Ignore the clunky political analysis. That’s not the howler here.

My oh my, what Mr. Hunt doesn’t get about Mormon leadership! Now, it’s true that Romney held leadership positions in the church. Much like probably tens of thousands (or more) other men in this country.

But that’s not how one becomes president.

The president is the longest-serving (not the oldest) member of the Quorum of the Twelve. This group is assembled out of the Quorum of the Seventy. The length of time it takes to be named to that group, then elevated to the 12 and then to serve long enough to be named president means that Hunt’s speculation is near-comical.

Or as the ace religion reporter Peggy Fletcher Stack wrote in the Salt Lake Tribune:

Too bad Hunt didn’t know that’s not really how it works in the Utah-based faith: The Mormon presidency is not an elected nor appointed position.

The LDS president, considered by the faithful to be a “prophet, seer and revelator,” is always the senior member of the church’s Quorum of Twelve Apostles.

If his campaign falls short, though, Romney could be tapped as a Mormon mission president, an apostle or other high-ranking official. Or Romney could serve again on a local level as an LDS stake president, overseeing a regional group of churches.

One reader who submitted the story said that it’s not completely outside the realm of possibility that the Quorum of the Twelve could call Romney directly to the position after current LDS prophet Thomas Monson died. It’s just bizarre, completely without precedent and contrary to the practices of the religion.

Thus, one suspects Hunt doesn’t even know what he was talking about. He doesn’t get it.

Or as the reader wrote:

It’s the same problem with Bloom’s op-ed too. Romney was one out of thousands of Bishops and Stake Presidents, making him far from an “inner circle” of LDS authorities. These are cases of not knowing how the LDS faith works or even trying to understand.

When you realize this is how little a Washington editor knows about Romney’s religion, it makes you a bit more suspect about what else he doesn’t know.

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Filed Under: Journalism, Mormons, People, Politics
  • Jerry

    I think you’re right to comment on this piece because it’s by an executive editor. It calls into question basic editorial judgement. I also have to ask what kind of fact checking is done there? I would think that even opinion pieces should have basic fact checking in the interests of making the piece stronger if nothing else.

  • Jon in the Nati

    Age wouldn’t be a barrier for the 64-year-old; the current president is 84, and it’s not uncommon for Mormon presidents to be in their 90s. The prohibition against smoking, drinking and other transgressions leads to a longer lifespan, it would seem.

    The author writes this in a slightly-mocking tone, but there is more than a little bit of truth to it. Studies have been done on LDS Church members (as well as members of the Seventh Day Adventist denomination, who have similar lifestyle restrictions, albeit for different reasons) that suggest that the LDS really are healthier than the rest of us.

    UCLA epidemiologist James Enstrom noted:

    LDS Church members who follow religious mandates barring smoking and drinking have one of the lowest death rates from cancer and cardiovascular diseases—about half that of the general population. … Moreover, the healthiest LDS Church members enjoy a life expectancy eight to eleven years longer than that of the general white population in the United States.

    Perhaps the author should remove his tongue from his cheek, or just stop speculating altogether, since he plainly has no idea how the process of calling a new church president works.

  • http://tonahangen.com Tona

    Just a tiny point of clarification, Mollie (and yes, you nailed what was so wrong about Hunt’s column) – when an LDS president dies, the member of the Twelve with the most seniority in the Quorum becomes presiding officer of the Church and then the Twelve meet to select and name the next president by revelation and unanimous consent. It always has (so far) been the apostle with the most tenure in the Quorum – but, theoretically, any of the Twelve could be chosen. See, e.g. http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Succession_in_the_Presidency

  • Will

    Right. As has been noted already, LDS bishops (note I did not use inverted commas!) are a dime a dozen.

    I recall the line in BRIGHAM CITY, where a deputy is puzzled why Sheriff Clayton is known as “the Bishop” when there are more than a dozen bishops in what looks like a pretty small Utah town.

  • Frank Lockwood

    And if he doesn’t become president of the Latter-day Saints president, Gov. Romney would make a fine wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints…

    Was that column really written by somebody from Bloomberg? It reads like The Onion…

  • Frank Lockwood

    And if he doesn’t become president of the Latter-day Saints, Gov. Romney would make a fine wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints…

    Was that column really written by somebody from Bloomberg? It reads like The Onion…

  • Raymond Takashi Swenson

    David M. Kennedy was Nixon’s first Secretary of Treasury and then Ambassador to the UN. When he left government service, he was asked by the LDS Church to serve as its own “special envoy” in international matters, helping to get legal recognition for the Church in various countries. Romney’s visibility and connections would open doors and give access to government leaders overseas and avoid problems a US based organization can encounter when it operates in other nations.

    Romney could also be called as an additional counselor in the First Presidency. He would not have to be called as an apostle to serve in that role. There has been precedent for that kind of calling in the past, most recently about 50 years ago when David O. McKay was president at age 96.

    Another possible calling would be as Presiding Bishop of the Church. The PB has responsibility for the physical assets of the Church, including construction and maintenance of meetinghouses, temples, offices, missionary training centers, and Church welfare food production programs. That calling would take advantage of Romney’s organizational leadership skills.

    A number of LDS members of Congress who failed reelection have been called to serve as presidents of LDS missionary work overseas. Utah congressmen David King and Wayne Owens did that. Owens was later elected again to Congress.

    One radical option would be to install Romney as presaident of BYU. While he has not worked in an academic environment, he would be similar to Ernest Wilkinson, an attorney who was BYU president in the 1950s and 1960s and took a sabbatical to run a failed bid for the US Senate. Romney’s visibility would help BYU with fund raising, a major duty of a university president. He and his wife are former BYU grads. He is also a former neighbor and close friends with the presidents of BYU Idaho (Clark) and BYU Hawaii (Wheelwright), who are both former Harvard Business School professors who were students alongside Romney at Harvard Business. He is already a major patron of BYU and its Business School. He would epitomize the school’s motto that “the World is our Campus”. His leadership style would allow academic concerns to be given due weight in policy decisions.

    The point of this exercise is to recognize that, because the LDS Church does not have career clergy, it is able to use the expertise of all of its most capable members.

    Any organization that gets his services will be blessed. That is why I hope it is the United States presidency.

  • Julia

    Studies have been done on LDS Church members (as well as members of the Seventh Day Adventist denomination, who have similar lifestyle restrictions, albeit for different reasons) that suggest that the LDS really are healthier than the rest of us.

    The average life span of a Catholic sister or nun is 86; whereas that for Americans is 77.

    http://voices.yahoo.com/the-key-long-life-become-nun-288695.html

  • Julia

    Whoops!

    The studies found the really long-lived are cloistered nuns not sisters out in the world.

  • http://jettboy.blogspot.com Jettboy

    I decided to do a little math experiment on the probability that Mitt Romney could someday become the LDS Prophet. He will be 65 in 2012 during the election year. I will be using the most realistic “fast track” path.

    He loses the bid for U.S. President, either in the primary or the general. This frees him up for a Church calling/assignment. The LDS Church leadership asks him to become a mission president. That lasts for 3 years. When finished he returns and is called to the First Quorum of the Seventy for another 3 years.

    He is now officially a General Authority with real “inner circle” leadership status, although limited by whatever duties given. (an Assignment to any of the other Quorum of the Seventies, second on up, would at his age make him technically ineligible to go higher in leadership. see the age note below.) On the last year when he can be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, as they become emeritus at age 70 unless granted yearly extensions, he is granted stay in the position for another year. On this fourth year a member of the Quorum of the Twelve dies and he is picked among 70 peers as the most junior member to fill in the vacancy. He is given the keys of a prophet, seer, and revelator as an Apostle.

    He will remain a member of the Quorum of the Twelve for the rest of his life, with rare exceptions mostly broken by past ex-communications. Although common during the first half of the 19th Century LDS Church history, it has only happened a handful of notable times in the late 19th and full 20th Century. None, not even close, in the current 21st Century. Assuming that one member of the Quorum of the Twelve dies a year, skipping two for realism, then it will take 14 years for Romney to become the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. That is not, of course, the same thing as the Prophet and President of the LDS Church. For perspective, however, Brigham Young held this position for 3 years after Joseph Smith’s death before reorganizing the First Presidency. It took his predecessor John Taylor some time as well. Romney can also be called as a First or Second Councilor to the LDS Prophet-President before reaching the senior position.

    When the LDS Prophet-President dies, the Quorum of the Twelve waits a month, hypothetically, before announcing the senior member Romney is called by revelation of the full body of the Twelve as his replacement. He reorganizes the First Presidency that includes Elder Jon Huntsman (I figure he has just as much of a shot in this far fetched scenario) as second councilor and another person as first councilor. Sorry, but Harry Reid is too old even now for a “fast track” General Authority assignment.

    Do the math. That is at least 21 years if this path was taken. All told, Romney would be at least 86 when called as the leading Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The age is actually typical and gives him possible five to ten years as the world wide authority over the whole LDS Church. Still, its hardly the next in line after current President Thomas S. Monson. This is, again, assuming he is called in the right positions and quickly. Romney is quickly coming up on the average age when a person is called/appointed to the Apostleship of the Quorum of the Twelve.

  • Raymond Takashi Swenson

    Julia: The health benefits enjoyed by Mormons, ON AVERAGE, affirm findings of other studies on the benefits of avoiding tobacco and alcohol, and having a supportive family and community environment. It is not magic, or religious, but it is part of the natural benefit of a Mormon lifestyle.

    Clearly, these are averages, and their are lots of observant Mormons who still get various illnesses often associated with smoking, for example. Christopher Reeves’ wife died of lung cancer, even though she had never smoked. But it does mean that there are a lot of older Mormons in relatively good health.

    The LDS Church relies on many of these healthy retired couples to serve for 6 months to 2 years as missionaries. For example, one of my former colleagues is retired and working in Hong Kong in the Church’s regional legal office that supports business activities of the church in Asia, such as acquiring land for meetinghouses. His wife is an RN and provides medical services to missionaries and other Church staff.

    The weekly LDS Church News newspaper used to feature couples who had reached their Golden Anniversary of 50 years of marriage; the growth of the Church membership, and the average longevity of Mormons, made that impossible to accommodate, so now they only publish announcements of people who have been married at least 70 years, meaning that they are about 90 years old. And there are several of those every week.

  • Raymond Takashi Swenson

    Possibly another model for Romney Church service would be J. Reuben Clark, after whom the law school at BYU is named. Clark had a career as an attorney in the State Department, including as chief legal officer, and was serving as US Ambassador to Mexico when he was asked by Church president Heber J. Grant to serve as one of his two counselors, in 1933 at age 62. the following year, when one of the apostles dies, Clark was ordained an apostle. He continued to serve as a counselor in the First Presidency until his own death in 1961, supporting Grant, George Albert Smith, and David O. McKay.

  • Julia

    Raymond:

    I didn’t mean to imply that religion had anything to do with nuns living long. The linked article was crediting the style of living – type of foods, familiar routines, lack of stress, supportive environment, and no contact with outsiders who might carry germs.

  • John Pack Lambert

    I do have to point out that the twelve do not have to be called from the seventy. Three of the current members of the 12 and first presidency were never seventy. In faact prior to 1940 very few of the 12 were general authorities prior to their call to the 12. Gordon B. Hinckley was the first and to date only president of the Church who had been a general authority before his call to the 12, Thomas S. Monson, the current president of the Church having been called to the 12 with no previous experience as a general authority. Monson was also 36 at the time of his call and the youngest man called as an apostle after 1910.

    Mollie is right that in general the 12 are called from among the 70, but there is no rule that makes this a certainty.

    On the other hand the notion that Romney being a bishop in his thirties makes him exceptional is incorrect. While most LDS bishops are older than that, there are many who are in their 30s. Thomas S. Monson was called as a bishop at age 22, and especially in countries like Peru and Mexico where the Church has seen significant growth recently there are many bishops in their 20s. I could cite other examples, like David S. Baxter, a native of Scotalnd and a member of the 1st Quorum of the 70 who was made a bishop at age 25. The observations about Romney’s role are just odd. There are over 1500 stakes in the United States, and stake presidents serve generally about 9 years, so there are well over 3000 former stake presidents alive in all likelihood.

  • John Pack Lambert

    Julia,
    I am wondering if the study is at all biased by the fact that people who become nuns are already of a certain age. Or do you compare them to a cohort of people chosen as those alive at the age of most nuns becoming nuns?

  • Will

    Tweeting from last night’s debate complains that Romney called himself a “pastor”, a term not usually used by LDS.

    Maybe he was trying to translate “bishop” into terms the self-styled-mainline would understand?