When Mitt Romney received his patriarchal blessing as a Michigan
teenager, he was told that the Lord expected great things from him. All
young Mormon men — the “worthy males” of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, as it is officially known — receive such a blessing as
they embark on their requisite journeys as religious missionaries. But at 19
years of age, the youngest son of the most prominent Mormon in American
politics — a seventh-generation direct descendant of one of the faith’s
founding 12 apostles—Mitt Romney had been singled out as a destined leader.
From the time of his birth — March 13, 1947 — through adolescence and
into manhood, the meshing of religion and politics
was paramount in Mitt Romney’s life. Called “my miracle baby” by his
mother, who had been told by her physician that it was impossible for her to
bear a fourth child, Romney was christened Willard Mitt Romney in honor of
close family friend and one of the richest Mormons in history, J. Willard
Marriott.
In 1962, when Mitt — as they decided to call him — was a sophomore in
high school, his father, George W. Romney, was elected governor of Michigan.
Throughout the early 1960s, Mitt collected petition signatures, campaigned
at his father’s side, attended strategy sessions with his father’s political
advisors, and interned at his father’s office during all three of
his gubernatorial terms. He attended the 1964 Republican National
Convention where his father led a challenge of moderates against the
right-wing Barry Goldwater. Although he was fulfilling his spiritual
obligation as a Mormon missionary in France in 1968 while his father was the
front-running GOP presidential candidate, Mitt was kept apprised of the
political developments back in the U.S.
Upon completion of his foreign mission, he immersed himself in the 1970
senatorial campaign of his mother,
Lenore Romney, who was running against Phillip Hart in the Michigan
general election. That same year, the Cougar Club — the all male, all white
social club at Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City (blacks were
excluded from full membership in the Mormon church until 1978) — was humming
with talk that its president, Mitt Romney, would become the first Mormon
president of the United States. “If not Mitt, then who?” was the ubiquitous
slogan within the elite organization. The pious world of BYU was expected to
spawn the man who would lead the Mormons into the White House and fulfill
the prophecies of the church’s founder, Joseph Smith Jr., which Romney has
avidly sought to realize.
Since United States Senator Orrin Hatch, a faithful Mormon, announced
his candidacy in 1999 for the office of President of the United States,
there has been growing
interest in how he views the U.S. Constitution and one of Joseph
Smith's little known prophecies. In the
Salt Lake Tribune, Nov.
11, 1999, there was an article titled, "Did Hatch Allude To
LDS Prophecy?" The article stated:
Sen. Orrin Hatch has denied his Republican
presidential campaign is motivated by a longing to fulfill an obscure
Mormon myth. But during an interview with a Mormon Church-owned radio
station this week he borrowed the exact phrasing of the apocalyptic
belief.
According to the so-called "White Horse Prophecy," the
U.S. Constitution will be hanging by a thread and a church elder from
Zion will ride in on a metaphorical white horse and save it.
Utah's senior senator . . . complained that Democrats'
political correctness will be the ruin of the country.
"They tolerate everything that's bad, and they're
intolerant of everything that's good. Religious freedom is going to go
down the drain, too," Hatch said. "I've never seen it worse than this,
where the Constitution literally is hanging by a thread."
. . . Wright [the radio interviewer], also a Mormon
said Hatch clearly was "talking to his folks" in the church audience and
his use of the phrase was the buzz of the station afterward.
"It just caught me by surprise. It was worded
carefully," Wright said Wednesday. "I'm not sure he saw himself as the
one who would fulfill the prophecy, but I thought it walked a fine line.
It's such a well-recognized phrase."
. . .
In July, Hatch called The Tribune to deny
talk among GOP political insiders that he may have felt divinely
inspired to seek the presidency. (Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 11,
1999, pp. C1 & C4, )
This popular prophecy of Smith's is explained in the Encyclopedia
of Mormonism:
LDS attachment to the Constitution has been further
encouraged by an important oral tradition deriving from a statement
attributed to Joseph Smith, according to which the
Constitution would "hang by a thread" and be rescued,
if at all, only with the help of the Saints. Church President John
Taylor seemed to go further when he prophesied, "When the people shall
have torn to shreds the Constitution of the United States the Elders of
Israel will be found holding it up to the nations of the earth and
proclaiming liberty and equal rights to all men" (JD 21:8). To defend
the principles of the Constitution under circumstances where the
"iniquity," or moral decay, of the people has torn it to shreds might
well require wisdom at least equal to that of the men raised up to found
it. In particular, it would require great insight into the relationship
between freedom and virtue in a political embodiment of moral agency. (Encyclopedia
of Mormonism, Vol.1, 1992)
Due to Senator Hatch's statements a number of people have contacted
us for background information on Joseph Smith's prophecy.
Interest in this prophecy has surfaced once again as it seems to have
been a part of the motivation behind "Deep Throat" of Watergate fame. On
June 2, 2005 the Salt Lake Tribune reported that W. Mark Felt,
Associate Deputy Director of the FBI during the 1970's, admitted to
being the informant:
In October 1956, W. Mark Felt, now
confirmed as The Washington Post's source "Deep Throat,"
rolled into Salt Lake City to take charge of the FBI office.
Felt, who in the early 1970s helped guide reporters
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's investigation of President Nixon and
the Watergate scandal, spent 15 months in the Beehive State supervising
some 40 agents who worked throughout Utah and Nevada. . . .
Salt Lake City was just one of many assignments the
agent — who joined the FBI on Jan. 26, 1942 — would accept as he
ascended the ranks of the bureau. . . .
Felt's admission to being Deep Throat came as no
surprise to Salt Lake attorney Pat Shea.
Shea, a former U.S. Senate staffer, recalled Felt's
desire to get to the bottom of things during a congressional
investigation of the U.S. intelligence community, including
assassination plots against foreign leaders.
After an interview session with witnesses, Felt would
suggest to investigators, "This is something you might want to ask when
you guys go back in there," recounts Shea, assistant staff director for
the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1975-76.
The information was usually excellent, leading
investigators into areas of inquiry that might otherwise have been
overlooked.
Shea, a longtime Democratic Party activist and Bureau
of Land Management director during the Clinton administration, believes
Felt was motivated by anger over not being named FBI director and by
long-standing animosity between the FBI and CIA.
"But," added Shea, "he also was a kid from Idaho."
Felt retained a lot of small-town idealism from the culture in which he
had been raised, including the LDS notion that in the latter days the
U.S. Constitution would be hanging by a thread.
"Mark Felt saw himself as that thread sometimes," says
Shea.
Felt, now 91, is a 1931 graduate of Twin Falls High
School and 1935 graduate of the University of Idaho. ('Deep Throat'
Lived in SLC, Supervising 40 FBI Agents, by Lisa Rosetta, Salt Lake
Tribune, June 2, 2005)
This popular prophecy of Smith's is explained in the Encyclopedia
of Mormonism:
"LDS attachment to the Constitution has been further
encouraged by an important oral tradition deriving from a statement
attributed to Joseph Smith, according to which the Constitution would
"hang by a thread" and be rescued, if at all, only with the help of the
Saints. Church President John Taylor seemed to go further when he
prophesied, "When the people shall have torn to shreds the Constitution
of the United States the Elders of Israel will be found holding it up to
the nations of the earth and proclaiming liberty and equal rights to all
men" (JD 21:8). To defend the principles of the Constitution under
circumstances where the "iniquity," or moral decay, of the people has
torn it to shreds might well require wisdom at least equal to that of
the men raised up to found it. In particular, it would require great
insight into the relationship between freedom and virtue in a political
embodiment of moral agency." (Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.
1, 1992)
In 2008 Dana Milbank reported on Mormon Talk Show host Glenn Beck's
reference to the prophecy:
In one of his first appearances on Fox News, Glenn
Beck sent a coded message to the nation's six million Mormons — or at
least those Mormons who believe in what the Latter-day Saints call "the
White Horse Prophecy."
"We are at the place where the Constitution hangs in
the balance," Beck told Bill O'Reilly on November 14, 2008, just after
President Obama's election. "I feel the Constitution is hanging in the
balance right now, hanging by a thread unless the good Americans wake
up." (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-milbank/post_996_b_749750.html)
Bill McKeever, of Mormonism Research Ministry, made the following
observations about the prophecy:
[In 2006] Susan Easton Black, a BYU professor of
church history and doctrine, reportedly said that "the prophecy as a
whole is false" ("White Horse in the White House,"
www.opinionjournal.com, November 3, 2006). Black's blanket denial
seems incredibly inconsistent in light of the above statements. If LDS
leaders felt the prophecy "as a whole" is false, why refer to
any of it?
Conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck also referred
to the "hang by a thread" portion of the White Horse Prophecy
when interviewed by Fox host Bill O'Reilly.
On January 6, 2010 the LDS Church issued the following
statement on its
Newsroom blogsite: "The so-called 'White Horse Prophecy' is based on
accounts that have not been substantiated by historical research and is
not embraced as Church doctrine." The claim that it is not "embraced as
Church doctrine" does not explain why so many LDS leaders have referred
to it. Would these leaders even bother to speak of the prophecy if they
really didn't believe at least portions were true? Words like "doctrine"
and "official" have little meaning given the fact that many aspects of
Mormonism are believed to be true by members even though a particular
teaching may never be described as "binding" or "official."
Modern Mormons tend to ignore the more bizarre,
apocalyptic language of the White Horse prophecy. The context
of the "hang by a thread" phrase has been jettisoned, but the
phrase itself has not. How each Mormon politician views his or herself
as the fulfillment of this prediction must be judged on a case-to-case
basis; however, there can be do denying that to many, Smith's prediction
is taken very seriously and is very much a part of the Mormon political
landscape. (http://mrm.org/white-horse-prophecy)
Most Mormons are unaware of their past leaders statements about the
prophecy, but the concept that the constitution will one day "hang by a
thread" and be saved by a Mormon elder seems to be well ingrained in
their thinking.
ORIGIN OF PROPHECY
Some LDS people have questioned the reliability of the accounts of
Joseph Smith's prophecy concerning the constitution because it was
denounced by LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie and President Joseph F. Smith.
However, recent findings have established that Smith did give such a
message.
Writing in 1979, LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie dismissed the prophesy
as a forgery:
From time to time, accounts of various supposed
visions, revelations, and prophecies are spread forth by and among the
Latter-day Saints, who should know better than to believe or spread such
false information. One of these false and deceptive documents
that has cropped up again and again for over a century is the so-called
White Horse Prophecy. This supposed prophecy purports
to be a long and detailed account by the Prophet Joseph Smith
concerning the wars, turmoils, and difficulties which should exist in
the last days.
It is a sad commentary on the spiritual insight of
professing saints that they will generate intense interest in these
supposed prophetic utterances and yet know little of and pay less
attention to the volumes of true and sound prophetic writings which
delineate authoritatively the course of latter-day world events. It is
known by all informed gospel students that whenever revealed truth, new
or old, is to be sent forth for the enlightenment of the saints and of
the world, it will be announced officially and publicly by the First
Presidency.
Speaking, first of the White Horse Prophecy
specifically, and then of all such false revelations in general,
President Joseph F. Smith said: 'The ridiculous story
about the 'red horse,' and 'the black horse,' and 'the white horse,' and
a lot of trash that has been circulated about, and printed, and
sent around as a great revelation given by the Prophet Joseph Smith, is
a matter that was gotten up, I understand, some ten years after the
death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, by two of our brethren, who
put together some broken sentences from the Prophet that they may have
heard him utter from time to time, and formulated this so-called
revelation out of it, and it was never spoken by the Prophet in the
manner in which they have put it forth. It is simply false; that is all
there is to it.
Now, these stories of revelations that are being
circulated around are of no consequence, except for rumor
and silly talk by persons that have no authority. The fact of the matter
is simply here and this. No man can enter into God's rest unless he will
absorb the truth insofar that all error, all falsehood, all
misunderstanding and misstatements, he will be able to sift thoroughly
and dissolve, and know that it is error and not truth. When you know
God's truth, when you enter into God's rest, you will not be hunting
after revelations from Tom, Dick, and Harry all over the world. You will
not be following the will of the wisps of the vagaries of men and their
own ideas. When you know the truth, you will abide in the truth, and the
truth will make you free, and it is only the truth that will free you
from the errors of men, and from the falsehood and
misrepresentations of the evil one, who lies in wait to deceive
and to mislead the people of God from the paths of righteousness and
truth. (Conf. Rep., Oct. 1918, p. 58.) (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon
Doctrine, p.835)
However, an article in the BYU Studies indicates that Smith
did give such a discourse and that it was copied down by a faithful
Mormon:
Since, by 1840, there was not yet a procedure in the
Church for systematically reporting all of Joseph Smith's speeches, many
of his addresses were never recorded, and others were preserved only
unofficially in the personal writings of lay members.3 In addition, the
longhand reports recorded at the time were subject to inherent
limitations because of the absence among Church members of sufficiently
developed shorthand skills to permit verbatim reporting during Joseph
Smith's lifetime. This accounts for the existence of some reports of
Joseph Smith speeches that are not referred to in the Prophet's History.
The Martha Jane Knowlton report of July 1840 is of this genre. ...
The July 1840 context suggests that Joseph Smith's
comments about the U.S. Constitution were given not long after his
return from Washington, D.C., where his appeal for redress for the
wrongs heaped upon his people in Missouri had fallen upon deaf ears. The
address also gives significant insight into the marvelous anticipations
and hopes the Prophet had for Nauvoo in its beginning phase. But, as one
looks at the city from a later perspective, it is evident that the
prophecies about Nauvoo, like Jackson County before it, were contingent
upon human conditions and failings. ... The discourse as reported by
Martha Jane Knowlton is as follows:
"A few Item[s] from a discourse delivered by
Joseph Smith July 19 - 1840....
"We shall build the Zion of the Lord in peace untill
the servants of that Lord shall begin to lay the foundation of a great
and high watch Tower and then shall they begin to say within themselves,
what need hath my Lord of this tower seeing this is a time of peace &c.
Then the Enemy shall come as a thief in the night and scatter the
servants abroad. When the seed of these 12 Olive trees are scattered
abroad they will wake up the Nations of the whole Earth. Even this
Nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to
the ground and when the constitution is upon the brink of ruin
this people will be the Staff up[on] which the Nation shall lean and
they shall bear the constitution away from the very verge of destruction."
(The Historians Corner, BYU Studies, Vol. 19, No. 3, p.
391-392)
Another reference to this prophecy is found in the book, Words of
Joseph Smith:
The History of the Church account is an amalgamation
of the reports in the Joseph Smith Diary and the Nauvoo Neighbor. The
report by Levi Richards is here published for the first time. A
reminiscent account of this discourse by James Burgess contains the
essential details found in the other three accounts published here, and
adds that the "Constitution and Government would hang by a
brittle thread."
In the month of May 1843. Several miles east of
Nauvoo. The Nauvoo Legion was on parade and review. At the close of
which Joseph Smith made some remarks upon our condition as a people and
upon our future prospects contrasting our present condition with our
past trials and persecutions by the hands of our enemies. Also
upon the constitution and government of the United States stating that
the time would come when the Constitution and Government would hang by a
brittle thread and would be ready to fall into other hands but this
people the Latter day Saints will step forth and save it.
General Scott and part of his staff on the American
Army was present on the occasion.
I James Burgess was present and testify to the above
(James Burgess Notebook, Church Archives). (Ehat & Cook, Words of
Joseph Smith, 6 May 1843 Note, p. 279)
In the book, Discourses of Brigham Young, an edited
collection of President Young's sermons from the Journal of
Discourses, we read:
How long will it be before the words of the
prophet Joseph will be fulfilled? He said if the
Constitution of the United States were saved at all it must be done by
this people. It will not be many years before these words come
to pass. 12:204.
When the Constitution of the United States hangs, as
it were, upon a single thread, they will have to call for the "Mormon"
Elders to save it from utter destruction; and they will step forth and
do it. 2:182.
The present Constitution, with a few alterations of a
trifling nature, is just as good as we want; and if it is
sustained on this land of Joseph, it will be done by us and our
posterity. 8:324.
I expect to see the day when the Elders of
Israel will protect and sustain civil and religious liberty and every
Constitutional right bequeathed to us by our fathers, and
spread these rights abroad in connection with the Gospel for the
salvation of all nations. I shall see this whether I live or die.
11:262.
. . .
Will the Constitution be destroyed? No; it will be
held inviolate by this people; and, as Joseph Smith said, "The
time will come when the destiny of the nation will hang upon a single
thread. At this critical juncture, this people will step forth and save
it from the threatened destruction." It will be so. 7:15. (Discourses
of Brigham Young, pp. 360-361 and p. 469)
[Note: the references at the ends of
the paragraphs are the volume and page number of the quote as it
appeared in the Journal of Discourses.]
Joseph F. Smith, sixth president of the LDS Church, wrote in
Gospel Doctrine, p. 403:
Now, these are the commandments of God, the principles
contained in these commandments of the great Eternal are the principles
that underly the Constitution of our country, and all just laws.
Joseph Smith, the prophet, was inspired to affirm and ratify this truth,
and he further predicted that the time would come, when the Constitution
of our country would hang as it were by a thread, and that the
Latter-day Saints, above all other people in the world, would come to
the rescue of that great and glorious palladium of our liberty.
We cannot brook the thought of it being torn into shreds, or destroyed,
or trampled under foot and ignored by men. We cannot tolerate the
sentiment, at one time expressed, by a man high in authority in the
nation. He said: "The constitution be damned; the popular sentiment of
the people is the constitution!" That is the sentiment of anarchism, and
has spread to a certain extent, and is spreading over "the land of
liberty and the home of the brave." We do not tolerate it. Latter-day
Saints cannot tolerate such a spirit as this. It is anarchy. It means
destruction. It is the spirit of mobocracy, and the Lord knows we have
suffered enough from mobocracy, and we do not want any more of it. Our
people from Mexico are suffering from the effects of that same spirit.
We do not want any more of it, and we cannot afford to yield to that
spirit or contribute to it in the least degree. We should stand with a
front like flint against every spirit or species of contempt or
disrespect for the constitution of our country and the constitutional
laws of our land.—Oct. C. R., 1912, pp. 8-11.
In the book Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 618-619 we
read:
The Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith
there would be an attempt to overthrow the country by destroying the
Constitution. Joseph Smith predicted that the time would come
when the Constitution would hang, as it were, by a thread, and
at that time "this people will step forth and save it from the
threatened destruction" (Journal of Discourses, 7:15). It is my
conviction that the elders of Israel, widely spread over the nation,
will at that crucial time successfully rally the righteous of our
country and provide the necessary balance of strength to save the
institutions of constitutional government.
If the Gentiles on this land reject the word of God
and conspire to overthrow liberty and the Constitution, their doom is
fixed, and they "shall be cut off from among my people who are of the
covenant" (1 Nephi 14:6; 3 Nephi 21:11, 14, 21; D&C 84:114-15, 117).
(God, Family, Country, p. 345.)
As we spread abroad in this land, bearers of this
priesthood, men and women with high ideals and standards, our influence
will spread as we take positions of leadership in the community, in the
state, in the nation, in the world. We will be able to sit in counsel
with others and we will be able to influence others in paths of
righteousness. We will help to save this nation,
because this nation can only be preserved on the basis of righteous
living. ("The Greatest Leadership," BYU Student Leadership Conference,
Sun Valley, Idaho, September 1959.)
LDS Apostle Orson F. Whitney, Saturday Night Thoughts, p.
60-61, wrote:
Saviors of the Nation.—To escape the judgments hanging
over the wicked, and find a place where they might worship God
unmolested, the Latter-day Saints fled to the Rocky Mountains. Here, and
here only, during the temporary isolation sought and found by them in
the chambers of "the everlasting hills," could they hope to be let alone
long enough to become strong enough to accomplish their greater destiny.
For in that enforced exodus and the rounding of this mountain-girt
empire there was more than the surface facts reveal. If tradition can be
relied upon, Joseph Smith prophesied that the Elders of Israel
would save this Nation in the hour of its extremest peril. At a
time when anarchy would threaten the life of the Government, and
the Constitution be hanging as by a thread, the maligned and
misunderstood "Mormons"—always patriotic, and necessarily so from the
very genius of their religion—would stand firm upon Freedom's rocky
ramparts, and as champions of law and order, liberty and justice, call
to their aid in the same grand cause kindred [p.61] spirits from every
part of the nation and from every corner of the world.
All this preparatory to a mighty movement that would
sweep every form of evil from off the face of the land, and build the
Zion of God upon the spot consecrated for its erection. This
traditional utterance of their martyred Seer is deeply imbedded in the
heart and hope of the "Mormon" people.
The following chronological selection of LDS quotes relating to this
prophecy demonstrate its importance in the LDS mind.
1854
Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 15, Brigham Young,
July 4, 1854
Will the Constitution be destroyed? No: it will be
held inviolate by this people; and, as Joseph Smith said,
"The time will come when the destiny of the nation will hang upon a
single thread. At that critical juncture, this people will
step forth and save it from the threatened destruction." It will be
so.
1855
Journal of Discourses, Vol. 2, p. 182, Brigham Young,
February 18, 1855
Brethren and sisters, our friends wish to know our
feelings towards the Government. I answer, they are first-rate, and
we will prove it too, as you will see if you only live long enough,
for that we shall live to prove it is certain; and when the
Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were,
upon a single thread, they will have to call for
the "Mormon" Elders to save it from utter destruction;
and they will step forth and do it.
We love the Constitution of our country; it is all
we could ask; though in some few instances there might be some
amendments made which would better it.
1912
Joseph F. Smith, Conference Report, October 1912, p. 11
Now, these are the commandments of God, the
principles contained in these commandments of the great Eternal are
the principles that underly the Constitution of our country and all
just laws. Joseph Smith, the prophet, was inspired to affirm
and ratify this truth, and he further predicted that the time would
come, when the Constitution of our country would hang as it were by
a thread, and that the Latter-day Saints above all other
people in the world would come to the rescue of that great and
glorious palladium of our liberty.
1922
Charles W. Nibley, Conference Report, October 1922, p.
40
My brethren and sisters, I hope that we will go
home from this conference determined as a great body of people, to
stand for law, order, righteousness, justice and peace on earth and
good will among all men. I believe as the Prophet Joseph
has written, that the day would come when there would be so much of
disorder, of secret combinations taking the law into their own
hands, tramping upon Constitutional rights and the liberties of the
people, that the Constitution would hang as by a thread.
Yes, but it will still hang, and there will be enough of good
people, many who may not belong to our Church at all, people who
have respect for law and for order, and for Constitutional rights,
who will rally around with us and save the Constitution. I have
never read that that thread would be cut. It will hang; the
Constitution will abide and this civilization, that the Lord has
caused to be built up, will stand fortified through the power of
God, by putting from our hearts all that is evil, or that is wrong
in the sight of God, by our living as we should live, acceptable to
him.
1928
Melvin J. Ballard, Conference Report, October 1928, p.
108
The Prophet Joseph told us that he saw the
day when even the Constitution of the United States would be torn
and hang as by a thread. But, thank the Lord, the thread
did not break. He saw the day when this people would be a balance of
power to come to its defense. The Book of Mormon prophecies
concerning the future of America have been referred to in our
hearing during this conference, wherein it is stated that this
nation, though it becomes a mighty nation, still it can stand in
security here only as it serves the God of this land. That
conception was in the hearts of the men who founded America.
1933
Melvin J. Ballard, Conference Report, April 1933, p. 127
I believe that it is the destiny of the Latter-day
Saints to support the Constitution of the United States. The
Prophet Joseph Smith is alleged to have said—and I believe
he did say it—that the day would come when the Constitution
would hang as by a thread. But he saw that the thread did
not break, thank the Lord, and that the Latter-day Saints would
become a balance of power, with others, to preserve that
Constitution. If there is—and there is one part of the Constitution
hanging as by a thread today—where do the Latter-day Saints belong?
Their place is to rally to the support of that Constitution, and
maintain it and defend it and support it by their lives and by their
vote. Let us not disappoint God nor his prophet. Our place is fixed.
1942
Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, April 1942, p. 87
But beyond all that, the Latter-day Saints have a
responsibility, that may be better understood when we recall
the prophecy of Joseph Smith who declared that "the time
would come when ( the destiny and ) the Constitution of
these United States would hang as it were by a thread, and
that this people, the sons of Zion, would rise up and save it from
threatened destruction." (J. of D., Vol. 7:15)
I want to ask you to consider the meaning of that
prophecy, in the light of the declaration of the
prophets of the Book of Mormon times, who declared that this land
was a choice land above all other lands, and would be free from
bondage and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven,
if they will but serve the God of this land, even our Savior, Jesus
Christ. (Ether 2:12)
1942
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1942,
p. 58
You and I have heard all our lives that the time
may come when the Constitution may hang by a thread.
I do not know whether it is a thread, or a small rope by which it
now hangs, but I do know that whether it shall live or die is now in
the balance.
1946
Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, April 1946, p. 171
How long will it be before the words of the
prophet Joseph will be fulfilled? He said if the
Constitution of the United States were saved at all it must
be done by this people. It will not be many years before
these words come to pass. When the Constitution of the United States
hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will
have to call for the "Mormon Elders to save it from utter
destruction; and they will step forth and do it. . . . if it is
sustained on this land of Joseph, it will be done by us and our
posterity. (Ibid., pp. 360,361.)
1948
Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1948, p. 85
It is no wonder that the Prophet Joseph
said—even though he knew he would suffer martyrdom in this
land—"The Constitution of the United States is a
glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It is a
heavenly banner."
Yet, according to his contemporaries, he foresaw
the time when the destiny of the nation would be in danger and
would hang as by a thread. Thank God he did not see
the thread break. He also indicated the important part that this
people should yet play in standing for the principles embodied in
these sacred documents—the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution.
1949
Clifford E. Young, Conference Report, April 1949, p.
75-76
I would like to add this in conclusion. It is said
that President Brigham Young, many years ago, made this statement:
When the Constitution of the United States
hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will have to call for
Mormon elders to save it from utter destruction: and they
will step forth and do it. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
18, 1855.)
This is recorded in the Journal of Discourses
and I presume it is accurate, but however it may be, is it not a
possibility, that this Church, in its great leadership and in the
power that will come to it in advocating the things that are divine
and are right and true as for example the great welfare program, is
not possible that when we as a nation shall have exhausted our
resources—and we can well do that if we do not turn about—when we
have we have reached that point is it not possible that to us will
those who are not of us look for guidance and we will be held up as
a people who are pointing an economic way that will mean for the
economic and spiritual salvation and blessing of our people.
1950
Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1950, p.
159
I must not take more time but to add this: The
statement has been made that the Prophet said the time would
come when this Constitution would hang as by a thread, and
this is true. There has been some confusion, however, as to just
what he said following this. I think that Elder Orson Hyde has given
us a correct interpretation wherein he says that the Prophet
said the Constitution would be in danger. Said Orson Hyde:
I believe he said something like this — that the
time would come when the Constitution and the country would be in
danger of an overthrow; and said he: "If the Constitution be
saved at all, it will be by the Elders of this Church." I
believe this is about the language, as nearly as I can recollect it.
(Journal of Discourses, 6:152.)
Now I tell you it is time the people of the United
States were waking up with the understanding that if they don't save
the Constitution from the dangers that threaten it, we will
have a change of government.
1952
Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, October 1952, p. 18
It was Joseph Smith who has been
quoted as having said that the time would come when the
Constitution would hang as by a thread and at that time
when it was thus in jeopardy, the elders of this Church
would step forth and save it from destruction.
Why the elders of this Church? Would it be
sacrilegious to paraphrase the words of the Apostle Peter, and say
that the Constitution of the United States could be saved by the
elders of this Church because this Church and this Church alone has
the words of eternal life? We alone know by revelation as to how the
Constitution came into being, and we, alone, know by revelation the
destiny of this nation. The preservation of "life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness" can be guaranteed upon no other basis than
upon a sincere faith and testimony of the divinity of these
teachings.
1956
Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., Doctrines of Salvation, Vol.
3, p. 326
CONSTITUTION TO HANG BY A THREAD. The statement
has been made that the Prophet said the time would come when this
Constitution would hang as by a thread, and this is
true. There has been some confusion, however, as to just what he
said following this. I think that Elder Orson Hyde has given us a
correct interpretation wherein he says that the Prophet said the
Constitution would be in danger.
Said Orson Hyde: "I believe he said something like
this—that the time would come when the Constitution and the country
would be in danger of an overthrow; and said he: 'If the
Constitution be saved at all, it will be by the elders of this
Church.' I believe this is about the language, as nearly as
I can recollect it."
1961
Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1961, p. 70
Eleventh: In connection with attack on the United
States, the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith
there would be an attempt to overthrow the country by destroying the
Constitution. Joseph Smith predicted that the time would come when
the Constitution would hang, as it were, by a thread,
and at that time "this people will step forth and save it from the
threatened destruction." (Journal History, Brigham Young's Speech,
July 4, 1854.)
It is my conviction that the elders of
Israel, widely spread over the nation will at that crucial
time successfully rally the righteous of our country and provide the
necessary balance of strength to save the institutions of
constitutional government.
1961
Senator Wallace F. Bennett, BYU Speeches, February 15,
1961, p. 13:
We have much in our national system that militates
against the rise of a dictator. The Bill of Rights with its
philosophy of individual rights against oppression is still a curb
on a power-hungry President. But if I were to guess as to how the
Constitution may "hang by a thread" it would be
because of the immense powers given to the President and his
opportunity for their abuse.
Let us delve once again into the great principles
of the Constitution and resolve that we will do all in our power to
preserve these principles for our posterity. This is our duty as
citizens of the United States, and pre-eminently our duty as
Latter-day Saints, because without the Constitution this glorious
restoration would not have taken place in this land and might not
have taken place at this point in history.
1963
Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1963, p. 113:
The Prophet Joseph Smith said the time
would come when the Constitution would hang as it were by a thread.
Modern-day prophets for the last thirty years have been warning us
that we have been rapidly moving in that direction.
Fortunately, the Prophet Joseph Smith saw the part the elders of
Israel would play in this crisis. Will there be some of us
who won't care about saving the Constitution, others who will be
blinded by the craftiness of men, and some who will knowingly be
working to destroy it? He that has ears to hear and eyes to see can
discern by the Spirit and through the words of God's mouthpiece that
our liberties are being taken.
1963
Judge Joseph E. Nelson, BYU Speeches, April 24, 1963, p.
3:
Our government is an organization which was to,
and since has, enacted, judged and enforced law through and by
legislative, judicial and executive departments. It is encumbent on
the American people to steadfastly maintain the historic balance of
power by the three branches of government if our political system is
to be preserved. If this is not done then the thread by
which it has been predicted the Constitution will hang will be
clipped and our form of government will disappear. We, the
American people, must not become so internationally minded as to
sell our birthright for a spurious promise of world peace. The most
nationally-minded people are our enemies. We must remain faithful to
our pledge, regardless of charges of chauvinism, to preserve America
"with our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."
1964
Dr. Ernest L. Wilkinson, BYU Speeches, February 18,
1964, p. 9:
I am concerned that in our worship of materialism
in our country we now have an indebtedness of over $5,000 for every
man, woman, and child in this country. (This includes obligations
for goods already delivered and services already rendered to the
government, although payable in the future.) I am concerned that we
have in effect abandoned the Monroe Doctrine as our safeguard for
ultimate protection of this hemisphere, and that as a result we are
threatened with Communism not only in Cuba but in South America and
now in Africa as well. If the Constitution is to hang by a
thread in this country, I want to be one to help to preserve it.
1966
Dr. Ernest L. Wilkinson, BYU Speeches, April 21, 1966,
p. 7:
In my commencement address I gave the language and
sources of the prophetic utterance made by the Prophet
Joseph that the Constitution of the United States would hang by a
single thread, but be saved by the elders of Israel. I hope
you will read those sources so you will be well-informed as to this
prophecy and be prepared to do your part in its fulfillment.
Dr. Ernest L. Wilkinson, BYU Speeches, April 21, 1966,
p. 9:
Now what has happened in our country during the
time we have been plunging toward socialism? Are we actually
at that point where the Constitution may be hanging by a single
thread and we need to step in to save it?
[Quotes are taken from the CD-ROM LDS
Collectors Library 1997.]
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Romney avoids mentioning it, but Smith ran for president in 1844 as
an independent commander in chief of an “army of God” advocating the
overthrow of the U.S. government in favor of a Mormon-ruled theocracy.
Challenging Democrat James Polk and Whig Henry Clay, Smith prophesied
that if the U.S. Congress did not accede to his demands that “they shall
be broken up as a government and God shall damn them.” Smith viewed
capturing the presidency as part of the mission of the church. He had
predicted the emergence of “the one Mighty and Strong” — a leader who
would “set in order the house of God” — and became the first of many
prominent Mormon men to claim the mantle.
Smith’s insertion of religion into politics and his call for a
“theodemocracy where God and people hold the power to conduct the
affairs of men in righteous matters” created a sensation and drew
hostility from the outside world. But his candidacy was cut short when
he was shot to death by an anti-Mormon vigilante mob. Out of Smith’s
national political ambitions grew what would become known in Mormon
circles as the “White Horse Prophecy” — a belief ingrained in Mormon
culture and passed down through generations by church leaders that the
day would come when the U.S. Constitution would
“hang like a thread as
fine as a silk fiber” and the Mormon priesthood would save it.
Romney is the product of this culture. At BYU, he was idolized by
fellow students and referred to, only half jokingly, as the “One Mighty
and Strong.” He was the “alpha male” in the rarefied Cougar pack,
according to Michael D. Moody, a BYU classmate and fellow member of the
group. Composed almost exclusively of returned Mormon missionaries, the
club members were known for their preppy blue blazers and enthusiastic
athletic boosterism. Romney, who had been the assistant to the president
of the French Mission where he was personally in charge of more than 200
missionaries, easily assumed a leadership position in the club.
Both political and religious, the Cougar Club raised funds for the
school and its members emulated the campus-wide honor and dress codes,
passionately disavowing the counterculture symbolism of long hair,
bell-bottom jeans and antiwar slogans that were sweeping college
campuses throughout America. They held monthly “Fireside testimonies” —
Sacrament meetings at which each member testified to his belief that he
lived in Heaven before being born on Earth, that he became mortal in
order to usher in the latter days, and that he recognized Joseph Smith
as the prophet, the Book of Mormon as the word of God, and the Mormon
church as the one true faith.
Such regular testimonies encouraged the students to live devout lives
and to resist the encroaching outside influences overtaking the nation
at large. “It helps them cope with such external pressures as
evolution-teaching professors and cranky anthropologists who expect
answers that conflict with LDS teachings,” according to James Coates,
author of “In Mormon Circles.”
They traditionally hosted frat-like parties (Greek fraternities were
banned from the campus) to raise a few thousand dollars for the
college’s sports teams. But Cougar president Romney drove the young men
to aim higher, orchestrating a telethon that raised a stunning million
dollars. Romney’s position as head of the club was widely seen as a
calculated steppingstone for a career in national politics.
So it seemed disingenuous to his former club mates when, in a 2006
magazine interview, Romney denied his longtime political aspirations. “I
have to admit I did not think I was going to be in politics,” he told
the American Spectator. “Had I thought politics was in my future, I
would not have chosen Massachusetts as the state of my residence. I
would have stayed in Michigan where my Dad’s name was golden.”
Michael Moody says political success was an institutional value of
the LDS church.
“The instructions in my [patriarchal] blessing, which I believed came
directly from Jesus, motivated me to seek a career in government and
politics,” he wrote in
his 2008 book. Moody recently said that he ran for governor of
Nevada in 1982 because he felt he had been divinely directed to “expand
our kingdom” and help Romney “lead the world into the Millennium. Once a
firm believer but now a church critic, Moody was indoctrinated with the
White Horse Prophecy. Like Romney, Moody is a seventh-generation Mormon,
steeped in the same intellectual and theological milieu.
“We were taught that America is the Promised Land,” he said in an
interview.”The Mormons are the Chosen People. And the time is now for a
Mormon leader to usher in the second coming of Christ and install the
political Kingdom of God in Washington, D.C.”
In this scenario, Romney’s candidacy is part of the eternal plan and
the candidate himself is fulfilling the destiny begun in what the church
calls the “pre-existence.”
Several prominent Mormons, including conservative talk-show host
Glenn Beck, have alluded to this apocalyptic prophecy. The controversial
myth is not an official church doctrine, but it has also arisen in the
national dialogue with the presidential candidacies of Mormons George
Romney, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and now Mitt Romney.
“I don’t think the White Horse Prophecy is fair to bring up at all,”
Mitt Romney told the Salt
Lake Tribune when he was asked about it during his 2008 presidential
bid. “It’s been rejected by every church leader that has talked about
it. It has nothing to do with anything.”
Pundits and
scholars,
rabbis and
bloggers, have repeatedly posed the question during Romney’s run: Is
a candidate’s religion relevant? With a startling 50 percent increase of
recently polled American voters claiming to know little or nothing
about Mormonism, another 32 percent rejecting Mormonism as a Christian
faith, a whopping 42 percent saying they would feel
“somewhat or very uncomfortable” with a Mormon president, and a
widespread sense that the religion is a cult, the issue is clearly
more complicated than religious bigotry alone. Judging from poll
results, Americans seem less prejudiced against a candidate’s faith than
concerned about the unknown, apprehensive about any kind of fanaticism,
and generally uneasy about a religion that is neither mainstream Judaic
nor Christian.
Just as the Christian fundamentalism of former GOP candidates Michele
Bachmann and Rick Perry informed their political ideology — and was
therefore considered
fair game in the national dialogue — so too does Mormonism define
not only Mitt Romney’s character, but what kind of president he would be
and what impulses would drive him in both domestic and foreign policy.
Romney’s religion is not a sideline, but a crucial element in
understanding the man, the mission and the candidacy. He is the
quintessential Mormon who embodies all of the basic elements of the
homegrown American religion that is among
the fastest growing
religions in the world. Like his father before him, Romney has
charted a course from missionary to businessman, from church bishop to
politician — and to presidential candidate. The influence that Mormonism
has had on him has dominated every step of the way.
The seeds of Romney’s unique brand of conservatism, often regarded
with intense suspicion by most non-Mormon conservatives, were sown in
the secretive, acquisitive, patriarchal, authoritarian religious empire
run by “quorums” of men under an umbrella consortium called the
General Authorities.
A creed unlike any other in the United States, from its inception
Mormonism encouraged material prosperity and abundance as a measure of
holy worth, and its strict system of tithing 10 percent of individual
wealth has made the church one of the world’s richest institutions.
A multibillion-dollar business empire that includes agribusiness,
mining, insurance, electronic and print media, manufacturing, movie
production, commercial real estate, defense contracting, retail stores
and banking, the Mormon church has unprecedented economic and political
power. Despite a solemn stricture against any act or tolerance of
gambling, Mormons have been heavily invested and exceptionally
influential in the Nevada gaming industry since the great expansion of
modern Las Vegas in the 1950s. Valued for their unquestioning loyalty to
authority as well as general sobriety — they are prohibited from
imbibing in alcohol, tobacco or coffee — Mormons have long been
recruited into top positions in government agencies and multinational
corporations. They are prominent in such institutions as the CIA, FBI
and the national nuclear weapons laboratories, giving the church a
sphere of influence unlike any other American religion in the top
echelons of government.
Romney, like his father before him who voluntarily tithed an
unparalleled 19 percent of his personal fortune, is among the church’s
wealthiest members. And like his father, grandfather and
great-grandfathers before him, Mitt Romney was groomed for a prominent
position in the church, which he manifested first as a missionary, then
as a bishop, and then as a stake president, becoming the highest-ranking
Mormon leader in Boston — the equivalent of a cardinal of the Roman
Catholic Church.
Called a “militant millennial movement” by renowned Mormon historian
David L. Bigler, Mormonism’s founding theology was based upon a literal
takeover of the U.S. government. In light of the theology and divine
prophecies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, unamended
by the LDS hierarchy, it would seem that the office of the American
presidency is the ultimate ecclesiastical position to which a Mormon
leader might aspire. So it is not the LDS cosmology that is relevant to
Romney’s candidacy, but whether devout 21stcentury Mormons like Romney
believe that the American presidency is also a theological position.
Since his first campaign in 2008, Romney has attempted to keep debate
about his religion out of the political discourse. The issue is not
whether there is a religious test for political office; the Constitution
prohibits it. Instead, the question is whether, past all of the
flip-flops on virtually every policy, he has an underlying religious
conception of the presidency and the American government. At the recent
GOP presidential debate in Florida, Romney professed that the
Declaration of Independence is a theological document, not specific to
the rebellious 13 colonies, but establishing a covenant “between God and
man.” Which would suggest that Mitt Romney views the American presidency
as a theological office.
The
“White Horse Prophecy” refers to a prediction made by Joseph Smith Jr.
(1808-1844) who was the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints (LDS) [aka as the Mormon religion], and was reported to have
said that a time would come when the US Constitution would be hanging by
a thread and a church elder from Zion [Mormon Church] will ride in on a
metaphorical white horse and save it.
Since
its beginnings in the 1830s the Mormon Church has grown to over 13
million members, with over 51,000 missionaries, and whose religious
materials are printed in 166 different languages.
challenge
and beat President Obama for the Presidency of the United States in
2012.
