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Ezra Taft Benson (August 4, 1899 – May 30,
1994) was United States United States Secretary of
Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture for both of
the administrations of President of the United
States|President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and he
later served as President of the Church
(Mormonism)|President of Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints|The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints from 1985 until his death.

Born on a farm in Whitney, Idaho, he was the
oldest of 11 children. A 1926 graduate of Brigham
Young University (after serving a
Missionary#Mormon_missionaries|church mission in
United Kingdom|Britain from 1921 to 1923), he
pursued careers in agriculture and served in
church leadership positions.

In 1939, when he was president of the church's
Boise, Idaho Stake (Mormonism)|stake and working
for the University of Idaho Extension Service, he
moved to Washington, D.C. to become Executive
Secretary of the National Council of Farmer
Cooperatives, and became founding president of the
new LDS Church stake there.

On October 7 1943, both he and Spencer W. Kimball
(1895–1985) were ordained to the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles, filling two vacancies created
by the death of Apostle (Mormonism)|Apostles that
summer. As succession to the presidency of the
Church is strictly by seniority among the Twelve,
the few minutes separating Kimball's and Benson's
ordinations by President Heber J. Grant resulted
in Benson becoming Church President a dozen years
later than he would have had he been ordained
first.

In 1953 Benson was appointed U.S. Secretary of
Agriculture by President Eisenhower, and he
accepted this position with the permission of
Church President David O. McKay. He retained his
United States Cabinet place throughout the two
terms of the Eisenhower Administration without
yielding his position in the Quorum of the Twelve.
In office, he was criticized for his opposition to
government price supports and such aid to farmers.
Upon starting his service in this office, he
suggested starting each cabinet meeting with a
prayer.  President Eisenhower agreed to the
suggestion and kept the prayer as the opening
event to every cabinet meeting during his
administration.

In his political and ecclesiastical life, Benson
was intensely conservatism|conservative. He was an
ardent evangelist of American exceptionalism, and
a vitriolic opponent of Communism and Socialism.
In the early 1960s, Benson met Robert W. Welch
Jr., founder of the John Birch Society. While
Benson never joined the Society, his wife Flora
joined, and his son Reed was the Society's Utah
state coordinator. His reasons for not joining may
have related to incompatibility with his position
as an Apostle (Mormonism)|Apostle; however, he had
read the Society's Blue Book and was very
sympathetic to the cause, stating that "I was
convinced that the John Birch Society was the most
effective non-church organization in our fight
against creeping Socialism and godless Communism."

Benson succeeded Kimball as President of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1973, and as
President of the Church in 1985. Known in his
early years for his
ultra-conservatism|conservative and
libertarianism|right libertarian political views,
he was comparatively moderate once he attained the
church's highest office. During his early years as
Church President he brought a renewed emphasis on
the distribution and reading of the Book of
Mormon, reaffirming the LDS scripture's importance
as "the keystone of the Mormon religion."

In the years before his death President Benson
suffered from poor health, suffering from blood
clots in the brain, strokes, and heart attacks.
During this time, Benson never appeared in public,
and First Counselor Gordon B. Hinckley took on
many of Benson's official duties, as he had done
as Second Counselor in Kimball's last years.
Joining Hinckley in this task was Thomas S.
Monson, and the both of them received legal power
of attorney to act in Benson's behalf in LDS
corporate affairs. Important ecclesiastical and
family documents continued to be signed in
Benson's name, with the aid of a signature
machine.

There was some controversy as to whether Benson's
actual mental health during this time was
accurately portrayed by the Church. According to
Church spokesman Don LeFevre, Hinckley and Monson
reviewed major church decisions with Benson in his
home, where he was attended by a staff of nurses.
However, according to Benson's grandson Steve
Benson, who later became a vocal critic of the
church, the elder Benson by about 1993 was living
in a sweatsuit, fed by others, and incapable of
recognizing others or speaking coherently. Steve
Benson stated that in a private meeting with
apostle Dallin H. Oaks, Oaks explained to the
younger Benson that the apostles rotated in pairs
each week to visit the elder Benson at the
apartment socially, but that Benson was incapable
of conducting official business. Other members of
the Benson family, who remain devout Latter-day
Saints, have distanced themselves from Steve
Benson's statements.

Benson was buried in Whitney, Idaho.

==Published Works==

* Book reference |
Author=Benson, Ezra Taft |
Year=1962 |
Title=The Red Carpet |
Publisher=Bookcraft |
ID=ISBN B0007F4WJI

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1964 |
Title=The Title of Liberty |
Publisher=Deseret Book Company |
ID=ISBN ?

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1974 |
Title=God, Family, Country: Our Three Great
Loyalties |
Publisher=Deseret Book Company |
ID=ISBN B0006CF3MC

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1976 |
Title=Cross Fire: The Eight Years With Eisenhower
|
Publisher=Greenwood Press (CT) |
ID=ISBN 0837184223

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1977 |
Title=This Nation Shall Endure |
Publisher=Deseret Book Company |
ID=ISBN 0877476586

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1983 |
Title=Come Unto Christ |
Publisher=Deseret Book Company |
ID=ISBN 0877479976

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1986 |
Title=The Constitution: A Heavenly Banner |
Publisher=Deseret Book Company |
ID=ISBN 0875792162

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1988 |
Title=The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson |
Publisher=Bookcraft |
ID=ISBN 0884946398 

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1988 |
Title=A Witness and a Warning: A Modern-Day
Prophet Testifies of the Book of Mormon |
Publisher=Deseret Book Company |
ID=ISBN 0875791530

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1989 |
Title=A Labor of Love: The Nineteen Forty-Six
European Mission of Ezra Taft Benson |
Publisher=Deseret Book Company |
ID=ISBN 0875792758

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1990 |
Title=Missionaries to Match Our Message |
Publisher=Deseret Book Company |
ID=ISBN 0884947793

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1990 |
Title=Come, Listen to a Prophet's Voice |
Publisher=Deseret Book Company |
ID=ISBN 0875793517

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1992 |
Title=Elect Women of God |
Publisher=Bookcraft publihser |
ID=ISBN 0884948382

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=1992 |
Title=An Enemy Hath Done This |
Publisher=Bookcraft |
ID=ISBN 0884941841

* Book reference |
Author=— |
Year=2003 |
Title=Sermons and Writings of President Ezra Taft
Benson |
Publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints |
ID=ISBN ?

* Book reference |
Author=Benson, Reed, A., ed. |
Year=1960 |
Title=So Shall Ye Reap: Selected Addresses of Ezra
Taft Benson |
Publisher=Deseret Book Company |
ID=ISBN B0007E7BME


==References==

* Book reference |
Author=Ensign Editor |
Year=July 1994 |
Title=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll?f=tem
plates$fn=default.htm President Ezra Taft Benson:
A Sure Voice of Faith |
Publisher=Ensign |
ID=p. 8

* Book reference |
Author=Monson, Thomas S. |
Year=July 1994 |
Title=http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll?f=tem
plates$fn=default.htm President Ezra Taft
Benson—A Giant among Men |
Publisher=Ensign |
ID=p. 35


==External Resources==

start box
succession box |
  title= President of the Church
(Mormonism)|President of the LDS Church |
  years= November 10 1985 — May 30 1994 |
  before= Spencer W. Kimball |
  after= Howard W. Hunter

succession box |
  before= Spencer W. Kimball |
  title= President of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles |
  years= December 30 1973–November 10 1985|
  after= Marion G. Romney

series box |
 title= Quorum of the Twelve Apostles |
 years= October 7 1943–November 10 1985 |
 before=Spencer W. Kimball |
 after= Mark E. Petersen |

|-
| colspan="3" |  
succession box |
  before= Charles F. Brannan |
  title= United States Secretary of Agriculture |
  years= 1953–1961 |
  after= Orville Freeman

end box

USSecAg