David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism Quotes

“And so, he gently chided Apostle John A. Widtsoe, whose wife advocated such a rigid interpretation of the Word of Wisdom as to proscribe chocolate because of the stimulants it contained, saying, “John, do you want to take all the joy out of life?”85 But he didn’t stop there. At a reception McKay attended, the hostess served rum cake. “All the guests hesitated, watching to see what McKay would do. He smacked his lips and began to eat.” When one guest expostulated, “‘But President McKay, don’t you know that is rum cake?’ McKay smiled and reminded the guest that the Word of Wisdom forbade drinking alcohol, not eating”
― Gregory A. Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism

“In late 1905 a crisis occurred within the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles that soon impacted the remainder of McKay’s life. Two members of the quorum, Matthias F. Cowley and John W. Taylor, were obliged to resign because of their refusal to disavow the further practice of plural marriage. By the time of the April general conference of 1906, Apostle Marriner W. Merrill had died, resulting in three vacancies within the quorum. James E. Talmage, who later was sustained to the same quorum, wrote, “These were filled on nomination and vote by the following: Orson F. Whitney, George F. Richards (a son of the late Apostle Franklin D. Richards) and David O. McKay (a former student of mine). They are good men, and I verily believe selected by inspiration.”
― Gregory A. Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism

“if a man were an avowed communist, would our position be to excommunicate him or disqualify him for any position in the Church,”
― Gregory A. Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism

“McKay made no secret of his passion for free agency, speaking frequently on the subject in public settings.”
― Gregory A. Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism

“By today’s standards, David O. McKay’s views on civil rights are jolting; yet in the context of his own time and place, his views were mainstream. He definitely was not “progressive” on the issue, even if measured by the low standards that would have earned such a label during his lifetime. On the one hand, he never advocated legislation or behavior that would worsen the status of blacks within the United States; indeed, his apparent desire was to preserve the legal status quo. Yet he also never advocated legal remedies to segregation and discrimination. He was, at best, a very conservative moderate. He”
― Gregory A. Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism

“LaMar S. Williams, an employee in the Missionary Department, who began to send pamphlets and overruns of the church magazines each month, sometimes several hundred pounds per shipment.94 A short time later, in 1960, church leaders requested that Glen G. Fisher, who had just been released as president of the South African Mission, visit Nigeria on his way home”
― Gregory A. Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism

“special committee of the Twelve appointed by President McKay in 1954 to study the issue concluded that there was no sound scriptural basis for the policy but that the church membership was not prepared for its reversal…. Personally, I knew something about the apostolic study because I heard Adam S. Bennion, who was a member of the committee, refer to the work in an informal talk he made to the Mormon Seminar in Salt Lake City on May 13, 1954. McKay, Bennion said, had pled with the Lord without result and finally concluded the time was not yet ripe.”
― Gregory A. Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism