Harold B. Lee
Encyclopedia
Harold Bingham Lee was eleventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from July 1972 until his death.
to Samuel Lee and Louisa Emeline Bingham and was the second of six children. The Lee family lived the rural life and Harold and his siblings spent most of their youth doing farm chores. During his childhood, his mother saved him from several near-death experiences. When he was eight, he was sent to get a can of lye from the shelf and spilled the deadly product all over himself. His mother opened a vat of pickled beets and poured cup after cup of the red vinegar all over him, which neutralized the lye. When Harold was a teen, he punctured an artery
on a broken bottle. His mother cleaned it, but it became badly infected. She burned a black stocking to ashes and rubbed it in the open wound and it soon healed.
Lee was fortunate to receive a good education. He finished eighth grade at a grammar school in Clifton and his parents allowed him to continue his education at Oneida Stake Academy in Preston, Idaho
. Lee focused on music the first few years and played the alto
, French
, and baritone horn
s. Later, he played basketball
and was a reporter for the school newspaper. He graduated in the spring of 1916.
The summer following his graduation Lee worked to receive his teaching certificate from Albion State Normal School at Albion, Idaho
. After two summers of study in 1916 and 1917, Lee passed the state's fifteen-subject test to receive his second- and third-class certificates.
Lee held his first teaching position in the fall of 1916. He taught a class of 25 students, grades one to eight, in Weston, Idaho
. His salary was $60 a month. When he was eighteen, he became principal of a school in Oxford, Idaho
.
In September 1920, the President of the LDS Church, Heber J. Grant
, called Lee on a mission
to the western states, with headquarters in Denver, Colorado
. He was twenty-one and served until December 1922.
, Fern Lucinda Tanner. They renewed their acquaintance when they returned from their missions and were married on November 14, 1923 in the Salt Lake Temple
. Fern died in 1962 and on June 17, 1963 Lee married Freda Joan Jensen, a former mission companion's girlfriend who had never married. She died on July 1, 1981.
in the United States left more than half of its members without jobs. He established a welfare program to aid members in distress that became a model emulated by the entire LDS Church. As part of the program, he helped organize the Pioneer Stake bishop's storehouse
in 1932. The storehouse provided members with basic food necessities. Bishop's storehouse
s are still part of the Church Welfare Program today. In 1936 Lee became managing director of the Church Welfare Program. Although he also pursued a political career, he began full-time work for the church when he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1941.
From the time he became an apostle
, Lee's eventual succession to the church presidency was seen as largely inevitable, as he was almost twenty years younger than any other apostle and succession to the presidency traditionally relies on length of service among the Twelve. Spencer W. Kimball
and Ezra Taft Benson
soon became apostles as well, followed by Mark E. Petersen
in 1944, but Lee was the senior member of the new generation.
Under church president David O. McKay
, Lee became the intellectual leader of the church to some extent, as McKay was ailing and First Counselor Henry D. Moyle
lacked the confidence of the apostles and died in 1963, effectively exiled to Florida
. In this time Lee headed the Priesthood Correlation Committee
which pioneered the worldwide coordination of church activities and materials.
D. Michael Quinn speculates that it was Lee who blocked the LDS Church from rescinding the Negro doctrine in 1969, a move favored by Hugh B. Brown
. In 1969, after McKay's health failed, and some others within the church leadership thought the doctrinal basis for the exclusion of people of African
ancestry from the priesthood
was shaky, the remaining First Presidency
and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (minus Harold B. Lee, who was traveling) voted to rescind the racial exclusion policy; however, that vote was reversed when Lee returned and called for a re-vote, arguing that the policy could not be changed without a revelation.
When McKay died in 1970 Joseph Fielding Smith
became church president and Lee was called as First Counselor in the First Presidency
. He continued to gain practical experience for what was expected to be a long presidency of his own, he being decades younger than Smith.
However, Lee's presidency proved one of the briefest in the history of the church, lasting from Smith's death in July 1972 to Lee's sudden fatal pulmonary hemorrhage in December 1973. Lee was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery
. It was Spencer W. Kimball, exactly four years Lee's senior and seen as being in worse health, who would lead the church for the next dozen years and oversee the church's admittance of blacks to the priesthood
.
also honored the former church president by renaming its library after him. The 665000 square feet (61,780.5 m²) Harold B. Lee Library
is one of the largest libraries in the western United States and contains 98 miles (157.7 km) of shelving.
Early life
Lee was born in Clifton, IdahoClifton, Idaho
Clifton is a city in Franklin County, Idaho, United States. The population was 213 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Clifton is located at , at in elevation....
to Samuel Lee and Louisa Emeline Bingham and was the second of six children. The Lee family lived the rural life and Harold and his siblings spent most of their youth doing farm chores. During his childhood, his mother saved him from several near-death experiences. When he was eight, he was sent to get a can of lye from the shelf and spilled the deadly product all over himself. His mother opened a vat of pickled beets and poured cup after cup of the red vinegar all over him, which neutralized the lye. When Harold was a teen, he punctured an artery
Artery
Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. This blood is normally oxygenated, exceptions made for the pulmonary and umbilical arteries....
on a broken bottle. His mother cleaned it, but it became badly infected. She burned a black stocking to ashes and rubbed it in the open wound and it soon healed.
Lee was fortunate to receive a good education. He finished eighth grade at a grammar school in Clifton and his parents allowed him to continue his education at Oneida Stake Academy in Preston, Idaho
Preston, Idaho
Preston is a city in Franklin County, Idaho, United States. The population was 4,682 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Franklin County. It is part of the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
. Lee focused on music the first few years and played the alto
Alto horn
The alto horn is a brass instrument pitched in E...
, French
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, and baritone horn
Baritone horn
The baritone horn is a member of the brass instrument family. The baritone horn has a predominantly cylindrical bore as do the trumpet and trombone. A baritone horn uses a large mouthpiece much like those of a trombone or euphonium, although it is a bit smaller. Some baritone mouthpieces will sink...
s. Later, he played basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
and was a reporter for the school newspaper. He graduated in the spring of 1916.
The summer following his graduation Lee worked to receive his teaching certificate from Albion State Normal School at Albion, Idaho
Albion, Idaho
Albion is a city in Cassia County, Idaho, United States. It is part of the Burley, Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 267 at the 2010 census. Albion was the county seat of Cassia County from 1879 to 1918....
. After two summers of study in 1916 and 1917, Lee passed the state's fifteen-subject test to receive his second- and third-class certificates.
Lee held his first teaching position in the fall of 1916. He taught a class of 25 students, grades one to eight, in Weston, Idaho
Weston, Idaho
Weston is a city in Franklin County, Idaho, United States. The population was 425 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. His salary was $60 a month. When he was eighteen, he became principal of a school in Oxford, Idaho
Oxford, Idaho
Oxford is a city in Franklin County, Idaho, United States. The population was 53 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:Oxford was first settled by Mormons in September 1864....
.
In September 1920, the President of the LDS Church, Heber J. Grant
Heber J. Grant
Heber Jeddy Grant was the seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He was ordained an apostle on October 16, 1882, on the same day as George Teasdale...
, called Lee on a mission
Missionary (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
to the western states, with headquarters in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
. He was twenty-one and served until December 1922.
Marriages
While on his mission, Lee met a sister missionary from UtahUtah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Fern Lucinda Tanner. They renewed their acquaintance when they returned from their missions and were married on November 14, 1923 in the Salt Lake Temple
Salt Lake Temple
The Salt Lake Temple is the largest and best-known of more than 130 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the sixth temple built by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth operating temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo,...
. Fern died in 1962 and on June 17, 1963 Lee married Freda Joan Jensen, a former mission companion's girlfriend who had never married. She died on July 1, 1981.
Service in the LDS Church
In 1930 Lee was challenged by a calling as president of the LDS Church's Pioneer Stake in Salt Lake City, because the 1929 Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in the United States left more than half of its members without jobs. He established a welfare program to aid members in distress that became a model emulated by the entire LDS Church. As part of the program, he helped organize the Pioneer Stake bishop's storehouse
Bishop's storehouse
A bishop's storehouse in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints usually refers to a commodity resource center that is used by bishops of the church to provide goods to needy individuals...
in 1932. The storehouse provided members with basic food necessities. Bishop's storehouse
Bishop's storehouse
A bishop's storehouse in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints usually refers to a commodity resource center that is used by bishops of the church to provide goods to needy individuals...
s are still part of the Church Welfare Program today. In 1936 Lee became managing director of the Church Welfare Program. Although he also pursued a political career, he began full-time work for the church when he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1941.
From the time he became an apostle
Apostle (Mormonism)
In the Latter Day Saint movement, an Apostle is a "special witness of the name of Jesus Christ who is sent to teach the principles of salvation to others." In many Latter Day Saint churches, an Apostle is a priesthood office of high authority within the church hierarchy. In many churches, apostles...
, Lee's eventual succession to the church presidency was seen as largely inevitable, as he was almost twenty years younger than any other apostle and succession to the presidency traditionally relies on length of service among the Twelve. Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer Woolley Kimball was the twelfth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1973 until his death in 1985.-Ancestry:...
and Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson was the thirteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 until his death and was United States Secretary of Agriculture for both terms of the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower.-Biography:Born on a farm in Whitney, Idaho, Benson was the oldest of...
soon became apostles as well, followed by Mark E. Petersen
Mark E. Petersen
Mark Edward Petersen was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1944 until his death. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, he filled the vacancy caused by the excommunication of Richard R. Lyman...
in 1944, but Lee was the senior member of the new generation.
Under church president David O. McKay
David O. McKay
David Oman McKay was the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , serving from 1951 until his death. Ordained an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1906, McKay was a general authority for nearly 64 years, longer than anyone else in LDS Church...
, Lee became the intellectual leader of the church to some extent, as McKay was ailing and First Counselor Henry D. Moyle
Henry D. Moyle
Henry Dinwoodey Moyle was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.-Early life:...
lacked the confidence of the apostles and died in 1963, effectively exiled to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. In this time Lee headed the Priesthood Correlation Committee
Priesthood Correlation Program
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Priesthood Correlation Program is a program designed to provide a systematic approach to maintain consistency in its ordinances, doctrines, organizations, meetings, materials, and other programs and activities...
which pioneered the worldwide coordination of church activities and materials.
D. Michael Quinn speculates that it was Lee who blocked the LDS Church from rescinding the Negro doctrine in 1969, a move favored by Hugh B. Brown
Hugh B. Brown
Hugh Brown Brown was an attorney, educator and author and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
. In 1969, after McKay's health failed, and some others within the church leadership thought the doctrinal basis for the exclusion of people of African
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
ancestry from the priesthood
Priesthood (LDS Church)
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , the priesthood is the power and authority to act in the name of God for the salvation of humankind...
was shaky, the remaining First Presidency
First Presidency (LDS Church)
The First Presidency is the presiding or governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. The First Presidency currently consists of President Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors, Henry B...
and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (minus Harold B. Lee, who was traveling) voted to rescind the racial exclusion policy; however, that vote was reversed when Lee returned and called for a re-vote, arguing that the policy could not be changed without a revelation.
When McKay died in 1970 Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. was the tenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1970 until his death. He was the son of Joseph F. Smith, who was the sixth president of the LDS Church...
became church president and Lee was called as First Counselor in the First Presidency
First Presidency (LDS Church)
The First Presidency is the presiding or governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. The First Presidency currently consists of President Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors, Henry B...
. He continued to gain practical experience for what was expected to be a long presidency of his own, he being decades younger than Smith.
However, Lee's presidency proved one of the briefest in the history of the church, lasting from Smith's death in July 1972 to Lee's sudden fatal pulmonary hemorrhage in December 1973. Lee was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery
Salt Lake City Cemetery
thumb|The northern section of the cemetery at night, looking towards Salt Lake CityThe Salt Lake City Cemetery is in The Avenues neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah. Approximately 120,000 persons are buried in the cemetery. Many religious leaders and politicians, particularly many leaders of The...
. It was Spencer W. Kimball, exactly four years Lee's senior and seen as being in worse health, who would lead the church for the next dozen years and oversee the church's admittance of blacks to the priesthood
Blacks and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
From 1849 to 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a policy against ordaining black men of African descent to the priesthood. Whereas other churches usually have full-time salaried clergy of whom individual members are often the chief minister to several families, in the LDS...
.
Legacy
After his death, a statue of Lee was dedicated at his birthplace. Brigham Young UniversityBrigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
also honored the former church president by renaming its library after him. The 665000 square feet (61,780.5 m²) Harold B. Lee Library
Harold B. Lee Library
The Harold B. Lee Library , located in Provo, Utah, is the main academic library of Brigham Young University, the largest religious and second-largest private university in the United States. The library has approximately of shelving for the more than 6 million items in its various collections, as...
is one of the largest libraries in the western United States and contains 98 miles (157.7 km) of shelving.