Benson, Ezra Taft

▪ 1995

      U.S. agronomist and religious leader (b. Aug. 4, 1899, Whitney, Idaho—d. May 30, 1994, Salt Lake City, Utah), as president (1985-94) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stressed the importance of the Book of Mormon, one of four volumes of church scripture, and increased church membership from 5.9 million to 8.7 million. During the 1960s and '70s, Benson aroused controversy both inside and outside the church by endorsing the right-wing John Birch Society, by denouncing the civil-rights movement as "a communist program," and by criticizing the women's movement. The Bensons had long been prominent in the church hierarchy, and Ezra Taft Benson was the great-grandson of Mormon church pioneer Ezra T. Benson, who accompanied Brigham Young to the Great Salt Lake in 1847. Benson served as a Mormon missionary for two years before graduating with honours (1927) from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, and earning a master's degree in farm economics from Iowa State College. In 1943 he was appointed to the ranks of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, second in rank to the First Presidency, which consisted of the president and his two-man council. Benson gained national prominence while serving (1953-61) as secretary of agriculture in the administration of Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower, and he became the first Mormon to attain Cabinet status. He was unsuccessful, however, in his effort to strengthen family farms; his policies, in fact, bolstered big operators, who received larger payments for taking farmland out of production. After returning to the church, Benson ascended to the presidency of the Council of the Twelve Apostles in 1973, thus assuring his elevation to the presidency of the church in 1985 upon the death of Spencer Kimball. Benson's leadership came under attack in 1993 when one of his grandsons revealed that Benson had not been able to speak or recognize relatives since being stricken by a severe illness in 1989.

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