David O. McKay diaries charts his life as a prophet

"Confidence Amid Change: The Presidential Diaries of David O McKay," (Signature Books, 2019), edited by scholar Harvard S. Heath, contains endearing examples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' prophet. In one passage, McKay expresses how much he enjoyed an evening at the movies, watching "All About Eve." Throughout the diaries, McKay reveals his quiet pride in being treated graciously and with respect by U.S. presidents and other major political figures, notably presidents Dwight David Eisenhower and Lyndon Baines Johnson.

His personal emotions are revealed in diary entries. He hated the task of approving temple sealing cancellations. In another example, after what must have been a contentious meeting with his apostolic peers over a church personnel issue, McKay bristles that he had never been treated so harshly before in such a setting.

McKay served as LDS prophet from 1951 until his death in early 1970. His tenure was a bridge between Mormonism's foundation as a North American religion into its now global structure. A very conservative leader, fiercely anti-communist, McKay nevertheless served as a successful moderating influence to the political extremism of Apostle Ezra Taft Benson, who after serving as Agricultural Secretary to Eisenhower nursed national political ambitions. McKay also kept in check the ambitions of Brigham Young University, and church education leader, Ernest L. Wilkinson. A significant portion of the diaries include a long, back-and-forth saga over whether to retain then-named Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, or move it to Idaho Falls. McKay eventually chose to keep it in Rexburg, contrary to Wilkinson's wishes.

There are dozens of issues the diaries recall, often capturing the most private discussions in the highest councils of the LDS Church. They include concerns over the publication of Bruce R. McConkie's iconic "Mormon Doctrine," which McKay and others fretted contained more than 1,000 errors; quelling a fundamentalist rebellion among LDS missionaries in Europe; dealing with mismanagement; lobbying politicians on issues the church considered to be moral issues; trying to find a solution to several thousand black adherents in Nigeria who had already formed an unofficial church branch; dealing with Hollywood over a potential film adaptation of the Mountain Meadows Massacre; working with a financial expert -- successfully -- to improve the church's finances; debating the need for correlation in Sunday School and Priesthood lessons; planning the growth of temples, including some outside of the United States; and more.

We learn from the diaries the conversations McKay had with Utah leaders over policy, including the head of the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce and the publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune. With the Deseret News, McKay enjoyed considerable editorial power, and the diaries include one instance of his anger at a Deseret News editorial piece critical of Eisenhower that apparently slipped in without knowledge of higher ups at the paper. Another early incident in McKay's tenure was helping a U.S. congressman who had lied about his record arrange his resignation. He was deferred to by Utah's most senior politicians although his dealings with iconoclastic Utah pol J. Bracken Lee was more complex.

The diaries are excellent example of transparency that has been needed and -- in recent years -- of which we have seen a commendable increase of. Also captured are moments of unity and love expressed between the members of the First Presidency, Apostles, and others in the meetings. It's a reminder that despite the many debates, the group would function as supportive team once decisions were made. McKay, for most of his tenure, retained a strong independence, which weakened in his final years.

The diaries do no shirk from the racism of the period. While McKay was pragmatic on the black exclusion policy, allowing baptisms in cases where African lineage could not be conclusively proved, he did follow a cardinal policy at that time. It is distressing to read passages in which church leaders fret over Utah State University allowing black athletes, whom the leaders fear will date white young women, or read discussions to discourage the Armed Forces from moving African-American families to the Tooele area. The best that can be gleaned from this issue are indications from McKay, and others, that the policy would eventually be overturned via a revelation. In the diaries, it is sometimes justified using the context of the early apostles denying gentiles the opportunity to hear the Gospel, until the Lord determined otherwise.

Portions of the Heath-edited diaries include observations and notes from others, including McKay's longtime secretary Clare Middlemiss. Her entries become more poignant through the latter 1960s, as McKay's health slowly but consistently declines. One strength of the diaries is we experience the passage of a prophet's life. The initial burst of enthusiasm. The consistent energy of the leader's prime years, including highs and lows. We experience the personal strengths of his life, his relationship with his wife, Emma Ray, and the quiet fortitude his home in Huntsville often provided him. And we are witnesses to his decline, the more-frequent health problems and the longer periods of rest that are needed as his end nears.

These are poignantly captured, often by Middlemiss, with McKay's -- and occasionally his secretary's frustration -- with the prophet being excused from church duties by family members understandably concerned at the toll it was taking on his life. One of the more heart-rending accounts is very late in McKay's life when the prophet, with eyes closed, clutches his secretary Middlemiss' hand, saying he wants her with him. She recalls in the diaries that it would be the last time she was in his office.

Stephen L Richards, J. Rueben Clark, Benson, Harold B Lee, N. Eldon Tanner, Hugh B. Brown, Wilkinson, Alvin R. Dyer, a young Thomas S. Monson, all and many others occupy the diaries. I haven't done justice to how important this collection is to learn more about McKay's life, his role in the continuing evolution of the Latter-day Saints, and insights into how a church is governed. The best solution -- read it. The dead-tree book is expensive, but the Kindle version is an excellent buy at under $10.

-- Review by Doug Gibson