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Gordon B. Hinckley

Gordon Bitner Hinckley (June 23 1910 – January 27 2008) was an American religious leader who served as the fifteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from March 12, 1995 until his death. He was the oldest person to preside over the church in its history. As president of the church, he was considered by its members to be a prophet, seer, and revelator.

Hinckley's presidency was noted for the building of new temples, including a reconstruction of the historic Nauvoo Illinois Temple, the building of the 20,000 seat Conference Center, the issuance of the Proclamation on the Family, and the creation of the church's Perpetual Education Fund. Hinckley dedicated more LDS Church temples than anyone else, dedicating more than half of the current temples. At the time of Hinckley's death, approximately one-third of the church's membership had joined the church under Hinckley's leadership. As president of the church, Hinckley was also chairman of the Church Board of Education and Board of Trustees that governs the Church Educational System.

Biography

Early years

A fourth-generation Latter-day Saint, Hinckley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to prominent LDS writer and educator Bryant S. Hinckley and Ada Bitner Hinckley. He graduated from high school in 1928. After attending the University of Utah where he earned his undergraduate degree, Hinckley became a missionary for the LDS Church, an unusual occurrence for Depression-era Latter-day Saints. He served in the London-based British Mission from 1933 to 1935.

Work for the church

Hinckley returned to the United States in 1935 after having completed a short tour of the European continent, including preaching in both Berlin and Paris. He was given an assignment by his mission president, Joseph F. Merrill, to meet with the First Presidency of the church and request that better materials be made available to missionaries for proselytizing purposes. As a result of this meeting, Hinckley received employment as executive secretary of the Radio, Publicity and Missionary Literature Committee of the church (he had received schooling as a journalist in college). Hinckley's responsibilities included developing the church's fledgling radio broadcasts and making use of the era's new communication technologies. Starting in 1937, he also served on the Sunday School General Board. After the Second World War Hinckley served as executive secretary to the Missionary Committee of the church. He also served as the church's liaison to Deseret Book, working with Deseret Book's liaison to the church, Thomas S. Monson.

In the early 1950s, Hinckley was part of a committee that considered how to present the temple ordinances at the Swiss Temple. The concern was how this could be done when there would be a need to provide them in at least ten languages; the concern was eventually solved through the use of a film version of the Endowment. Hinckley's background in journalism and public relations prepared him well to preside over the church during a time when it has received increasing media coverage.

Family

On April 29 1937, Hinckley married Marjorie Pay (November 23 1911–April 6 2004) in the Salt Lake Temple. They had been married for nearly 67 years at the time of her death. They had five children, including Richard G. Hinckley, a member of the LDS Church’s First Quorum of the Seventy, and Virginia Hinckley Pearce, a former member of the general presidency of the church's Young Women organization.

General authority

In 1958, Hinckley became a general authority of the Church in the now-discontinued position of Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In 1961 he became an apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Member of First Presidency

On July 23 1981, Hinckley became a counselor in the First Presidency. As the 1980s progressed, the health of both President Spencer W. Kimball and his aging counselors N. Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney led to Hinckley's being the only healthy member of the First Presidency. When Tanner died in 1982, Romney succeeded him as first counselor and Hinckley succeeded Romney as second counselor in the First Presidency. Because of the ill health of Kimball and Romney, Hinckley was involved in much of the day-to-day affairs of running the church.

The Mark Hofmann document forgeries, bombings, and investigation occurred during this time. Several books describe the arrangements for acquiring supposed historical documents for the church by Hinckley and others. For example, the Stowell forgery implicating Joseph Smith in gold digging was purchased for $15,000 by Hinckley on behalf of the church from Hofmann on the promise of confidentiality. However, two years later Hofmann leaked its existence to the “Mormon intellectual underground.” Upon inquiry, church Spokesman Jerry Cahill denied that the church possessed the document. Hinckley corrected Cahill and released the letter to scholars for study. The document was later found to be a forgery.

After Kimball's death in November 1985, then-former President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Ezra Taft Benson became president of the church and named Hinckley his first counselor. Fellow apostle Thomas S. Monson was named second counselor, and, for a while, all three members of the First Presidency were able to perform their duties. In the early 1990s, however, Benson developed serious health problems that removed him from public view, and Hinckley again carried out many of the duties of the president of the church until Benson died in 1994. After Benson’s death, Howard W. Hunter became President and retained Hinckley and Monson as counselors in the First Presidency. At the same time, Hinckley became President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles by virtue of seniority.

President of the Church

When Hunter died after a presidency of only nine months, Hinckley succeeded to the presidency of the church at the age of 84. On November 2 2006, Hinckley surpassed David O. McKay to become the oldest president in Church history.

Hinckley was known for his acceleration of the building of temples. Before he became president in 1995 there were 47 operating temples in the Church; at the time of his passing, there were 124 – over two-thirds of which had been dedicated or rededicated by Hinckley–and 14 announced or under construction. Hinckley oversaw other significant building projects, including the construction of the Conference Center and extensive renovations of the Salt Lake Tabernacle.

On September 23 1995, Hinckley released The Family: A Proclamation to the World, a statement of belief and counsel regarding the sanctity of the family and marriage prepared by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. In February 1996, Church membership in countries other than the United States surpassed that of the U.S. membership.

In November 2000, President Hinckley spoke to the youth of the church and gave them six traits to work on, his famous Six Be's (Be Grateful, Be Smart, Be Clean, Be True, Be Humble, Be Prayerful), which were first introduced in his New York Times Bestseller Stand for Something and later expanded on in Way to Be.

On March 31 2001, he announced the Perpetual Education Fund, a large endowment that provides loans to students in developing nations. On October 22 2002, Hinckley participated in the dedication of the Gordon B. Hinckley Building at Brigham Young University–Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho. This was the first building at BYU–Idaho to be named for a then-living Church President.

In April 2003, Hinckley gave a speech in which he addressed the ongoing war in Iraq. He said, “…as citizens we are all under the direction of our respective national leaders. They have access to greater political and military intelligence than do the people generally,” adding, “Furthermore, we are a freedom-loving people, committed to the defense of liberty wherever it is in jeopardy.” He also noted that “It may even be that [the Lord] will hold us responsible if we try to impede or hedge up the way of those who are involved in a contest with forces of evil and repression.”

In March 2005, Hinckley, together with Thomas S. Monson and James E. Faust, celebrated their tenth anniversary as the First Presidency—the first time in the history of the church that a First Presidency had continued for such a period of time without personnel changes.

On January 24 2006, Hinckley underwent surgery to remove cancerous growths from his large intestine.

In June 2006, Hinckley traveled to Iowa City, Iowa to speak at a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the start of the Mormon handcart companies. On June 23, 2006—his 96th birthday—Hinckley participated in a groundbreaking ceremony at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah for a new building that was to be named in his honor. The building was named the "Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center" and was completed and dedicated on Hinckley's 97th birthday.

On March 31 2007, Hinckley rededicated the Salt Lake Tabernacle after extensive renovation. Hinckley's last public appearance was on January 4 2008, when he offered the prayer at the rededication of the Utah State Capitol.

During his tenure as president, Hinckley gave over 2000 speeches, and traveled half-million miles over a lifetime, as he met with church members and dedicated chapels and temples.

Temple dedications

At the time Hinckley became president of the church, he had dedicated 23 of the church's 47 temples and had rededicated four of the remaining 24. While president of the church, Hinckley presided at the dedication of 65 additional temples. Hinckley also rededicated five temples while president of the church, four of which he had dedicated initially. In all, Hinckley dedicated or rededicated 92 different temples — 87 while president of the church — at 97 different dedicatory services.

Awards

On June 23 2004 (Hinckley's 94th birthday), U.S. President George W. Bush awarded Hinckley the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony at the White House. The press release put forth by the White House stated:

"Gordon B. Hinckley [...] has inspired millions and has led efforts to improve humanitarian aid, disaster relief, and education funding across the globe."

Hinckley received many educational honors, including the Distinguished Citizen Award from Southern Utah University, Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Utah, and honorary doctorates from Westminster College, Utah State University, University of Utah, Brigham Young University, and Southern Utah University. He received the Silver Buffalo Award of the Boy Scouts of America, and was honored by the National Conference for Community and Justice for his contributions to tolerance and understanding in the world.

Death

On January 27, 2008, at approximately 7 p.m. MST, Hinckley died at the age of ninety-seven while surrounded by family in his Salt Lake City apartment. According to a church spokesman, the death was due to "causes incident to age." A Deseret Morning News article states that Hinckley had just gone through a treatment of chemotherapy a few days earlier, and had "worked until the very end. Thomas S. Monson became the presidential successor on 3 February, 2008. Funeral services were held on 2 February, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. MST at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hinckley was buried at the Salt Lake City Cemetery next to his wife, who had died three years previously. Some of the soil that was used to bury him was imported from the grounds of the Preston England Temple in Lancashire, as Hinckley had served his mission in England.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) demonstrated near his funeral, accusing him of having an "ambiguous voice" about the gay lifestyle rather than taking a firm stand against it. One woman explained it was because he "preached that God loves all his children, including the gay ones.

Publications

Hinckley, Gordon B. (2008). My Dear Sisters: Inspiration for Women from Gordon B. Hinckley. Covenant Communications. ISBN 1598115952.
——. (2006). One Bright Shining Hope: Messages for Women from Gordon B. Hinckley.. Deseret Book. ISBN 1-59038-355-9.
——. (2005). Discourses of President Gordon B. Hinckley. 2 vols., Deseret Book. ISBN 1-59038-431-8 (vol. 1), ISBN 1-59038-518-7 (vol. 2).
——. (2002). Way to Be!: Nine Ways to Be Happy and Make Something of Your Life. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-3830-3.
——. (2001). Stand a Little Taller. Eagle Gate. ISBN 1-57008-767-9.
——. (2000). Standing for Something: Ten Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes. Times Books. ISBN 0-8129-3317-6.
——. (1997). Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley. Deseret Book. ISBN 1-57345-262-9.
——. (1989). Faith: The Essence of True Religion. Deseret Book. ISBN 0-87579-270-7.
——. (1981). Be Thou An Example. Deseret Book. ISBN 0-87747-899-6.

——. (1951). James Henry Moyle, the story of a Distinguished American and an honored churchman. Deseret Book.
——. (1947). What of the Mormons? A Brief Study of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (part reprinted in 1969 under the title Truth Restored: A Short History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
——. (1943). A Brief Statement of Principles of the Gospel Based Largely Upon the Compendium (Richards/Little) with Excerpts from Other Writings: Including Also Church Chronology, Priesthood Ordinances, Selected Hymns.