The administration of President Heber J. Grant, who became the seventh president of the Church in November 1918, exceeded any other in length except for President Brigham Young's. President Grant served as president for almost 27 years.
"Perhaps the most outstanding contribution President Grant made to the Church during the years of his presidency was his ability to meet and mingle with the prominent and influential people of the nation; to break down opposition; to remove prejudice and to make and win friends for the Latter-day Saints," wrote Preston Nibley in Presidents of the Church.In Profiles of the Presidents, Joseph Anderson, who served as President Grant's secretary, recorded the following: "President GrantT is truly the greatest ambassador of friendship and good will to the professional and business man that the Church ever had. No one can begin to estimate the amount of good he has done for the Church in the matter of allaying prejudice in the minds of influential people."
When President Grant was a young man, he declined an offer to attend the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., because he wanted to be a businessman, said Emerson West in Profiles of the Presidents.
"Heber J. Grant liked to make money. He knew how to do it. He enjoyed doing it. But he was never selfish with his wealth, and he always paid his obligations to the Lord first."
President Grant tried his hand at a number of business ventures: banking, woolen mill, lumber, sugar and refining factories, insurance, ranching, cattle raising, newspaper business, brokerage, soap making, bee culture, merchandising and an implement business.
Heber M. Wells, Utah's first governor after statehood, said this of his boyhood associate: "[President Grant] has probably been instrumental in establishing and furthering the cause of more successful intermountain industries than any other man of his time. His personal credit, his unquestioned integrity, his super-salesmanship brought capital to the aid of the Church, the community and private enterprises. In times of panic and in times of plenty, Heber J. Grant has been able to raise a few dollars or millions where other men have failed to raise any amount." (West, Profiles of the Presidents.)
In his later years, President Grant enjoyed taking long automobile rides to enjoy nature. Nibley, a personal friend of the prophet's, often joined him.
"On these rides, [President Grant] and Mrs. Grant were always accompanied by relatives or friends," Nibley recorded. "He was never satisfied until his automobile was filled and others were permitted to enjoy the sights that brought him such keen delight and satisfaction."
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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)
Articles on this page may be used in conjunction with the gospel doctrine course of study.
Information compiled by Kellene Ricks.
Sources: Profiles of the Presidents, by Emerson R. West; The Presidents of the Church, by Preston Nibley; Essentials in Church History, by Joseph Fielding Smith; and The Presidents of the Church, Biographical Essays, edited by Leonard J. Arrington.