President Thomas S. Monson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints met with President Barack Obama at the White House today, presenting him with multiple leather-bound volumes of his family history.Joining them in the brief afternoon meeting in the Oval Office were Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the church's Quorum of the Twelve and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The latter, also a member of the LDS Church, helped arrange today's meeting.The 1:30 p.m. EDT meeting — described simply as "a courtesy visit" by a church spokesman — will be the first interaction between the first-year U.S. president and President Monson, who became the church's 16th president in February 2008.While Monday afternoon's meeting was closed to the media, Obama issued the following statement afterward:"I enjoyed my meeting with President Monson and Elder Oaks," he said. "I'm grateful for the genealogical records that they brought with them and am looking forward to reading through the materials with my daughters. It's something our family will treasure for years to come."As chairman of the church's Temple and Family History Executive Council, Elder Oaks is the member of the Quorum of the Twelve who oversees the church's genealogical efforts. Church leaders have met with previous presidents, presenting them with genealogical records detailing their family history.Mike Winder, author of "Presidents and Prophets: The Story of American Presidents and the LDS Church" and a member of the Utah Board of State History, said Monday marked the 14th such meeting of a U.S. president welcoming an LDS Church president to the White House. The first was Joseph Smith's 1893 meeting with President Martin Van Buren.President Monson and Obama's predecessors — the late LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley and President George W. Bush met twice — first in 2001 when Bush invited a host of religious leaders to meet in the aftermath of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and more recently in 2004 when Bush awarded President Hinckley the Presidential Medal of Freedom.President Hinckley also met with President Bill Clinton in the White House in 1995 to present him with a copy of the "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" only weeks after the document was first read and published.Winder said it's not uncommon for U.S. senators to facilitate such visits, such as Utah senator Reed Smoot's arrangement of the 1911 meeting between President Joseph F. Smith and President William H. Taft.Also, two U.S. presidents in recent decades — Presidents George H.W. Bush and Richard M. Nixon — never hosted an LDS Church president at the White House, although both made several presidential visits each to Utah and had met with church leaders while in Salt Lake City.Winder also noted the fact that compared to other president/prophet meetings, Monday's meeting came early in Obama's presidency — a half-year after his inauguration.Follow his meeting with President Monson, Elder Oaks and Reid, Obama hosted the Apollo 11 crew in commemorating the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing in 1969.
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