The 100th birthday broadcast for President Russell M. Nelson on Monday will continue a long tradition of celebrating the birthdays of presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to historic artifacts and publications.
The 75-minute broadcast celebrating President Nelson’s life begins at 4 p.m. MDT on the church’s YouTube channel.
In the weeks leading up to his birthday, President Nelson issued a birthday invitation to Latter-day Saints on social media. “One of the places where the Savior used the number 100 in the scriptures was the parable of the lost sheep. Though 99 of his flock were safely by his side, the shepherd went in search of the 1 who was lost. At age 99, I have no need of physical gifts. But one spiritual offering that would brighten my life is for each of us to reach out to ‘the one’ in our lives who may be feeling lost or alone. Over the coming months I invite you to consider prayerfully ... how you can reach out and lift one who needs help.”
Past celebrations for church presidents have ranged from jubilees, grand dinners and the erection of monuments to short newspaper notices and spontaneous speeches.
What follows is a sampling of invitations, photos and other memorabilia from the collection of historian Ron Fox regarding the birthdays of Latter-day Saint presidents.
Joseph Smith
The church’s founding prophet-president lived in hardscrabble, frontier America much of his early life and led a persecuted band of believers as an adult, which often affected any celebration of his Dec. 23, 1805, birth.
For example, he spent his 33rd birthday and Christmas confined in Liberty Jail. The following year, 1839, he was in Washington, D.C., to petition the president of the United States to help end the persecution of church members forced from their Missouri homes.
The last birthday of his life, in 1843, likely was the happiest December in many years. His birthday entry reads, “At home, counseling the brethren who called on me, and attending to domestic duties, making preparations for a Christmas dinner party.”
The 100th anniversary of his birth likely was the grandest. On Dec. 23, 1905, church leaders unveiled and dedicated the Joseph Smith Memorial, a massive granite monument, at his birthplace near Sharon, Vermont.
In 2005, the church produced a special satellite broadcast to honor his 200th birthday, with President Gordon B. Hinckley speaking from the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial site.
Brigham Young
Joseph Smith’s successor turned 70 on June 1, 1871, and the Deseret News took “great pleasure in recording a spontaneous tribute of respect” for Brigham Young by other church leaders.
But first, the report noted, the University of Deseret (now the University of Utah) suspended classes for the day and its theater string and brass band serenaded President Young at his home.
Later at his private office, President George Albert Smith of the First Presidency and four apostles residing in Salt Lake City at the time — John Taylor, Orson Pratt, George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith — made a birthday visit.
“This visit was prompted by no love of mere formal display or ceremony,” the observer reported, “but through a desire to congratulate and give expression to the genuine love and honor they entertain for a man who has stood by and led them, and by whom they have stood faithfully during the most chequered scenes of the history of this church and of the Saints of latter-days.”
John Taylor spoke with little preparation, and President Young made a short reply. The observer noted that each of the men in attendance had “been called to pass through scenes and circumstances of the most trying character, and in doing so they have learned to know each other’s value, and that knowledge has created respect and love that nothing can undermine, and that will exist as long as time itself.”
At another birthday, a jubilee for President Young was held in American Fork, Utah, the Deseret News reported.
John Taylor
On President John Taylor’s 78th birthday in 1886, a Deseret News editorial honored him — “As prophet, seer and revelator and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he stands before heaven and earth more honored than a king” — while noting that he was in exile because of the 1882 Edmunds Act.
“His blood has mingled with the flowing life-tide of the martyrs (Joseph and Hyrum Smith), and he bears in his body the leaden tokens of their murderers’ hate,” the editorial said.
Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff’s signature adorned personalized invitations to his 90th birthday program in 1897.
The program was held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle and included remarks, hymns, a concert recital and organ solo.
Heber J. Grant
A grand dinner and program was held in honor of President Grant’s 82nd birthday at the Hotel Utah in 1938.
The program included a concise-but-interesting portrait of his life.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
President Hinckley’s 94th birthday was spent at the White House receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush.
“Millions of Americans reserve a special respect for Gordon B. Hinckley, who still works every day as president of the Mormon Church, and who, on this very day, turns 94 years old,” Bush said.
President Hinckley noted the 1839 Joseph Smith visit to the House and contrasted his medal with how his predecessor was treated during that trip that had included his own birthday.
“They came here to plead the case for our people who had been despoiled and persecuted and driven, and were turned down by President (Martin) Van Buren — who said, ‘If I help you, I will lose the state of Missouri,’ and rebuffed him. And he went home without anything for which he had come,” President Hinckley said. “Now to have this invitation from the president of the nation is a very signal and significant honor.”
President Russell M. Nelson
President Nelson’s 95th birthday in 2019 included a major celebration and program at the Conference Center.
The celebration marked both the lives he saved as a pioneering heart surgeon and the souls he has saved during his ministry as a church leader.
The man blessed with perfect pitch even displayed another talent — he was shown in a video playing Chopin’s “Prelude in C Minor” on a piano.
The audience sang “Happy Birthday” and was filled with family, friends, dignitaries, people whose lives President Nelson saved while serving as Dr. Nelson, and thousands who revere him as a living prophet of God.
In 2023, for his 99th birthday, President Nelson had a small celebration at his office with the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. His eight living children also visited him there.
President Nelson’s 100th birthday broadcast will be available for on-demand viewing on YouTube, Gospel Media and the Gospel Stream app.