President Gordon B. Hinckley presented “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” at the general Relief Society meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 30 years ago.
Regarding this document, Sheri Dew, biographer for both President Hinckley and President Russell M. Nelson, writes, “Seership and the proclamation on the family are inextricably connected.”
Former Relief Society General President Elaine L. Jack, who served from 1990 to 1997, invited me to interview her on the proclamation and record her memory of this historic moment. This article seeks to accurately describe the planning, preparation for, fulfillment of, and reactions to the general meeting when this consequential text was introduced.
As Relief Society General, President Jack met with her counselors, Sister Aileen H. Clyde and Sister Chieko Okazaki, to plan the September 1995 general Relief Society meeting for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they likely had no idea this meeting would become one of the most impactful and memorable of the 20th century, as well as one of the most influential general women’s conference meetings for years to come.
A desire to prioritize the family
With a desire to prioritize the family and focus their comments on women’s needs, these women went to work. “Helping families was a theme of our presidency,” Elaine Jack recalled. They knew the topic, but were not yet sure about the form of delivery.
After some counseling and deliberation, some ideas came to fruition. “We thought, ‘Let’s do a video about Relief Society or about some of the concerns and how we might deal with them,” President Jack explained. Although great effort and time was put into the video, she added, “I didn’t feel comfortable about the way the video was going and was very unsettled about it.” Under her counsel, the video was cut. When I asked her who made the final decision she responded, “I did.”
As the conference neared, Elder Robert D. Hales, their first contact with the Quorum of the Twelve, suggested that “perhaps we (the Relief Society General Presidency) would like to meet with the First Presidency in order to discuss our purposes and what we would be saying in the general Relief Society meeting. As President Jack wrote about this in her journal, she continued, “We of course agreed wholeheartedly.”
Just a few days after Elder Hales suggested that President Jack and her counselors meet with the First Presidency, the invitation to do so was extended and accepted. In her journal entry from Sept. 20, 1995, just three days before the conference, President Jack recorded, “We did attend the meeting in the East board room with the presidency. They were very warm and complimentary in greeting us.”
In that important meeting, President Hinckley, President Thomas S. Monson, President James E. Faust, President Jack, Sister Clyde and Sister Okazaki were able to counsel with each other regarding a variety of topics, primarily those relating to women and the family. During the meeting, President Hinckley sought the counsel of the Relief Society General Presidency regarding the women of the church.
Sister Clyde recalled that President Hinckley asked them many things, including “what we had learned and what we did in our leadership training.” Throughout the meeting, Sister Clyde reflected, “We were all forthright. That was an opportunity.”
The needs of women
“President Hinckley asked us how we felt the women were doing. How were they feeling about their family?” President Jack said. “Each of us contributed from our own perspective … Chieko (Okazaki) spoke about the many who are hurting and Aileen (Clyde) spoke about the women’s main concern being their families and the economic circumstance.”
Of the meeting, she added, “We felt very satisfied, and listened to, and warmly received by the First Presidency.”
After discussing the needs of the women of the church, President Hinckley then spoke of the invitation he had received from the General Relief Society to speak and discussed what he might say to them. President Jack recalled that he said, “I would like to speak to the young women, to the single women, and then I would like to say a few words to the mothers of young children.” President Hinckley then mentioned “single parents” as well as grandmothers and great-grandmothers — effectively showing concern for every woman in every stage and circumstance of life.
President Jack continued in her journal: “He talked about a proclamation on families that had been worked on by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. He said, ‘I don’t know if there would be time to give this.’ We hastily assured him that there was plenty of time and that we would each give up time … We told him how pleased we would be to have him read such a proclamation.”
“He really wanted to reach all of the women,” she then explained, “and it was an ideal time for all the women to be together.”
Sister Clyde likewise recalled that President Hinckley told these women, “We have written a proclamation on the family and it’s my responsibility to decide when to present it. And you’ve already invited me to speak at your meeting on Saturday.”
According to Sister Clyde, President Hinckley continued, “I don’t want to overwhelm your meeting. We want to hear from you sisters and we want the sisters to hear from you. So, you’ve already asked me to speak and I’ve prepared remarks … but this is a very important thing, (if) I were to announce this proclamation to the family … I’m afraid it would overwhelm the meeting.’”
Sister Clyde described what happened next: “Elaine and then Chieko, and then I spoke to that, and we said, ‘President Hinckley, this is obviously very important and our concern for the family is very important.” If he chose to present the proclamation at this meeting, she recalled assuring him they could “easily pare our talks.”
“We quickly acquiesced to the importance of it,” Sister Clyde then related, “and especially we thanked him for his sensitivity because he clearly didn’t want to come in there and take over our meeting.”
President Jack remembers, “We didn’t know what the proclamation on the family was at that time. I mean, we could tell by the title, but we felt anything on the family that they were reaffirming would be a positive thing for us. I felt very positive that we had members of the Quorum of the Twelve that were receiving revelation and I felt perfectly comfortable with that.”
‘You’ve helped to clarify my thinking’
President Hinckley also talked about receiving a letter on the previous Monday from a woman abandoned by her husband. He told the Relief Society General Presidency, “I think I might read it [in my talk]. It’s a long letter, but it tells the situation very well.”
“It was a long letter,” President Jack later explained, “but it accomplished exactly what we hoped the video we tried to prepare would do, only it was much better.” She concluded, “We saw the hand of the Lord in the writing of this letter. This letter was clearly written by a woman who was inspired of God, and the timing was incredible. To me this was a testimony that the prophet had received revelation.”
In reflecting on the meeting with the First Presidency, President Jack wrote, “Although the questions were primarily directed at me, I tried to be aware of having Chieko and Aileen speak on the subject, rather than my representation only. As usual, they were very articulate, and very discerning about the needs of the women.”
As Sister Clyde recalled, “Before we left the meeting President Hinckley said, ‘Thank you. You’ve helped to clarify my thinking … I will make the presentation of the proclamation at your meeting.” Directly following this meeting with the First Presidency, General Board member and historian Cherry Silver records in her manuscript, “The History of the Relief Society,” “The women, of course, were very pleased.”
Reflecting years later on how she felt during this meeting, President Jack recalled, “It was a warm and comfortable meeting. We felt very heard as a presidency. As we left the room that day, we spoke so positively about our experience. We were thrilled to have had that experience. Each member of the presidency was delighted with the outcome.”
Reflection and further guidance
President Dallin H. Oaks, who served as the chair of the Priesthood Executive Council and who was invited to attend the meeting as well, spoke with the Relief Society General Presidency following the meeting. Sister Clyde recalled that President Oaks asked them, “Do you understand that you have just been in an historic moment?”
When they said, “What do you mean?” he responded, “I have never seen a prophet make a decision in a meeting like that, about something we have spent a year with. And we didn’t know how to advise him as to when.”
Sister Clyde then shared how President Oaks explained to the women that President Hinckley was wrestling to know exactly when to share the proclamation, whether in the priesthood session or during the Saturday or Sunday session of general conference. “He was really wrestling with when to do it,” she reflected.
In her history of the Relief Society presidency, Silver records that President Oaks vocally observed, “I think he made the decision to read that proclamation dependent on your response. I think he made it right there while you were visiting.” It appears that President Hinckley received the inspiration he needed while counseling with President Jack and her presidency.
Regarding the entire meeting, and apparently speaking for the combined feelings of the presidency, President Jack wrote in her journal, “We were overjoyed.”
Reflecting later on this experience, President Jack said, “I don’t know exactly why he chose to read the proclamation in the women’s meeting, but it did seem that we were all inspired to speak on the family, and this was the right place and time.… It seemed that his talk and the proclamation on the family went hand in hand with what we were already doing.”
After powerful talks by President Jack, Sister Okazaki and Sister Clyde, President Hinckley then took the stand. He acknowledged the gratitude he felt for being invited to speak at the conference and the trust he had in the women who led the great Relief Society organization. He thoughtfully recognized the various and sometimes difficult life situations of women, read the woman’s inspired and tender letter and then began his introduction to the Family Proclamation.
“With so much of sophistry that is passed off as truth, with so much of deception concerning standards and values, with so much of allurement and enticement to take on the slow stain of the world,” President Hinckley prophetically started, “we have felt to warn and forewarn. In furtherance of this, we of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles now issue a proclamation to the church and to the world as a declaration and reaffirmation of standards, doctrines, and practices relative to the family which the prophets, seers, and revelators of this church have repeatedly stated throughout its history.”
The Family Proclamation was then read in its entirety. Later in her journal, President Jack again reflected on the general Relief Society meeting: “As I contemplate the whole conference and the events that led up to it, I feel strongly the Lord’s hand in what we are doing. He blesses beyond that which we know and recognize.”
Regarding the proclamation itself and President Hinckley’s decision to read it during the general Relief Society meeting, she wrote, “This is a historic statement. This sort of proclamation is issued very infrequently. It was a reiteration of the standards, doctrines, and practices relative to the family. I felt that it was of great significance that it would be read during this meeting to the women.… It was a blessing to have all three members of the First Presidency in attendance.”
President Jack summarized her sentiments and thoughts over the weeks before, and the day of the conference: “I see the Lord’s hand in so much that we are doing. It has been directly intervening over the past two weeks.… I don’t think all these circumstances came about by chance. We are blessed.”
‘A fine foundational document’
The general Relief Society meeting on Sept. 23, 1995, was more impactful and historic than any one person or presidency could have planned it to be. It did indeed fortify, solidify and declare inspired doctrine on the family, as the Relief Society General Presidency had hoped.
The personal journals, writings and interviews of President Jack are invaluable in confirming the reality that God had his hand not only in the seership and writing of the family proclamation but also in its delivery.
At the time “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” was delivered, President Jack was thrilled to have it delivered in the general Relief Society meeting. She recognized it as a doctrine meant to be written and delivered by those called of God as apostles, seers, and revelators.
She also felt heard and respected regarding her position and opinions as the highest-ranking female organizational leader in the church; and she, along with her counselors, encouraged the prophet to read the document in that particular meeting.
Regarding the proclamation itself, President Jack wrote in her journal, “When the proclamation was read on Saturday evening, it was worthy of all that had been said of it. It will be a fine foundational document for us in Relief Society and for the church as a whole.”
Adapted from a talk, “The Family Proclamation—Preparation, Partnership, Purpose, Priority, Power, Prophetic,” given Sept. 26, 2025, at the BYU Conference on the 30th anniversary of the Family Proclamation, “Experiencing Jesus Christ Through the Family Proclamation.”