Ezra Taft Benson

Ezra Taft Benson (born August 4, 1899 in Whitney , Franklin County , Idaho , † May 30, 1994 in Salt Lake City , Utah ) was an American politician and the 13th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .

Life

Benson as US Secretary of Agriculture

Ezra Taft Benson (left) is received by State Secretary Theodor Sonnemann at the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry. (1959)

Benson was born to George T. Benson and Sarah Dunkley Benson. From 1921 to 1923 he served as an honorary missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain. In 1926 he received a degree in agricultural science and initially worked at the University of Idaho .

After being named general secretary of the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives in 1939, he moved to Washington, DC In 1943, President Heber J. Grant named him an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1953, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him to his cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture , where he remained until the end of Eisenhower's presidency in January 1961. During his tenure as Minister of Agriculture, he was largely responsible for setting up and distributing the so-called CARE packages .

After Reed Smoot (1862-1941), who served as a representative of Utah in the United States Senate , he was the second apostle of the Church, who also held a high level political leadership. President George Albert Smith sent him to Europe in 1945 to rebuild the church organization that had been destroyed by the war and to organize aid for the people in need.

Presidency

After the death of Spencer W. Kimball , Benson was ordained President of the Church on November 10, 1985. Early in his presidency, he emphasized the importance of the Book of Mormon and encouraged members to study it over and over again.

He died on May 30, 1994 after a long illness.

Individual evidence

↑ Deseret News 1997-98 Church Alamanac. P. 42

Web links

Commons : Ezra Taft Benson - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Biography (English)
Ezra Taft Benson in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Spencer W. Kimball	President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1985–1994	Howard W. Hunter

personal data
SURNAME	Benson, Ezra Taft
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	13. President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
DATE OF BIRTH	4th August 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH	Whitney , Idaho
DATE OF DEATH	May 30, 1994
Place of death	Salt Lake City , Utah

[1] Deseret News 1997-98 Church Alamanac. P. 42


Vice President	Richard Nixon (1953-1961)
Foreign minister	John Foster Dulles (1953-1959) \| Christian Herter (1959–1961)
Finance minister	George M. Humphrey (1953-1957) \| Robert B. Anderson (1957–1961)
Defense Minister	Charles Erwin Wilson (1953–1957) \| Neil H. McElroy (1957-1959) \| Thomas S. Gates (1959–1961)
Minister of Justice	Herbert Brownell junior (1953–1957) \| William P. Rogers (1957–1961)
Post Minister	Arthur E. Summerfield (1953-1961)
Interior minister	Douglas McKay (1953-1956) \| Fred Andrew Seaton (1956-1961)
Minister of Agriculture	Ezra Taft Benson (1953-1961)
Minister of Commerce	Sinclair Weeks (1953-1958) \| Lewis Strauss (1958-1959) \| Frederick H. Mueller (1959–1961)
Minister of Labor	Martin Patrick Durkin (1953) \| James P. Mitchell (1953-1961)
Minister of Health, Education and Welfare	Oveta Culp Hobby (1953–1955) \| Marion Bayard Folsom (1955-1958) \| Arthur Flemming (1958–1961)