Presidents and Prophets

In this groundbreaking work, Mike Winder presents the story of America's presidents and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From Washington to Bush, each President and their relationship with the Mormons is explored, and we see the Church rising from obscurity to political clout as America's-fastest growing religion.

Familiar anecdotes are retold — Wilford Woodruff's vision of the Founding Fathers; Joseph Smith calling on Martin Van Buren; Ezra Taft Benson serving in Eisenhower's cabinet; and Gordon B. Hinckley receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George W. Bush. And, there is much, much more.

You will learn of the wartime President who checked out the Book of Mormon from the Library of Congress; of the President who spoke at a funeral in the Washington, DC Stake Center; the President who attended school in the Kirtland Temple; and the President who had two high priests in his cabinet. Read about what FDR wrote to Churchill about the Mormons; the President who grew up in Ohio with Lorenzo Snow; the Apostle who spent his honeymoon in the White House; and the President who quoted Alma in a letter he wrote to a missionary.

One President asked that his sick wife be given a priesthood blessing. Another received a priesthood blessing himself shortly before his death. Two Presidents have attended Family Home Evenings with two different Apostles. One former President helped the Church missionary program in Africa. There was the President who telephoned Spencer W. Kimball during a stake conference to ask him a few questions, and the President who would spontaneously land Air Force One just to check on his friend David O. McKay.

Which President had one hundred Primary children sing "I Am a Child of God" to him on the White House lawn? What did John Quincy Adams think of the Mormons after meeting with two Apostles? What future Church president was in the room when McKinley was assassinated? Which Presidents had their baptisms for the dead performed in the Mississippi River? And, which President did Heber J. Grant refer to when he said, "I think he was nearer converted to the truth than any man who ever occupied the presidential chair?" Find these answers and more within.