Mormons have long history of presidential campaigning


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SALT LAKE CITY — Though he didn't seize the presidency, Mitt Romney has made history as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, there have been a number of members of his faith, including his father, who have set their sights on the nation's highest office.

The church, established on April 6, 1830, saw its first presidential hopeful in 1844, when its own founder, Joseph Smith Jr, ran for president. Smith's candidacy was a response to the persecution against his followers, says Paul Reeve, Ph.D.

"He felt like the only way the Mormon grievances could be addressed was through his own candidacy for the presidency," Reeve, of the University of Utah's U.S. and Religious History department.

Smith was murdered in June of that year.

In 1968, polls showed Governor George Romney the favorite for the Republican Party nomination, until he told a reporter that after returning from Vietnam "I'd just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get."

If not for that gaffe, Reeve said, "we may have had a first Romney contender for the White House."

Also in 1968, according to authors Craig Foster and Newell Bringhurst, there were efforts to draft LDS Church Apostle Ezra Taft Benson — who had previously served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President Dwight D. Eisenhower — as a vice-presidential candidate for George Wallace and the American Independent Party.

That same year, Eldridge Cleaver, a writer and political activist, ran for president for the Peace and Freedom Party. He became a Latter-day Saint in 1983.

In 1976, Congressman Mo Udall from Arizona ran for the Democratic Party nomination.

Candidates
Joseph Smith Jr.
Gov. George Romney
Eldridge Cleaver
Congressman Mo Udall
Sonia Johnson
"Bo" Gritz
Sen. Orrin Hatch
Jon Hunstman Jr.
Mitt Romney

Later, in 1984, feminist activist, writer and former Latter-day Saint Sonia Johnson became the presidential candidate for the U.S. Citizens Party.

In 1988, James Gordon "Bo" Gritz briefly ran for vice-president for the Populist Party after his tenure as a decorated Army Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel. He eventually left the Mormon faith.

Twelve years later in 2000, Senator Orrin Hatch sought the Republican nomination.

Another 12 years after that, Jon Hunstman Jr. ran against Romney for the presidential nomination.

This is Mitt Romney's second campaign for president. And this time, his faith is not an issue.

"Romney has made the campaign a referendum on President Obama's last four years in office and a referendum on the economy," Reeve said. "And as a result, I think that has helped him to neutralize the Mormon question."

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Carole Mikita

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