Reed Smoot (U. S. Senator)
| Reed Smoot | |
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| Quorum of the Twelve Apostles | |
| April 8, 1900 – February 9, 1941 | |
| Predecessor | Rudger Clawson |
| Successor | Hyrum M. Smith |
| LDS Church Apostle | |
| April 8, 1900 – February 9, 1941 | |
| Reason | Death of Franklin D. Richards |
| Reorganization at end of term |
Harold B. Lee ordained |
| United States Senator from Utah | |
| In office | |
| March 4, 1903 – March 4, 1933 | |
| Predecessor | Joseph L. Rawlins |
| Successor | Elbert D. Thomas |
| Political party | Republican |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Reed Smoot January 10, 1862 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, U.S. |
| Died | February 9, 1941 (aged 79) St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S. |
| Resting place | Provo City Cemetery 40°13′30″N 111°38′40″W / 40.225°N 111.6444°W |
| Alma mater | Brigham Young Academy |
| Spouse(s) | Alpha M. Eldredge Alice Taylor Sheets |
| Children | 7 |
| Parents | Abraham O. and Anne K. Smoot |
Reed Smoot (January 10, 1862 – February 9, 1941) was a businessman and apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) when he was elected by the state legislature to the United States Senate in 1903; he served as a Republican senator until 1933. From his time in the Senate, Smoot is primarily remembered as the co-sponsor of the 1930 Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, which raised U.S. import tariffs on over 20,000 dutiable items to record levels and is widely regarded as having exacerbated the Great Depression.
Smoot was a prominent leader of the LDS Church, chosen to serve as an apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles prior to his election to the Senate. His role in the LDS Church (together with rumors of a secret church policy continuing polygamy and a secret oath against the United States) led to a lengthy controversy of four years after he was elected to the Senate. A Senate committee investigated his eligibility to serve and recommended against him, but the full Senate voted to seat him. After being defeated for office in 1932, the year Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to the presidency, Smoot returned to Utah in 1933. Retiring from politics and business, he devoted himself to the church. At the time of his death, he was third in the line of succession to lead the LDS Church.
Smoot was born in 1862 in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. He was the son of Mormon pioneer Abraham O. Smoot from Kentucky and Iowa, who served as mayor of the city from 1856 to 1862. His mother was Anne Kristina (Morrison) Smoot, his father's fifth wife of six plural marriages. (She was also known as Anne Kirstine Mauritzen before her marriage.) (His father practiced polygamy and had a total of six wives and 27 children, three of whom he adopted.)
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