Reed Smoot

Reed Smoot
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
April 8, 1900 – February 9, 1941
Called by	Lorenzo Snow
LDS Church Apostle
April 8, 1900 – February 9, 1941
Called by	Lorenzo Snow
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 3, 1933
Predecessor	Joseph L. Rawlins
Successor	Elbert D. Thomas
Political party	Republican
Personal details
Born	(1862-01-10)January 10, 1862 Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, U.S.
Died	February 9, 1941(1941-02-09) (aged 79) St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.
Education	University of Utah brigham Young Academy
Spouse(s)	Alpha Eldredge Alice Taylor Sheets
Children	7
Relatives	Abraham O. Smoot (father)
Signature

Reed Smoot (January 10, 1862 – February 9, 1941) was an American politician, businessman, and apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). A Republican who was first elected to the U.S. Senate by the Utah State Legislature in 1902, he served from 1903 to 1933.^[1] Smoot is primarily remembered as the co-sponsor of the 1930 Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, which increased almost 900 American import duties. Criticized at the time as having "intensified nationalism all over the world" by Thomas Lamont of J.P. Morgan & Co.,^[2] Smoot–Hawley is widely regarded as one of the catalysts for the worsening Great Depression.^[3]

Smoot was a prominent leader of the LDS Church, chosen to serve as an apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1900. His role in the LDS Church (together with rumors of a secret church policy continuing polygamy and a secret oath against the United States)^[4] led to a controversy of four years after he was elected to the Senate in 1903. A Senate committee investigated his eligibility to serve, known as the Reed Smoot hearings, and recommended against him, but the full Senate voted to seat him.^[4] Smoot continued to be reelected to successive terms until he lost his seat in the 1932 elections. 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.^[1]