The Great

Ezra Taft Benson was the thirteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 until his death in 1994.  He was the great-grandson of Ezra T. Benson, who was appointed by Brigham Young as a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 1846.

Benson served a church mission in Britain from 1921 to 1923. It was while serving as a missionary, especially an experience in Sheffield that caused Benson to realize how central the Book of Mormon was to the Restored Gospel message and converting people to the LDS Church.  He was superintendent of the Boise Stake Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, a counselor in the stake presidency and later served president of the Boise Stake. In 1939 he moved to Washington, D.C. and became the first president of a new LDS Church stake there. On October 7, 1943, Benson became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 

 Benson succeeded Spencer W. Kimball as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1973, and as President of the Church in 1985. Benson brought a renewed emphasis to the distribution and reading of the Book of Mormon, reaffirming this LDS scripture's importance as "the keystone of the LDS religion." He is also remembered for his general conference sermon condemning pride. 

Benson was a lifelong supporter of Scouting. He started in 1918 as assistant Scoutmaster. On May 23, 1949 he was elected a member of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America. He received the three highest national awards in the Boy Scouts of America—the Silver Beaver, the Silver Antelope, and the Silver Buffalo—as well as world Scouting’s international award, the Bronze Wolf. 

 Despite propagating extreme right-wing views earlier in his life, by the time he became Church President in 1985, Benson was rarely heard on political subjects. Church officials said upon Kimball's death that Benson had moderated his political views and that politics was "not really his agenda anymore."