19 Facts About Reed Smoot

Reed Smoot was an American politician, businessman, and apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Reed Smoot was a prominent leader of the LDS Church, chosen to serve as an apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1900.

Reed Smoot continued to be reelected to successive terms until he lost his seat in the 1932 elections.

Reed Smoot was born in 1862 in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.

Reed Smoot was the son of Mormon pioneer from Kentucky and Iowa, Abraham O Smoot, who served as mayor of the city from 1856 to 1862.

Reed Smoot's mother was Anne Kristina Morrison Smoot, known as Anne Kirstine Mauritzen before her marriage.

Reed Smoot attended the University of Utah and graduated from Brigham Young Academy in Provo in 1879.

Thereafter, Reed Smoot became a successful businessman in the Salt Lake City area.

Reed Smoot was elected by the Utah legislature to the United States Senate on January 20,1903, as a Republican Senator, representing the state.

Reed Smoot was introduced to the United States Senate by Utah's senior US Senator, Republican Thomas Kearns, a Catholic who had been elected in 1901 over Reed Smoot.

Two years later Reed Smoot ran again and was elected to the Senate.

Reed Smoot's election sparked a bitter four-year battle in the Senate on whether Reed Smoot was eligible and should be allowed to serve.

Reed Smoot was denied his seat on the basis that he practiced plural marriage, which was illegal in Utah as well as all other states of the Union.

Reed Smoot was reelected in 1908 and continued to be reelected to successive terms until 1932, serving in the Senate until March 1933.

Reed Smoot was Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1923 to 1933, and served on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Reed Smoot became active in the national Republican Party and served as a delegate to the Republican national convention every four years between 1908 and 1924.

Reed Smoot was Chairman of the 1928 Resolutions Committee at the 1928 Republican National Convention and Chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Reed Smoot retired from active business and political pursuits to dedicate his remaining years as an apostle for the LDS Church.

Reed Smoot died on February 9,1941, during a visit to St Petersburg, Florida.