17 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, called to serve as an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1900.

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

The family moved to Provo, Utah, when Abraham Reed Smoot was called by Brigham Young as the stake president.

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

Reed Smoot became a successful businessman in the Provo and Salt Lake City areas, with interests including dry goods stores, mining, banking, railroads, lumberyards, raising livestock, coal sales, and manufacturing woolens.

Reed Smoot joined the Republican Party and took part in several campaigns beginning in the late 1880s.

Reed Smoot began serving as a member of the state Republican executive committee in the mid-1890s.

Reed Smoot was elected by the Utah legislature to the United States Senate in the 58th Congress on January 20,1903.

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.

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

Reed Smoot led the 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.