Today in Mormon History - May 28

[TodayInMormonHistory]

On this day in Mormon History
http://TodayInMormonHistory.com/

-- 130 years ago today - May 28, 1896 --

The First Presidency at their office this morning conversed on the subject of the terrible disaster with awful destruction of life and property in the City of St. Louis [Missouri] on Wednesday. President [Wilford] Woodruff remarked that the Lord in the early days of the Church required his servants to make a record of their persecutions and the mobbings they endured from their enemies. The Lord also told them that angels were waiting to go forth and reap down the earth, but were told to keep back for a season. President Woodruff said that at the time of the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, the spirit manifested to him that the Lord was about to send special messengers to the earth for special purposes, and he firmly believed as much as he believed anything that some of those messengers had already commenced their work, and that the numerous and great disaster of recent date were the evidences of their presence. (1)
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The First Presidency and Council of Twelve Apostles cannot agree on whether to try Apostle Moses Thatcher for insubordination immediately or to wait until he is well. John Henry Smith says that an extenuating circumstance is that Thatcher is addicted to morphine and is "hardly a responsible man." Heber J. Grant points out that Thatcher's position "since he commenced using morphine was in perfect harmony with that which he occupied a number of years prior to becoming addicted to this habit." They decide to "labor with Apostle Moses Thatcher and learn if he is with us or against us." Thatcher is later dropped from the Council of Twelve Apostles. (2)
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-- 75 years ago today - May 28, 1951 --
[J. Reuben Clark]
James Sharp left the following message: He travels throughout the state, meets numerous people, both Mormons and non-Mormons, and the question arises for him to answer which he can't answer, as to why Pres. Clark had to take a back seat. He wanted Pres. Clark to know that the people throughout the State, Mormons and non-Mormons, do not approve of the movement; he does not either, and as a non-Mormon told him yesterday, he said the Presidency of the Church is slipping, does not like to see the way things have gone. There isn't anything he can do, but he wanted Pres. Clark to know how he feels. ( R J M). (3)
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-- 35 years ago today - May 28, 1991 --

The LDS church receives legal recognition in the Republic of Russia, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs a concert in the Bolshoi Theater on 24 June. The Church News cover photograph emphasizes that this is "America's Choir" at Red Square in Moscow. (4)
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1 - Journal History, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015
2 - On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com
3 - The Diaries of J. Reuben Clark, 1933-1961, Abridged, Digital Edition, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015
4 - The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database (http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase)]