Salt Lake City, USA - A rare set of documents that are the basis for a new biography of David O. McKay, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through the civil rights era, show that the LDS president studied the issue of elevating black men to leadership roles but ultimately balked at doing it.
The never-before-seen pages are from the personal diaries, discourses and scrapbooks of McKay which were compiled by his secretary of 35 years, the late Clare Middlemiss.
Middlemiss bequeathed the 130,000 pages to her nephew, Salt Lake City attorney William Robert Wright, who wrote "David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism" (University of Utah Press) with Gregory A. Prince.
The transcripts and notes of private meetings between McKay and other church leaders show the internal wrangling and political maneuvering that growth and change brought upon the LDS church during McKay's 19-year presidency that ended with his death in 1970.
Among the most telling chapters document the internal struggle the LDS church faced during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Since the 19th century, the Mormon church had accepted blacks as members, but did not bestow the customary status granted boys around age 12 _ the priesthood, as it is known _ upon those of African descent.
But changes in American society and the growth of the church in places such as Brazil, South Africa and Nigeria made it clear that the church would have to consider changing its practices.
Some in the highest positions of church leadership fought hard against change, while others, like Hugh B. Brown, pushed for the faith to embrace civil rights.
McKay, who personally opposed the civil rights movement, went looking for clarity in church doctrine. From the book it seems clear that no one, including McKay, could determine if the practice derived from doctrine or church policy.
The answer to the question remains unclear today, says Don Harwell, president of The Genesis Group, an official church organization for black members.
But Harwell doesn't think that McKay, who ultimately said no change in practice would come "until a revelation upon this subject is received," dodged the issue.
"I believe it was McKay who started the research to find the answer," said Harwell, a member of the LDS church for 22 years. "He may have been a bigot, but it's my feeling that he went the extra step to find out what the truth was. I think he did as much research as he could."
Considering the time in history, the reaction of McKay and other church leaders is understandable, but not excusable, Harwell said.
"When you look at what the attitude and the mode of the country was, that's what everybody thought, what everybody white thought," he said.
And given the times, Harwell doesn't believe McKay, for all his study, was really looking to answer the race question for the church.
"(McKay) wasn't going to the Lord seeking an answer, that's my opinion," Harwell said. "When President (Spencer) Kimball wanted an answer, the revelation came. It's not a bad thing, but is just a sign of the times."
Kimball, the 12th church president, proclaimed the revelation opening the priesthood to all races in 1978.
The LDS church declined to comment on the book, saying through a spokesman that it does not offer comments on works not commissioned by the church.
What sets the book apart from other McKay biographies is Middlemiss' copious record-keeping and the access the authors had to them. Once housed in Wright's family basement, the records were not censored, unlike official church archives that are publicly available.
And what emerged from the documents, Prince said, was a complex picture of McKay, whom many credit with modernizing the LDS church during his nearly two decades of leadership.
"I knew he had a persona that extended beyond Mormons," Prince said. "What came through (in researching the book) mostly was that there was a lot more breadth and depth than I thought. His humanity came through."
Appointed as a church leader in 1906, McKay served as the faith's first commissioner of education, and president of the European missions before becoming a counselor to then-president Heber J. Grant. He became church president in 1951, at age 77.
As the ninth president of the church, McKay is credited with establishing the LDS church on the national and world stage. He formed friendships with four U.S. presidents _ from Harry S. Truman to Lyndon B. Johnson _ traveled the world extensively and launched an aggressive new missionary effort to expand the church around the world. McKay is also known for initiating the Monday-night Mormon tradition of "family home evening."
Middlemiss aspired to one day write her own biography of McKay, but instead bequeathed the volumes to Wright shortly before her death, her nephew said.
"She gave them to me and said if you don't do something with it nobody will ever see it," Wright said.