1838 – After an unjust hearing the previous day, Judge Austin A. King issues his official order to send the Prophet Joseph Smith and five others to Liberty Jail, in Liberty, Missouri, “there to remain until they be delivered therefrom by due course of law” (History of the Church, 3:215).
1839 – The Prophet Joseph Smith and Elias Higbee have an interview with United States President Martin Van Buren concerning the expulsion suffered by the Saints from Missouri the previous winter. President Van Buren states, “Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you. . . . If I take up for you I shall lose the vote of Missouri” (History of the Church, 4:80).
1843 – A meeting was held in the assembly room on the second floor of the Prophet’s red brick store. Brigham Young sat as chairman. The object of the meeting was to petition Congress for redress of grievances in relation to the Missouri persecutions. A letter, written by the Prophet Joseph, requesting the help of the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont, was approved to be taken by Parley P. Pratt to New York and Vermont. The emotions of the brethren present were evident as they again reviewed the horrible atrocities the Saints suffered at the hands of the mob. Several of the brethren spoke and agreed to never suffer this type of persecution again, but would fight instead. The Prophet Joseph added, “If I do not stand with those who will stand by me in the hour of trouble and danger, without faltering, I give you leave to shoot me” (History of the Church, 6:94).
1911 – The first “MIA Scout” troop is organized in Salt Lake City, Utah, with Arthur William Sadler, one of Lord Baden-Powell’s original British Scouts. Later, in 1913, the Church would formally associate with the Boy Scouts of America.
1947 – The First Presidency announces that the money collected on the regular December fast day would be dedicated to relieving the suffering people in Europe resulting from World War II. About $210,000 is collected and distributed to Europeans of all faiths through a relief agency not affiliated with the Church.
1959 – The Mormon Tabernacle Choir receives a Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for its recording of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the first televised Grammy Awards Show.
1960 – The first stake in Minnesota is organized.
1977 – United States President Gerald M. Ford visits President Spencer W. Kimball and other leaders of the Church at Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1994 – Wilfred Navalta, BYU-Hawaii women’s volleyball coach, becomes a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.
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