I don't think that a member of the Church has been this close to becoming President since Joseph Smith ran for office. Joseph Smith was only cut short by his murder. He had a good running.
Actually his father, George, was as close at this stage of the 1968 presidential campaign, but after visiting Vietnam, where the U.S. was heavily involved in the war, he came back and said he had switched his position on the war - from supporting it to being against it. It was not so much his position change that shot down his candidacy as it was his choice of words explaining his switch. He said that on a previous visit to Vietnam he had been "brainwashed" into supporting it. Then he was mocked and ridiculed into dropping out of the race because, they said, anyone who can be brainwashed doesn't have what it takes to be president of the United States.
I was a teenager (16) at the time and remember it well. I recall thinking that he was the man that would "save the constitution by a thread." Guess I was wrong.
As a point of interest, in the 1964 presidential race, at the tender age of 12, I was a (right-wing) Barry Goldwater supporter - bumper stickers on my school notebooks, campaign buttons on my shirts, and the like. He actually scared my parents because they believed the campaign against him that said he would destroy the world with nuclear weapons. I still believe Goldwater was the right man at the right time (LBJ ended up being just awful). Then in the 1968 presidential campaign - after Romney dropped out - I actually worked as a volunteer for the George McGovern presidential bid. He was a left-wing liberal. I ended up voting for Nixon - a moderate republican - over McGovern in that race - - what a switch in philosophies!
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I don't think that a member of the Church has been this close to becoming President since Joseph Smith ran for office. Joseph Smith was only cut short by his murder. He had a good running.
Actually his father, George, was as close at this stage of the 1968 presidential campaign, but after visiting Vietnam, where the U.S. was heavily involved in the war, he came back and said he had switched his position on the war - from supporting it to being against it. It was not so much his position change that shot down his candidacy as it was his choice of words explaining his switch. He said that on a previous visit to Vietnam he had been "brainwashed" into supporting it. Then he was mocked and ridiculed into dropping out of the race because, they said, anyone who can be brainwashed doesn't have what it takes to be president of the United States.
I was a teenager (16) at the time and remember it well. I recall thinking that he was the man that would "save the constitution by a thread." Guess I was wrong.
As a point of interest, in the 1964 presidential race, at the tender age of 12, I was a (right-wing) Barry Goldwater supporter - bumper stickers on my school notebooks, campaign buttons on my shirts, and the like. He actually scared my parents because they believed the campaign against him that said he would destroy the world with nuclear weapons. I still believe Goldwater was the right man at the right time (LBJ ended up being just awful). Then in the 1968 presidential campaign - after Romney dropped out - I actually worked as a volunteer for the George McGovern presidential bid. He was a left-wing liberal. I ended up voting for Nixon - a moderate republican - over McGovern in that race - - what a switch in philosophies!
Well this was long winded.
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