The Prophet Who Ran for President
Wednesday, September 1 2004
To know nothing of what happened before you were born is to remain ever a child-Cicero
Q: Who was the first U.S. Presidential candidate to be assassinated? The folks in the best position to win this toughest of all bar bets are, alas, usually absent from the bar. They are the Mormons, and the answer to this question is none other than Joseph Smith, "The Prophet," founder of their faith and independent candidate for the Presidency in 1844.
Smith biographer Fawn Brodie denies that his candidacy was motivated by "preposterons megalomania." Rather, Smith seems to have run for the more mundane reason of defending his flock. Unable to obtain redress at the federal level for the Mormon persecutions in Missouri, Smith called states rights "a stink offering in the nose of the Almighty" and demanded protection from Washington.
In November 1843 he asked the leading candidates for President, Henry clay, John Calhoun, Richard Johnson, Lewis Cass, and Martin Van Buren, "What will be your rule of action relative to us as a people should fortune favor your ascendancy to the chief magistracy?"
