President Grant made the following statement: Brethren, I came down this morning to my office at 8 o’clock to see some of the brethren of this Council. I have talked to all of the brethren telling them whom I wanted to recommend to be Patriarch to the Church, and I believe they are all a unit to sustain the man whom I shall nominate. I have known of course the feelings of some of the brethren to the effect that the great grandson of Patriarch John Smith should be made the Patriarch, and I have tried to feel that he was the right man. I have prayed earnestly to the Lord that if he were the right man the Lord would give me a manifestation to that effect, and I have never received it. Just recently I assured the Lord that I was very anxious that something be done and that I had made up my mind if the brethren were a unit in favor of this young man I might surrender and put him in, but I would not give my approval. Every time I have opened the Doctrine and Covenants, which I have done many times and turned to the revelation given to Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smithâ€"Section 9â€"and have read the words of the Lord: “If it is right I shall cause that your bosom shall burn within you, therefore you shall feel that it is right; if it be not right ye shall have no such feeling, and you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing that was wrong.†Every time I have tried to appoint this young man I have had a stupor of thought, and I could not do it. It breaks my heard for the sake of his mother and brother to have to tell them or ask someone else to do so, and I know it will almost kill them because they feel the boy ought to have the position. I have spoken to all the brethren and told them that if I named a man I would like them not to tell anybody he was not their choice, because we admit no man to our Council except that he understands that when we discuss a subject and the Council approves of it that a man, although he may have the opposite view, is expected to surrender that view and to be one with the majority. I realize that there never was a day when we could quite seem to be united as one on this man. I did not want to come to a final decision with that kind of feeling. It is only fair to say now that from President Clawson down the brethren have all assured me that the brother whom I shall name would be their choice and they would not say, “Well, I voted for him, but he is not my choice,†but that he would be their choice as well as mine. I have talked this morning with Brother Lee, he is the last to whom I have spoken, and all the brethren have manifested a very fine spirit in having him as their choice, and I nominate for your approval Brother Hyrum M. Smith’s son, a grandson of the Prophet Joseph F. Smithâ€"Brother Joseph F. Smith the third. On the matter being put to a vote all the brethren voted unanimously in favor of the nomination. ... I feel very happy with the selection and the voting, and I feel that it is worth a lot. My recollection is that it was very often talked of that Brother Brigham tried to get Joseph F. to take the two offices, but he was so loyal to his older brother he would not take the office of Patriarch. Brother Brigham felt he ought to be both an Apostle and a Patriarch. That was when I was a young man. Heber J. Grant had called Joseph Fielding Smith on the phone, the Apostle on the phone, and told him that all of the other Apostles were in agreement to calling Joseph Fielding rather than Eldred [G. Smith] to the office and would he go along. Joseph Fielding replied, what about [George Albert] Smith, is he going along with this? Heber J. Grant said yes and that Joseph Fielding Smith was the only one yet that was not going along with it and he said well, he wasn’t going to beâ€"he wasn’t going to hold it up if he was the only one that was objecting and to go ahead with it. He thenâ€" Joseph Fielding Smith, as he hung up the telephone, thought it rather strange that George Albert Smith would have agreed to this since he had been so much against it in the past and so he decided to call and ask him why he decided to change his mind, and so he picked up the telephone and called him and the line was busy, and he called several times and the line was busy. Then finally, he got through to him and he asked him the question and George Albert Smith said that he had just got off the phone with Heber J. Grant and that Heber J. Grant called and told him that George Albert Smith was the only one that had not yet agreed to having Joseph Fielding Smith put in as the next Patriarch, and he had asked whether Joseph Fielding the Apostle had gone along with this, and he said yes, that George Albert was the only one that was holding up. George Albert indicated that if he were the only one and if Joseph Fielding was going along with it, then he wouldâ€"indicating that Heber J. Grant hadâ€"that each of them thought the other one was giving in and it was on that basis that they had agreed to the compromise choice of Joseph Fielding as Patriarch, when in fact, neither was the case until after the fact.
[Source: Minutes (Present: Presidents Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Rudger Clawson, Elders George F. Richards, Joseph Fielding Smith, Richard R. Hyman, John A. Widtsoe, Charles A. Callis, Albert E. Bowen, Sylvester Q. Cannon, and Harold B. Lee); “Conversation between E. Gary Smith and Eldred Smith on April 11, 1983,†April 12, 1983]
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