This day will ever stand out in my mind as the day of greatest significance to me, altho as I write it seems like a dream. ...
After I closed the door and sat down on a chair close to the bed he [Heber J. Grant] took my right hand in both of his and as I looked into his kindly, tear filled eyes, he said, "With all my heart I congratulate you and pray God to bless you. You have been chosen as the newest Apostle of the Church."
The announcement seemed unbelievable and overwhelming. I was stunned and for several minutes could say only, "Oh President Grant that can't be" which I must have repeated several times before I was able to collect my thots enough to realize what had happened and that it was real and not a dream. He held my hand for a long time as we both shed tears of gratitude. For over 1/2 hour we were alone together, much of the time with our hands clasped warmly together. Tho feeble his mind was clear and alert and I was deeply inpressed with his sweet, kindly, humble spirit as he seemed to look into my soul.
I felt so utterly weak and unworthy that his words of comfort and reassurance which followed were doubly appreciated. Among other things he stated, "The Lord has a way of magnifying men who are called to positions of leadership." When in my weakness I was able to state that I love the Church, he said, "We know that the Lord wants men who will give everything for His work."
He told of the action taken in a special meeting of the First Presidency and the Twelve 2 weeks before and that the decision regarding me had been enthusiastically una[nim]mous and would be popular with the Church membership. ...
Continuing he said, "We want you to go right on with your work in Washington [D.C.]. It may be a year and it may be several years. We urged Reed Smoot to remain in the [United States] Senate because we believed he could best serve the Church in the Senate."...
... Bro. Cannon drove us to the home of Pres. McKay. I hardly spoke a word as we drove down the canyon. I was still dazed from the shock. ...
[Source: Ezra Taft Benson diary as quoted in Gary James Bergera, '"This Great Thing Which Has Come to Me a Humble, Weak Farmer Boyâ€: Ezra Taft Benson’s 1943 Call to the Apostleship', Mormon Historical Studies (Fall 2008, v.9)]
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