By the spring of 1965 it had been six years since there had been any new LDS chaplains in the US military, due to discriminatory defense department regulations. When David O. McKay mentioned this trouble in a letter to President [Lyndon B.] Johnson, he immediately said he would meet with church representatives on the subject. Elder Boyd K. Packer, an assistant to the Twelve and head of the LDS Servicemen’s Committee, along with Mormon Senators Ted Moss and Howard Cannon, met with Johnson to discuss the matter. During the meeting the President got Deputy Secretary of Defense Cyrus Vance on the phone to discuss it. Vance evidently protested some and Johnson bellowed, "I don't care I want this done! You give these men what they want." After Vance protested a little more Johnson said, "Listen here. These Mormons from the minute they are out of their mother's womb have been praying and teaching and leading one another - and then they go out on missions. I would rather have one of their boys than one of the preachers you get out of the seminary. So you fix it up so they can get their chaplains. I can't have Dr. McKay out in Salt Lake City sitting there thinking I'm not doing the thing he has asked me to do, so you do it."
Elder Packer reported what happened next. He said, "When I expressed appreciation for the action he had taken, and expressed appreciation from President McKay, Johnson said, as nearly as I can quote, "I don't know just what it is about President McKay. I talk to Billy Graham and all the others, but somehow it seems that President McKay is something like a father to me. It seems as though every little while I have to write him a letter or something."" Elder Packer continued, "President Johnson was always courteous to us, and certainly in the few minutes we solved a problem that has been insurmountable for the past six years."
Presidents & Prophets. The Story of America's Presidents and the LDS Church by Michael K. Winder. Covenant Communications. 2007. [Abridged Audio]
No comments:
Post a Comment