There has been some recent controversy regarding influence on the church in the twentieth century. Rather than arguing the historical facts, the doctrinal shifts, and the devotional adjustments, I say that we use the power of the internet to decide.
To that end, I am proposing 20th Century March Mormon Madness. A webpoll tournament to decide who the most influential 20th century Mormon is. I (and my crack team of Mormon bracketologists) will take your top 64 suggestions and pit them against one another. We promise fabulous bragging rights to the person with the most accurate bracket (when we promised a prize last time, I don’t think we followed through). The question that will be asked of each candidate is “Which 20th century person has had the most influence on the 21st century church?”
You have until Friday to submit your suggested influencers. The bracket will be developed over the weekend and the first rounds will be conducted next week sometime, I think, maybe. In any case, get excited!
March 5, 2008 at 11:16 am
Philo T. Farnsworth. Eat it, SUCKAS!
March 5, 2008 at 11:21 am
Will there be a non-American (including Canada) in the bracket? No. I officially boycott the bracket. Only a Dieter/Helvecio final will do.
March 5, 2008 at 11:25 am
Or a Head/Evans final.
March 5, 2008 at 11:25 am
A tentative list
Hugh Nibley
BH Roberts
Joseph F Smith
Heber J Grant
George Albert Smith
David O McKay
Harold B Lee
Joseph Fielding Smith
Bruce R McConkie
Spencer W Kimball
Ezra Taft Benson
Howard W Hunter
Gordon B Hinckley
Thomas S Monson
Boyd K Packer
Neal A Maxwell
Marvin J Ashton
Paul H Dunn
Jan Shipps
Fawn Brodie
Leonard Arrington
Belle Spafford
Emmeline Wells
Chieko Okazaki
Janice Kapp Perry
Arnold Friberg
Minerva Teichert
Greg Olsen
Liz Lemon Swindle
Lowell Bennion
Eugene England
Hartman Rector
Vaughn J Featherstone
John Sorensen
Steve Young
Danny Ainge
Danny White
Dale Murphy
Wally Joyner
Orrin Hatch
March 5, 2008 at 11:26 am
“non-American (including Canada)”
oh, Ronan
March 5, 2008 at 11:26 am
I refuse to square off against an illegal in the final.
March 5, 2008 at 11:26 am
Brad,
Return in 100 years: “Which 21st century person has had the most influence on the 22nd century church?”
March 5, 2008 at 11:27 am
You can include any non-Yank you feel is worthy of inclusion
For instance
Helvecio Martins
Hugh B Brown
Yoshihiko Kikuchi
Helmuth Huebner
I think President Uchtdorff is more of a 21st century influencer, myself
March 5, 2008 at 11:31 am
Canucks don’t count. Anyway, the lamentable thing is that Helmuth, saint though he was, has had zero influence on the church.
My point is that there aren’t non-Yanks of influence.
Except, perhaps, Billy Johnson. Yeah, Billy Johnson!
March 5, 2008 at 11:39 am
To add a few names to John’s list:
Orson Scott Card
Sheri Dew
Hal Eyring
David M. Kennedy
March 5, 2008 at 11:39 am
Bathseba Smith
Amy Lyman
The guy that wrote Work and the Glory
Sherri Dew
JR Clark
Mike Quinn
March 5, 2008 at 11:40 am
Steven Covey
March 5, 2008 at 11:44 am
Let me be the first to say:
Donny Osmond!
March 5, 2008 at 11:44 am
Don’t forget Marie. We need a little bit country!
March 5, 2008 at 11:45 am
“The guy that wrote…”
Don’t we need to actually use their names for this to work?
March 5, 2008 at 11:47 am
Ok, Gerald Lund.
And while we’re at it:
Robert Kirby
Calvin Grondahl
March 5, 2008 at 11:49 am
Jack Welch
Mike Quinn
LaVern Parmly
Richard Bushman
Naomi Randall
Dan Vogel
Carol Lynn Pearson
The Tanners
Clair Middlemiss
Mark E Petersen
Robert Millet
Margaret Toscano
Janice Allred
Ogden Kraut
Andrew Ehat
Tom Rogers
Gary Browning
Don Jarvis
Dong Sull Choi
Aurelia Rogers
Ernest Wilkenson
Sherrie Dew
Sterling McMurrin
O. C. Tanner
Lavina Anderson
Stephen Robinson
J. Reuben Clark
Marjorie Hinckley
John Huntsman
Sonia Johnson
Susan Easton Black
Brian Evanson
Mark Hoffman
David H Burton
Leonard Arrington
Dallin Oaks
March 5, 2008 at 11:53 am
definately Lavina.
March 5, 2008 at 11:54 am
Covey, Kirby, Lund, and Card were all glaring omissions on my list. Let’s not forget Peggy either, since, arguably, her provocative reporting on Sunstone led inexorably to its exile back in the day.
March 5, 2008 at 11:55 am
Elder Holland. SSS was one of the most influential talks of recent history.
March 5, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Tal Bachman
March 5, 2008 at 12:03 pm
What about alleged Mormons? We could add Steve Martin.
March 5, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Well, I would call him an “alleged” Mormon.
March 5, 2008 at 12:07 pm
David Knowlton
Avraham Gileadi
Lyman Dayton
Janeane Brady (I don’t know if she’s actually LDS, bet her influence speaks for itself)
The Jets
March 5, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Steve Martin
March 5, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Terry Tempest Williams
March 5, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Steve Evans still tops the list.
Nicht Wahr?
March 5, 2008 at 12:15 pm
If you all insist, I will add Steve to the list, but I consider LANGUATRON at least as influential.
March 5, 2008 at 12:35 pm
TTW definitely, along with LT Ulrich and Jill Derr.
March 5, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Jan Shipps keep showing up in these discussions. I guess she’s an honorary Saint.
It’s not clear from the original post whether you want our lists submitted as comments, emails or dribbled into the discussion one by one such as the first comment?
When Brad says “The Tanners” I imagine I know which Tanners he means, but there are a lot of Tanners in the church. I want to go on record as taking offense at being generically lumped together with that particular branch of the family. On the other hand, I could assume that he really does mean the entire Tribe of Tanners. That’s another contest, though. Smiths vs. Tanners. Hinckleys vs. Romneys. Etc.
And as far as the bracketing goes, that sounds complicated. You could totally rig the voting by pitting (for example) Liz Lemon Swindle against David O McKay and Mark Hoffman against Sherrie Dew. Heh. (As you guys tend to say.)
March 5, 2008 at 12:38 pm
As long as we have included some other non-Mormons so far, C. S. Lewis.
I don’t see her name, but Laurel Thatcher Ulrich should be in the field. Apologies if I missed her.
And how about the folks, who in spite of repeated warnings not to send letters to the FP and Qo12, continue to supply Pres. Monson with all his stories?
March 5, 2008 at 12:40 pm
This is awesome. John C., I take back anything derogatory I may have said about your posts in the past.
Georgia Wahlin Bello. She has to be on the list.
Also, the architect who made it possible to sit under a basketball hoop while renewing your baptismal covenants. Whoever it was influenced the religious experience of millions. (I’m not sure whether the influence is good or bad, but I think the influence is undeniable.)
March 5, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Smoot
Marriott
Christina Aguilera
March 5, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Researcher,
You are allowed to vote both early and often at this stage.
March 5, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Peter Cooper- http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/cooper.html
March 5, 2008 at 12:59 pm
George Romney
Marriner S. Eccles
Levi Peterson
Sterling McMurrin
And in the “Now I know I’m reaching….”
Lavell Edwards
Ernest Wilkinson
March 5, 2008 at 1:22 pm
John C.,
I think you’ve stumbled upon a fascinating book. Maybe you better close down the post so nobody steals your idea.
Deana, without Peter Cooper Mormons are reduced to funeral potatoes and dinner rolls (that they eat under a basketball hoop I would add). Perfect. I hope he receives at least a 16 seed.
March 5, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Gordon B. Hinckley, Gordon B. Hinckley, Gordon B. Hinckley. His name should appear in each of the four quadrants.
March 5, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Gordon B. Hinckley has to top the list at this point, unless Spencer W. Kimball does for the revelation lifting the Priesthood ban. As I said on the other thread, I think this list should exclude apostles and Presidents. They simply are too hard to dispute given the power they wielded.
Farnsworth, although his contribution would have been made by someone else
Sheri Dew
Ardith Kapp
Lavell Edwards isn’t reaching as much as it might seem
The question said “person” not “Mormon”, so I definitely would add Jan Shipps and C.S. Lewis. In that light, I also might add Mike Wallace and Larry King.
Not influential, but I’d like to see Katherine Heigl on any list.
March 5, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I second the nomination of Richard Bushman. However, it is likely that we won’t know the overall impact of RSR for another generation or so.
March 5, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Harvey Fletcher
March 5, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Zane Gray – His best-selling “Riders of the Purple Sage”, with its description of the evil Mormon Bishop kidnapping the virtuous heroine only to be killed by the hero Lassiter, had an enormous influence on anti-Mormon sentiment.
March 5, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Oh, wait, the question was influence on the 21st Century. Sorry, scratch #42.
March 5, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Brad Wilcox
*chagrin*
March 5, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Kurt Bestor (Temple film score, among other, less notable contributions)
March 5, 2008 at 2:27 pm
You know what I really like about this list? As someone who has just recently discovered the intellectual side of church dialogue and church history, these names are a good starting point for me to learn more about the Church.
Thanks!
March 5, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I hope I’m not reaching too much, but would Kim B. Clark be on that list? President over Harvard Business School, now president of BYU-Idaho? I had a chance to meet with him this morning.
But then I guess his influence would be 22nd century, since BYU-Idaho became a 4 year after 2000.
scratch that then
March 5, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Susan Easton Black!!!
Susan Easton Black!!!
Susan Easton Black!!!
Susan Easton Black!!!
Susan Easton Black!!!
Susan Easton Black!!!
Susan Easton Black!!!
Susan Easton Black!!!
Susan Easton Black!!!
Susan Easton Black!!!
Susan Easton Black!!!
Susan Easton Black!!!
March 5, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Bruce R. McConkie
March 5, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Might as well throw Lawrence Welk up there too, if you’re including these two (and assuming my grandmother’s tastes are representative).
And John Bytheway. As a teen, I seriously thought the guy was perpetually just minutes away from being translated.
March 5, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Joseph Smith III – died 10 Dec 1914
March 5, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Riffing on the Mike Wallace, Larry King, Lawrence Welk theme–I think this would be a very interesting separate category–Non-LDS Who Have Had (Seemingly Inexplicable?) Heavy Influence on LDS Culture, esp. Utah LDS Culture.
Mike Wallace
)
Larry King
Lawrence Welk
CS Lewis
Robert Welch Jr (founder of John Birch Society)
William Goldman (author and screenwriter of Princess Bride)
George Nissen (invented the trampoline
On a serious note, maybe some philosophers and religious thinkers who influenced early church and Joseph Smith. One could also include Enlightenment/Revolutionary War/Founding Fathers figures.
March 5, 2008 at 4:45 pm
I’m seconding Harvey Fletcher.
March 5, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Is that the same as Mundungus Fletcher?
March 5, 2008 at 4:57 pm
While I was doing gradwork, it wasn’t uncommon for a chemistry professor upon hearing that I was Mormon state, “Henry Eyring was genius.”
March 5, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Well, Henry Eyring was, in fact, a genius. Not sure exactly why he never got a Nobel nod, though I think he was nominated. I know I’ve heard many people say he deserved one. He was an incredibly prolific scientist, and amazingly creative. I can’t find the story online, so I’m hoping I’m not mixing him up with someone else, but I seem to recall in some of his early work he mixed two gases that were thought to be extremely explosive (hydrogen and florine, maybe?) and showed that, by the absence of an explosion (until the vessel was opened and atmospheric oxygen caused the two gases to react), a catalyst was required for the reaction. Definitive proof for the existence of activation energy for a reaction.
March 5, 2008 at 6:08 pm
“William Goldman (author and screenwriter of Princess Bride)”
Priceless.
How about George Lucas for giving us Spencer W. Yoda?
March 5, 2008 at 6:14 pm
A musing regarding “influential”: With the passing of Bruce R. McConkie I’ve noticed that general authorities spend much more time speaking of principles than doctrines. I don’t see this changing in the near future. I wonder if current G.A.’s can have the influence that the Talmadge’s, Robert’s, J. F. Smith’s, Widtsoe’s, and others have had. What, specifically, will be remembered 50 years from now about the teachings of current apostles and prophets?
March 5, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Having received my BS in chemistry in the Henry Eyring Building, and having had a class from his son, Ted (who made PChem enjoyable [now, if that isn't a paradox, I don't know what is]), the sentiment of several different faculty, members and non-, for why Dr. Eyring never did make the trip to Stockholm was that he was in Utah. Nobel Prizes are allegedly something of a lobbying effort. By moving to Salt Lake and building the U of U’s department, instead of a more prestigious institution, he damned himself.
By the way, did you know that the “double-dagger” symbol was meant to be an asterisk, but his secretary simply didn’t have an asterisk on her typewriter, and changed it to the “double-dagger?”
And Juanita Brooks still needs to be on this list.
March 5, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Although I think GB Hinckley will eventually win, alhough I think he fits more in the 21st century- or was a change agent INTO the 21st century.
So, for the 20th century I nominate
Jonathan M. Browning- LDS Gunmaker
W/o whose inventions, Eisenhower cited that we would not have won WWII.
March 5, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I’m working on my list and came back to see if people like Stephen Covey were fair game. I see he’s listed twice already…
March 5, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Blake Roney, who has made multilevel marketing seem legitimate.
March 5, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Some serious, some tongue in cheek, some just my favorites to mention…
Joseph F Smith
Heber J Grant
David O McKay
Joseph Fielding Smith
Harold B Lee
Spencer W Kimball
Ezra Taft Benson
Gordon B Hinckley
Martha Hughes Cannon
James Talmage
John A Widstoe
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
J Reuben Clark
Jake Garn
Orrin Hatch
Jon Huntsman Sr
Jon Huntsman Jr
David Kennedy
Michael Leavitt
J Willard Marriott
Harry Reid
George Romney
Mitt Romney
Reed Smoot
Don Bluth
Jared Hess
Kieth Merrill
Avard Fairbanks
Arnold Friberg
Calvin Grondahl
Robert Kirby
Greg Olsen
Del Parson
Walter Rane
Mark Hoffman
Dale Murphy
Jack Dempsey
Alan Ashton
Stephen R Covey
Jay Seegmiller
Rex Lee
Glenn Beck
Donny and Marie Osmond
Henry Eyring
Harvey Fletcher
Carol Lynn Pearson
Janice Kapp Perry
I could probably keep going, but I really do have other things going on…I’ll try to get back to some of the twentieth century women, but I can’t promise anything, maybe Ardis?
March 5, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Three entries on the music category:
Gladys Knight
Christina Aguilera
and Jewel, who is reputed to have said, “I used to say to people who drank to get rid of their problems, ‘That won’t work.’ Now I’ve lived a little bit, and I say, go for it.”
And finally, the primary instructors who gave Katherine Heigl and Amy Adams their first lessons in drama/performance.
March 6, 2008 at 2:19 am
Well, as far as worldwide influence in and of itself, Brother Evans is obviously right. No one has out-influenced Philo T.
But are we talking purely Mormon influence? I suppose it would be Spencer W, Bruce R. and Gordon B.
How about Marriott, for putting BoMs in all the hotel rooms?
March 6, 2008 at 7:24 am
Truman Madsen and Ann Madsen
James Talmage
Gordon Hinckley
Camille Fronk
John Widtsoe
SW Kimball and Camilla Kimball
David O. McKay
Terry Warner
Orson F. Whitney for his vision of Christ
March 6, 2008 at 9:25 am
Normally, I would denounce the following as a bad idea. But given the backstory of this tournament, I think it is worth proposing.
Consider categorizing your brackets as follows:
* The “Presidential” Bracket (12, including Snow and Monson, plus 4 other members of the first presidency who exerted president-like influence like Clark),
* The “Other GA” Bracket,
* The Non-GA Men’s Bracket, and
* The Women’s Bracket.
Different kinds of influence were exercised by members of each bracket, so those who place greater weight on one type of influence over another could get some satisfaction from seeing a winner in the relevant bracket instead of seeing all of their favorites eliminated in the first round.
March 6, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Again, I’ll say Douglas Stewart and Lex de Azevedo. Seriously. I’m betting just about all adult Mormons (at least on the Wasatch Front) owe they way they think about the pre-existence, marriage, and families to the theology of Saturday’s Warrior.
March 11, 2008 at 10:25 pm
How is it that nobody has nominated J. Golden Kimball yet?