The Salt Lake Tribune
takes a look at the early days of the Republican Party, when the
founders of the fledgling anti-slavery party “saw Mormons as their
enemies,” and how that evolved into the modern trend of Mormons
overwhelmingly supporting Republicans.
“The GOP’s first party platform
in 1856 took direct aim at polygamy, placing it in the same sinister
frame as slavery in the hope of cultivating the votes of Christians wary
of the spread of these dual threats to the republic… Later on,
Republicans used their congressional power to wipe away any secular
power Mormon leaders had in the Utah Territory and were the main backers
of a law that disincorporated The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints… Republicans over the next several decades targeted the LDS
Church over polygamy and suspicions that Mormons were attempting to form
their own sovereign country in the Mountain West.”
“The GOP’s
take on social issues, such as abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment and
gay marriage, drew Mormons into the conservative fold beginning in the
1970s. Church apostle Ezra Taft Benson, who supported the right-wing
John Birch Society and served as Agriculture secretary under President
Dwight Eisenhower, helped further push his fellow Mormons into the
conservative camp. A report by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
in January showed that about 74 percent of Mormons lean toward the
Republican Party.”
Save to Favorites