President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

The President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is the church's supreme leader, the designated successor of Joseph Smith, Jr, and the head of the First Presidency, the church's highest governing body. Latter-day Saints consider him to be a "prophet, seer, and revelator", and refer to him particularly as "The Prophet", a title originally given to Joseph Smith.

Latter-day Saints consider the President to be God's "mouthpiece" both for the church and for other religions. He is thought to have supreme Priesthood authority, and the right to receive revelations. Modern Presidents, however, have not generally continued Joseph Smith's practice of regularly publishing written doctrinal revelations and visions.

Table of contents

1 Doctrine of infallibility 2 Succession of the Presidency 3 Presidents of the Church

Doctrine of infallibility

According to the Doctrine and Covenants, which contain most Church policies, the President is the only man who can receive revelation for the entire Church, change or clarify doctrine, and will never be allowed to lead the Saints astray. Church teachings state that God will "remove" any man who stands at the head of the Church who intends on leading the Church or its members astray. As such, his words when spoken as the President of the Church are infallible.

This distinction is important: when he speaks as the President of the Church, his words are infallible. Often the President will speak, but not as the President of the Church. At these times, the President may offer opinion and conjecture about non-spiritual topics which may or may not be correct. For example, one early church President opined there were people living on the moon. Though clear to most members of the Church that he was just expressing an uninspired opinion, critics of the Church have used this statement as proof of the fallibility of prophets, proving them uninspired.

Succession of the Presidency

When a President of the Church dies, the First Presidency is dissolved and the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is the senior Apostle, becomes the de facto president of the Church (as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is the leading body of the Church when the First Presidency is not operative) and will re-organize the First Presidency with new counselors as soon as possible.

Presidents of the Church

#	President	Life	Served	Length	Ordination
1	Joseph Smith, Jr	December 23 1805 – June 27 1844	1830–1844	14 years	April 6 1830
2	Brigham Young	June 1 1801 – August 29 1877	1847–1877	30 years	December 27 1847
3	John Taylor	November 1 1808 – July 25 1887	1877–1887	10 years	October 10 1880
4	Wilford Woodruff	March 1 1807 – September 2 1898	1889–1898	9 years	April 7 1889
5	Lorenzo Snow	April 3 1814 – October 10 1901	1898–1901	3 years	September 13 1898
6	Joseph F. Smith	November 13 1838 – November 19 1918	1901–1918	17 years	October 17 1901
7	Heber J. Grant	November 22 1856 – May 14 1945	1918–1945	27 years	November 23 1918
8	George Albert Smith	April 4 1870 – April 4 1951	1945–1951	6 years	May 21 1945
9	David O. McKay	September 8 1873 – January 18 1970	1951–1970	19 years	April 9 1951
10	Joseph Fielding Smith	July 19 1876 – July 2 1972	1970–1972	2 years	January 23 1970
11	Harold B. Lee	March 28 1899 – December 26 1973	1972–1973	1 year	July 7 1972
12	Spencer W. Kimball	March 28 1895 – November 5 1985	1973–1985	12 years	December 30 1973
13	Ezra Taft Benson	August 4 1899 – May 30 1994	1985–1994	8 years	November 10 1985
14	Howard W. Hunter	November 14 1907 – March 3 1995	1994–1995	9 months	June 5 1994
15	Gordon B. Hinckley	born June 23 1910	1995–present	presently serving	March 12 1995

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