E56: Make Nauvoo Great Again

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:05)
Kanye, Joe Exotic, Dr. Spock, Roseanne Barr, Joe Walsh, Vermin Love Supreme, and Joseph Smith.
What do they all have in common? Why, they were all presidential candidates, of course. I vote for Joe Walsh. He gets his talk and guitar out there, absolutely. And in fairness to Brother Joseph, his campaign was actually more serious than most of those other ones. Long before that white horse corporal himself, Willard Mitt Romney, we had a Mormon running for the Oval Office. But why, did he really think he was going to get elected?
Those are fine questions, friends. Pull up a chair.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:41)
Sure. Hey.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:52)
Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:54)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:55)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the Everlasting Hills, straight out of Zion, this isn't your grandpa's Mormon history.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:23)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners from our roots until present day.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:28)
Scourge your loins, lock your hearts, and pay your tithing, because we're bringing you the story of Mormonism in all its paradisiacal glory.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:36)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:00)
1844 in Nauvoo was a little, busy? Sure, busy, we'll go with that. Joseph Smith had about nine million things cooking, and most of them weren't going so well.
The polygamy pot was boiling over, the apostate onions refused to caramelize, that kind of thing. Why, in the middle of all of this, would he decide it was time to run for president? Well, this certainly wasn't the first time Joseph had tried a little, I don't know, escapism? In Kirtland, when the world was basically burning down around him, he told the apostles it was time for a mission to jolly old England.
During Missouri, he decided it was time to write a new history of Mormonism. Great idea. So yeah, he was using what we'll call a little pivot, but a presidential campaign.
How did he get to a point where he would consider such a thing?

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:52)
Like a lot of where did this come from questions, this one requires us to rewind back to Missouri.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:57)
Damn Missouri.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:59)
The Internet would lead you to believe that transportation equipment is Missouri's primary export, but we all know that it's really Mormon trauma.
The chaos of the end of Missouri lives on in the Mormon psyche until the moment that these words are leaving my mouth. Why are LDS Mormons so insistent on religious freedom? Missouri. Why did Joseph Smith run for president? Missouri again. After Lilburn Boggs shows Mormonism...

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:21)
Boo-hiss, boo-hiss.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:22)
Yeah, it's boo-hiss, Mr. Boggs. He shows Mormons the door, they lose all their property, they begin a lengthy process to try and get redress. And that's one of those weird words that Mormons are just good at, like polyandry and proselytizing.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:34)
And pying the type.
The first chapter of the redress saga was the trip to Washington, DC in late 1839 And you remember, we talked about this a little bit earlier. Since Missouri courts were 0% in doing anything for the Mormons, Joseph, just a few months after escaping from jail, took Elias Higbee and their congressman, John Reynolds, on a complaining trip to the Capitol.
Because it is 1839, they just wander in and meet with the president. Can you even imagine? So crazy. This is where you made the Trump joke that made the lady man, wasn't it?

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:05)
Made a few Trump jokes. Sorry, lady.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:08)
Sorry, lady. Martin Van Buren was not really that popular of a president at the time, or now, unless, like Bryan, you love Seinfeld.
Then he plays a little bit better. But Joseph Smith-

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:20)
The Van Buren boys.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:22)
Joseph Smith writes back to Hiram and tells him that Van Buren is just a little fat guy. It seems like Joseph Smith really thought he could just waltz in, explain the situation and get the president on their side.
He's a Democrat. Congress is in Democratic hands. Boom. Make it happen, Van Buren.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:40)
Of course, Mormons already know how this ends. Van Buren, as everyone knows, he's our eighth president. Hold your thumbs down.
Tells them, quote, gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you. If you can't recite that line, you're not a Mormon.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:55)
That's right.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:55)
If there's a secret spy that comes in, they're like, gentlemen, your cause is just.