The combined administrations of President Joseph Fielding Smith and President Harold B. Lee lasted less than half a decade.

The decade of the 1970s had barely begun when, on Jan. 23, 1970, President Smith was sustained as the 10th president of the Church, succeeding President David O. McKay, who had served nearly 20 years as prophet.President Smith served just a little more than 21/2 years, the shortest time of any Church president up to then. On July 2, 1971, he died at age 95.

His successor, however, had an even shorter administration. Upon President Smith's death, the mantle of the prophet passed to President Harold B. Lee, who was Church president until his death Dec. 26, 1973, just a little more than a year and a half. President Lee was 74 at the time of his death.

Long before either was sustained as president of the Church, each had devoted his life to serving the Lord and his fellowmen. They shared a compassionate concern for others.

One incident in President Smith's life reflected his love for others. When a son turned a poor peddler away from the Smith home without buying anything, the future Church president chastised the boy, gave him a dollar and told him to buy something from the peddler, whether they needed it or not. He further instructed family members never to "turn anyone away that was in need." (Church News, July 8, 1972.)

Elder Bruce R. McConkie, President Smith's son-in-law and a member of the Council of the Twelve, wrote in March 1970, "No one knows the hungry he has fed, the naked he has clothed, the missionaries he has supported, nor the sick he has healed."

President Lee became sensitive to the plight of others as he observed his father, a bishop, using his own stored goods to take to the needy of the ward. At age 31, Harold B. Lee became a stake president. It was 1930, a year the nation and the world were plunged into the worst-ever economic depression.

"The young stake president worried about his people," stated a Dec. 29, 1973, Church News article. "The majority of the men were out of work. Families were hungry.

"Then came inspiration. A storehouse was established, and food and commodities were gathered, and they could be dispersed to the needy. Work projects were made up, so a man could keep his pride and not take charity."

In 1936, President Heber J. Grant coordinated all the stakes engaged in similar projects and called it the Church Security Program, the forerunner to today's Church Welfare Services.

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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

Articles on this page may be used in conjunction with the gospel doctrine course of study.

Information compiled by Gerry Avant

Sources: Joseph Fielding Smith - A Prophet Among the People, by J M. Heslop and Dell Van Orden; Church News: Jan. 31, 1970; July 8 and July 15, 1972; and Dec. 29, 1973.