User:Klarsen/work in process/Carnegie Hall

References and Source Text

From City Saints; p.32 As the First World War ravaged Europe, there were many anti-Mormon activists attacking the Church. Perhaps the most notorious was former Senator Frank J. Cannon, a disenchanted member of the Church and the son of George Q. Cannon (a member of the Church’s First Presidency).

In April 1914, Frank Cannon chose New York City to launch a national crusade against the Mormons. In a ticket-only rally held at Carnegie Hall, roughly 1,000 people met to hear his strategy to curb growth of the Mormon Church. Nationally, Cannon demanded that President Woodrow Wilson not appoint Mormons to political office. He also asked Congress to amend the Constitution to prohibit polygamy; denounced the president of the Mormon Church, Joseph F. Smith, as a polygamist; and accused the Church of befriending 22 senators in order to gain political clout.

Locally, Cannon demanded a New York City law banning Mormon missionaries from holding street meetings, and barring the Church from ever owning a chapel on city grounds.

After two hours Cannon put his measures up for a theatrical vote that was overwhelmingly in favor of his demands. Immediately afterward, a small group of Mormon men rushed the stage, including Walter P. Monson, President of the Eastern States Mission, calling Cannon a “liar” and an “ingrate.” The New York Times reported, “for a time it appeared likely that blows would be struck, and that Frank J. Cannon of Utah, formerly U.S. Senator and once a Mormon, would get the brunt of the attack. Women and clergymen crowded about the Senator and shielded him while he shouted stinging rebukes to his attackers.”

Cannon returned to New York eight months later with news that “the Mormon Church is prepared to build a tabernacle in this city . . . The Mormons are all ready to make a determined effort here, and Mormonism will be exerting its political influence in New York before you know it.”

Sources to Review

Cannon, Frank J. "Under the Prophet in Utah"

Garr, Arnold K., "Answering the Anti-Mormon Magazine Crusade" in Theodore Roosevelt and the Latter-day Saints, in Out of Obscurity: The LDS Church in the Twentieth Century - The 29th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2000) pp 134-137.

Larsen, Kent S., The Life of Thomas Kearns (New York: Latter-day Renaissance, 2005).

NO MORMON "INVASION." by WALTER P. MONSON.; New York Times (1857-Current file); Dec 20, 1914; pg. C2, 1

MORMONS TO BUILD TABERNACLE HERE New York Times (1857-Current file); Dec 14, 1914; pg. 1, 1

MORMONS BREAK UP ENEMIES' MEETING New York Times (1857-Current file); Apr 24, 1914; pg. 14, 1