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Video transcript:
Dallin H Oaks is the new president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As I’ve been thinking about what the future of the Church might look like under his leadership, I realized that I really didn’t know much about Dallin H Oaks at all. I’ve been trying to remedy that, and as I’ve been learning more, I’ve picked up a few things along the way that I think you’re going to want to know about.
Number 10: President Oaks’ reaction to the end of the priesthood ban. The priesthood ban ended in 1978, back when President Oaks was the president of BYU. In 2007, he was interviewed for a PBS documentary, and he talked about his reaction to the ban being lifted. That segment of the interview didn’t make it into the final documentary, but the Church published a transcript of it, and it’s really insightful. He said,
“I can’t remember any time in my life when I felt greater joy and relief than when I learned that the priesthood was going to be available to all worthy males, whatever their ancestry. I had been troubled by this subject throughout college and my graduate school … I had many black acquaintances when I lived in Chicago, the years ’54 through ’71. I had many times that my heart ached for that, and it ached for my Church, which I knew to be true, and yet blessings of that Church were not available to a significant segment of our Heavenly Father’s children. And I didn’t understand why; I couldn’t identify with any of the explanations that were given. Yet I sustained the action; I was confident that in the time of the Lord I would know more about it, so I went along on faith. Nobody was more relieved or more pleased when the word came.”
Number 9: A friend of Mister Rogers is a friend of mine! That’s going to make more sense here in a minute. As you probably already know, President Oaks worked for decades as a law clerk, lawyer, teacher, president of BYU, and a Utah Supreme Court judge. Early on, he actually thought about getting into medicine until he dissected a frog and a cow eye. Needless to say, Dallin H. Oaks worked extremely hard and became a big name in the world of law. He was offered a position as a law professor at the University of Chicago with indefinite tenure when he was literally 32 years old. That’s younger than me. He was even considered for the United States Supreme Court.
But he had his thumb in a lot of different pies. You probably didn’t know that for a number of years, he was also the chairman of the board of directors for PBS. On one occasion, Mister Rogers, yes, the Mister Rogers, wrote him a note saying, “My sense is that you are a man inspired of God, and I just needed to thank you—before I left this morning—for all the care which you obviously devote to PBS.” You guys, I’m not going to lie, I trust Mr. Rogers implicitly, and not that I needed more reasons to sustain him, but the fact that Mister Rogers gave him his stamp of approval carries a lot of weight for me.
Number 8: He’s actually funny. Dallin once told a former law clerk, “The Lord made many heads and those less beautiful he covered with hair.” President Oaks is not as serious as he sometimes seems. His biographer, Richard Turley, wrote, “Because of how seriously President Oaks takes his calling, he often appears in public to be stern—a point on which family members rib him frequently. In private, he is warm, jovial, caring, and kind, with a winning smile.” ‘ His son, Lloyd, said that “In small groups, he is engaging and funny and has an amazing sense of humor. You don’t get to see that from the pulpit when he is talking about weighty things.” His other son, Dallin Jr., agreed.
Number 7: He’s not afraid to disagree with authority figures. Dallin H. Oaks values others’ opinions and feedback, and while he’s willing to change his opinions, he’s also willing to stand his ground. When he worked for Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, he “agreed with the Chief Justice 59 percent of the time on the votes he cast….” despite his deep admiration for him.
When President Harold B. Lee asked him to lead BYU in 1971, Oaks replied, “I didn’t know whether I could go along with the short hair and no-beard regulations.” In his inaugural address, he supported the standards but noted they were set by the Board of Trustees—not the president—and added, “I would not be surprised if [the rules] were not changed at some point in the future.”
As an apostle, he opposed Elder Henry B. Eyring twice in quorum discussions. “After the discussion, the quorum voted in favor of Elder Eyring’s position. Both times, [Eyring] recalled, Elder Oaks approached him afterward and gently said, ‘Thank you very much. You helped me see it.’”
Number 6: He is intentional about pairing law with love. President Oaks is known for boldly and sometimes bluntly defending traditional marriage and family values. Taking a firm position on any social issue these days risks deeply offending people, and President Oak’s remarks have been no exception. But in his biography, there’s a quote that stood out to me — I’m assuming it comes from his journal. Dallin wrote, “I tried never to speak of this subject without speaking of love as well as law.” I wanted to test that claim out, so I went through five different talks he gave about the family, and every time he brought up LGBTQ issues, he also emphasized our responsibility to love others and treat members of that community with respect, even if we disagree. Take it for what it’s worth.
Number 5: Dallin H. Oaks is a classical feminist. His father died when he was a boy, and he was largely raised by his educated and extremely capable mother. As President of BYU, he insisted on “equal treatment for women faculty and students.” Deseret News reported that “Pres. Oaks told faculty to ‘shape up’ if any still treat qualified scholars with disdain or ignore their counsel or accomplishments because they are women.” Professor Marilyn Arnold said that President Oaks “Saw women as capable as men. He was very, very open that way, and very, very supportive.”
In 1982, Christine Durham was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court as Utah’s first-ever female Supreme Court justice. She was later one of the founding members of the National Association of Women Judges. She said that “Dallin was the only one of my colleagues who joined NAWJ to be supportive of me, and I thought that was remarkable.” In 2014, it was Dallin H Oaks who taught in general conference that, “We are not accustomed to speaking of women having the authority of the priesthood in their Church callings, but what other authority can it be? … Whoever functions in an office or calling received from one who holds priesthood keys exercises priesthood authority in performing her or his assigned duties.” He has a long history of going to bat for women.
Number 4: He is willing to be patient with both science and religion. So on one occasion, Dallin received a letter from a man who was struggling with reconciling scientific claims with religious claims. In his response, he said something really interesting: “Because our knowledge of the truths of the gospel is still evolving with continuing revelation, and because the ‘truths’ of science are also very dynamic, I am skeptical about bringing them together at present, though I know that they will each be gloriously consistent when all truths are known.” Notice that he doesn’t just say “Science will catch up with religion one day.” He says, “Under understanding of both religious and scientific truth is evolving, and one day we’ll see how all of the pieces fit together.” I love that.
Number 3: He has had two successful marriages. Dallin and June Oaks were married in 1952 when they were both just 19 years old. They had six children together. She was a force of nature. A mama bear. Their daughter, Cheri, said that “Mom was not an ‘Anything you say, Dear’ type wife.” Dallin and June both had strong, dominant personalities and were a great match. They weren’t very publicly affectionate — June would joke that she wouldn’t even hold hands with Dallin in public because, quote, “Someone might think I liked you.” But at home, they were more open. Their daughter, Sharmon, remembered “bursting into the kitchen and catching them kissing. There was no lack of affection in hugs and kisses in our family.” Tragically, June was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1997 and passed away the next year.
After a year of mourning, Elder M. Russell Ballard set Elder Oaks up on a date with a relative of his, Kristen McMain. They hit it off and eventually got married. She’s extremely capable and well educated. She served a mission in Japan when she was younger. There’s so much I want to say about these women, but for the sake of time, I’ll just say that they sound like super awesome people.
Number 2: He believes the Book of Mormon is historical. This sounds like a no-brainer, but I wanted to include it for the following reason: Back in 2021, President Nelson taught that the Book of Mormon is not meant to be a history textbook. That statement caused a bit of controversy — some critics twisted his meaning and went off about how the Church is moving away from a historical Book of Mormon. That’s not what he was doing, but in any case, in the 90s, BYU published a book called Historicity and the Latter-day Saint Scriptures. It includes an essay titled, The Historicity of the Book of Mormon, written by, you guessed it, Elder Dallin H. Oaks. It was republished in 2012 in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. The whole article counters the idea that some people advance, that the Book of Mormon is “nothing more than a pious fiction with some valuable contents.” Other examples could be given. Point being: In case anyone is wondering, our new president is not going to pull a 180 on the Book of Mormon. Both he and the Church are going to continue to assert that it is what Joseph Smith claimed it was.
Number 1: He had mixed feelings about being called as a general authority. Dallin H Oaks had a ton of professional experience before being called to the Quorum of the Twelve, and while he often worked with Church leaders, he didn’t have as much ecclesiastical experience as you might expect. He didn’t serve a full-time mission. He was never a bishop. He was never a stake president. He was a regional representative for a while, but at the time he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve, he was a Gospel Doctrine teacher. Being called as an apostle rocked his world. He wrote that the night he got the call, “I prayed. I tossed and turned. I had chills, especially my feet, which I couldn’t get warm. I got up twice and made notes, things to do. I prayed again. And again … I found myself wondering if I was hallucinating, if this was really happening.” Before he was called to the Twelve, he was considered as a candidate for the United States Supreme Court. He would tell people, “That job is like being called to be a General Authority. Only a fool would aspire to it, but no one would turn it down.”
And now he’s the president of the Church. I’m glad he didn’t aspire to it, but grateful he accepted the call, and for his decades of devoted service. I believe he’s here for a reason, and I’m looking forward to whatever happens next. We’ve got another episode coming out soon about President Oaks that I think you’re going to love. I will put it right here when it’s out. In the meantime, I’m going to put something else here that I think will pique your interest. Check it out. I’ll see you there.