{{short description|American Mormon historian}} '''Richard Douglas Poll''' (April 23, 1918 – April 27, 1994) was an American historian, academic, author and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). His liberal religiosity influenced his notable metaphor about "Iron Rod" vs. "Liahona" LDS Church members.<ref name=preface>{{cite book | author=Poll, Richard D. | chapter=Editor's Preface | title=Working the Divine Miracle: The Life of Apostle Henry D. Moyle | editor=Larson, Stan | publisher=Signature Books | year=1999 | location=Salt Lake City, Utah | isbn=1-56085-129-5 | url=http://www.signaturebooks.com/excerpts/working.htm#preface | accessdate=2008-11-24}}</ref>
==Biography== Poll was born in Salt Lake City, where he lived until moving to Fort Worth, Texas at age 10. He published his first article at age 13 in ''Liahona, the Elders' Journal'', a missionary magazine published by the LDS Church.<ref name=preface/> From 1939 to 1941 he served as an LDS missionary, first in Germany until World War II began, and then in Canada. From 1942 to 1945, Poll served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Force without seeing the front.<ref name=papers>{{cite web | title=Biography | work=The Richard Douglas Poll Papers | publisher=University of Utah Marriott Library Special Collections | url=http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv76965 | accessdate=2017-02-15}}</ref> He married Emogene (Gene) Hill in 1943 in the Salt Lake Temple, and they remained married until their deaths in 1994 in Provo, Utah.<ref name=preface/><ref>{{cite news | title=Deaths | date=May 2, 1994 | work=Deseret News | pages=B4 | location=Salt Lake City, Utah}}</ref>
Throughout his life, Poll was active in the LDS Church<ref name=intro>{{cite book |author= Poll, Richard D. |chapter= Introduction |title= History & Faith: Reflections of a Mormon Historian |year= 1989 |publisher= Signature Books |location= Salt Lake City, Utah |url= http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/history/introduction.htm |accessdate= 2008-11-24}}</ref> and served in various positions, such as stake high councilor.<ref name=whatthechurch>{{cite journal | author=Poll, Richard D. | title=What the Church Means to People Like Me | journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought | date=Winter 1967 | volume=4 | issue=2 | pages=107–117 | doi=10.2307/45223949 | jstor=45223949 | url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,2813 | accessdate=2008-11-24| doi-access=free }}</ref>
===Academics=== In Fort Worth, Poll studied at Texas Christian University (TCU), completing a bachelor's degree in history in 1938. He also received a master's degree from TCU in 1939,<ref name=preface/> writing his thesis on the U.S. campaign against Mormon polygamy.<ref>{{cite book | author=Walker, Ronald W. | authorlink=Ronald W. Walker |author2=James B. Allen |author3=David J. Whittaker | title=Mormon History | publisher=University of Illinois Press | location=Urbana, Illinois | year=2001 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-iSVA0KRs4MC&pg=PA55 | accessdate=2008-11-24 | isbn=978-0-252-02619-5}}</ref> Poll later received a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley in 1948.<ref name=preface/>
From 1948 to 1970 Poll was a history professor at Brigham Young University (BYU). In 1955, he became chair of the department of history.<ref name=preface/> He was the charter president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) at BYU in 1959. In 1962, Poll became associate director of the BYU Honors Program, and was named Honors Professor of the Year at BYU in 1969. From 1958 to 1965, he had also occasionally taught at the University of Maryland, College Park, European Division.<ref name=papers/> At BYU, Poll clashed with BYU administration and some church leadership over his AAUP involvement, their anti-communism, and the role of organic evolution. After uncertainty over whether his BYU contract would be renewed, Poll resigned to take a position as vice president of Western Illinois University (WIU) in 1969.<ref name=BYUhouse5>{{cite book |last1= Bergera |first1= Gary James |last2= Priddis |first2= Ronald |year= 1985 |chapter= Chapter 5: Partisan Politics & the University |chapter-url= http://signaturebookslibrary.org/?p=13929 |title= Brigham Young University: A House of Faith |place= Salt Lake City |publisher= Signature Books |isbn= 0-941214-34-6 |oclc= 12963965 }}</ref> He remained in that role until 1975, though he continued teaching history at WIU until 1983. In his retirement, Poll taught occasional classes at BYU from 1983 until his death in 1994.<ref name=papers/>
From 1978 to 1993, Poll and his wife taught reading and writing skills in adult education classes offered by the LDS Church.<ref name=papers/>
=="Iron Rod" and "Liahona" metaphor== Poll wrote on various topics in Latter-day Saint history and thought. His religious approach was influenced by his studies at TCU, where he examined and rejected creationism, scriptural literalism, and prophetic infallibility. He remembered one professor saying "the purpose of religion is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."<ref name=preface/> In 1963,<ref name=papers/> Poll prepared a paper called "What the Church Means to People Like Me", which he delivered in the Palo Alto Ward sacrament meeting in August 1967 and published in ''Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought''.<ref name=whatthechurch/>
The paper drew upon Book of Mormon imagery. In Lehi and Nephi's vision, people held onto an "iron rod" that followed a single path to salvation. In another story, a mysterious instrument, called the "Liahona", pointed righteous travelers toward their destination. Poll's paper set up a dichotomy between church members who see the gospel as clear and exact, or "hold to the Iron Rod", and those who follow the guidance of the church as a compass to lead their lives. He explained:
<blockquote>The Iron Rod Saint does not look for questions but for answers, and in the gospel he finds or is confident that he can find the answer to every important question. The Liahona Saint, on the other hand, is preoccupied with questions and skeptical of answers; he finds in the gospel answers to enough important questions so that he can function purposefully without answers to the rest.<ref name=papers/></blockquote>
The subject caught the attention of LDS intellectuals and leaders, becoming a poignant metaphor in cultural discourse.<ref name=papers/> It would become Poll's best known article,<ref name=papers/> and was republished several other times.<ref name=preface/>
In a 1971 General Conference address, church apostle Harold B. Lee alluded to and denounced Poll's ideas, saying:
<blockquote>If there is any one thing most needed in this time of tumult and frustration, ... it is an "iron rod" as a safe guide along the straight path on the way to eternal life, ... There are many who profess to be religious and speak of themselves as Christians, and, according to one such, "as accepting the scriptures only as sources of inspiration and moral truth," and then ask in their smugness: "Do the revelations of God give us a handrail to the kingdom of God, as the Lord's messenger told Lehi, or merely a compass?"... Wouldn't it be a great thing if all who are well schooled in secular learning could hold fast to the "iron rod," or the word of God, ... ?<ref name=lee>{{cite journal | author=Lee, Harold B. | authorlink=Harold B. Lee | title=The Iron Rod | journal=Ensign | date=June 1971 | pages=5 | volume=1 | issue=6 | location=Salt Lake City, Utah | publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1971/06/the-iron-rod?lang=eng | accessdate=2008-11-24}}</ref></blockquote>
Lee also quoted the phrase, "A liberal in the Church is merely one who does not have a testimony." Lee then quoted John A. Widtsoe's definition of "a liberal in the church" as one who has broken with the fundamental principles, does not believe in its basic concepts, and sets out to reform it by changing its foundations.<ref name=lee/> Lee's reference broke with the context of Widtsoe's talk, however, which was not a rhetorical attack on liberals, but rather the misuse of the term liberal to mean those who reject religious faith due to a perceived unwillingness within the religious community to embrace change and progress. In the Widtsoe talk, which Lee had quoted out of context, Widtsoe had said:
<blockquote>The word liberal, correctly used, has a noble meaning. The true liberal… is tolerant, free from bigotry, and generous in all his deeds. He places truth above all else and hungers for full truth. He welcomes all new improvements and calls for more… He insists that every new invention must be used for human welfare, with full respect to civil and moral law. In short, the liberal seeks to make better the day in which he lives, and he becomes therefore a crusader for the betterment of the human race… His liberalism lies in his constant attempt to make the underlying unchanging principles of the cause he represents serve the changing conditions of the day. He may differ with the superficial conventions of the past, but not with its established truths. He may refuse to continue the church architecture of the past, but will insist that the ancient truths of the Gospel be taught... forever seeking, under changing conditions, to make the doctrine of human brotherhood more effective in behalf of the needy... the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is pre-eminently liberal… It declares that men "live and move and have their being" under the law of progress. Change steps upon the heels of change in the unfolding of a progressive universe. The simple eternal truths of existence are combined and combined again, in different ways, but progressively, to serve man on his never-ending journey… Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not need to look elsewhere for a liberal Church.<ref name=widtsoe>{{cite journal | author=Widtsoe, John A. | authorlink=John A. Widtsoe | title=What is Liberal Religion? | journal=Millennial Star | date=November 1941 | volume=103 | issue=46 | location=Salt Lake City, Utah | publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | url=https://archive.org/stream/millennialstar10346eng/millennialstar10346eng_djvu.txt | accessdate=2019-05-20}}</ref></blockquote>
Poll and his wife considered themselves "Liahona" Mormons.<ref name=papers/>
==Honors== *1939 Wilber Kidd Fellowship at Texas Christian University<ref name=papers/> *1948 Willard D. Thompson Fellowship at University of California, Berkeley<ref name=papers/> *1969 BYU Honors Professor of the Year<ref name=papers/> *1970 President of the Mormon History Association.<ref>{{cite web|title=Past MHA Presidents |publisher=Mormon History Association |url=http://www.mhahome.org/about/past_presidents.php |accessdate=2008-11-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213160038/http://www.mhahome.org/about/past_presidents.php |archivedate=February 13, 2012 }}</ref> *1979 Presidential Merit Award for quality and accuracy in historical work<ref name=papers/> *1985 Secretary/Treasurer of the BYU Academy Foundation<ref name=papers/> *1994 Personal Essay award from the Association for Mormon Letters for "A Liahona Latter-day Saint"
==Writings==
===Books===
*{{cite book | author = Campbell, Eugene E. | authorlink = Eugene E. Campbell |author2=Richard D. Poll | title = Hugh B. Brown, His Life and Thought | publisher = Bookcraft | location = Salt Lake City | year = 1975 | isbn = 0-88494-293-7 }} *{{cite book | editor1-last = Poll | editor1-first = Richard D. | editor2-last = Miller | editor2-first = David E. | editor3-last = Campbell | editor3-first = Eugene E. | editor3-link = Eugene E. Campbell | editor4-last = Alexander | editor4-first = Thomas G. | editor4-link = Thomas G. Alexander | title = Utah's History | publisher = Brigham Young University Press | location = Provo, Utah | year = 1978 | isbn = 0-8425-0842-2 }} *{{cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = Howard J. Stoddard, Founder, Michigan National Bank | publisher = Michigan State University Press | location = East Lansing | year = 1980 | isbn = 0-87013-220-2 }} *{{cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = Henry D. Moyle, Man of Action | series = Unpublished manuscript in the BYU Harold B. Lee Library | publisher = s.n. | year = 1983 }} *{{cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = The Honors Program at Brigham Young University, 1960-1985 | publisher = Brigham Young University Honors Program | location = Provo, Utah | year = 1985 }} *{{cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = History and Faith: Reflections of a Mormon Historian | year = 1989 | publisher = Signature Books | location = Salt Lake City | isbn = 0-941214-75-3 | url = http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/history/cover.htm }} *{{cite book |editor-last=Poll |editor-first=Richard D. |editor-mask=2 | editor2-last = Miller | editor2-first = David E. | editor3-last = Campbell | editor3-first = Eugene E. | editor3-link = Eugene E. Campbell | editor4-last = Alexander | editor4-first = Thomas G. | editor4-link = Thomas G. Alexander | title = Utah's History | publisher = Utah State University Press | location = Logan | year = 1989 | isbn = 0-87421-142-5 }} *{{cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | editor = Stan Larson | title = Working the Divine Miracle: The Life of Apostle Henry D. Moyle | publisher = Signature Books | location = Salt Lake City | year = 1999 | isbn = 1-56085-129-5 }}
===Articles===
*{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. | title = The Mormon Question Enters National Politics, 1850-1856 | journal = Utah Historical Quarterly | volume = 25 | date = April 1957 |issue=2 | pages = 117–31 |doi=10.2307/45057893 |jstor=45057893 |s2cid=254441793 | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/USHSArchPub,5756 |url-access=subscription }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = The Political Reconstruction of Utah Territory, 1866-1890 | journal = Pacific Historical Review | volume = 27 | date = May 1958 |issue=2 | pages = 111–26 | doi=10.2307/3636068 |jstor=3636068 }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 |author2=Hansen, Ralph W. | title = Buchanan's Blunder: The Utah War, 1857-1858 | journal = Military Affairs | volume = 25 | issue = 3 | date = Fall 1961 | pages = 121–31 | doi=10.2307/1983459 |jstor=1983459 }} *{{Cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = A Short History of Communism in Russia | year = 1963 | publisher = Brigham Young University, Adult Education and Extension Services | location = Provo, Utah }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = A State is Born | journal = Utah Historical Quarterly | volume = 32 | issue = 1 | date = Winter 1964 | pages = 9–31 |doi=10.2307/45058388 |jstor=45058388 |s2cid=254429148 | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/USHSArchPub,7888 | url-access= subscription }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = What the Church Means to People Like Me | journal = Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought | volume = 2 | issue = 4 | date = Winter 1967 | pages = 107–17 |doi=10.2307/45223949 |jstor=45223949 | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,2813 | doi-access= free }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = Joseph Smith and the Presidency, 1844 | journal = Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought | volume = 3 | issue = 3 | date = Autumn 1968 | pages = 17–21 |doi=10.2307/45224011 |jstor=45224011 |s2cid=254398463 | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,860 | doi-access= free }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = God and Man in History | journal = Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | date = Spring 1972 | pages = 101–109 |doi=10.2307/45224277 |jstor=45224277 |s2cid=254398180 | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,4992 | url-access= subscription }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = Apostle Extraordinary—Hugh B. Brown (1883-1975) | journal = Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought | volume = 10 | issue = 1 | date = 1975–1976 | pages = 68–71 |doi=10.2307/45224555 |jstor=45224555 |s2cid=254393806 | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,7024 | doi-access= free }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = The Americanism of Utah | journal = Utah Historical Quarterly | volume = 44 | issue = 1 | date = Winter 1976 | pages = 76–93 |doi=10.2307/45059676 |jstor=45059676 |s2cid=254439338 | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/USHSArchPub,7175 | url-access= subscription }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = Nauvoo and the New Mormon History: A Bibliographical Survey | journal = Journal of Mormon History | volume = 5 | year = 1978 | pages = 105–23 | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/jmh,10220 }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = Liahona and Iron Rod Revisited | journal = Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought | volume = 16 | issue = 2 | date = Summer 1983 | pages = 67–78 |doi=10.2307/45228236 |jstor=45228236 |s2cid=254391037 | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,14558 | doi-access= free | url-access= subscription }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = The Legislative Antipolygamy Campaign | journal = BYU Studies | volume = 26 | issue = 4 | date = Fall 1986 | pages = 107–21 | url = http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/byustudies,979 }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = The Swearing Elders: Some Reflections | journal = Sunstone | volume = 10 | issue = 9 | date = December 1985 | pages = 14–17 | url = http://www.sunstonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/053-14-17.pdf }} *{{cite book |last = Poll |first = Richard D. |author-mask = 2 |chapter = Utah and the Mormons: A Symbiotic Relationship |title = New Views of Mormon History |editor = Davis Bitton, Maureen Ursenbach Beecher |pages = [https://archive.org/details/newviewsofmormon00arri/page/323 323–41] |year = 1987 |publisher = University of Utah Press |location = Salt Lake City |isbn = 0-87480-304-7 |chapter-url-access = registration |chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/newviewsofmormon00arri/page/323 }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = Dealing with Dissonance: Myths, Documents, and Faith | journal = Sunstone | date = May 1988 | volume = 12 | issue = 3 | pages = 17–21 | url = http://www.sunstonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/065-17-21.pdf }} *{{cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | chapter = The British Mission During the Utah War, 1857-58 | title = Mormons in Early Victorian Britain | editor = Richard L. Jensen, Malcolm R. Thorp | series = Publications in Mormon Studies | volume = 4 | year = 1989 | publisher = University of Utah Press | location = Salt Lake City | pages = 224–42 | isbn = 0-87480-322-5 }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = The Move South | journal = BYU Studies | volume = 29 | issue = 4 | date = Fall 1989 | pages = 65–88 | url = http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/byustudies,1309 }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = Truth, Facts, and Personal Anecdotes | journal = Sunstone | volume = 15 | issue = 3 | date = September 1991 | pages = 54–55 | url = http://www.sunstonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/083-35-57.pdf }} *{{cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | chapter = Utah Expedition | title = Encyclopedia of Mormonism | editor = Daniel H. Ludlow | publisher = Macmillan | location = New York | year = 1992 | volume = 4 | pages = 1500–02 | chapter-url = http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Utah_Expedition }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = Thomas L. Kane and the Utah War | journal = Utah Historical Quarterly | volume = 61 | issue = 2 | date = Spring 1993 | pages = 112–35 |doi=10.2307/45062098 |jstor=45062098 |s2cid=254438793 | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/USHSArchPub,6939 | url-access= subscription }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = Dialogue Toward Forgiveness | journal = Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought | volume = 26 | issue = 1 | date = Spring 1993 | pages = 67–75 |doi=10.2307/45228622 |jstor=45228622 |s2cid=254343652 | url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,22724 | doi-access= free }} *{{cite journal |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = A Liahona Latter-day Saint | journal = Sunstone | volume = 17 | issue = 2 | date = September 1994 | pages = 35–38 | url = http://www.sunstonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/096-35-38.pdf }} *{{cite journal |last = Poll |first = Richard D. |author-mask = 2 |author2 = MacKinnon, William P. |title = Causes of the Utah War Reconsidered |journal = Journal of Mormon History |volume = 20 |issue = 2 |date = Fall 1994 |pages = 16–44 |url = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/jmh,14076 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120515211639/http://content.lib.utah.edu/u/?%2Fjmh%2C14076 |archivedate = May 15, 2012 }}
===Other===
*{{Cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. | title = The Twin Relic: A Study of Mormon Polygamy and the Campaign by the Government of the United States for Its Abolition, 1852-1890 | series = Master's thesis | publisher = Texas Christian University | location = Fort Worth | year = 1939 }} *{{Cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = The Mormon Question, 1850-1856: A Study in Politics and Public Opinion | series = Doctoral dissertation | publisher = University of California, Berkeley | date = September 1948 }} *{{Cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = The Constitution of the United States | series = Leadership Week address (Relief Society Institute series) | date = June 15–19, 1953 | publisher = Brigham Young University | location = Provo, Utah }} *{{Cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = This Trumpet Gives an Uncertain Sound: A Review of W. Cleon Skousen's The Naked Communist | year = 1962 | publisher = Richard D. Poll | location = Provo, Utah }} *{{Cite book |editor-last=Poll |editor-first=Richard D. |editor-mask=2 | title = Education for Freedom and World Understanding; A Report of the Working Committees | year = 1962 | series = Conference on the Ideals of American Freedom and the International Dimensions of Education | publisher = U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education | location = Washington, D.C. | oclc = 193788 }} *{{Cite book | author = Rich, Owen S. |author2=Richard D. Poll |author-mask2=2 |author3=Tess M. Williams | title = Final Report of a Study of the Utilization of Large-Screen TV to Overcome Shortages of Classroom Space and Teaching Personnel | year = 1966 | publisher = Brigham Young University | location = Provo, Utah }} *{{Cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. | title = Utah and the Mormons: A Symbiotic Relationship | series = The second David E. Miller Lecture on Utah and the West | publisher = University of Utah | location = Salt Lake City | date = April 23, 1980 }} *{{Cite book |last=Poll |first=Richard D. |author-mask=2 | title = Quixotic Mediator: Thomas L. Kane and the Utah War | series = Dello G. Dayton Memorial Lecture | publisher = Weber State College Press | location = Ogden, Utah | year = 1985 }}
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
== External links == * [http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv76965 The Richard Douglas Poll Papers at the University of Utah's Marriott Library]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poll, Richard D.}} Category:1918 births Category:1994 deaths Category:20th-century Mormon missionaries Category:American Latter Day Saint writers Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Category:American Mormon missionaries in Germany Category:Brigham Young University faculty Category:Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement Category:Historians of Utah Category:American Mormon missionaries in Canada Category:People from Fort Worth, Texas Category:Writers from Salt Lake City Category:Texas Christian University alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:University of Maryland, College Park faculty Category:Western Illinois University faculty Category:20th-century American historians Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century American biographers Category:Latter Day Saints from California Category:Latter Day Saints from Illinois Category:Latter Day Saints from Maryland Category:Latter Day Saints from Texas Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah Category:United States Army Air Forces officers Category:American male non-fiction writers