Ezra Taft Benson in American religious history

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Benson is probably the most politically senior major religious leader in American history; President of the LDS Church from 1985 until his death in 1994, he had previously served as Secretary of Agriculture for all eight years of Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency. He was already a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at that time. The Eisenhower administration in general gave a then-unprecedented degree of access to religious leaders, but Benson was unique in the heights that he reached both within the administration and within his religious body.

The two big things I know about Benson are:

1. He was very right-wing, easily the least moderate voice within the Eisenhower Cabinet, with Bircher associations and vague connections to the utterly unhinged "China lobby."
2. Despite this, fears that he would be a crass culture warrior even by LDS standards as Church President turned out to be unfounded, and in that role he focused mostly on nuts-and-bolts evangelization and catechesis.

Anyone else know more about him and his legacy in the American religious mosaic?

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

the China Lobby was good, actually.

But back to Ezra Taft Benson.  It would have been interesting if he had been Wallace's VP in 1968.  Would Mormons have supported Wallace's presidential campaign then?

[Senator Incitatus]

This is his legacy: