Some do, despite legal precedent and all the obscenity standard "doesn't lend itself to Edwin Meese. This must do for an answer. supposed reverence for the printed word scientific exactitude." Of course not. But the I didn't ask Hudson about the readership expressed in the July 1986 Commission on chairman had concurred with the majority of the report. The answer is my own, and Pornography's final report. of his commission that the printed word, purely derivative. I believe there is a sub- The most opaque, obtuse portion of especially in books without graphics, should strata of society that consumes audio-visual Roth, restated in Miller, is the part on "con- be protected from prosecution by virtue of garbage and magazines designed by psy- temporary community standards." In the First Amendment freedoms. chotics for other psychotics. The commission spring of 1982, the jovial, cigar-chomping Scientific exactitude wasn't disputed agreed that such materials are not in the Studs Terkel was in the nation's capital to much during the commission's tenure. Com- "mainstream." I therefore posit a maverick give talks for the American Civil Liberties missioner Dobson, in his statement of liberal's opinion that the audience for the Union and the Institute for Policy Studies. opinion, called hard-core pornography "ad- sexually explicit materials deemed obscene His oral history, Working, was having cen- dictive and progressive." I asked Hudson if by the commission is small—a genuine sorship difficulties in many places. By 1982 he agreed with this. In a cautionary reply, "underground" in American culture on the the purveyors of hard-core smut had intro- he said he was uncertain about the narcotic fringes of or even within the criminal under- duced kiddie porn, "snuff" films, and all that properties of pornography to physiologically world. The public at large is not interested disgusted and incensed those who served on addict anybody. He did, however, find in in this stuff and has no use for it, or for the Hudson's commission three years later. After hard-core pornography an element of psy- report. We have a pornography report in Terkel gave an informal speech at the Korn- chological habituation for some individuals. two volumes not so lots of people will read blatt Gallery, I asked him if he believed, Most of all, 1 wanted from Hudson the it and praise it but so the Reagans and based on the Roth/ Miller test, there could answers to two paramount questions. First, Edwin Meese and the rest of the New Right be any such criteria as "contemporary com- who provided the stimulus for the Commis- phalanx can hoist it high. The actual con- munity standards." sion on Pornography in the first place? tents of the volumes are almost meaningless "It's town standards," Terkel answered. Second, who or what group of people are when piled against this greater threat. "Whoever is in power in that town. The the target audience for its immense, two- Put another way, the mallet-headed tele- shifts in power of that conglomerate power volume report? Hudson told me that the vision shamans like Jerry Falwell and bloc will determine the community primary push for a commission to investigate Donald Wildmon and Mel and Norma standards." pornography came from the president and Gabler have some 1,960 pages to vilify their When 1 asked Henry Hudson the same the first lady, who were concerned that the foes in publishing and other media, and lend question relevant to Studs Terkel's Working, nature of such materials had become far aegis to their own dangerous and obscuran- Hudson granted that community standards more explicit and violent since 1970. They tist agenda. The report's mere existence, with can't be applied the same way in every legal had so informed then Attorney General the Department of Justice seal emblazoned jurisdiction because of plurality and regional William French Smith, who framed the in gold on the navy-blue paper covers, is diversity. He said candidly that applying the commission. The project was inherited by enough to serve sinister purpose. •

from Yale to Berkeley, and in archives of the LDS (Mormon) Church in Salt Lake in City, Utah, and the RLDS (Reorganized) Church in Independence, Missouri. Emma Hale, whose genealogy goes back the Mormon Church to the Mayflower, lived in Harmony (now Oakland), Pennsylvania, in 1825 when her uncle's business partner, Josiah Stowell, hired to use his magical seer- stone to divine the location of hidden George D. Smith treasure. Since the site was near Emma's home, her father boarded the digging com- : Emma Hale Smith, by of the Latter-day Saint prophet, in Mormon pany, and Emma met her future husband. and Valeen Tippetts Enigma: Emma Hale Smith by Linda King Two years later, soon after they had eloped, Avery (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Newell and . The Joseph claimed to recover some gold plates 1984), 394 pp., $19.95. Index, bibliography, mother of eleven children by the Mormon from a hill near Palmyra, New York, which endnotes, genealogical charts. founder, Emma was to discover her hus- supposedly contained a record of the Hebrew band's secret marital relations with many of ancestors of the American Indian. This solu- he curious story of Joseph Smith's her friends in the small, nineteenth-century tion to the question of the origins of the Tpolygamy has now been told from the religious community of Nauvoo, Illinois. American Indian, much discussed in those perspective of Emma Hale Smith, first wife Both Mormons, Newell and Avery re- days, reassured believers in the Adam and searched 's life for nine years Eve story. George D. Smith is the president of Signa- to produce this closeup view of early Mor- Although Joseph kept the gold plates ture Books, which publishes the works of monism. The authors pieced together this boxed under their bed for months, Emma Mormon authors. He has written for Dia- well-documented story from diaries and cor- said she never saw them. She reported that logue and Sunstone, two intellectual Mor- respondence that emanated from Emma's Joseph used a seer stone in a dark hat to mon magazines. twelve homes in five states, much of which translate the Book of Mormon from the in- is now found in major university libraries scribed plates. Her father could not help

Winter 1986/87 55 but notice that "the manner in which he marriage, he wrote this explanation to her: band, she was "stunned." The authors then pretended to read and interpret was the same "That which is wrong under one circum- describe a physical confrontation between as when he looked for money diggers." stance, may be, and often is, right under the two women, which by some accounts Mormon Enigma makes it clear that the another.... Whatever God requires is right, has Eliza falling down the stairs. This inci- aspects of plural marital relations were no matter what it is." dent in 1843 forced the issue of polygamy present near the inception of Mormonism, Joseph offered "spiritual blessings" to into the open: "Emma could no longer be- and reformist opposition to polygamy pre- parents who consented to give their young lieve that Joseph was not involved and he cipitated Joseph Smith's arrest and assas- daughters to him in marriage. Helen Mar could no longer deny it." sination fourteen years later, nearly destroy- Kimball was promised to the prophet at the Eliza was forced out of the house in ing the church. age of fourteen and was apparently unaware February of that year, but in March Joseph In 1831, the year after Joseph Smith of the consequences. She wrote in her auto- secretly married two daughters of a Bishop founded his church, he made public a revela- biography, "I would never have been sealed Partridge who moved into the Smith house- tion that allegedly conveyed God's request [married] to Joseph had I known it was hold that month. From this and other epi- for seven elders of the church, five of them anything more than a ceremony." sodes, a question arises that is not addressed married, to take Indian wives "that their Although the evidence is hard to docu- in the book: Did Joseph Smith have con- posterity may become white, delightsome, ment, the authors report that "persistent oral current marital relations with all of his wives and just." The Indians' dark skin was and family traditions insist that Joseph or only with the wives who were living in thought to embody God's curse for their fathered children by at least four of his the Smith home at any one time? Was his iniquity, described in the Book of Mormon. plural wives." polygamy cumulative or sequential? This is one of the earliest references to poly- The authors point out that Joseph Smith The authors do not understate the case: gamy in the Mormon church. kept his marital relationships secret from all "By late summer 1843 most of Emma's Although Joseph Smith's first docu- but a select few, especially from his wife, friends had either married Joseph or had mented plural wife was Louisa Beaman in Emma. They present evidence that Emma given their daughters to him." 1841, the authors suggest that as early as eventually learned of at least seven of It was ironic that while Emma used the 1830 he may have been accused of improper Joseph's plural wives. To the public, and to Mormon women's as a pulpit conduct with women. Mary Elizabeth the church members outside the inner circle, to investigate "scandalous accusations upon Rollins claimed that in 1831, when she was Joseph denied rumors of polygamy. In 1844, the prophet," Joseph's secret plural wives just twelve, the Mormon prophet told her just before opposition to plural marriage led sat in the congregation. Furthermore, the he had had a vision indicating that she was to his arrest and assassination, Joseph Smith woman who often delivered Joseph's mar- "the first woman God commanded him to responded from the pulpit, "What a thing it riage proposals was assigned to do the in- take as a plural wife." Several years later, is for a man to be accused of committing vestigating. she did become one of Joseph's plural wives. adultery, and having seven wives, when I When Emma discovered the extent of The next year, when Emma saw her hus- can find only one." Joseph's extramarital relationships, she band commit an "act" with a hired girl, she The authors fail to determine just how threatened him with divorce and, the authors appealed to the First Presidency of the many wives Joseph Smith took. Assistant note, was even accused of poisoning his cof- church and extracted a confession and an LDS Historian Andrew Johnson identified fee. Joseph Smith responded with a revela- apology from Joseph. In a similar incident, twenty-seven wives, twelve taken before tion stating that, under the law of priest- Apostle William McLellin later told the Salt Joseph Smith's 1843 revelation validating the hood, a man "cannot commit adultery with Lake Tribune that the first authenticated practice. Other historians claim there were that that belongeth to him and no one else. case of polygamy took place between Joseph more. In addition to women who reported And if he have ten virgins given to him by Smith and , a comely nineteen- full marital relations with the prophet, there this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they year-old hired into the Smith household in were numerous "temple sealings," many of belong to him." He said the revelation spoke 1835. Emma peeked through a barn door which were performed after his death. directly to Emma, saying that if she did not and witnessed the "transaction," which took When Emma found out that her friend accept this law of plural marriage she "shall place on a hay mow. Emma soon forced Eliza Snow was secretly married to her hus- be destroyed." Fanny to leave the house. The secret practice of plural marriage adversely affected the church for years. As the authors record, Joseph Smith's number- STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION two man, Book of Mormon scribe Oliver Date of filing: September 29, 1986 Aver. no. Actual no. Title: FREE INQUIRY copies copies Cowdery, separated from the church over Frequency of issue: Quarterly each issue single issue Joseph's sexual involvements. In an 1838 Complete mailing address of known office of during published publication: P.O. Box 5, 3151 Bailey Ave., preceding nearest letter, Cowdery characterized Joseph Smith's Buffalo, NY 14215-0005 12 months filing date Complete mailing address of headquarters of A. Total no. copies printed (Net Press Run) publisher. P.O. Box 5, 3151 Bailey Ave., 22.703 26,000 relations with Fanny Alger as a "dirty, B. Paid Circulation Buffalo, NY 14215-0005 1. Sales through dealers and carriers. nasty, filthy affair" and was excommunicated Publisher. CODESH, Inc., 3151 Bailey street vendors and counter sales Ave., Buffalo, NY 14215-0005 773 835 that year on charges that included "insinu- 2. Mail Subscription 17,780 20,735 Owner. CODESH, Inc., 3151 Bailey C. Total Paid circulation 18,553 21,570' Ave., Buffalo. NY 14215-0005 ating that the prophet had been guilty of D. Free distribution 2.511 Editor. Paul Kurtz, 3151 Bailey 2,826 E. Total distribution (Sum of C d D) 21,379 24,081 adultery." Ave., Buffalo, NY 14215-0005 F. Copies not distributed Managing Editor. Andrea Szalanski, 3151 The authors describe how young women 1. Office use, left-over, unaccounted, Bailey Ave., Buffalo, NY 14215-0005 spoiled after printing 1,324 1.919 Known bondholders, mortgagees and other were persuaded to become plural wives. 2. Returns from news agents 0 0 security holders: None. Emily Partridge recorded Joseph's telling her G. TOTAL (Sum of E, F 1 and 2) 22.703 26,000 that "the Lord had commanded" her to enter 'As of Novambar 22, 1988, paid circulation was 22,011. into polygamy. After nineteen-year-old Nancy Rigdon refused Joseph's offer of

56 FREE INQUIRY For a while, Joseph seemed to get his assassination. Emma, who stayed in Illinois with her chil- way. However, some Mormons who were Two years later, was dren and mother-in-law. She remarried and unhappy with polygamy, made an effort to able to unite a large body of the church and refused even to acknowledge that she once reform the church. On June 7, 1844, in the take them westward, where they continued shared her husband with other wives. Her newspaper Nauvoo Expositor, the reformers the practice of polygamy. Some of Joseph son, Joseph Smith Ill, became the prophet affirmed their faith in the LDS religion, but Smith's wives married Brigham Young and of the monogamous Reorganized LDS condemned the doctrines that were "being other church leaders. Some of those who Church, now headquartered in Indepen- taught secretly and denied openly." The were already married when Joseph Smith dence, Missouri. At the age of seventy-four, Expositor disclosed the methods by which took them for his own wives went back to Emma reaffirmed her faith in her prophet- women were approached to become plural their original husbands. It was not until 1852 husband, saying that Joseph Smith was wives, and it proposed fourteen points of that plural marriage was publicly adopted "everything he professed to be." reform regarding polygamy and other as a doctrine of the Mormon church. This book is thoroughly researched and practices. A biography of Emma Smith will not written in an intimate, lively style. The Joseph Smith ordered the newspaper's satisfy the readers' curiosity about the status characters emerge, as it were, from the many press destroyed, an action that resulted in of polygamy in the Mormon community. documents and letters to tell their own his arrest and, as events developed, his After Joseph's death, the story follows story. •

with communal societies, the people sought a political and a religious issue. After Orson Valeen T. Avery to find a unifying theme for their fragmented Pratt announced the practice of plural lives. Christian primitivism suggested an Old marriage as church doctrine at Brigham Testament answer: Polygamy should be a Young's request during an 1852 church con- Mormon Polygamy: A History, by Richard part of the Mormons' attempted "restitution ference in Salt Lake City, the issue of the S. Van Wagoner (Salt Lake City: Signature of all things." But public pressure to conform "twin relics of barbarism," slavery and Books, 1986), 307 pp., $19.95. Notes, bibli- demanded that Joseph Smith's polygamous polygamy, became part of the first plank of ography, index, illustrations. example should be practiced in private while the newly formed Republican party. Two publicly denounced. For twenty years, from views existed about polygamy. The Amer- n Mormon Polygamy: A History, 1831 to 1852, the Mormons privately ican public generally believed the whole of Richard S. Van Wagoner explores the I adopted the practice of plural marriage as a Utah was a harem dominated by lascivious phenomenon of Mormon plural marriage. religious doctrine, all the while denying in- males. The Mormons, on the other hand, It is a finely crafted study of America's most volvement. When the Mormon church ad- believed they espoused an essentially virtuous misunderstood social experiment, though mitted to the world that polygamy was both puritanical marriage system that avoided the few among those who supported it or con- a doctrine and a practice in Utah in 1852, evils of divorce and the use of prostitutes. demned it were dispassionate enough to see the stage was set for a battle of epic propor- While some Mormon men undoubtedly en- it as such. The issue of whether polygamy tions that would continue for thirty years; joyed their wives far more than duty would was intended as a religious practice by divine until Congress abolished it by law, and for account, both Mormon men and women commandment throughout its years of active twenty more years until the Mormon church nearly always entered polygamy because they practice by the Mormon church was hotly abolished it. The answer to how that hap- believed it was essential to their salvation debated during the late nineteenth and early pened is in Van Wagoner's fine book. and was required by God. twentieth centuries. And still it continues to The first six chapters deal with the diffi- One strength of this book is its frank be a contested issue whenever families who cult beginning of the practice of plural acceptance of the difficulties inherent in continue to practice it become items worthy marriage in the 1830s and early 1840s before personal relationships. Avery relates how of coverage in the media. But little has been Joseph Smith's death in 1844. Van Wagoner when one husband, anxious to have an addi- said or written about how polygamy came approaches his topic with objectivity and tional wife, told his wife that he had received to be, by what means it flourished, how it documents the upheavals in Smith's own life a revelation commanding him to take became unlawful and rejected by the church as well as the problems for others created another, she announced a day later that she, that once made it one of the foundation by Smith's insistence that a select group of too, had received a revelation—to shoot any stones of its tenets, and why and how some his followers take plural wives. The Mormon polygamous wife he brought into the house. groups continue the practice in America position was to deny to the public the Van Wagoner discusses in depth the anti- today. Van Wagoner's book provides the private practice of polygamy, and to a re- polygamy legislation that forced the church proper historical background for a rational markable degree it was successful. Few out- to abandon the practice in 1890. He analyzes and systematic study of what was un- side the Mormon church in Nauvoo, Illinois, the church's resistance to the legislation, the doubtedly America's most controversial reli- were aware of the doctrine or its application. horror and disruption brought to families gious practice. In the interim between Smith's death in 1844 by the trials attempting to determine who The book introduces the milieu of upstate and the Mormon movement west to Utah was involved in polygamy, and the resultant New York and Ohio's Western Reserve: in 1847, several groups under the leadership efforts of a whole people to change their "Burned-over" by religious rivals and flirting of men like James J. Strang and Sidney social customs overnight. Rigdon flirted with polygamy as a doctrine, This book is an excellent study of a most Valeen T. Avery is director of the Center but it remained for Brigham Young to set interesting episode of American society. It for Colorado Plateau Studies at Northern both the tone and the example on the terri- is written with grace and clarity, candor and Arizona University, and coauthor of Mor- torial frontier. From the time of the Mor- compassion, and no one who aspires to be a mon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith. mons' initial settlement in the West to the a student of Mormon religion or history turn of the century, polygamy became both should ignore it. •

Winter 1986/ 87 57