Ezra Taft Benson

Ezra Taft Benson (August 4 1899 – May 30 1994) was an American farmer, federal government official, and religious leader who served as the fifteenth United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1953 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints (LDS Church), he later became its thirteenth president in 1985, a position he held until his death in 1994.

Early life and career

Benson was born on a farm in Whitney, Idaho, the eldest of eleven children. His great‑grandfather, Ezra T. Benson, had been appointed by Brigham Young to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1846, establishing a family tradition of public service within the LDS Church. When Benson was twelve, his father left for missionary work in the Midwest, leaving the mother and siblings to manage the farm; Benson himself took on many responsibilities that would shape his later leadership style.

He began his formal education at Oneida Stake Academy in Preston, Idaho, graduating in 1918. He then attended Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University), where he met Flora Smith Amussen, who would become his wife. After completing a bachelor’s degree in 1926—following studies at Brigham Young University and a mission to Britain from 1921 to 1923—Benson married Amussen the same year. The couple had six children.

In 1927 Benson earned a Master of Science in agricultural economics from Iowa State University. He later pursued preliminary doctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley, though he did not complete that degree. Returning to Whitney after his master’s studies, he resumed management of the family farm and entered public service as an agriculture extension agent for Oneida County, Idaho. In 1930 he was promoted to supervisor of all county agents and relocated to Boise, where he advocated crop rotation, improved grain varieties, fertilizer use, pest control, and the establishment of farmer cooperatives.

Benson’s involvement in church youth programs included serving as superintendent of the Boise Stake Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association and later as a counselor in the stake presidency. His experiences during the Great Depression led him to critique federal agricultural policies implemented under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, particularly subsidies and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration’s practice of paying farmers to destroy crops and livestock.

In 1939 he became president of the Boise Idaho Stake. That same year he moved to Washington, D.C., taking the position of Executive Secretary of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. In this role he oversaw roughly five thousand cooperatives that represented two million American farmers. He also served as the first president of a new LDS Church stake established in Washington.

Cabinet tenure

In 1943 Benson was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, joining Spencer W. Kimball on October 7. The following year, after World War II, he was sent by the First Presidency to Europe to supervise relief efforts; over eleven months he traveled 61,000 miles and managed two thousand tons of aid supplies for countries such as Germany and Poland.

Benson’s political career began when Republican presidential nominee Thomas E. Dewey approached him in 1948 about a potential appointment as Secretary of Agriculture. Although Benson had previously supported his distant cousin Robert A. Taft over Dwight D. Eisenhower for the 1952 Republican nomination, he accepted Eisenhower’s offer after the president’s election. With the permission and encouragement of LDS Church President David O. McKay, Benson served simultaneously as a cabinet secretary and an apostle—an arrangement that made him the first clergy member to hold a cabinet position since Edward Everett in 1852.

Benson was confirmed by the Senate and served from 1953 through 1961, encompassing Eisenhower’s entire two‑term presidency. During this period he oversaw the United States Department of Agriculture as it navigated postwar expansion, modernization of farming practices, and the growing importance of agricultural research and extension services. His tenure also coincided with a continued emphasis on cooperative movements that had begun in his earlier work with farmer cooperatives.

Legacy

Benson’s impact spanned both public policy and religious leadership. As Secretary of Agriculture he contributed to the development of programs that supported American farmers during a time of rapid technological change and increased global competition. His advocacy for free‑market principles and skepticism toward large‑scale federal subsidies influenced subsequent debates over agricultural policy.

Within the LDS Church, Benson’s service as an apostle and later as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles helped shape doctrinal instruction and church governance. In 1985 he became the thirteenth president of the church, a role he held until his death in 1994. His teachings were incorporated into the 2015 course curriculum for Sunday Relief Society and Melchizedek priesthood classes.

Benson’s legacy is also commemorated physically; the Ezra Taft Benson Building at Ricks College (now Brigham Young University‑Idaho) was dedicated to him in 1980, reflecting his lifelong commitment to education and community service. The combination of federal leadership, agricultural advocacy, and religious stewardship marks him as a distinctive figure in mid‑twentieth‑century American history.