David O. McKay was a figure of religious and educational leadership during the mid-twentieth century. According to a timeline provided by BYU Studies, McKay visited Jerusalem during a world tour in 1921, where he offered a sacred prayer on the Mount of Olives, though the document notes he did not use dedicatory language during that prayer.
In the realm of educational governance, McKay held significant administrative authority. According to the Brigham Young University Board of Trustees records, McKay served as a president of the Board of Trustees from 1951 to 1970. The Board of Trustees is the highest administrative authority for Brigham Young University and acts as the final policy-making body of the institution. In this capacity, the board holds the power to make all rules and regulations necessary for the government, continuance, and maintenance of the University, including the power to fill all vacancies in the University and have the final say in the hiring, promoting, and dismissing of University faculty.
McKay's influence also extended to the approval of academic programs. According to the BYU Jerusalem Center Timeline, McKay approved a BYU study-abroad program in the Holy Land on February 2, 1966. This approval included a specific proviso that studies be equally divided between Arab and Israeli histories, cultures, religions, and languages to ensure that the student programs in the Holy Land remained impartial and focused on both groups.
Records from the Weber State University Student Oral History Project link McKay to the medical community through family ties. According to a 1971 interview with Dr. Joseph Morrell, Morrell was the brother-in-law to the late President David O. McKay. Dr. Morrell, who graduated from Rush Medical College in Chicago in 1904, was a prominent physician who served as a member and chairman of the Utah State Board of Health and a member and chairman of the Utah State Board of Medical Examiners.
While McKay's primary roles were religious and educational, his era saw significant developments in the institutions he led. The Brigham Young University Board of Trustees, which McKay presided over until 1970, operates as a body that can determine the curriculum to be pursued at the university and decide on the sale or mortgaging of property. The board's structure has evolved over time, including a 1939 restructuring by Heber J. Grant that integrated the General Church Board of Education into the Board of Trustees. This restructuring meant that the board consisted of General Authorities or General Officers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As the president of the board, McKay was part of a lineage of leadership that included figures such as George Albert Smith, who served as president of the board from 1945 to 1951, and Joseph Fielding Smith, who served from 1970 to 1972.
What this means for Joseph
For the residents of Joseph, these records illustrate the historical connections between religious leadership and educational administration in Utah. The documents show how figures like McKay influenced both the governance of Brigham Young University and the development of international study programs, as well as how these leaders were connected to prominent local medical professionals through family ties.
