J. Reuben Clark Biography Quotes 5 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Jesse Reuben Clark Jr., known throughout his public life as J. Reuben Clark Jr., was born on September 1, 1871, in Grantsville in the Utah Territory. Raised in a Latter-day Saint household that prized education, discipline, and service, he showed early talent for study and debate. He pursued higher education in Utah and then on the East Coast, completing advanced legal training at Columbia University. The combination of frontier upbringing and rigorous legal education forged a distinctive voice: practical, frugal, and deeply attentive to constitutional detail.

Rise in Law and the State Department
Clark entered federal service in the early twentieth century, quickly gaining a reputation as an exacting legal mind. He served in the U.S. Department of State as a senior legal officer, advising secretaries of state including Elihu Root, and later returned as solicitor. His counsel ranged from treaty interpretation to the subtleties of international claims, and he developed a particular facility with the law of nations as it intersected with American constitutional limits. His ability to frame clear, tightly reasoned memoranda made him a sought-after adviser in Washington, D.C., where he also interacted with figures such as Frank B. Kellogg and Henry L. Stimson.

The Clark Memorandum and Foreign Policy
In the late 1920s Clark undertook a study of the Monroe Doctrine that culminated in what became known as the Clark Memorandum. Published in 1930, it argued that the Doctrine did not justify the broad interventionist policy implied by the Roosevelt Corollary. The memorandum separated the United States' right of self-defense from the Monroe Doctrine's principles and urged restraint in Latin American affairs. Its careful reasoning influenced diplomatic thinking for years, especially among policymakers wary of overreach. The study's significance also placed Clark among the leading legal architects of inter-American relations in the interwar period.

Ambassador to Mexico
President Herbert Hoover appointed Clark U.S. Ambassador to Mexico in 1930, dispatching him at a sensitive moment in bilateral relations. The embassy navigated the aftermath of church-state conflict, agrarian reform, and petroleum questions, and Clark worked to stabilize dialogue after years of mistrust. He approached the mission with the same legal precision that marked his Washington service, trying to protect American interests while acknowledging Mexico's sovereignty and internal reforms. Though challenges remained, his tenure helped lower the temperature of several disputes and prepared the ground for later cooperation.

Return to Church Service
In 1933, Heber J. Grant called J. Reuben Clark to serve as a counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, bringing him from diplomacy into full-time ecclesiastical leadership. Ordained an apostle the following year, he would remain at the Church's center for nearly three decades. He later served as a counselor to George Albert Smith and to David O. McKay, working closely with fellow leaders such as Stephen L Richards as they guided the Church through the Great Depression, World War II, and the modern postwar expansion.

First Presidency and Church Governance
Clark's administrative style reflected his legal training: meticulous budgeting, precise procedures, and a wary eye toward debt. He helped professionalize church finances, advocated provident living, and supported efforts that would become part of the developing welfare program. His counsel often emphasized the balance between institutional growth and prudence. He also represented the Church publicly, defending its interests before government officials and the press, and collaborating with David O. McKay on the Church's educational system and global outreach as congregations and missions multiplied.

Ideas on Education, Economy, and Liberty
In addresses to teachers and leaders, notably his widely circulated 1938 discourse to Church educators, Clark argued that instruction should anchor itself in faith, moral character, and the central doctrines of the restored gospel while meeting secular standards of excellence. He was outspoken about constitutional limits, individual responsibility, and the dangers of excessive central control, views shaped by his years in Washington and by his reading of American founding texts. While admired by many for clarity and conviction, his positions were also debated, reflecting the broader American arguments of his era over the New Deal, federal power, and international engagement.

Personal Life
Clark married Luacine Annetta Savage, and their home became a place of study, music, and disciplined routine. Friends and colleagues described him as exacting with himself but personally kind, devoted to his family, and intensely loyal to the institutions he served. The demands of public office and Church leadership were constant, yet he kept a private scholarly habit, filling notebooks and margins with careful annotations. He prized personal integrity and expected the same of those around him, a trait that endeared him to some and tested others who encountered his high standards.

Final Years and Legacy
J. Reuben Clark Jr. died on October 6, 1961, in Salt Lake City, Utah. By then he had left a distinctive imprint on two spheres rarely bridged by one life: American diplomacy and Latter-day Saint leadership. Diplomatic historians continue to cite the Clark Memorandum in discussions of hemispheric policy and the evolution of the Monroe Doctrine. In the Church, his long service alongside Heber J. Grant, George Albert Smith, and David O. McKay shaped financial discipline, educational priorities, and administrative norms that endured long after his passing. Brigham Young University later named its law school in his honor, a tribute to his lifelong devotion to law, learning, and principled public service.

Our collection contains 5 quotes who is written by Reuben Clark, under the main topics: Justice - Freedom - Prayer.