Not many people realize Mitt Romney is not the first Latter-day Saint to run for presidential office. That distinction belongs to a more prominent member of the church - Joseph Smith.

A BYU professor has recently written a book describing Joseph Smith's presidential campaign and political experience during the last years of his life. "Setting the Record Straight: Joseph Smith: Presidential Candidate" is now available in the BYU bookstore.

The book was written as a culmination of 13 years of work, said Arnold Garr, author of the book and chair of the Department of Church History and Doctrine.

In his book, Garr described Joseph Smith's political experience as a member of the city council and later as mayor of Nauvoo, Ill. Garr also wrote about a meeting Joseph Smith had with U.S. President Martin Van Buren. They met to discuss redress for the early members of the church who were driven out of Missouri in 1838 by an extermination order issued by the governor, Lilburn Boggs.

"He [Joseph Smith] was absolutely serious about making the country aware of what happened to the Mormons," Garr said.

Because the president wouldn't step in, Joseph Smith decided to take a different approach.

In his book Garr wrote, "Joseph Smith's primary motivation for running for president of the United States was to do all in his power to protect the Latter-day Saints from the kinds of injustices they had suffered in Missouri."

To announce his candidacy, Joseph Smith wrote a pamphlet called "General Smith's Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States." The pamphlet, which is included in the appendix of Garr's book, was published in 45 newspapers in 22 states and covered issues like presidential powers, slavery and congressional reform.

Garr said Americans were taking Joseph Smith seriously. His presidential run only ended because of his martyrdom, Garr said.

In contrast, 163 years later, another member of the church, Mitt Romney, is running for president.

Garr said it is hard to find similarities between the two men even though they share the same values. Romney faces a different set of issues than Joseph Smith did, Garr said.

In his book, Garr wrote about the church's enthusiastic support of Joseph Smith. According to the book, more than 300 special missionaries were sent to campaign in the 26 existing states. Joseph Smith's first counselor, Sidney Rigdon, was also his vice-presidential running mate.

On the other hand, Garr said Romney is not supported by the church because of the political manifesto issued in 1895 by Wilford Woodruff, which outlines the church's position of political neutrality.

"Setting the Record Straight: Joseph Smith: Presidential Candidate" is the latest of nine books in a 12-part series from Millennial Press that cover little-known Mormon topics. Latter-day Saints are the primary audience of these books, said Lindsey Shumway, director of marketing at Millennial Press.

"Our basic idea with the books was to take on gospel topics that aren't discussed in Sunday school," Shumway said. Other books in the series include topics like blacks and the priesthood, the Masons and polygamy. These books are also available in the BYU bookstore.

Copyright Brigham Young University 14 Jan 2008