Julian Alden Weir (1852-1919),
Connecticut Grainfield, no date, oil on canvas, 29 x 36 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, purchase/gift of the Mahonri M. Young Estate. President Ezra Taft Benson, 13th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was born on this day in 1899 in Whitney, Idaho. He grew up on a farm and later became a farmer himself, becoming an influential voice of the agricultural community. In 1953, he was sworn in as Dwight D. Eisenhower's Secretary of Agriculture. President Benson was ordained an apostle in 1943 at the age of 44. He became President of the Church in 1985 at the age of 86. 'The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in.... The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.' - President Ezra Taft Benson