Gordon B. Hinckley, an 84-year-old optimist, took the helm of the LDS Church in 1995, when most Americans knew little about it.
During Hinckley’s 13-year presidential tenure, the indefatigable Mormon leader jetted around the globe, energizing the faithful, calling for more temples, tweaking churchwide programs and bringing the Utah-based faith out of obscurity. In his first year, Hinckley scored an interview with the TV newsmagazine “60 Minutes” and won over the show’s skeptical and curmudgeonly reporter Mike Wallace.
Hinckley wanted outsiders to see, as Mormon historian Matthew Bowman says, “a modern, international institution aspiring for cosmopolitanism and normalcy.