Despite Joseph F. Smith’s claim that he was “pleased
to have another opportunity of presenting the doctrines of the Church of Jesus
Christ before the world,” as this testimony shows, he was actually vague and
cursory, sometimes misunderstanding questions—apparently deliberately—and
passing up numerous opportunities to deliver short sermons on Mormon doctrine,
the First Vision, the nature of revelation, and prophetic authority. And
despite the New York Sun’s comment on his flashes of “temper,” hindsight
makes it obvious that Smith was surprisingly equitable, not a trait he was
particularly known for in his early life. (Michael Harold Paulos, “Under the
Gun at the Smoot Hearings: Joseph F. Smith’s Testimony,” Journal of Mormon
History 34, no. 4 [Fall 2008]: 198-99)