How Joseph Smith Smeared Honest Critics - John Turner Pt. 33 | Ep. 2118

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.5 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2026

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome to Part 33 of our series with historian John G. Turner, based on his landmark biography Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet.

In this episode, we dive into Chapter 26 (titled “David”) and explore one of the most controversial patterns in Joseph Smith’s leadership: how he responded when trusted insiders became vocal critics.

As pressure mounted from Missouri over the attempted assassination of Lilburn Boggs, Joseph faced internal dissent from figures like John C. Bennett and Orson Pratt. We examine the fallout surrounding Sarah Pratt, the publication of the so-called “Happiness Letter,” and the devastating public denunciation that followed.

Was Joseph defending himself from slander? Or was he fighting dirty in the press?

Today we discuss the allegations surrounding Nancy Rigdon and Sarah Pratt, Joseph’s public rebukes and “Judas” comparisons, the (embarrassing) re-baptism of the Pratts, the role of Brigham Young in publicly acknowledging plural marriage, the publication of John C. Bennett, Joseph’s legal maneuvers to avoid extradition, his complicated and evolving stance on slavery, and the larger pattern of character assassination within early Mormonism.

We also explore Joseph’s interaction with Illinois Governor Thomas Ford, the power of the Nauvoo Charter, and the increasingly emboldened posture of the church leadership as dissent intensified.

This is a complex and uncomfortable chapter –one that forces us to wrestle with competing testimonies, public smears, loyalty under pressure, and the high cost of dissent.

If you’d like to help keep this project going, please consider donating to support this series here. Your support makes long-form, in-depth historical discussion like this possible!

Purchase John Turner’s book here.

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Show Notes

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Joseph Smith podcast brought to you by Mormon Stories.
0:06.2	My name is John DeLinn. It is February 18, 26. And today we are on part 33 of our epic series with Dr. John Turner from the George Mason University talking about his book, Joseph Smith, The Rise and Fall of
0:24.2	an American prophet, buy it, buy it for friends and family. It's my favorite Joseph Smith biography
0:29.8	officially. Now that I'm 33 episodes in, Fawn Brody is probably saying from her grave,
0:36.3	John, you didn't give me 33 episodes.
0:38.8	That's fair.
0:40.3	So maybe next we'll do 33 episodes with Fawn Brody posthumously.
0:44.9	I don't know how we'll pull that up, John Turner.
0:47.1	If you could do any series of episodes with Fawn Brody,
0:51.9	that would be a landmark indeed.
0:55.8	Really quickly, we tried to start chapter 26 called David, 1842 to 1843 last episode,
1:04.8	but we ended up dedicating the entire episode to, we'll say, to some, the Whitney family scandal, the Whitney family
1:12.7	Trist, but basically addressing Karen Hyatt and Michelle Stone and the Joseph Smith polygamy
1:19.3	deniers case that Joseph Smith was not seeking a trist with teenager. It's Sarah Whitney, right?
1:29.1	And, you know, her parents, we did a whole episode on whether or not it's reasonable
1:35.5	to conclude that when Joseph Smith was in hiding in 1842, that he asked the Whitney parents to bring their daughter with them to provide him with
1:48.8	sucker or Sukor.
1:50.6	I'm not sure how we pronounce that word.
1:53.3	But really, we did an hour of John Turner digging into the source documents to show us
1:59.4	how a professional historian deals with source documents and responds
2:05.5	to a very popular theory or some say conspiracy theory. And for me, John Turner, it was a really
2:11.9	special hour. Thanks for doing that. Now we are going to get back to your chapter 26. We are in Illinois.
	...

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