Traitor in the First Presidency - John Turner Pt. 38 | Ep. 2137
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.5 ā¢ 5.7K Ratings
šļø 17 March 2026
ā±ļø 132 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
š§¾ļø Download transcript
Summary
In Part 38 with historian John Turner we dive into his latest book Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet. In this episode, we focus on Chapter 29, āCool as a Cucumber,ā unpacking the turbulent years of 1843-1844 āarguably the beginning of the end for Joseph Smith.
We explore mounting legal pressure, political entanglements, and growing internal dissent with Nauvoo. Along the way, we examine controversial and often difficult topics, including Joseph Smithās relationship with William Law and his wife, accusations of coercion tied to plural marriage, and an alleged physical altercation involving Watler Bagby.
This episode traces how tensions āboth inside and outside the church āescalaated rapidly, setting the stage for the final chapter of Joseph Smithās life.
If youād like to help keep this project going, please consider donating to support this series ā hereā . Your support makes long-form, in-depth historical discussion like this possible!
Purchase John Turnerās book ā hereā .
Let us know your thoughts on a Brigham Young series (comprising ten episodes) covering John Turnerās book Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Joseph Smith podcast, brought to you by Mormon Stories Podcasts in the Open Stories Foundation. |
| 0:08.1 | I am John DeLinn. |
| 0:09.7 | It is April 1st, 2026, and today we are going to be covering chapter 29 in our book, in John Turner's book, Joseph Smith, the rise and fall of an American |
| 0:23.1 | prophet. John Turner, I almost feel like this is a partly my book, which is dumb, but like we've, |
| 0:29.7 | we've covered this so much of this book, and it's starting to feel personal. I mean, I am happy |
| 0:36.3 | for you to have a sense of ownership here, John DeLynn. No, we have |
| 0:41.1 | just about made this, we could have called this a year of Joseph Smith because we started, I think |
| 0:48.0 | we recorded episode one in May of 2025. And that's a, you know, we're going gonna finish about one calendar year later that's amazing yeah |
| 0:58.8 | this has been really fun and really meaningful yeah so just to catch people up this is part |
| 1:04.1 | 38 in our series we're going to be covering chapter 29 today which is is entitled Cool as a Cucumber, 1843 at 1844, |
| 1:14.6 | we are going to be bringing in a couple pages from the previous chapter, which is chapter 28 |
| 1:22.6 | anointed 1843, because we had so much polygamy and sex and intrigue from the last couple episodes |
| 1:29.6 | that we saved some of the political stuff for today. |
| 1:32.7 | But I think that's perfect because the congressional race, the race for the House of Representatives |
| 1:39.6 | that involved Navu in, you know, 1843 slash 1844 was, I think, really instrumental to the |
| 1:49.0 | anti-Mormanism that springs up and is discussed in the cool as a cucumber chapter. |
| 1:55.3 | So we're going to be covering that today. |
| 1:57.4 | We're also going to be covering so much. |
| 1:59.5 | We're going to be talking about an anti-Mormon |
| 2:02.9 | conspiracy between anti-Mormons in Missouri and anti-Mormans in Illinois to try to get Joseph |
| 2:08.8 | Smith, what, extradited to Missouri to face charges of trying to assassinate Governor |
| 2:14.8 | Lilbert Boggs, I think. And we're also going to be talking about |
... |
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