David O. McKay and the Priesthood Ban (on Mormon Stories)

The following are some of my notes on a very interesting podcast over on Mormon Stories. There's a lot of great stuff over there; I recommend checking it out. This particular podcast is an interview with Gregory Prince, who shares some of his findings on the subject of former Mormon prophet David O. McKay and the so-called "priesthood ban".

Dehlin, John, and Gregory Prince. Gregory Prince, David O.Mckay, and the Blacks/Priesthood Issue [Podcast]. Mormon Stories, Aug 22, 2005.

• David O. McKay was maybe even a little behind the times on civil rights but was progressive on the priesthood issue.
• He didn’t even know there was a ban until he’d been an Apostle for 15 years, so it didn’t come up often.
• He wrote in his journal he didn’t like blacks. He refused to integrate a swimming pool when some black soldiers came to town and some white folks complained.
• Every opportunity he had to stand up for blacks in a civil rights capacity, it seems, he didn’t.
• However, he told Sterling McMurrin that the priesthood ban was a “policy, not a doctrine” and that it would change. This has been confirmed by one of McKay’s sons.
• He took the priesthood question before the Lord on a number of occasions, and sometimes got no answer, other times “not yet.”
• He refused to completely do away with the policy until he received a revelation.
• He did soften the policy in South Africa, where the Church had a priesthood crisis because white men had to prove beyond all doubt they had no negro blood before they could be ordained. McKay visited South Africa and changed it on the spot.
• The Church sent some of its extra printings of the Ensign and such to Nigeria. There were thousands of spontaneous converts there, even though there were no missionaries.
• When McKay died (or in the last months of his life?), the “policy, not a doctrine” bit became known. Hugh B. Brown of the First Presidency wanted to change it immediately, but he faced opposition from other church leaders. He got released from his position, apparently because of this controversy.