The Rise and Fall of John C. Bennett

During the Nauvoo period, John C. Bennett was second only to Joseph Smith in the Mormon leadership. Soon after his conversion to the faith, Bennett quickly gained the trust of Joseph Smith by drafting the extremely powerful Nauvoo charter and successfully achieving its passage in the Illinois legislature. This city charter gave the Mormon leadership of Nauvoo significant independent rights and powers from the state of Illinois. Joseph rewarded Bennett’s loyalty with positions in both the church and the city government. Bennett’s titles included Assistant President of the Church, Mayor of Nauvoo, and a Major-General in the Nauvoo Legion. Hyrum Smith was leery about John Bennett, and discovered Bennett’s duplicitous character after digging into his background.  Hyrum warned Joseph to distance himself from Bennett, but Joseph ignored his brother’s advice.

At some point Bennett became aware of Joseph’s covert polygamy and Bennett also began to seduce women, telling them that there was a new practice from God called “spiritual wifery.” Bennett was a medical doctor and allegedly performed secret abortions, even promising to abort the babies of his “spiritual wives” if they were to become pregnant. Some have suggested that Bennett’s performance of abortions on Joseph Smith’s extra-marital sexual partners explains why there are few offspring of Joseph Smith through his polygamous wives.

Eventually, Bennett’s predatory behavior became public, and he was excommunicated. Some see Bennett as the scapegoat to provide plausible deniability and distract from the actually-true rumors about Joseph’s similar sexually predatory behavior. Bennett went from being Joseph Smith’s second in church leadership, best friend, and trusted confidante to becoming a bitter enemy.