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A New Era 1897-1950
The Church Office Building (now called the Church Administration Building), completed in 1917, symbolized the transition of the Church from the problems of the nineteenth century to the security and prestige of the twentieth. (Church Archives)
As the twentieth century dawned on New Year's Day, 1901, the venerable Lorenzo Snow attended a special service in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City and presented a greeting to the world. The gentle, white-bearded prophet had lived through the entirety of Mormon history and now, eight months before his death, he looked forward to the new century as an era of dramatic possibilities:
The lessons of the past century should have prepared us for the duties and glories of the opening era. It ought to be the age of peace, of greater progress, of the universal adoption of the golden rule. The barbarism of the past should be buried. War with its horrors should be a memory. The aim of nations should be fraternity and mutual greatness. The welfare of humanity should be studied instead of the enrichment of a race or the extension of an empire.
President Snow's hope for universal peace and brotherhood reflected the Saints' continuing faith in the eventual establishment of the Millennium. But that was not to come in the immediate future. Instead, the first half of the new century saw the tempo of war accelerate around the world, along with new evidences of political corruption, greed, poverty, and social injustice.
The President's comment on the "enrichment of a race or the extension of an empire" was an oblique reference to the Spanish-American war recently ended, a war for an American empire justified in part by ill-perceived concepts of racial superiority. But the United States was not alone in its imperialistic ambitions, and by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Western powers had extended their influence to nearly all parts of the earth. After the war most world leaders banded together in the League of Nations, hoping to create a force for peace. The United States, however, refused to join for fear of undermining its own sovereignty, and while this was not the only reason for the league's failure, it contributed. At the end of the 1930s war again engulfed the world as the totalitarian states of Germany, Italy, and Japan attempted to expand their political perimeters. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States joined with England and the Soviet Union, a former German ally, to defeat the three major aggressors. After the war another world organization, the United Nations, tried anew to find a path to continuing world harmony, this time with full American support.
Though permanent peace was not forthcoming, the progress Lorenzo Snow envisioned came in other ways. The world saw amazing scientific and technological achievements. The radio, the automobile, and the airplane all brought the people of the world closer together. In medicine, improved anesthesia, better drugs, and new surgical developments prolonged life and improved health. Scientists registered significant attainments in chemistry, electronics, and atomic science, which had great potential for human happiness as well as for tragedy.