Succession of the Prophet

Today, President Thomas S. Monson was announced as the new President of the Church. President Henry B. Eyring was announced as 1st Counselor and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf as 2nd Counselor. They were ordained on Sunday, February 3, 2008 but not announced until Feb. 4th.

During the time between the death of President Hinckley and the ordination of President Monson, the Church was led by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This time period is often referred to as an Apostolic Presidency. This Apostolic Presidency lasted 7 days. It was slightly longer than many recent Apostolic Presidencies, although very short compared to the early years of the Church. A time line of Presidents of the Church and the Apostolic Presidency is included below:

1. Joseph Smith, Jr.-First Elder from Apr.6, 1830-Jan.25,1832. President 12½ years from Jan.25,1832-June 27, 1844.
Apostolic Presidency for 3½ years, then:

2. Brigham Young-President 30 years from
Dec.27,1847-Aug.29,1877.
Apostolic Presidency for 3 years, then:

3. John Taylor-President for 6 years 9 months from
Oct.10,1880-July 25, 1887.
Apostolic Presidency for 2 years, then:

4. Wilford Woodruff-President for 9½ years from
April 7,1889-Sept. 2, 1898.
Apostolic Presidency for 11 days, then:

5. Lorenzo Snow-President for 3 years 1 month from
Sept.13,1898-Oct.10,1901.
Apostolic Presidency for 7 days, then:

6. Joseph F. Smith-President for 17 years 1 month from
Oct. 17,1901-Nov.19,1918.
Apostolic Presidency for 4 days, then:

7. Heber J. Grant-President for 27 years from
Nov. 23, 1918-May 14, 1945.
Apostolic Presidency for 7 days, then:

8. George Albert Smith-President for 6 years from
May 21, 1945-April 4, 1951.
Apostolic Presidency for 5 days, then:

9. David O. McKay-President for 18 years 9 months from
April 9,1951-Jan.18,1970.
Apostolic Presidency for 5 days, then;

10. Joseph Fielding Smith-President for 2 years 5 months from
Jan.23,1970-July 2,1972.
Apostolic Presidency for 5 days, then:

11. Harold B. Lee-President for 1 year 5 months from
July 7, 1972-Dec.26,1973.
Apostolic Presidency for 4 days, then:

12. Spencer W. Kimball -President for 11 years 10 months from
Dec.30,1973-Nov.5,1985.
Apostolic Presidency for 5 days, then:

13. Ezra Taft Benson-President for 8 years 6 months from
Nov.10,1985-May 30,1994.
Apostolic Presidency for 7 days, then:

14. Howard W. Hunter-President for 9 months from
June 5, 1994-Mar.3,1995.
Apostolic Presidency for 9 days, then:

15. Gordon B. Hinckley-President for 12 years 10 months from
Mar.12,1995-Jan.27,2008.
Apostolic Presidency for 7 days, then:

16. Thomas S. Monson President from Feb.3,2008-present.

Source: LDS Church History Packet by Susan Easton Black, available at BYU Bookstore for Rel C 342 class.