In the years since 1978, many in the church have supposed that Kimball received the revelation because be asked the Lord, whereas his predecessors, including McKay, did not ask. This perception was reinforced by McKay's discretion in discussing the issue with only his closest associates. Indeed, as is apparent from the flurry of activity late in 1969, he declined to discuss parts of it even with fellow General Authorities, for reasons that he never made apparent either publicly or privately. Yet in the decades following his death, it has gradually become apparent that he wrestled with the subject for years and years, making it a matter of intense prayer on numerous occasions.

His earliest inquiry, as far as we have record, was referred to earlier in this chapter and occurred in 1954, shortly after his return from South Africa. Other inquiries followed, though generally the dates are not known. On one occasion his daughter-in-law, Mildred Calderwood McKay, who served on the general board of the Primary, the church auxiliary for children, expressed her anguish that black male children, who commingled with white children during their Primary years (through age twelve), were excluded from the Aaronic Priesthood when they turned twelve. "Can't they be ordained also?" she asked. He replied sadly, "No." "Then I think it is time for a new revelation." He answered, "So do I."

Marion D. Hanks, a General Authority called by McKay in 1953, spoke with McKay in the late 1960s prior to traveling to Vietnam to visit LDS servicemen. Hanks related an incident from a prior trip to Vietnam, in which he had comforted a wounded black LDS soldier. As he told the story, McKay began to weep. Referring to the priesthood ban, McKay said, "I have prayed and prayed and prayed, but there has been no answer."

Lola Gygi Timmins, a secretary in McKay's office from 1960 to 1968, recalled a day when he returned from a meeting with the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve in the Temple. The subject had come up in several such meetings; and obviously venting some private feelings, he told the secretaries in his reception room that he had inquired of the Lord several times on the matter, and that the answer was, "Not yet."