Despite Joseph F. Smith’s claim that he was “pleased to have another opportunity of presenting the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ before the world,” as this testimony shows, he was actually vague and cursory, sometimes misunderstanding questions—apparently deliberately—and passing up numerous opportunities to deliver short sermons on Mormon doctrine, the First Vision, the nature of revelation, and prophetic authority. And despite the New York Sun’s comment on his flashes of “temper,” hindsight makes it obvious that Smith was surprisingly equitable, not a trait he was particularly known for in his early life.