[2] At the time of his calling to the patriarchate, Smith was a member of the church's Mutual Improvement Association General Board, head of the Speech Department at the University of Utah (though he did not hold a Ph.D.), and president of the National Speech Association.

[3] His calling as patriarch to the church filled a vacancy that had lasted just over ten years, and his selection for the office has been seen by some as a departure from the expected line of patriarchal succession from father to his eldest son in good standing with the church.

[3] Some sources suggest this move came during a time when some members of the church's First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were attempting to move away from the rule of primogeniture in selecting the presiding patriarch, giving church leaders the ability to pass over unsuitable candidates who would otherwise inherit the office somewhat automatically.

[4]: 369  He served only four years before it was reported by the church that he had resigned for reasons of "ill health", but he was actually released due to the uncovering of his same-sex sexual activity.

[4]: 370 [5]: 111–117 [6] In 1946 it had been discovered that the patriarch was involved in several homosexual affairs, including two in the 1920s while employed at the University of Utah (with student Norval Service[7] and a drama department colleague named Wallace A. G.), and one while serving as presiding patriarch in the 1940s (with 21-year-old U.S. Navy sailor[8] Byram Dow Browning[9] who was also a Latter-day Saint).