I've always thought that Gordon Hinckley lived a life of wanting to be viewed as important to a larger world than the fish bowl of Mormonism. It seems to me that the man who was a lifetime paid employee of the Mormon church had a chip on his shoulder that the Mormon church held him back from being more important and relevant to the world.

During his administration, he used church funds to secure world attention, even if momentarily, on the strange church in Utah. The Olympics brought scandal and the spotlight soon departed, and Utah was again forgotten until Mitt Romney's US presidential campaign reminded the world that the church in Utah was a bit different and unacceptable for important and meaningful positions.

But Hinckley got his fifteen minutes of fame. Interviewers from around the world spoke with the little man the prophet from Utah. He smiled and quipped and ate it all up. At the General Conference following the Olympics, I sat in a media room with the draft of his addressed. He omitted from his public remarks his delight in being given a pair of gold cufflinks from the king of Sweden as a gift during the Olympics.

And best of all, he we interviewed by the famed Sixty Minutes personality, Mike Wallace. To listen to Mormons, the two became best of friends. Did they become golfing buddies? Did Wallace begin asking Hinckley for tips on covering world religious topics? You would have thoughts so when Hinckley proudly had Wallace write a brief forward to Hinckley's cutesy book, "Standing for Something." (I found it interesting that in the back flap of the book, Hinckley is described as having been "ordained the world leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1995" I guess being called a prophet seems a bit weird).

Soon Wallace authored a book of his own, "Between You and Me, A Memoir." I wondered if Wallace would ask Hinckley to return the favor. No, for some reason Wallace didn't have Hinckley write the forward or endorsement. Wallace's book though would included recollections of his interviews with the most interesting people on earth including "Visionaries, Rabble-Rouses, Con Men, Criminals, Cultural Icons, World Leaders."

I thumbed through the book trying to find Wallace's insightful comments on his good friend, Gordon Hinckley. I couldn't find it, so I turned to the index,

Hill, Clint 14-17
Hitler, Adolf 137, 271
\
hmmm. No Hinckley, Gordon

He must be listed under "Mormon"

Morgan (film), 228
Muhammad, Elijah, 87-88, 89-90, 93, 94

hmm, No Mormon

Maybe Wallace really didn't find Gordon the interesting or influential.

as do many others--Mormons and ex-Mormons and even some never-Mormons, having been greatly affected by it in some way--to the vast majority of the world (including Mr. Mike Wallace, apparently), Mormonism is a HUGE bore. Pretty pathetic for a religion and a people that think so much of themselves!