Dallin Harris Oaks (born August 12, 1932) is an American religious leader and former jurist who is the eighteenth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served as the first counselor in the church's First Presidency from 2018 to 2025. He was called as a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1984.
Oaks was born in Provo, Utah, and grew up in Provo and Vernal, Utah. He studied accounting at Brigham Young University (BYU), then attended law school at the University of Chicago, where he was editor-in-chief of the University of Chicago Law Review. After graduating in 1957, Oaks was a law clerk to ChiefJustice Earl Warren of the U.S. Supreme Court, then spent three years in private practice at Kirkland & Ellis before returning to the University of Chicago as a professor of law. In 1971, Oaks succeeded Ernest L. Wilkinson as the president of BYU. He held the position until 1980, when he was appointed to be a justice of the Utah Supreme Court. He served on the court until his selection to the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1984.
During his professional career, Oaks was twice considered by the president of the United States for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court: first in 1975 by Gerald Ford, who ultimately nominated John Paul Stevens, and again in 1981 by Ronald Reagan, who ultimately nominated Sandra Day O'Connor.Yalof, David Alistair. Pursuit of Justices: Presidential Politics and the Selection of Supreme Court Justices (2001), p. 127-128.
Early life Oaks was born on August 12, 1932, in Provo, Utah, to Stella (née Harris) and Lloyd Edress Oaks. Through his mother, he is a second great-grandnephew to Martin Harris, one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon. His given name, Dallin, honors Utah artist Cyrus Dallin. Oaks's mother had attended Cyrus Dallin's unveiling of The Pioneer Mother in Springville, Utah in July 1932 and "decided then and there to name her first child after the artist—'providing it was a son.'" Between ages two and eight, Oaks and his family lived in Twin Falls, Idaho.In the Hands of the Lord p. 6
In 1940, when Oaks was seven years old, his father died of tuberculosis at age thirty-seven.In the Hands of the Lord, p. 9-10"Prophets and Apostles: Dallin H. Oaks", churchofjesuschrist.org, retrieved September 3, 2014. After her husband's death, Stella suffered an episode of mental illness and was unable to attend school and work for a time. During this time, Oaks and his two younger siblings resided with their maternal grandparents in Payson, Utah. The loss of his father and the temporary loss of his mother caused him to have difficulties concentrating in school. When he was about nine or ten years old, he resumed living with his mother, who had taken a position as a teacher in Vernal, Utah. Stella Oaks eventually pursued a graduate degree at Columbia University and later served as head of adult education for the Provo School District. In 1956, she became the first woman to sit on the Provo City Council, where she served for two terms. In 1958, she also briefly served as Provo's assistant mayor.
From about age ten to sixteen, Oaks and his younger brother and sister spent the school year in Vernal, Utah, and the summer in Payson, Utah, with their maternal grandparents while their mother Stella pursued her graduate degree at Columbia. During the school year, Stella was a high school teacher in Vernal.Turley. In The Hands of the Lord, p. 15-21 Oaks obtained his first job at the age of twelve at a radio repair shop in Vernal sweeping the floors. He later worked as an engineer and announcer for stations in both Vernal (KJAM) and Provo (KCSU). He obtained his first-class radio operator license in the spring of 1948. Oaks was involved in Boy Scouts and earned the rank of Eagle Scout at age fourteen.In the Hands of the Lord p. 20-21
During his first two years of high school, Oaks attended Uintah High School in Vernal, where he was a member of the school's football and debate teams and played oboe in the school band.In the Hands of the Lord, p. 19-21 At the start of his eleventh-grade year, the family moved to Provo, where Oaks chose to attend Brigham Young High School (B.Y. High) because it was smaller than Provo High School. At B.Y. High, he was again involved in football, track, and dramatic productions and played the oboe in the band.In the Hands of the Lord, p. 26 Oaks graduated from B.Y. High in 1950.
Education After graduating from high school, Oaks enrolled at BYU, where he studied accounting. Due to his service in the Utah National Guard and the possibility of being called up to serve in the Korean War, he did not serve a mission for the LDS Church.Wilkinson. BYU. pp. 13–14. As a college student, he occasionally served as a radio announcer for local high school basketball games. At a game during his freshman year, he met June Dixon, a senior at one of the high schools. They dated for two years before marrying in 1952 in the Salt Lake Temple.
Oaks graduated from BYU in 1954 with a bachelor's degree with high honors. He then attended the University of Chicago Law School on a full-tuition National Honor Scholarship, where he was editor-in-chief of the University of Chicago Law Review. He graduated in 1957 with a Juris Doctor, cum laude.
Career After law school, Oaks was a law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1957 to 1958. He then entered private practice at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, where he specialized in corporate litigation. Oaks had worked with this firm twice before, first during a summer in law school and then for a few months before he began his clerkship with Chief Justice Warren. When Oaks began at Kirkland & Ellis, he worked under Robert Bork, but he was quickly appointed as one of the firm's principal lawyers. He worked primarily on cases for clients Standard Oil of Indiana, B. F. Goodrich and Chemetron Corporation, but also assisted with cases for several other companies.In the Hands of the Lord, p. 71-73 Initially, the Oaks family lived in the western suburbs of Chicago, but in 1960, they purchased a home in Elmhurst, Illinois. According to historian Lavina Fielding Anderson, Oaks was the first lawyer from Kirkland & Ellis to represent an indigent party before the Illinois Supreme Court. This case was also the first time Oaks argued a case before an appellate court.In the Hands of the Lord, p. 75
In 1961, Oaks left Kirkland & Ellis and became a professor at the University of Chicago Law School.Wilkinson. BYU. Vol. 4, p. 20. In 1962, only six months later, he became associate dean of the school when dean Edward H. Levi was named provost of the university.. As a professor, Rex E. Lee was among the students for whom he sought to obtain Supreme Court clerkships.In the Hands of the Lord, p. 87-88 As a faculty member, Oaks taught primarily in the fields of trust and estate law, as well as gift taxation law. He worked with George Bogert on a new edition of a casebook on trusts. In 1963, Oaks edited a book entitled The Wall Between Church and State covering discussions on views on the relationship of the government and religion in the law and the aptness of that metaphor. He wrote an article on the school prayer cases aimed at a lay audience that was published in the LDS Church's Improvement Era in December 1963.In the Hands of the Lord, p. 92–93. He also wrote on issues of evidence exclusion and the Fourth Amendment.Bob Mims, "As Nelson’s longtime right-hand man, Oaks brings a keen legal mind to Mormonism’s new Big Three", Salt Lake Tribune, January 17, 2017 He was opposed to the exclusionary rule and favored prosecution in "victim-less crimes." In the summer of 1964, he served as assistant state's attorney for Cook County, Illinois. In the fall of 1964, Oaks was appointed a full professor at the University of Chicago law school.In the Hands of the Lord, p. 95 While at the University of Chicago, Oaks was the faculty advisor to the legal aid clinic at that institution. He also worked to find ways to address the root issues facing the poor. He felt that federal anti-poverty programs of the time focused too much on symptoms and not enough on causes.In the Hands of the Lord, p. 99 Oaks served as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School during the summer of 1968.Scott Taylor. "A Look At President Dallin H. Oaks" Deseret News January 16, 2018 In 1966, he became a founding member of the editorial board of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought; he resigned from the journal in early 1970.
In 1969, Oaks served as chairman of the University of Chicago disciplinary committee. In conducting hearings against the 160 students who had been involved in a sit-in at the administration building, Oaks was physically attacked twice. Over 100 students were eventually either suspended or expelled.Wilkinson. BYU. Vol. 4, pp. 20–22. During the first half of 1970, Oaks took a leave of absence from the University of Chicago while serving as legal counsel to the Bill of Rights Committee of the Illinois Constitutional Convention, which caused him to work closely with the committee chair, Elmer Gertz.Wilkinson. BYU. Vol. 4, pp. 22–23. From 1970 to 1971, Oaks served as the executive director of the American Bar Foundation.Taylor, "Oaks", Deseret News January 16, 2018 Oaks left the University of Chicago Law School when he was appointed the president of BYU in 1971. In 1975, Oaks was one of eleven candidates considered to be nominated for the vacancy in the United States Supreme Court.
Oaks served for five years as chairman of the board of directors of the Public Broadcasting Service (1979–84) and eight years as chairman of the board of directors of the Polynesian Cultural Center. Additionally, over the course of his career, Oaks served as a director of the Union Pacific Corporation and Union Pacific Railroad.
BYU president
After the resignation of Ernest L. Wilkinson as BYU's seventh president, Neal A. Maxwell, who was then commissioner of the Church Educational System, created a search committee for a new president, without any specific candidates in mind. Both Wilkinson and University of Utah Vice President Jerry R. Anderson recommended to Maxwell that Oaks be interviewed. Oaks was offered the position and assumed his duties as BYU's eighth president on August 1, 1971. In this capacity, he oversaw the creation of the J. Reuben Clark Law School and the Graduate Business School. Bruce C. Hafen closely assisted Oaks in the process of setting up the law school.In the Hands of the Lord, p. 130
Although university enrollment continued to grow and new buildings were added, neither was done at the pace of the previous administration. Unlike his predecessor, Oaks took a hands-off approach to the discipline of the university students, specifically in relation to the Church Educational System Honor Code. He believed that disciplinary matters should be delegated to the dean of students. Oaks was well-liked and became a popular president, standing in contrast with the austerity of the Wilkinson administration. He created a Faculty Advisory Council whose members were elected from among the university's faculty. He also instituted a three-tiered system of general education examinations for undergraduates.
When Oaks took office as BYU president, he retained Robert K. Thomas as academic vice president and Ben E. Lewis as executive vice president, the same positions they had held under Wilkinson. Early in his administration, Oaks sought to delegate more authority to deans and department chairs. He also worked to create standardized lines of authority within the university.