In an occasional column, The Mormon Media Observer will look at the times when Mormons and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have made news in the New York Times.

Here's a sample of front page headlines and stories since the 1970s:

Nixon welcomed in Salt Lake City, July 25, 1970

Joseph F. Smith of Mormons dies, July 3, 1972

Purported will of Hughes found at Mormon office, April 30, 1976

Mormon church strikes down ban against blacks in priesthood, June 10, 1978 (one of the few stories that have led the Times' front page)

"The 148-year-old policy of excluding black men from the Mormon priesthood was struck down by the church's leaders yesterday.

"Spencer W. Kimball, president of the 4.2 million members of the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, made the declaration from church headquarters in Salt Lake City. It was a result, he said in a letter to all church leaders, of a revelation given to the top leaders of the church.

" 'He has heard our prayers,' the letter reads. "

Mormon church at 150: Thriving on Traditionalism, March 30, 1980

"SALT LAKE CITY -- Once all but cast out from the nation, the Mormon church is now a burgeoning and influential religion whose members eagerly espouse the traditional values of patriotism and capitalism.

"On the 150th anniversary of the founding of the church, membership is soaring, buildings are going up at an unparalleled rate and coffers are bulging. But at the edges of the optimism and prosperity, many Mormons are worried that the roots they have sunk in the mainstream may also draw up dissent and elements that corrode their way of life."

Mormon church opposes MX missiles in Utah and Nevada, May 6, 1981

"SALT LAKE CITY -- The Mormon Church, saying church pioneers had chosen Utah as a "base from which to carry the gospel of peace to the peoples of the earth," today announced its opposition to deployment of the MX missile system here and in Nevada."

Mormon admits 2 bomb murders, Jan. 24, 1987

Slain Utah tourist eulogized as real-life hero, Sept. 9, 1990

"The idea that Brian Watkins's death had resonated across the country, stirring souls in little towns and great cities, seemed a comfort to those who remembered him today.

" 'Mom and Dad always wanted Brian to go on a mission,' said Todd, his 25-year-old brother, referring to the two-year missionary assignments which the Mormon Church encourages its young members to undertake. Looking down at his family from the pulpit as he spoke through tears, Todd said, 'Well, Mom and Dad, Brian has gone on a mission, and he's already touched more lives than most missionaries in a lifetime.' "

Perfect Anti-Kennedy opposes him, Oct. 24, 1995

"In the hush of his library at 7:30 A.M. on Wednesday, Mitt Romney was a formidable sight. His white shirt was immaculate, his gray and black pin-striped trousers were sharply creased, his black wingtips shined. The man who is giving Senator Edward M. Kennedy the toughest race of his 32-year political career had already jogged three and a half miles. And he was whistling."

George Romney dies at 88, July 27, 1995


Mormons step into the past footsteps of their ancestors, June 22, 1997

"One summer day in 1847, P. G. Sessions, a Yankee farmer following the Mormon leader Brigham Young to Utah, inscribed his name on Independence Rock, a gray dome rising from the Wyoming prairie. This week, his great-great-granddaughter, Shauna Dicken, riding a covered wagon that traced the Mormon route, waded the frigid shallows of the Sweetwater River and ran her fingers across her ancestor's name."

Youthful optimism powers Mormon missionary engine, May 23, 1999

"With its utilitarian appearance and youthful population, the cluster of low-rise buildings in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains here resembles a small state college. But its hallways are decorated with religious art, the campus bookstore does a brisk business in language textbooks and white button-down shirts, and the student body is turning over all the time. Every Wednesday, more than 200 young people arrive, bid goodbye to their parents, and settle in for 4 to 11 weeks. They are taught how to speak to a stranger about faith and salvation and to do it in any of 47 languages ranging from Albanian to Vietnamese, before they are dispatched for two years to locations far from their homes. This is the Missionary Training Center of the Mormon church, an efficient religious engine that has helped propel the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beyond its historic Rocky Mountain base into a global faith, 10.4 million strong."

In spotlight of the Olympics, a quieter Mormon mission, Jan. 20, 2002

"When the Olympics in Salt Lake City were well over a year away, Mormon officials met in New York City with NBC executives and said they were considering spending several million dollars on advertising time to create a positive impression of their church during the network's broadcasts of the Winter Games ... Not long after the meeting, though, the church officials contacted NBC and said they had decided against conducting any advertising campaign during the Olympics, said Randy Falco, the network's president. A church spokesman said today that church officials had concluded that a large advertising campaign would have sent the wrong message."

Utah (Elizabeth Smart) girl, 15, is found alive 9 months after kidnapping, May 13, 2003

Along public trail, a church recounts its history, Jan. 23, 2004

By accident, Utah is proving an ideal genetic laboratory, July 31, 2004

An infighter with a jab, Harry Mason Reid, Nov. 10, 2006

Romney, Eye on Evangelicals, Defends His Faith, Dec. 7, 2007

For Romney, a Course Set Long Ago, Dec. 18, 2007

Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage, Nov. 14, 2008

Door to Door as Missionaries, Then as Salesmen, June 11, 2009

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Sources: ProQuest database; New York Times Web site; "The New York Times, The Complete Front Pages, 1851-2008."