"Arguably, Apostle-Senator Reed Smoot is the most prominent Mormon of the early twentieth century. His rise from obscurity to the Apostleship of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1900 and his subsequent election as a Senator in 1902 provides a window from which to view the changing image of Utah and the Mormon Church. Smoot, almost single-handedly, reshaped the public's image of his maligned State and Church. As a member of the Church hierarchy, he assisted in that important Church transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. On the national level, he brought respect and legitimacy to the Church during his five terms in the Senate of the United States. As a staunch Republican throughout his life, he reflected the culture and philosophy that so dominated the first three decades of the twentieth century. This in turn contributed to a growing Republican, business-oriented Church that sought to integrate itself into mainstream America. For this reason, his life and contribution deserve the appellation, "The First Modern Mormon." [Author's abstract]