55 years ago today - Apr 2, 1959

First temple meeting apostle Spencer W. Kimball attends since his return from touring missions in South America. He emphasizes to First Presidency and Twelve the special problem in Latin America's "Catholic countries [where] divorce could not be obtained" and "some set up new households without legal sanction. . . .When such people wished to join the [LDS] Church the missionaries would not baptize them, since technically they lived in adultery." Kimball-s authorized biography notes that he successfully persuaded First Presidency to adopt policy that "such couples could be baptized if they showed that they had done what they could to legalize their relationship, had been faithful to one another, and had met responsibility to their previous [and only legal] family, and had conformed to the expectations of custom." From 1959 onward it is LDS church policy to baptize, ordain, and give temple ordinances to any Latin American man complying with above requirements, even though he is living with a woman in legally unmarried relationship defined as adulterous by "the law of the land" where they live.

[Source: On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]