Bruce D. Porter

Bruce Douglas Porter (September 18, 1952 – December 28, 2016) was an American political scientist, university professor, and general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Biography Porter was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and attended Brigham Young University (BYU). He was a recipient of the David O. McKay scholarship. Porter married Susan H. Porter on February 2, 1977, in the Washington D.C. Temple. They are the parents of four children.

Porter attended Harvard University and received a doctoral degree in political science emphasizing Russian affairs. He spent a summer in the Soviet Union as an exchange student during his doctoral program. He worked for the federal government on the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and as executive director of the U.S. Board for International Broadcasting. He worked for two years for the Northrop Corporation and worked from 1990 to 1993 as the Bradley Senior Research Fellow at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University. He later taught political science at BYU. Porter was 6'7" tall and was known for his 'self-deprecating manner and penchant for compassion'. to early December 2016, when he was transferred back to the church's headquarters.

Porter died from a pulmonary infection on December 28, 2016, at his home in Salt Lake City.

Publications Porter is the author of books and articles on politics, religion, Russian foreign policy, and international relations. The USSR in Third World Conflicts: Soviet Arms and Diplomacy in Local Wars 1945–1980 by Bruce D. Porter (Cambridge University Press, July 25, 1986, ) Red Armies In Crisis: Creating The Post-communist Order by Bruce D. Porter (Westview Press, May 6, 1992, ) War and the Rise of the State by Bruce D. Porter (Free Press, February 1, 2002, ) The King of Kings by Bruce D. Porter (Deseret Book Company, February 21, 2011, )