WASHINGTON — Ezra Taft Benson — the only American to both serve in a presidential Cabinet and later lead a worldwide church — seemed to show amazing power with both his earthly and heavenly bosses when he visited farmers in drought-stricken Texas in 1953.

As secretary of agriculture, he promised relief, and most figured that would be in form of money he would win from President Eisenhower and Congress.

But "less than 24 hours later it had rained for the first time in 24 months," and the people immediately remembered he was also an LDS apostle, said Bruce I. Knight, current chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service. "The headline of the local paper actually said, 'Benson Really Has Contacts.' "

Knight recalled that Wednesday during the Agriculture Department's 50-year anniversary tribute of President Benson joining the Cabinet in 1953. The tribute was postponed earlier when Hurricane Isabel hit Washington, and on Wednesday, heavy rain and tornadoes again pelted Washington.

"Well, Secretary Benson's ability to bring the rain has not diminished with time," Knight said.

Agriculture Department officials, senators, President Benson's family and leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which President Benson led from 1985 until his death at age 94 in 1994, all spoke at the tribute. It was held in the "Hall of Heroes" of the Agriculture Building, where President Benson's portrait hangs.

"Fifty years and 12 secretaries later, his legacy as a public servant and his contributions to American agriculture endure," said current Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman, noting that President Benson formed many of the department's bureaus and modernized and molded the department into the agency it now is.

"Ezra Taft Benson stood on the solid bedrock of his principles. He fought for what he believed was right, even if it earned him scorn, and even if many of those who scorned him were in his own political party," Veneman said.

For example, when President Benson opposed price supports as being too socialistic, many GOP senators from farm states called for his removal. A Newsweek magazine on display from exactly 50 years ago — November 1953 — pictured President Benson on its cover with the headline, "Secretary Benson: Can he save himself?"

He did and, Veneman noted, "He served President Eisenhower ably and faithfully for two full terms. It was a feat that would have surprised his critics at the time, who suspected he would be the first member of the Eisenhower Cabinet to leave office." He was one of only two Cabinet members to serve all eight years of Eisenhower's tenure.

President Benson's son, Reed, said he remembers his father was not happy when he began work at the Agriculture Department but felt duty-bound to help. "I guess if he had the privilege, he would have caught the next plane back to Salt Lake City. But he was a man of integrity, and he knew there was a battle to be waged and principles to be fought for."

Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., who is LDS and whose father served as executive secretary to President Benson at the Agriculture Department, said, "I learned many things as a boy and as a man from Ezra Taft Benson. But the thing I suppose I learned most from him is that Latter-day Saints could live true to their faith while walking in high places."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said, "We honor a man who served God and country as few others have in history. . . . I have met very few people in my lifetime who even came close to him as a patriot standing for the principles of this country."

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