Joseph Smith Jr's Kevo

Josiah Quincy, a prominent New England citizen who later became the mayor of Boston, visited Joseph Smith two months before his death. Many years later he wrote about the people who had most impressed him during his life. Regarding Joseph Smith, he wrote,
It is by no means improbable that some future text-book, for the use of generations yet unborn, will contain a question something like this: What historical American of the nineteenth century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen? And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory may be thus written: Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet.

John Taylor, one of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who survived the event that killed Joseph and almost himself, wrote an account of the event and a eulogy to the Prophet, which are founded in Doctrine and Covenants 135.
"Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it" (v. 3). He added that the names of Joseph and Hyrum Smith "will be classed among the martyrs of religion; and the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of the Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world" (v. 6). The martyrdom, he said, fulfilled an important spiritual purpose: Joseph "lived great, and died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord's anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!" (v. 3).

The Latter Day Saint movement views his death as a martyrdom as the Christian term for martyr refers to someone being killed because of their religious views.

In the modern media
• In film, Joseph Smith has been portrayed by several actors including Vincent Price (Brigham Young), Dean Cain (September Dawn), Jonathan Scarfe (The Work and The Glory), Nathan Mitchell (Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration) and Richard Moll (Brigham).
• Smith was the subject of the cover of Newsweek Magazine, dated October 17, 2005. The cover was a reproduction of a stained-glass window portraying the First Vision. Many opinions on Joseph Smith were quoted, ranging from LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley to Mark Scherer, official historian of the Community of Christ.
• On TV, Joseph Smith's life was portrayed in the South Park episode All About Mormons in 2003. Joseph Smith was also featured as member of the Super Best Friends, a superhero-type group of various major religious leaders and gods, on an earlier episode.
• A PBS documentary called "The Mormons" aired April 30 and May 1, 2007. Additional airings may be available.