First Security Corporation was a leader in Utah's banking system. Here, Willard L. Eccles, George S. Eccles, Spencer F. Eccles, and Marriner S. Eccles are shown with the new Salt Lake bank as a back-drop. Courtesy of Spencer F. Eccles Meanwhile Eccles was also considering shareholders' interests in the Eccles Investment Company, which he had founded in 1915 to manage his family's holdings. Now, he sold all the stock except for Utah International shares - and he purchased more of those. In May 1972 the World Trade Club of San Francisco added to Eccles' many honors by presenting him with its International Achievement Award. In response to ringing praise and a little teasing, Eccles offered his last public remarks. Often he surprised both his peers and the press with blunt but prescient stands on various national issues. For instance, he had mistrusted Richard Nixon as Vice President long before Nixon entered the White House. Also, Eccles had suggested that couples practice birth control as a way of preventing or solving numerous social ills, including tax increases, poverty, unemployment, juvenile delinquency, and prohibitively expensive health care. He was one of the first to urge recognition of the People's Republic of China, and also one of the first to encourage President Lyndon Johnson, and then President Nixon, to withdraw troops from Vietnam. Yet, at age 81, Eccles refused to condemn "the ranks of the disturbed, protesting, critical, questioning young people." He said, "Tomorrow's leaders will come from their ranks, and it's up to us to identify them early, to encourage them to carry on the fight where we must necessarily leave off. When we find courage, drive, integrity, intelligence, and tough, fair minds, let us forget about long hair and unfamiliar customs. Let us accept change instead of fearing it." His remarks drew a standing ovation from a very Republican audience gathered in a year that saw a virtual coronation for Nixon. Eccles' biographer explained the ovation this way: "[E]ven the people who disagreed with the critical bent of Marriner's remarks recognized that they were in the presence of a man of honor with few counterparts in American public life."