In spring 1902, Lyman visited Palestine and offered up a solemn prayer on the Mount of Olives. In 1903, Brigham Young, Jr. died, making Lyman the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He returned to Utah in 1904. Soon after returning home, he went to Washington, D.C., to testify in the Reed Smoot hearings before the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections.