-- Dec 2, 1961
Gordon B. Hinckley is ordained to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (1)
-- 12 Dec 1961
Benson ... told reporters that current U.S. president John F. Kennedy was "very soft in dealing with the Communist threat." (2)
-- 14 Dec. 1961
Immediately after press reports of Benson's [December 1961] talk, Counselor Brown asked the editor of the Deseret News to write him a detailed briefing on the John Birch Society. (3)
-- 14 Dec 1961
[B]ishops and other local LDS officers who were members of the Birch Society ... circulated petitions in LDS meeting houses in support of the Birch Society's proposal to impeach Chief Justice Earl Warren and remove him from the U.S. Supreme Court. (4)
-- 23 December 1961
The LDS Church News printed Benson's talk in which he affirmed that "the internal threat to the American way of life is in the secret alliance which exists between the more advanced Social Democrats and the hard-core Communist conspiracy." He claimed that there was an "insidious infiltration of communist agents and sympathizers into almost every segment of American life." Benson added that "Social Democrats" in America were "in government, education, communications and-policy making bodies. There they remain today, occupying some of the highest offices in the land." (5)
-- 23 Dec 1961
Counselor Brown had collaborated with Apostle Petersen in the 1961 editorials of the Deseret News against the anti-Communist movement. [Richard D. Poll to Hugh B. Brown, 23 Dec. 1961, referred to their previous discussions of the "substantial involvement on your [Brown & Benson; Brown's] part in the Deseret News editorials and other aspects of this question."] (6)
-- 28 Dec 1961
[Hugh B.] Brown responded to an inquiry about the Birch Society by writing that "we [the First Presidency] are definitely against their methods." ... "we do not think dividing our own people, casting reflections on our government officials, or calling everybody a Communist who do[es] not agree with the political views of certain individuals is the proper way to fight Communism." He added that LDS "leaders, or even members, should not become hysterical or take hasty action, engage in discussions, and certainly should not join these [anti-Communist] groups, some of whom, at least, are in for the money they can make out of it." (7)
-- December 28, 1961
[Hugh B. Brown] The Church has not taken any stand officially relating to these various groups who nominate themselves as guardians of our freedom, except in the case of the John Birch Society, and we are definitely against their methods…. We do not think dividing our own people, casting reflections on our government officials, or calling everybody Communists who do not agree with the political views of certain individuals is the proper way to fight Communism. We think the Church should be a modifying, steadying institution and our leaders, or even members, should not become hysterical or take hasty action. (8)
-- 29 December 1961
Politically conservative president of BYU, Ernest Wilkinson, noted that Benson was privately criticizing "the socialistic tendencies" of Counselor [Hugh B.] Brown. Wilkinson added that the two general authorities were already in "a vigorous dispute" about anti-Communism. (9)
-- December 29, 1961
Ernest Wilkenson: "I then had a conference with Brother Benson, who is very much concerned over the socialistic tendencies of Brother Brown. I then had a conference with President Brown, who is very much concerned over the superpatriotic tendencies of Brother Benson. It is apparent that I am caught in the center. I think Brother Benson, as a matter of principle, is right, but he has made some strategic mistakes." (10)
Endnotes:
1 - Wikipedia, 20th Century (Mormonism), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century_(Mormonism)
2 - "Benson Says JFK Soft on Reds," Los Angeles Herald and Express, 12 Dec. 1961, A-3. See Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts" for full cite and context.
3 - Brown & Benson; O. Preston Robinson, editor and general manager of the Deseret News, to Hugh B. Brown, 14 Dec. 1961, "as per your request," in "Hugh B. Brown's File on the John Birch. See Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts" for full cite and context.
4 - "The Movement to Impeach Earl Warren," The John Birch Society Bulletin (Aug. 1961): 5; George T. Boyd (associate director of the LDS Institute of Religion in Los Angeles) to the First Presidency (with copy to Benson), 14 Dec. 1961, regarding '"Hang Earl Warren' Then—an Apology," Salt Lake Tribune, 14 Dec. 1961, A-4. See Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts" for full cite and context.
5 - Benson, "Is There A Threat To The American Way of Life?" Deseret News "Church News," 23 Dec. 1961,15. See Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts" for full cite and context.
6 - Richard D. Poll to Hugh B. Brown, 23 Dec. 1961, referred to their previous discussions of the "substantial involvement on your [Brown & Benson; Brown's; part in the Deseret News editorials and other aspects of this question." See Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts" for full cite and context.
7 - Brown to Mrs. Alicia Bingham, 28 Dec. 1961, carbon copy in "Hugh B. Brown's File on the John Birch Society." See Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts" for full cite and context.
8 - Hugh B. Brown to Alicia Bingham, Box 48, fd. 21, Firmage Papers as referenced in Greg Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
9 - Brown & Benson; Wilkinson diary, 21, 29 Dec 1961. See Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts" for full cite and context.
10 - Ernest L. Wilkenson diary as referenced in Greg Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
