-- 19 Sept 1965
Reed Benson becomes national directory of public relations for the John Birch Society (1)
-- Sept 1965
The biography of Harold B. Lee, then an apostle, notes that "there were rumors of blacks invading Salt Lake City to take vengeance upon the Saints and the Church." (2)
[A] study observes that "hysterical rumors swept the Utah community, concerning the imminence of demonstrations and riots" at the upcoming LDS general conference. (3)
The Salt Lake police got caught up in the rumors and telephoned Hugh B. Brown that "four carloads of negroes armed with machine guns and bombs were reported coming to Salt Lake City for the purpose of inciting a riot and particularly to destroy properties on the Salt Lake Temple Block." (4)
-- 27 Sept 1965
Reflecting Reed Benson's instructions to Utah members of the Birch Society, one rumor claimed that "2,000 professional demonstrators and Black Muslims will be imported to this area under NAACP sponsorship." Other widely circulated stories were that "all plane flights from Los Angeles to Salt Lake are chartered by `Watts Negroes,'" and that "3500 `transient Negroes' have already arrived in Salt Lake." As a result, the Utah National Guard began "riot control" maneuvers. (5)
-- 28 Sept 1965
The NAACP issued an official statement which tried to instill calm in Utah but also accurately identified Birchers as responsible for the September 1965 race-war hysteria in Utah. "The NAACP deplores the malicious and totally irresponsible rumors circulating in many sections of the state to the effect that Negroes are planning a riot at the LDS conference," the statement began. Then the statement continued that the NAACP had "reason to believe the rumors started with certain right-wing societies that make a practice of scaring people." (6)
-- 30 Sept 1965
Cover story of The John Birch Society Bulletin for September 1965: "Fully expose the `civil rights' fraud and you will break the back of the Communist Conspiracy!" Robert Welch concluded the article: "And we repeat once more: It is on the `civil rights' sector of their total [Communist] front that we now have the best chance there has been since 1952 of setting them back with some really effective blows. Let's put our best into the job." (7)
-- Oct 1965
The John Birch Society Bulletin ... referred to civil rights activists and Martin Luther King as "the animals." [A]fter giving its perspective on the Watts riot by Reed Benson, the Birch Society's October magazine referred to all black immigrants to the United States today as "Savages" in a separate article on current immigration. (8)
-- 27 Oct 1965
Utah's Republican U.S. senator, Wallace F. Bennett, publicly repudiated the Birch Society. This was a significant change from Bennett's more sympathetic position two years earlier, when the conservative senator inserted into the Congressional Record the previously cited letter from President McKay's secretary: "The church is not opposing the John Birch Society . . ." (9)
-- Oct 28, 1965
[Quorum of the Twelve] Thorpe B. Isaacson called as Counselor to President David O. McKay (10)
-- Oct 29, 1965
[Quorum of the Twelve] Joseph Fielding Smith called as Counselor to President David O. McKay. (10)
-- November 4, 1965
[Council meeting] "Elder Benson said ... that he was confident in his own mind from a study he had made of the Negro question that we are only seeing something being carried out today that was planned by the highest councils of the communist party twenty years ago, and that Martin Luther King is an agent, if not a power in the Communist party. He said that this whole thing is being directed and supported and promoted by agents of the Communist party, that the Negroes are being used in this whole question of Civil Rights, integration, etc., and that the NAACP are largely made up of men who are affiliated with from one to a dozen communist-front organizations, and he thought they would do anything in their power to embarrass the Church. Elder Benson thought we ought to be very careful what we do in the Negro field, whether it be in Nigeria, here, or any other place in the world, and he felt that so far as Brother Williams is concerned, his work in Nigeria [to establish the church] should be terminated and he be brought home to report." (11)
Endnotes:
1 - "John Birch Society Representative Reed Benson," Ogden Standard-Examiner, 19 Sept. 1965, A-6, as referenced in D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992) and Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
2 - L. Brent Goates, Harold B. Lee: Prophet & Seer (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1985), 378, as referenced in D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992) and Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
3 - David Leslie Brewer, "Utah Elites and Utah Racial Norms," Ph.D. diss., University, as referenced in D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992) and Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
4 - D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992) and Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
5 - "NAACP Says 'Too Fantastic' Rumors of Demonstrations," Ogden Standard-Examiner, 27 Sept. 1965, 20, as referenced in D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992) and Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
6 - The first part of quote is from the version of the statement in "NAACP Chapter Claims Riot Report 'Malicious,'" Ogden Standard-Examiner, 28 Sept. 1965, A-6; the second part is from the version in "Rumors of Riot Hit By Area NAACP," Deseret News, 28 Sept. 1965, B-l; "NAACP Assails Rumors of Protest at LDS Meet," Salt Lake Tribune, 29 Sept. 1965, 18. These are referenced in D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992) and Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
7 - The John Birch Society Bulletin (Sept. 1965): cover and 23. The October Bulletin (dated 30 Sept. 1965): 2, concluded its reminder about the Birch battle with the African-American civil rights movement: "And in setting out seriously on this gigantic endeavor, we have really stirred up the animals." From D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992) also in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
8 - Reed Benson and Robert W. Lee, "The Federalist" (concerning Watts), and Robert H. Montgomery, "From the North," (concerning immigration), in the John Birch Society's American Opinion 8 (Oct. 1965): 65-66, 69-70; also Gary Allen and Bill Richardson, "Los Angeles: Hell In The City of The Angels," American Opinion 8 (Sept. 1965): 1-14. These are referenced in in D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992) and Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
9 - "Birchers As Group, Unwelcome," Deseret News, 27 Oct. 1965, F-l; "Bennett Joins; Congressional Record—Senate 109 (6 Aug. 1963): 14172; Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 10-11. These are referenced in in D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992) and Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
10 - Wikipedia, Chronology of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_the_Quorum_of_the_Twelve_Apostles_(LDS_Church)
11 - Minutes of Council Meeting as referenced in Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Write, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press (2005)
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
