-- November 20, 1963
The son of Ezra Taft Benson asserted Tuesday that his father ... had the approval of [the] Church president in voicing support of the John Birch Society. ... McKay "had an idea" of the contents of the planned speech and said his father would not have spoken if the church leader had asked him not to. The office of President McKay in Salt Lake City said that the church leader had approved Elder Benson's speaking but that the subject matter of his talk was not cleared. A church spokesman also took issue with the younger Benson's statement that members of the LDS Church as not justified in "publically attacking their apostles." Reed Benson referred to criticism by Rep. Ralph Harding (D-Idaho) of Ezra Taft Benson's appearance at the Birch Society gathering. The church spokesman said that apostles and other officials are "not above criticism for statements and actions outside the church." ... (1)
"The John Birch Society is Rotten to the core," asserted Idaho rep. Ralph Harding in a statement issued Tuesday night as a reply to remarks made earlier in the day in Boise by Reed Benson, son of Ezra Taft Benson.
The elder Benson has been criticized by Harding for a speech made to Los Angeles Birchers. ... "I had hoped I had heard the last of Reed Benson trying to use his father and the church to promulgate the John Birch Society. ... I have received from general authorities of the LDS Church and from the family of President McKay that both sources are concerned and upset at Benson's unprincipled attempt to imply that President McKay has given any type of approval to his John Birch Society activities. ... If he does make a repeat performance of this disgraceful demonstration, I will be forced to make public the letters I have received from many church leaders showing their dissatisfaction with Benson and their contempt. ... Regarding my previous speech in the House of Representatives, I made it after much prayer and deliberation. I new it would be unpopular politically, but I know that it was factually accurate and necessary." (2)
-- 22 November 1963
Counselor Brown wrote that Reed Benson "is entirely out of order, does not represent the Church's position, although he claims to do so because his father has the position he has . . ." (3)
-- 3 Dec 1963
Some rank-and-file Mormons threatened to picket Benson's farewell talk at the LDS tabernacle in Logan, Utah, because his remarks "will most likely be an attempt to again build up the John Birch Society." When stake leaders "became skittish" about letting him use the tabernacle for this talk, Benson said he would "hold the meeting in a tent, if need be." (4)
-- 13 Dec 1963
Benson's talk in Logan was an endorsement of the Birch Society. Early in his remarks, he referred to the "Communist attack on the John Birch Society." A textual analysis also revealed that, without citing his source, 24 percent of Benson's talk quoted verbatim from the Blue Book of the John Birch Society, and another 10 percent paraphrased this publication. Benson's talk also repeated such Birch Society themes as the American civil rights movement was "phony" and actually "part of the pattern for the Communist take over of America." Benson's statements against the civil rights movement worsened the LDS church's negative public image during the 1960s.
The apostle predicted that within ten years the United States of America will be ruled by a Communist dictatorship which "will include military occupation, concentration camps, tortures, terror and all that is required to enable about 3% of the population to rule the other 97% as slaves." Benson promised such dire consequences "unless we join with those small but determined and knowledgeable patriots." He added: "Words will not stop the communists" ... " [we] can no longer resist the Communist conspiracy as free citizens, but can resist Communist tyranny only by themselves becoming conspirators against established government". He rallied Americans to battle Communism "even with our lives, if the time comes when we must . . . before the Godless Communist Conspiracy destroys our civilization." (5)
Endnotes:
1 - "Benson Talk: 'LDS Okeh,' Son Declares," Salt Lake Tribune, Nov 20, 1963 (provided by Joe Geisner)
2 - "John Birch Society 'Rotten to Core,' Says Rep. Harding in Benson Reply," Ogden Standard Examiner, Nov 20, 1963 (provided by Joe Geisner)
3 - Hugh B. Brown to Ernest Cook, 22 Nov. 1963, as referenced in D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992). See also Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
4 - "Group Decides Against Picketing Benson Talk," Ogden Standard-Examiner, 3 Dec. 1963, A-7; Dew, Ezra Taft Benson, 372-73, as referenced in D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992). See also Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
5 - Benson, "We Must Become Alerted and Informed: An Address by Ezra Taft Benson At A Public Patriotic Meeting," Logan, Utah, 13 Dec. 1963, 2, transcript, Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City; B. Delworth Gardner, N. Keith Roberts, E. Boyd Wennergren preface to an annotated typescript of Benson's "We Must Become Alerted and Informed," Utah State Historical Society. In the margins of this annotated typescript are the page numbers of the Blue Book from which Benson's talk quoted or paraphrased; "Elder Benson Links Reds to (Civil) Rights Furor," Deseret News, 14 Dec. 1963, B-5; "Communism Moving In on U.S., Benson Warns," Salt Lake Tribune, 14 Dec. 1963, 28. Compare with Ross R. Barnett, governor of Mississippi, "The Rape Of Our Constitution and Civil Rights," in the Birch Society's American Opinion 6 (Sept. 1963): 20-23; John Rousselot, "Civil Rights: Communist Betrayal Of A Good Cause," American Opinion 7 (Feb. 1964): 1-11, as referenced in D. Michael Quinn, "Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992). See also Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
