-- 16 Apr 1966
President McKay's address at conference left church members "free to participate in non-Church meetings which are held to warn people of the threat of Communism." The Birch Society's Bulletin later published this statement. (1)
-- 19 April 1966
BYU's Ernest Wilkinson asked his administrative assistant to organize a group of "conservative" students to "monitor" professors who were regarded as Communist sympathizers. Nearly all of these BYU professors had publicly condemned the John Birch Society. ... For a year Stephen Hays Stephen Hays Russell, student-leader of this "spy ring," had already been reporting to the local Birch Society chapter and to Wilkinson about some of these professors. (2)
-- 20 April 1966
The student-organizer of [the BYU] 1966 surveillance emphasized his association with Ezra Taft Benson. "On one occasion, the head of the John Birch Society in Utah County took me to the Church Office Building at Salt Lake City to meet Apostle Ezra Taft Benson," Stephen Hays Russell later wrote. "I was introduced to Brother Benson as a `key conservative student at Brigham Young University.'" (3)
Stephen Hays Russell organized a dozen other Birch students in a room of BYU's Wilkinson Center. A non-student chapter leader of the Birch Society acted as guard for this organizing meeting of the BYU spy ring, the only time all would be together at once.
These student-spies included the president of BYU's Young Americans For Freedom, three other members of YAF, and also Cleon Skousen's nephew. Academically, their majors included economics, political science, history, Asian studies, math, and zoology. Stephen Hays Russell acknowledged choosing ten students to assist in the "monitoring," yet his reservation for the room was for twenty persons and chairs. Fellow-spy Ronald Ira Hankin consistently claimed that Russell selected fifteen to twenty students to monitor the BYU professors. However, less than fifteen student-spies have been identified. What linked all these student-spies was their participation in the Provo chapter of the John Birch Society. (4)
-- 25 Apr 1966
A "standing-room-only audience" listened as David O. McKay's nephew referred to the recent Robert Welch (founder of the John Birch Society) banquet as a "gathering of the clan," and referred to the "Dear Brethren" letter promoting it as "a deceitful device." Alluding to the controversies of the previous month, Quinn McKay observed: "What do we do when General Authorities do not see eye to eye on political issues? Which do we follow? If each of the General Authorities were to speak on `The Contributions of the John Birch Society' you would no doubt hear some rather contrasting views. Then which apostle would one quote?" McKay's nephew then referred to the Reed Benson letter which had ignited the race hysteria preceding the October 1965 conference. (5)
-- 29 April 1966
The diary of BYU's president acknowledged his receiving the first "voluntary report from certain students" about "certain liberals on the campus." This verifies the statement of Ronald Ira Hankin and David M. Sisson on 17 Sept. 1966, "During the last week of April we visited Stephen Hays Russell in his dorm in Deseret Towers During our visit Stephen told us he would be visiting President Wilkinson soon. . . . Later the same evening Stephen told me, Ron Hankin, that he was going to turn the report over to the President within the next three or four days." (6)
-- After Apr 1966
[S]ome Mormon Birchers felt that the negative publicity of April 1966 conference required a rapid response. Members of the society in Seattle released a statement which addressed such questions as "Is the Church opposed to the John Birch Society", "Has Brother Benson been rebuked by the Church?", "Is Brother Benson out-of-line in discussing communism in Church talks?", and "Has Reed Benson been rebuked by the Church?" To each of these questions, Seattle Birchers responded in the negative. (7)
-- May 1966
[Cleon Skousen] was an official speaker for the Birch Society in 1966, even though he was not formally a member of the organization. (8)
Endnotes:
1 - Deseret News "Church News," 16 Apr. 1966, 7 -- 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 - Whittaker and McClellan, "The Collection: Description," 1-2, register of the Hillam Papers; Stephen Hays Russell to Ernest L. Wilkinson, 26 Apr. 1965; Richard D. Poll to Wilkinson, 24 June 1965, defending himself against the complaints by Russell and E. Eugene Bryce, Wilkinson Papers, photocopy in my possession; Morrell, Bernhard, Hillam, Wimmer, Midgley, and Wirthlin, "Events Related To the Covert Surveillance of Faculty Members," 1-2; "Birch Society Reviewed By Prof. Louis Midgley," Brigham Young University Daily Universe, 22 May 1964, 2; "Faculty Members Deplore 'Fanaticism' of Booklet," Provo Daily Herald, 23 July 1964,14; "None Dare Call It Treason Causes Sincere Concern," Brigham Young University Daily Universe, 23 July 1964, 2; also Bergera and Priddis, Brigham Young University, 207-208. 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
3 - Stephen Hays Russell, Personal History of Stephen Hays Russell (N.P., 1983), 99 -- 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 - Interview of Ronald Ira Hankin by Ray C. Hillam and Louis C. Midgley, 17 Sept. 1966, Provo, Utah, transcript, 4-5, signed at the bottom of each page by Ronald I. Hankin, folder 5, Hillam Papers, and box 34, Buerger Papers; "Birchers Spied On Professors, Hialeah Student Said," Miami Herald, 3 Mar. 1967, A-32; Bergera and Priddis, Brigham Young University, 208. 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
5 - Quinn G. McKay, statements in Davies, Political Extremism Under the Spotlight, 12, 19,20-21. The "standing-room-only" reference is from the description of the meeting on the inside front cover -- 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 - Wilkinson diary, 29 Apr. 1966 -- 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
7 - "Authoritative Answers To Questions Concerning Anti-Communism," mimeographed statement, Americanism Discussion Group, 3624 56th Avenue, S.W. Seattle, Washington, 98116, copy in Special Collections, Lee Library -- 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
8 - List of speakers of the "American Opinion Speakers Bureau" in the Birch Society's American Opinion 9 (May 1966): 109 -- 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
Ezra Taft Benson, 5 Apr 1966
-- 5 Apr 1966
A former LDS mission president and current "section leader" of the Birch Society hand-carried a letter to McKay that "many people are confused and shocked by the recent editorial in the Church News, entitled: `Politics and Religion.' [regarding "Birchers"] " (1)
-- 7 Apr 1966
Robert Welch ... praised Benson as "one of the really great men of our times." Also in describing the Birch Society's "recruiting efforts," Welch said that "we have no better members, or more permanently dedicated members of the Society, than those who owe their first loyalty to the Mormon Church." Of this, newspapers reported that the Birch Society regarded Mormons as "a very good recruiting ground." (2)
-- 8 Apr 1966
Benson attended the Birch Society dinner in April 1966 without speaking, although his name was on the program as a speaker. Others at the dinner gave him a standing ovation. The Salt Lake Tribune's report included a photograph of Benson sitting next to the Birch president. BYU's president had declined the invitation to substitute for Apostle Benson in introducing Robert Welch. Even Benson's muted attendance at the Welch dinner infuriated anti-Birch Mormons, including the wife of Utah's incumbent Democratic governor. (3)
-- 11 Apr 1966
[T]he son of a previous First Presidency counselor publicly called Benson "the most divisive influence in the church today." [H. Grant Ivins, "Most Divisive Influence," Salt Lake Tribune, 11 Apr. 1966,18. His father was Anthony W. Ivins, First Presidency counselor from 1921 to 1934.] (4)
-- April 12, 15 1966
McKay learned that his statement on communism was not to be published. Confronting the editor of the Church News, McKay said "Well it should go in. I made that statement to 85,000 Priesthood members; the press has it, and many recordings have been made of it. I think it had better go in." Hugh B. Brown and N. Elden Tanner had McKay's son Lawrence ask McKay to omit that portion. (5)
-- 13 Apr 1966
Ernest Wilkinson and Skousen conversed about the Birch Society: "We would probably agree with 90% of their principles but we both believe that Ezra Taft Benson has made some tactical or procedural errors in trying to vouch President McKay in on everything he has done . . ." (6)
-- 16 Apr 1966
A Birch member in Arizona wrote a letter to "all of the General Authorities," which said "Brother Petersen's article was a tragic and regrettable mistake," and added a few lines later that the "Communists and their dupes have directed their attacks and smear campaign against the John Birch Society . . ." Petersen's editorial was "a shocking smear I'm sure the Church doesn't condone," according to a "Letter to the Editor" which the Deseret News refused to print. This Mormon Bircher concluded: "Elder Petersen owes an apology to the readers of the Church News for the unwarrantable and unauthorized innuendos." (7)
-- April 16, 1966
Benson met with McKay and described "The 1976 Committee," to be composed of 100 prominent men from throughout the country, which proposed to nominate Benson for president and Thurmond for vice president. McKay repeated his resistance to forming a third party, to which Benson replied that he also was "opposed to this, but this Committee and movement might result in a realignment between the two political parties." McKay responded "that this nation is rapidly moving down the road of soul-destroying socialism, and that I hoped and prayed that the efforts of the 1976 Committee would be successful in stemming the tide." He told Benson "to let them go ahead and wait and see what develops." Benson presented him with proposed statements that he and McKay might make if the committee moved as planned to propose his nomination, to which McKay agreed. McKay's statement ended with the words "his doing so has my full approval." (8)
-- April 16, 18, 1966
McKay reversed his previous position: "I told Clare that I did not wish these paragraphs deleted; that I gave them and the statement should stand as given; that many people have recordings of the full statement…. These things are very upsetting to me, and the deletion of what I said at Priesthood Meeting is causing a lot of people to question and to wonder what is going on." The deleted paragraphs were restored in the official Conference Report and Improvement Era. His Secretary Clare Middlemiss tried to get the full version published in the next issue of the Church News, but was thwarted by Lawrence McKay. (8)
Endnotes:
1 - Mark E. Anderson to David O. McKay, 5 Apr. 1966, MS 3744, LDS archives -- 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 - Robert Welch, "Dinner Meeting at Hotel Utah Introductory Remarks—April 7th, 1966 by Robert Welch," mimeograph, 1, Special Collections, Lee Library; Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 25-26, 35n32, cites this as a publication of the American Opinion Bookstore in Salt Lake City.; "Birch Dinner in Salt Lake City Vexes Mormons," New York Times, 8 Apr. 1966, 28, published as "Welch Says Mormons Make Good Birchers," Minneapolis Tribune, 9 Apr. 1966. 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
3 - "Welch Raps 'Senseless' U.S. Policy," Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Apr. 1966, B-l, with photo on B-2; "Birch Dinner in Salt Lake City Vexes Mormons," New York Times, 8 Apr. 1966, 28; Hugh W. Gillilan, "500 Misled Americans," and Mrs. Calvin L. Rampton, "JBS' Tasteless Violation," Salt Lake Tribune, 10 Apr. 1966, A-16, with reply by J. Reese Hunter, "Answers Mrs. Rampton," Salt Lake Tribune, 13 Apr. 1966,18; also Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 1,16. 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
4 - H. Grant Ivins, "Most Divisive Influence," Salt Lake Tribune, 11 Apr. 1966,18. His father was Anthony W. Ivins, First Presidency counselor from 1921 to 1934 -- 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
5 - David O. McKay diary 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)
6 - Wilkinson diary, 13 Apr. 1966 -- 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
7 - Joe H. Ferguson to "All General Authorities," 16 Apr. 1966, 4, with postscript to "Mark" (Mark E. Anderson) -- 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
8 - David O. McKay diary; 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/
A former LDS mission president and current "section leader" of the Birch Society hand-carried a letter to McKay that "many people are confused and shocked by the recent editorial in the Church News, entitled: `Politics and Religion.' [regarding "Birchers"] " (1)
-- 7 Apr 1966
Robert Welch ... praised Benson as "one of the really great men of our times." Also in describing the Birch Society's "recruiting efforts," Welch said that "we have no better members, or more permanently dedicated members of the Society, than those who owe their first loyalty to the Mormon Church." Of this, newspapers reported that the Birch Society regarded Mormons as "a very good recruiting ground." (2)
-- 8 Apr 1966
Benson attended the Birch Society dinner in April 1966 without speaking, although his name was on the program as a speaker. Others at the dinner gave him a standing ovation. The Salt Lake Tribune's report included a photograph of Benson sitting next to the Birch president. BYU's president had declined the invitation to substitute for Apostle Benson in introducing Robert Welch. Even Benson's muted attendance at the Welch dinner infuriated anti-Birch Mormons, including the wife of Utah's incumbent Democratic governor. (3)
-- 11 Apr 1966
[T]he son of a previous First Presidency counselor publicly called Benson "the most divisive influence in the church today." [H. Grant Ivins, "Most Divisive Influence," Salt Lake Tribune, 11 Apr. 1966,18. His father was Anthony W. Ivins, First Presidency counselor from 1921 to 1934.] (4)
-- April 12, 15 1966
McKay learned that his statement on communism was not to be published. Confronting the editor of the Church News, McKay said "Well it should go in. I made that statement to 85,000 Priesthood members; the press has it, and many recordings have been made of it. I think it had better go in." Hugh B. Brown and N. Elden Tanner had McKay's son Lawrence ask McKay to omit that portion. (5)
-- 13 Apr 1966
Ernest Wilkinson and Skousen conversed about the Birch Society: "We would probably agree with 90% of their principles but we both believe that Ezra Taft Benson has made some tactical or procedural errors in trying to vouch President McKay in on everything he has done . . ." (6)
-- 16 Apr 1966
A Birch member in Arizona wrote a letter to "all of the General Authorities," which said "Brother Petersen's article was a tragic and regrettable mistake," and added a few lines later that the "Communists and their dupes have directed their attacks and smear campaign against the John Birch Society . . ." Petersen's editorial was "a shocking smear I'm sure the Church doesn't condone," according to a "Letter to the Editor" which the Deseret News refused to print. This Mormon Bircher concluded: "Elder Petersen owes an apology to the readers of the Church News for the unwarrantable and unauthorized innuendos." (7)
-- April 16, 1966
Benson met with McKay and described "The 1976 Committee," to be composed of 100 prominent men from throughout the country, which proposed to nominate Benson for president and Thurmond for vice president. McKay repeated his resistance to forming a third party, to which Benson replied that he also was "opposed to this, but this Committee and movement might result in a realignment between the two political parties." McKay responded "that this nation is rapidly moving down the road of soul-destroying socialism, and that I hoped and prayed that the efforts of the 1976 Committee would be successful in stemming the tide." He told Benson "to let them go ahead and wait and see what develops." Benson presented him with proposed statements that he and McKay might make if the committee moved as planned to propose his nomination, to which McKay agreed. McKay's statement ended with the words "his doing so has my full approval." (8)
-- April 16, 18, 1966
McKay reversed his previous position: "I told Clare that I did not wish these paragraphs deleted; that I gave them and the statement should stand as given; that many people have recordings of the full statement…. These things are very upsetting to me, and the deletion of what I said at Priesthood Meeting is causing a lot of people to question and to wonder what is going on." The deleted paragraphs were restored in the official Conference Report and Improvement Era. His Secretary Clare Middlemiss tried to get the full version published in the next issue of the Church News, but was thwarted by Lawrence McKay. (8)
Endnotes:
1 - Mark E. Anderson to David O. McKay, 5 Apr. 1966, MS 3744, LDS archives -- 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 - Robert Welch, "Dinner Meeting at Hotel Utah Introductory Remarks—April 7th, 1966 by Robert Welch," mimeograph, 1, Special Collections, Lee Library; Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 25-26, 35n32, cites this as a publication of the American Opinion Bookstore in Salt Lake City.; "Birch Dinner in Salt Lake City Vexes Mormons," New York Times, 8 Apr. 1966, 28, published as "Welch Says Mormons Make Good Birchers," Minneapolis Tribune, 9 Apr. 1966. 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
3 - "Welch Raps 'Senseless' U.S. Policy," Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Apr. 1966, B-l, with photo on B-2; "Birch Dinner in Salt Lake City Vexes Mormons," New York Times, 8 Apr. 1966, 28; Hugh W. Gillilan, "500 Misled Americans," and Mrs. Calvin L. Rampton, "JBS' Tasteless Violation," Salt Lake Tribune, 10 Apr. 1966, A-16, with reply by J. Reese Hunter, "Answers Mrs. Rampton," Salt Lake Tribune, 13 Apr. 1966,18; also Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 1,16. 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
4 - H. Grant Ivins, "Most Divisive Influence," Salt Lake Tribune, 11 Apr. 1966,18. His father was Anthony W. Ivins, First Presidency counselor from 1921 to 1934 -- 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
5 - David O. McKay diary 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)
6 - Wilkinson diary, 13 Apr. 1966 -- 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
7 - Joe H. Ferguson to "All General Authorities," 16 Apr. 1966, 4, with postscript to "Mark" (Mark E. Anderson) -- 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
8 - David O. McKay diary; 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/
Ezra Taft Benson, 17 Mar 1966
-- 17 Mar 1966
[T]he First Presidency published a denial of any sponsorship of the [Birch Society - Robert] Welch dinner and emphatically stated that "the Church has no connection with the John Birch Society whatever." McKay stopped publication of his photograph in the Birch magazine and withdrew his permission for Benson to introduce the president of the Birch Society at its meeting during April conference. (1)
-- March 17, 1966
[Letter from former neighbor of McKay Robert Hinckly to McKay] The head of the Birch Society, Robert Welch, is due in Salt Lake City on April 6th or 7th, the time of General Conference. Efforts will be made to have him recognized in some way during Conference (Elder Benson may even propose to have him come to the stand to make some brief remarks). But this is the Robert Welch who slandered President Eisenhower by writing that "there is only one possible word to describe his purposes and actions. That word is 'treason.'" Welch bore the same kind of false witness against Eisenhower's Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, calling him "a Communist agent." He also accused the late President John F. Kennedy, during his brief term in office, of being sympathetic to the Communist goals of world conquest…. President McKay, I beseech you to give heed on these matters to all of your dedicated Counselors in the First Presidency…. I fervently hope that Mr. Welch, the Birch head, will receive no recognition of any sort from you or the Church while he is in Salt Lake City. And I beseech you to require a decision from Elder Benson forthwith as to whether his life will be dedicated to Church or Birch. He is doing the Church a great, great disservice by mixing the two. (2)
-- March 23, 1966
[David O. McKay] "I told Brother Benson that I think it would be best for him not to speak at strictly John Birch Society meetings, but approved of his filling speaking appointments already accepted which were not associated with this group." (3)
-- 26 Mar 1966
Mark E. Petersen's [Deseret News] editorial proclaimed that the LDS church has "nothing to do with racists, nothing to do with Birchers, nothing to do with any slanted group." This 1966 editorial further warned Mormons to "avoid extremes and extremists." (4)
-- March 29, 1966
[David O. McKay] "Brother Benson inquired about the dinner, that in the letter that had been sent out it was announced that he would be in attendance and introduce the speaker. President Tanner said that he told Brother Benson that he could not give him any further answer than was given in the meeting on Thursday. Elder Benson asked President Tanner if he would clear this matter for him with President McKay, and President Tanner had said no, that he felt that it was just as clear as anything could be." (3)
-- April, 1966
Benson had the Birch magazine print a photograph of deceased first counselor J. Reuben Clark. The Birch organ stated that Clark was "one of the earliest and most outspoken `alarmists' in America concerning the menace and the progress of the Communist Conspiracy." (5)
-- April 1966
In the Priesthood session, McKay delivered a statement on communism. The portion below was ommitted in the official conference report:
"We, therefore, commend and encourage every person and every group who are sincerely seeking to study Constitutional principles and awaken a sleeping and apathetic people to the alarming conditions that are rapidly advancing about us. We wish all of our citizens throughout the land were participating in some type of organized self-education in order that they could better appreciate what is happening and know what they can do about it. Supporting the FBI, the Police, the Congressional Committees investigating Communism, and various organizations that are attempting to awaken the people through educational means, is a policy we warmly endorse for all our people." (6)
-- early Apr 1966
During a four- month period, [Quinn McKay] attempted several times to get a statement from Reed Benson denying that he was the author of [the] September 1965 letter: "Two-and-a-half weeks ago I wrote a third letter, stating that if I heard nothing from him I could only arrive at one conclusion. I have heard nothing." McKay did not name Reed Benson specifically in his talk but described the rumors of September 1965 and paraphrased the letter that "all who belong to this group do all they can to foster a whispering campaign that there would be a racial demonstration at General Conference." McKay named Reed Benson specifically in his letter to J. D. Williams, 20 May 1966, Williams Papers. (7)
-- Early April 1966
[Apostle Harold B.] Lee's April 1966 conference talk was a thinly veiled assault against the Birch Society. Lee said, "We hear vicious attacks on public officials without the opportunity being given to them to make a defense or a rebuttal to the evil diatribes and character assassinations." He added "that the sowing of the seeds of hatred, suspicion, and contention in any organization is destructive of the purpose of life and unbecoming to the children of God."
Even more stunning to the Mormon audience aware of the controversy, Apostle Lee's general conference talk also publicly criticized Apostle Benson. Without naming his apostolic subordinate, Lee next told the April 1966 conference, "I would that all who are called to high places in the Church would determine, as did the Apostle to the Gentiles, to know and to preach nothing save Jesus Christ and him crucified." Then Lee darkly added: "The absolute test of the divinity of the calling of any officer in the Church is this: Is he in harmony with the brethren of that body to which he belongs? When we are out of harmony, we should look to ourselves first to find the way to unity." Apostles Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, and Mark E. Petersen had already indicated that Apostle Ezra Taft Benson was not in harmony with his quorum.
Apostle Lee concluded [the] April 1966 conference address with a devastating assessment of the unnamed Ezra Taft Benson. "A President of the Church has told us where we may expect to find false leaders: First, The hopelessly ignorant, whose lack of intelligence is due to their indolence and sloth," Lee noted. Then he continued, "Second--The proud and self-vaunting ones, who read by the lamp of their own conceit; who interpret by rules of their own contriving; who have become a law unto themselves, and so pose as the sole judges of their own doings." This "insinuation" (so described by Lee's biographer) was a far more direct condemnation of Benson than Benson's "Judas" allusion to Hugh B. Brown at general conference less than three years before. Brown had immediately recognized the personal reference in Benson's remarks, and no doubt Benson was equally astute as he listened to Lee's April 1966 talk. (8)
Endnotes:
1 - "Church Tells Position On Dinner for Bircher," Ogden Standard-Examiner, 17 Mar. 1966, A-10; "Notice To Church Members," Deseret News "Church News," 19 Mar. 1966,2; "So Much For Mr. Welch," Rocky Mountain Review, 17 Mar. 1966, 4. 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
2 - Robert Hinckley to McKay 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)
3 - David O. McKay diary 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)
4 - "Politics and Religion," Deseret News "Church News," 26 Mar. 1966,16 -- 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
5 - John Birch Society's American Opinion 9 (Apr. 1966): cover page, and 112 -- 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 - McKay, Conference Report, 109 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)
7 - Quinn G. McKay statement, 25 Apr. 1966, in J. Kenneth Davies, Political Extremism Under the Spotlight (Provo, UT: Young Democrats and Young Republicans of Brigham Young University, 1966), 21 -- 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
8 - Quinn's telephone conversation on 7 Nov. 1992 with L. Brent Goates. He described his father-in-law's April 1966 conference address as "an insinuation" concerning Benson but declined to comment further on the differences between the two apostles. Goates, Harold B. Lee, makes no reference to the dispute -- 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
[T]he First Presidency published a denial of any sponsorship of the [Birch Society - Robert] Welch dinner and emphatically stated that "the Church has no connection with the John Birch Society whatever." McKay stopped publication of his photograph in the Birch magazine and withdrew his permission for Benson to introduce the president of the Birch Society at its meeting during April conference. (1)
-- March 17, 1966
[Letter from former neighbor of McKay Robert Hinckly to McKay] The head of the Birch Society, Robert Welch, is due in Salt Lake City on April 6th or 7th, the time of General Conference. Efforts will be made to have him recognized in some way during Conference (Elder Benson may even propose to have him come to the stand to make some brief remarks). But this is the Robert Welch who slandered President Eisenhower by writing that "there is only one possible word to describe his purposes and actions. That word is 'treason.'" Welch bore the same kind of false witness against Eisenhower's Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, calling him "a Communist agent." He also accused the late President John F. Kennedy, during his brief term in office, of being sympathetic to the Communist goals of world conquest…. President McKay, I beseech you to give heed on these matters to all of your dedicated Counselors in the First Presidency…. I fervently hope that Mr. Welch, the Birch head, will receive no recognition of any sort from you or the Church while he is in Salt Lake City. And I beseech you to require a decision from Elder Benson forthwith as to whether his life will be dedicated to Church or Birch. He is doing the Church a great, great disservice by mixing the two. (2)
-- March 23, 1966
[David O. McKay] "I told Brother Benson that I think it would be best for him not to speak at strictly John Birch Society meetings, but approved of his filling speaking appointments already accepted which were not associated with this group." (3)
-- 26 Mar 1966
Mark E. Petersen's [Deseret News] editorial proclaimed that the LDS church has "nothing to do with racists, nothing to do with Birchers, nothing to do with any slanted group." This 1966 editorial further warned Mormons to "avoid extremes and extremists." (4)
-- March 29, 1966
[David O. McKay] "Brother Benson inquired about the dinner, that in the letter that had been sent out it was announced that he would be in attendance and introduce the speaker. President Tanner said that he told Brother Benson that he could not give him any further answer than was given in the meeting on Thursday. Elder Benson asked President Tanner if he would clear this matter for him with President McKay, and President Tanner had said no, that he felt that it was just as clear as anything could be." (3)
-- April, 1966
Benson had the Birch magazine print a photograph of deceased first counselor J. Reuben Clark. The Birch organ stated that Clark was "one of the earliest and most outspoken `alarmists' in America concerning the menace and the progress of the Communist Conspiracy." (5)
-- April 1966
In the Priesthood session, McKay delivered a statement on communism. The portion below was ommitted in the official conference report:
"We, therefore, commend and encourage every person and every group who are sincerely seeking to study Constitutional principles and awaken a sleeping and apathetic people to the alarming conditions that are rapidly advancing about us. We wish all of our citizens throughout the land were participating in some type of organized self-education in order that they could better appreciate what is happening and know what they can do about it. Supporting the FBI, the Police, the Congressional Committees investigating Communism, and various organizations that are attempting to awaken the people through educational means, is a policy we warmly endorse for all our people." (6)
-- early Apr 1966
During a four- month period, [Quinn McKay] attempted several times to get a statement from Reed Benson denying that he was the author of [the] September 1965 letter: "Two-and-a-half weeks ago I wrote a third letter, stating that if I heard nothing from him I could only arrive at one conclusion. I have heard nothing." McKay did not name Reed Benson specifically in his talk but described the rumors of September 1965 and paraphrased the letter that "all who belong to this group do all they can to foster a whispering campaign that there would be a racial demonstration at General Conference." McKay named Reed Benson specifically in his letter to J. D. Williams, 20 May 1966, Williams Papers. (7)
-- Early April 1966
[Apostle Harold B.] Lee's April 1966 conference talk was a thinly veiled assault against the Birch Society. Lee said, "We hear vicious attacks on public officials without the opportunity being given to them to make a defense or a rebuttal to the evil diatribes and character assassinations." He added "that the sowing of the seeds of hatred, suspicion, and contention in any organization is destructive of the purpose of life and unbecoming to the children of God."
Even more stunning to the Mormon audience aware of the controversy, Apostle Lee's general conference talk also publicly criticized Apostle Benson. Without naming his apostolic subordinate, Lee next told the April 1966 conference, "I would that all who are called to high places in the Church would determine, as did the Apostle to the Gentiles, to know and to preach nothing save Jesus Christ and him crucified." Then Lee darkly added: "The absolute test of the divinity of the calling of any officer in the Church is this: Is he in harmony with the brethren of that body to which he belongs? When we are out of harmony, we should look to ourselves first to find the way to unity." Apostles Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, and Mark E. Petersen had already indicated that Apostle Ezra Taft Benson was not in harmony with his quorum.
Apostle Lee concluded [the] April 1966 conference address with a devastating assessment of the unnamed Ezra Taft Benson. "A President of the Church has told us where we may expect to find false leaders: First, The hopelessly ignorant, whose lack of intelligence is due to their indolence and sloth," Lee noted. Then he continued, "Second--The proud and self-vaunting ones, who read by the lamp of their own conceit; who interpret by rules of their own contriving; who have become a law unto themselves, and so pose as the sole judges of their own doings." This "insinuation" (so described by Lee's biographer) was a far more direct condemnation of Benson than Benson's "Judas" allusion to Hugh B. Brown at general conference less than three years before. Brown had immediately recognized the personal reference in Benson's remarks, and no doubt Benson was equally astute as he listened to Lee's April 1966 talk. (8)
Endnotes:
1 - "Church Tells Position On Dinner for Bircher," Ogden Standard-Examiner, 17 Mar. 1966, A-10; "Notice To Church Members," Deseret News "Church News," 19 Mar. 1966,2; "So Much For Mr. Welch," Rocky Mountain Review, 17 Mar. 1966, 4. 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
2 - Robert Hinckley to McKay 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)
3 - David O. McKay diary 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)
4 - "Politics and Religion," Deseret News "Church News," 26 Mar. 1966,16 -- 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
5 - John Birch Society's American Opinion 9 (Apr. 1966): cover page, and 112 -- 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 - McKay, Conference Report, 109 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)
7 - Quinn G. McKay statement, 25 Apr. 1966, in J. Kenneth Davies, Political Extremism Under the Spotlight (Provo, UT: Young Democrats and Young Republicans of Brigham Young University, 1966), 21 -- 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
8 - Quinn's telephone conversation on 7 Nov. 1992 with L. Brent Goates. He described his father-in-law's April 1966 conference address as "an insinuation" concerning Benson but declined to comment further on the differences between the two apostles. Goates, Harold B. Lee, makes no reference to the dispute -- 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
Ezra Taft Benson, Mar 1966
-- Mar 1966
[T]he Birch magazine sent a letter to all Utah subscribers that its upcoming cover photograph of McKay was intended "to favorably impress your Mormon friends." (1)
-- 2 March 1966
[The First Presidency] learned that the Birch Society's March Bulletin encouraged Birch members to write "Personal and Confidential" letters to President McKay and to his two new counselors, Joseph Fielding Smith and Thorpe B. Isaacson. (2)
-- 3 March 1966
The entire First Presidency decided that "Elder Benson to be told not to mention Birch Society." (3)
Apostle Benson notified the Twelve's president that President McKay had approved the apostle's acceptance of all invitations to speak at testimonials for the Birch Society's president, Robert Welch. "I feel no compunction to make the Church popular with liberals, socialists, or communists. I do feel responsible to tell the truth," Benson wrote. Of the fact that Mormons were joining the Birch Society and Birchers were becoming Mormons, he added: "and those who love the truth will embrace it without compromise and that is exactly what is happening." (4)
-- 8 Mar 1966
J. Reese Hunter, chair of the [Birch Society - Robert] Welch dinner meeting, mailed a "Dear Brethren" letter to stake presidents and bishops inviting them to attend "with your counselors and wives." (5)
-- March 8, 1966
Elders Peterson and Lee read to McKay the minutes of the First Presidency meeting of February 18, in which he had unambiguously ordered Petersen to stop the printing of his picture on the magazine. Without mentioning Benson by name, McKay replied, "They have resorted to everything they could to get me associated with that." Tanner said, "One reason we thought we should come this morning is if you thought it should be stopped we ought to get word to them immediately." McKay replied, "You get them by telephone. Tell them I do not want anything to do with it, that I do not want my name associated with John Birch." Tanner then showed McKay the issue of American Opinion with Benson's picture on the front cover and said, "That is the way they would want to put your picture, and even if they have it printed they could put a new cover on without any trouble." McKay replied, "I do not want my picture on it. Stop it!"
At McKay's direction, his son Lawrence then phoned the editorial office of American Opinion and required that they stop the publication of McKay's picture "no matter what the cost." (6)
-- circa 14 Mar 1966
Some ... circulated a proposal which urged anti-Birch Mormons to petition the First Presidency and the Quorum of Twelve's president for the "removal of Benson from the Quorum of the Twelve." According to this "OPERATION CHECKMATE" handout, Benson's transgressions were "flagrant insubordination," "pulpit misuse," and "demeaning the President of the Church by callously taking advantage of his advanced years." ... [T]he First Presidency defined the situation as "a crisis." (7)
-- Mar 15, 1966
In special meeting President David O. McKay, second counselor N. Eldon Tanner, and apostles Joseph Fielding Smith and Mark E. Petersen agree to counter Apostle Ezra Taft Benson's preaching of "John Birchism at stake conferences" and his efforts to align LDS church with John Birch Society during upcoming conference. As result CHURCH NEWS publishes Petersen's unsigned editorial on Mar. 26 that LDS church has "nothing to do with Birchers. . . .avoid extremes and extremists." Apostle Harold B. Lee's conference talk also attacks Birch Society and indicates that unnamed Benson is not in "harmony" with his quorum.
-- 15 Mar 1966
Second counselor N. Eldon Tanner, the Twelve's president Joseph Fielding Smith, and Apostle Mark E. Petersen held an emergency meeting with David O. McKay at his home in Huntsville, Utah. Tanner read the [8 Mar] Hunter letter and observed that "KSL, at the request of the John Birch Society, was rebroadcasting the address given recently by Brother Benson in the Assembly Hall, in which address he gave strong endorsement to the John Birch Society." The church president said that it was necessary to issue a statement disassociating the church from these activities. Then "President McKay suggested that Elder Benson might not be assigned to stake conferences if he referred to the John Birch Society. The President then said that Elder Benson should be instructed not to discuss the Birch Society in any meeting, and that he should not advocate this group." First counselor Hugh B. Brown was not present at this meeting to express his views or direct its outcome. (8)
Endnotes:
1 - Philip K. Langan to "All Friends of American Opinion in Utah," Mar. 1966, quoted in Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 27-28 -- 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 - The John Birch Society Bulletin (Mar. 1966): 22-24; "CROSS REFERENCE SHEET," 2 Mar. 1966, in "Hugh B. Brown's File on the John Birch Society." 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
3 - "Copy of First Presidency minutes digest 3-3-66," in "Hugh B. Brown's File on the John Birch Society." 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
4 - Ezra Taft Benson to Joseph Fielding Smith, 3 Mar. 1966, MS 4940, LDS archives -- 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
5 - J. Reese Hunter to "Dear Brethren," 8 Mar. 1966, LDS archives, photocopy in Williams Papers; Utah Forum For the American Idea, "Program," 11 Feb. 1966, Williams Papers. 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
6 - David O. McKay diary; Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Write, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press (2005)
7 - "OPERATION CHECKMATE," original typed document, Williams Papers, also photocopy inscribed, "J D Williams, March 14,1966," folder 2, box 124, Robert H. Hinckley Papers, Western Americana, Marriott Library. Although undated, this document was drafted after the J. Reese Hunter letter of 8 Mar. 1966 (which "OPERATION CHECKMATE" referred to) and before the First Presidency statement of 17 March, which was the kind of official statement recommended by "OPERATION CHECKMATE," 4 -- 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
8 - Campbell and Poll, Hugh B. Brown, 259; minutes of meeting on 15 Mar. 1966 with David O. McKay, N. Eldon Tanner, Joseph Fielding Smith, and Mark E. Petersen in Huntsville, Utah. 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
[T]he Birch magazine sent a letter to all Utah subscribers that its upcoming cover photograph of McKay was intended "to favorably impress your Mormon friends." (1)
-- 2 March 1966
[The First Presidency] learned that the Birch Society's March Bulletin encouraged Birch members to write "Personal and Confidential" letters to President McKay and to his two new counselors, Joseph Fielding Smith and Thorpe B. Isaacson. (2)
-- 3 March 1966
The entire First Presidency decided that "Elder Benson to be told not to mention Birch Society." (3)
Apostle Benson notified the Twelve's president that President McKay had approved the apostle's acceptance of all invitations to speak at testimonials for the Birch Society's president, Robert Welch. "I feel no compunction to make the Church popular with liberals, socialists, or communists. I do feel responsible to tell the truth," Benson wrote. Of the fact that Mormons were joining the Birch Society and Birchers were becoming Mormons, he added: "and those who love the truth will embrace it without compromise and that is exactly what is happening." (4)
-- 8 Mar 1966
J. Reese Hunter, chair of the [Birch Society - Robert] Welch dinner meeting, mailed a "Dear Brethren" letter to stake presidents and bishops inviting them to attend "with your counselors and wives." (5)
-- March 8, 1966
Elders Peterson and Lee read to McKay the minutes of the First Presidency meeting of February 18, in which he had unambiguously ordered Petersen to stop the printing of his picture on the magazine. Without mentioning Benson by name, McKay replied, "They have resorted to everything they could to get me associated with that." Tanner said, "One reason we thought we should come this morning is if you thought it should be stopped we ought to get word to them immediately." McKay replied, "You get them by telephone. Tell them I do not want anything to do with it, that I do not want my name associated with John Birch." Tanner then showed McKay the issue of American Opinion with Benson's picture on the front cover and said, "That is the way they would want to put your picture, and even if they have it printed they could put a new cover on without any trouble." McKay replied, "I do not want my picture on it. Stop it!"
At McKay's direction, his son Lawrence then phoned the editorial office of American Opinion and required that they stop the publication of McKay's picture "no matter what the cost." (6)
-- circa 14 Mar 1966
Some ... circulated a proposal which urged anti-Birch Mormons to petition the First Presidency and the Quorum of Twelve's president for the "removal of Benson from the Quorum of the Twelve." According to this "OPERATION CHECKMATE" handout, Benson's transgressions were "flagrant insubordination," "pulpit misuse," and "demeaning the President of the Church by callously taking advantage of his advanced years." ... [T]he First Presidency defined the situation as "a crisis." (7)
-- Mar 15, 1966
In special meeting President David O. McKay, second counselor N. Eldon Tanner, and apostles Joseph Fielding Smith and Mark E. Petersen agree to counter Apostle Ezra Taft Benson's preaching of "John Birchism at stake conferences" and his efforts to align LDS church with John Birch Society during upcoming conference. As result CHURCH NEWS publishes Petersen's unsigned editorial on Mar. 26 that LDS church has "nothing to do with Birchers. . . .avoid extremes and extremists." Apostle Harold B. Lee's conference talk also attacks Birch Society and indicates that unnamed Benson is not in "harmony" with his quorum.
-- 15 Mar 1966
Second counselor N. Eldon Tanner, the Twelve's president Joseph Fielding Smith, and Apostle Mark E. Petersen held an emergency meeting with David O. McKay at his home in Huntsville, Utah. Tanner read the [8 Mar] Hunter letter and observed that "KSL, at the request of the John Birch Society, was rebroadcasting the address given recently by Brother Benson in the Assembly Hall, in which address he gave strong endorsement to the John Birch Society." The church president said that it was necessary to issue a statement disassociating the church from these activities. Then "President McKay suggested that Elder Benson might not be assigned to stake conferences if he referred to the John Birch Society. The President then said that Elder Benson should be instructed not to discuss the Birch Society in any meeting, and that he should not advocate this group." First counselor Hugh B. Brown was not present at this meeting to express his views or direct its outcome. (8)
Endnotes:
1 - Philip K. Langan to "All Friends of American Opinion in Utah," Mar. 1966, quoted in Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 27-28 -- 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 - The John Birch Society Bulletin (Mar. 1966): 22-24; "CROSS REFERENCE SHEET," 2 Mar. 1966, in "Hugh B. Brown's File on the John Birch Society." 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
3 - "Copy of First Presidency minutes digest 3-3-66," in "Hugh B. Brown's File on the John Birch Society." 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
4 - Ezra Taft Benson to Joseph Fielding Smith, 3 Mar. 1966, MS 4940, LDS archives -- 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
5 - J. Reese Hunter to "Dear Brethren," 8 Mar. 1966, LDS archives, photocopy in Williams Papers; Utah Forum For the American Idea, "Program," 11 Feb. 1966, Williams Papers. 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
6 - David O. McKay diary; Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Write, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press (2005)
7 - "OPERATION CHECKMATE," original typed document, Williams Papers, also photocopy inscribed, "J D Williams, March 14,1966," folder 2, box 124, Robert H. Hinckley Papers, Western Americana, Marriott Library. Although undated, this document was drafted after the J. Reese Hunter letter of 8 Mar. 1966 (which "OPERATION CHECKMATE" referred to) and before the First Presidency statement of 17 March, which was the kind of official statement recommended by "OPERATION CHECKMATE," 4 -- 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
8 - Campbell and Poll, Hugh B. Brown, 259; minutes of meeting on 15 Mar. 1966 with David O. McKay, N. Eldon Tanner, Joseph Fielding Smith, and Mark E. Petersen in Huntsville, Utah. 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
Ezra Taft Benson, February 9, 1966
-- February 9, 1966
[David O. McKay] Met by appointment Elder Ezra Taft Benson who said that the editors of the American Opinion magazine would like to have my portrait on the cover of their April issue. He said this magazine is published in Belmont, Massachusetts, and is a high-class publication. He showed me several past issues with pictures of Senator Barry Goldwater, the Honorable J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, and other prominent Americans. Brother Benson said that they needed a colored photograph and some biographical material, and I asked him to get these from my secretary, Clare. After discussing the matter, I could see no reason why I should not grant permission for the editors to use my picture.
[Benson did not inform McKay that American Opinion was the montly magazine of the John Birch Society]. (1)
-- 11 Feb 1966
Benson spoke about the Birch Society to a standing-room-only crowd at the Assembly Hall on Salt Lake Temple Square. He charged that "a minority bloc of American liberals [had] formed a propaganda coalition with the Communists . . . [and] drew the line of fire away from the Communist Conspiracy and to focus the heat of attack on the patriots." Benson added that this conspiracy of liberals and Communists "decided to level practically their entire arsenal on The John Birch Society."
These remarks had already been published by the Birch Society's national headquarters two years before Benson delivered them on Temple Square. They were a verbatim restatement of a speech Benson had prepared for an Idaho "Freedom Forum" as he was about to depart for his European Mission presidency in December 1963.
Benson then told this February 1966 meeting on Temple Square that he had read the Birch Society's Blue Book, Robert Welch's The Politician, and recommended that the audience subscribe to the Birch Society's official magazine American Opinion. His talk even included the mailing address. Of his support for the Birch Society, the Deseret News added Benson's comment to the Mormons on Temple Square: "It has been very unpopular to defend this group," he said, "But I can remember when it was unpopular to defend my own church." (2)
-- 18 February 1966
[T]he First Presidency decided that a picture "of Pres. McKay not to appear on cover of American Opinion Magazine." ... Benson had obtained McKay's permission for the church president's photograph to appear on the cover of the April issue of this official magazine of the Birch Society. (3)
-- February 18, 1966
[David O. McKay] Apostle Mark E. Petersen stated that the Church Information Service had received a bill for $25 for a color photograph of McKay for the cover o f American Opinion, "which is the John Birch Society organ…. Elder Petersen said that if my picture is so published it will certainly look as though the Church is endorsing the John Birch Society. ... I said that my picture should not appear on this magazine; that the Church has nothing to do with the John Birch Society. I authorized Brother Petersen to tell Brother Benson that he had brought this matter to my attention, and had been told by me to stop the printing of my picture on this magazine; that I do not want it used in that way. I said to Brother Petersen, "You are ordered in the presence of these men to stop it." I further said that I do not want to have anything to do with the John Birch Society; that the Church has had nothing to do with it in the past, and that so far as Brother Benson is concerned, I do not think we would hear anything more about it. (1)
-- February 19, 1966
Benson avoided the issue of American Opinion being a John Birch Society publication, nor did McKay bring it up. Instead, he repeated that "the magazine is considered a high-type magazine" on whose cover the pictures of Senator Barry Goldwater, J. Edgar Hoover, and other prominent men had appeared. Furthermore, he reminded McKay that he had given his word on the matter. Although McKay had been adamant only two days before, he now decided "that they had better go ahead with it since I had given my permission for this to be done." McKay did not tell any of his other associates that he had reversed field on the issue. (1)
-- 22 Feb 1966
During a visit at church headquarters the last week of February, Senator Moss found "a number of the Brethren boiling pretty good" about Benson's recent talk. These general authorities "decided that Brother Benson's Assembly Hall speech should not be printed in the Church News. This was the decision until it was found that President McKay had already approved its printing and his office had directed the Deseret News to print it." (4)
-- Feb 26, 1966
A temple-square talk by Apostle Ezra Taft Benson is printed in the DESERET NEWS. However references to the John Birch Society are deleted without Apostle Benson's permission. In the talk he said that he had read the Birch Society's Blue Book, Robert Welch's The Politician, and recommended that the audience subscribe to the Birch Society's official magazine American Opinion. His talk even included the mailing address."
-- 26 Feb 1966
Benson's opponents in the hierarchy did manage to delete "without permission" the Birch Society references from the version of Benson's talk published in the Church News. (5)
Endnotes:
1 - David O. McKay diary 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)
2 - Ezra Taft Benson, "Stand Up For Freedom," address to the Utah Forum for the American Idea, Assembly Hall, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, 11 Feb. 1966, typescript, 9, 11, Vertical File, Special Collections, Marriott Library; "Benson Hits Liberals' 'Conspiracy': Assails Plots, Propaganda," Salt Lake Tribune, 12 Feb. 1966,17. 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
3 - "Copy of First Presidency minutes digest 2-18-66," in "Hugh B. Brown's File on the John Birch Society." 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
4 - Reported by U.S. senator Frank E. Moss to U.S. representative Ken W. Dyal, 2 Mar. 1966, folder 5, box 184, Moss Papers. Moss wrote that this assessment was based on conversations a week earlier with "the Brethren." However, his Daily Activity Log refers to meeting with only one current general authority—Hugh B. Brown on 22 February (box 713, Moss Papers) -- 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
5 - "Stand Up For Freedom: Partial Text Of Talk Given to S.L. Group By Elder Benson," Deseret News "Church News," 26 Feb. 1966,10-12; Duane Price to D. Michael Quinn, 9 Aug. 1992, summarizing his meeting with Benson in April 1966. Price was a supporter of Benson's position on the Birch Society. Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 35n29, alluded to the censorship of the talk in the Church News. 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
[David O. McKay] Met by appointment Elder Ezra Taft Benson who said that the editors of the American Opinion magazine would like to have my portrait on the cover of their April issue. He said this magazine is published in Belmont, Massachusetts, and is a high-class publication. He showed me several past issues with pictures of Senator Barry Goldwater, the Honorable J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, and other prominent Americans. Brother Benson said that they needed a colored photograph and some biographical material, and I asked him to get these from my secretary, Clare. After discussing the matter, I could see no reason why I should not grant permission for the editors to use my picture.
[Benson did not inform McKay that American Opinion was the montly magazine of the John Birch Society]. (1)
-- 11 Feb 1966
Benson spoke about the Birch Society to a standing-room-only crowd at the Assembly Hall on Salt Lake Temple Square. He charged that "a minority bloc of American liberals [had] formed a propaganda coalition with the Communists . . . [and] drew the line of fire away from the Communist Conspiracy and to focus the heat of attack on the patriots." Benson added that this conspiracy of liberals and Communists "decided to level practically their entire arsenal on The John Birch Society."
These remarks had already been published by the Birch Society's national headquarters two years before Benson delivered them on Temple Square. They were a verbatim restatement of a speech Benson had prepared for an Idaho "Freedom Forum" as he was about to depart for his European Mission presidency in December 1963.
Benson then told this February 1966 meeting on Temple Square that he had read the Birch Society's Blue Book, Robert Welch's The Politician, and recommended that the audience subscribe to the Birch Society's official magazine American Opinion. His talk even included the mailing address. Of his support for the Birch Society, the Deseret News added Benson's comment to the Mormons on Temple Square: "It has been very unpopular to defend this group," he said, "But I can remember when it was unpopular to defend my own church." (2)
-- 18 February 1966
[T]he First Presidency decided that a picture "of Pres. McKay not to appear on cover of American Opinion Magazine." ... Benson had obtained McKay's permission for the church president's photograph to appear on the cover of the April issue of this official magazine of the Birch Society. (3)
-- February 18, 1966
[David O. McKay] Apostle Mark E. Petersen stated that the Church Information Service had received a bill for $25 for a color photograph of McKay for the cover o f American Opinion, "which is the John Birch Society organ…. Elder Petersen said that if my picture is so published it will certainly look as though the Church is endorsing the John Birch Society. ... I said that my picture should not appear on this magazine; that the Church has nothing to do with the John Birch Society. I authorized Brother Petersen to tell Brother Benson that he had brought this matter to my attention, and had been told by me to stop the printing of my picture on this magazine; that I do not want it used in that way. I said to Brother Petersen, "You are ordered in the presence of these men to stop it." I further said that I do not want to have anything to do with the John Birch Society; that the Church has had nothing to do with it in the past, and that so far as Brother Benson is concerned, I do not think we would hear anything more about it. (1)
-- February 19, 1966
Benson avoided the issue of American Opinion being a John Birch Society publication, nor did McKay bring it up. Instead, he repeated that "the magazine is considered a high-type magazine" on whose cover the pictures of Senator Barry Goldwater, J. Edgar Hoover, and other prominent men had appeared. Furthermore, he reminded McKay that he had given his word on the matter. Although McKay had been adamant only two days before, he now decided "that they had better go ahead with it since I had given my permission for this to be done." McKay did not tell any of his other associates that he had reversed field on the issue. (1)
-- 22 Feb 1966
During a visit at church headquarters the last week of February, Senator Moss found "a number of the Brethren boiling pretty good" about Benson's recent talk. These general authorities "decided that Brother Benson's Assembly Hall speech should not be printed in the Church News. This was the decision until it was found that President McKay had already approved its printing and his office had directed the Deseret News to print it." (4)
-- Feb 26, 1966
A temple-square talk by Apostle Ezra Taft Benson is printed in the DESERET NEWS. However references to the John Birch Society are deleted without Apostle Benson's permission. In the talk he said that he had read the Birch Society's Blue Book, Robert Welch's The Politician, and recommended that the audience subscribe to the Birch Society's official magazine American Opinion. His talk even included the mailing address."
-- 26 Feb 1966
Benson's opponents in the hierarchy did manage to delete "without permission" the Birch Society references from the version of Benson's talk published in the Church News. (5)
Endnotes:
1 - David O. McKay diary 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)
2 - Ezra Taft Benson, "Stand Up For Freedom," address to the Utah Forum for the American Idea, Assembly Hall, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, 11 Feb. 1966, typescript, 9, 11, Vertical File, Special Collections, Marriott Library; "Benson Hits Liberals' 'Conspiracy': Assails Plots, Propaganda," Salt Lake Tribune, 12 Feb. 1966,17. 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
3 - "Copy of First Presidency minutes digest 2-18-66," in "Hugh B. Brown's File on the John Birch Society." 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
4 - Reported by U.S. senator Frank E. Moss to U.S. representative Ken W. Dyal, 2 Mar. 1966, folder 5, box 184, Moss Papers. Moss wrote that this assessment was based on conversations a week earlier with "the Brethren." However, his Daily Activity Log refers to meeting with only one current general authority—Hugh B. Brown on 22 February (box 713, Moss Papers) -- 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
5 - "Stand Up For Freedom: Partial Text Of Talk Given to S.L. Group By Elder Benson," Deseret News "Church News," 26 Feb. 1966,10-12; Duane Price to D. Michael Quinn, 9 Aug. 1992, summarizing his meeting with Benson in April 1966. Price was a supporter of Benson's position on the Birch Society. Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 35n29, alluded to the censorship of the talk in the Church News. 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
Ezra Taft Benson, November 16, 1965
-- November 16, 1965
... If and when the United States, as the last bastion of freedom, is taken over by the Communists, the terror they will use to enforce, consolidate, and maintain their rule will be both more crule and more extensive, than anything the human race has ever before known or imagined. And our children who survived will one day certainly ask: "What did my parents do to prevent this slavery for American..."
"Ezra Taft Benson said 'I feel that a man must not only stand for the right principles, but he must fight for them. And let me at this time salute those valiant patriots of the John Birch Society. ... They can be proud of the friends they've gained and the enemies they've earned.' ... have been smeared by every conceivable method ... truth is our weapon. (1)
-- November 19, 1965
McKay met privately with Benson, who "gave a report on the serious inroads the Communists have made in this country…. I am convinced that our country is already on the road to Socialism, and that the Communists are making gains here." Benson then suggested that McKay's new counselor, Thorpe Isaacson, be sent to a two-day John Birch Society seminar in December to learn about "Communism and conditions in our country." McKay agreed. Isaacson later elected not to go to the seminar. (2)
-- November 24, 1965
[Clare Middlemiss note] "President Brown said, 'Why cannot we have harmony?'
Clare answered, 'Yes, why?'
[Brown:] 'You got off the wrong track with me over the John Birch Society and Brother Benson.'
[Middlemiss:] 'I have only wanted to fight Communism, and have answered letters on the John Birch Society the way President McKay has told me to.'
President Brown said, 'I have wanted to fight Communism also, but not the way Benson or the John Birch Society are doing it —everybody is against them.'" (3)
-- 8 Dec 1965
McKay's secretary, Clare Middlemiss ... wrote a church member: "President McKay has further instructed me to tell you that Elder Ezra Taft Benson has not been rebuked by the Church . . . and, since Communism is a definite threat to the eternal principle of free agency, it cannot be considered that he is `out of line' when discussing it in talks." (4)
-- 16 Dec 1965
By the end of December 1965 other general authorities vetoed an effort by one of Benson's intermediaries to have the Birch Society's president speak at Brigham Young University. Those voting against the proposal were Apostles Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Delbert L. Stapley, Marion G. Romney, and LeGrand Richards. That unanimous vote reflected First Presidency counselor N. Eldon Tanner's statement to a political science professor: "We certainly don't want the Birch Society to get a hold on the BYU campus." Tanner had served as a counselor for the past two years since Henry D. Moyle's death. (5)
-- January 11, 1966
[David O. McKay] "I said that I think the time has come for the First Presidency to make a statement as to the Church's attitude regarding Communism; that this, however, should have nothing whatever to do with the Birch Society, and should be a message from the First Presidency of the Church. The Brethren agreed that there is a great need for such a message, and I was persuaded that I am the one who should prepare such a statement." (2)
-- 16 Jan. 1966
Benson says "I know their [John Birch Society] leaders, I have attended two of their all-day Council meetings. I have read their literature. I feel I know their program." (6)
-- 16 Jan 1966
In January 1966 Benson endorsed the Birch Society and its program at stake conferences and at the LDS institute in Logan, Utah. (7)
-- 21 Jan 1966
[Benson's endorsement of the Birch Society in stake conference and the Logan LDS institute this month] disturbed Utah's Republican senator, a devoted Mormon. Senator Wallace Bennett urged David O. McKay's son to persuade the church president to disassociate himself from Benson's "very clever statement about your father which would seem to give your father's endorsement" to the Birch Society. (8)
-- During End of Janurary, 1966
At the end of the month the Birch Society released its Bulletin which announced that Benson would speak at a testimonial for Robert Welch in Seattle on 19 February "with the full approval of President McKay of the Mormon Church." (9)
Endnotes:
1 - "Birch Society Advises Public Of Film," Leland Edwards, Logan Herald Journal, Nov 16, 1965 (provided by Joe Geisner)
2 - David O. McKay diary 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)
3 - Clare Middlemiss, "Notes" 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)
4 - Middlemiss to Russell F. Dickey, 8 Dec. 1965 -- 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
5 - Board of Trustees, Executive Committee minutes, 16 Dec. 1965, archives, Brigham Young University; Wilkinson diary, 21 Dec. 1965; Bergera and Priddis, Brigham Young University, 197; N. Eldon Tanner statement in the mid-1960s to J. Kenneth Davies as reported in Davies interview by Gary James Bergera, 24 Dec. 1984.However, Apostle Delbert L. Stapley's vote against the Birch Society president as a BYU speaker should not be construed as evidence of his disagreement with Benson's political views. For example, Stapley wrote a woman that "we are drifting towards the socialized state," and sent her copies of Benson's conference talks on Communism (Stapley to Mrs. W. E. Daddow, 19 Feb. 1965, LDS archives). 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
6 - "Benson Took Birchite on Tours," Washington Post, 12 July 1961, D-ll; "The Council," Vie John Birch Society Bulletin (Feb. 1960): 2. 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
7 - "LDS Apostle Backs Up Birch Group," Salt Lake Tribune, 16 Jan. 1966, B-14; "Speak Up! Says Ezra to Save Your Soul and Maybe Your Country," Fact Finder 24 (28 Feb. 1966). 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
8 - Wallace F. Bennett to David Lawrence McKay, 21 Jan. 1966, folder 3, box 24, Bennett Papers, Western Americana, Marriott Library -- 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
9 - The John Birch Society Bulletin (Feb. 1966): 30 -- 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
... If and when the United States, as the last bastion of freedom, is taken over by the Communists, the terror they will use to enforce, consolidate, and maintain their rule will be both more crule and more extensive, than anything the human race has ever before known or imagined. And our children who survived will one day certainly ask: "What did my parents do to prevent this slavery for American..."
"Ezra Taft Benson said 'I feel that a man must not only stand for the right principles, but he must fight for them. And let me at this time salute those valiant patriots of the John Birch Society. ... They can be proud of the friends they've gained and the enemies they've earned.' ... have been smeared by every conceivable method ... truth is our weapon. (1)
-- November 19, 1965
McKay met privately with Benson, who "gave a report on the serious inroads the Communists have made in this country…. I am convinced that our country is already on the road to Socialism, and that the Communists are making gains here." Benson then suggested that McKay's new counselor, Thorpe Isaacson, be sent to a two-day John Birch Society seminar in December to learn about "Communism and conditions in our country." McKay agreed. Isaacson later elected not to go to the seminar. (2)
-- November 24, 1965
[Clare Middlemiss note] "President Brown said, 'Why cannot we have harmony?'
Clare answered, 'Yes, why?'
[Brown:] 'You got off the wrong track with me over the John Birch Society and Brother Benson.'
[Middlemiss:] 'I have only wanted to fight Communism, and have answered letters on the John Birch Society the way President McKay has told me to.'
President Brown said, 'I have wanted to fight Communism also, but not the way Benson or the John Birch Society are doing it —everybody is against them.'" (3)
-- 8 Dec 1965
McKay's secretary, Clare Middlemiss ... wrote a church member: "President McKay has further instructed me to tell you that Elder Ezra Taft Benson has not been rebuked by the Church . . . and, since Communism is a definite threat to the eternal principle of free agency, it cannot be considered that he is `out of line' when discussing it in talks." (4)
-- 16 Dec 1965
By the end of December 1965 other general authorities vetoed an effort by one of Benson's intermediaries to have the Birch Society's president speak at Brigham Young University. Those voting against the proposal were Apostles Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Delbert L. Stapley, Marion G. Romney, and LeGrand Richards. That unanimous vote reflected First Presidency counselor N. Eldon Tanner's statement to a political science professor: "We certainly don't want the Birch Society to get a hold on the BYU campus." Tanner had served as a counselor for the past two years since Henry D. Moyle's death. (5)
-- January 11, 1966
[David O. McKay] "I said that I think the time has come for the First Presidency to make a statement as to the Church's attitude regarding Communism; that this, however, should have nothing whatever to do with the Birch Society, and should be a message from the First Presidency of the Church. The Brethren agreed that there is a great need for such a message, and I was persuaded that I am the one who should prepare such a statement." (2)
-- 16 Jan. 1966
Benson says "I know their [John Birch Society] leaders, I have attended two of their all-day Council meetings. I have read their literature. I feel I know their program." (6)
-- 16 Jan 1966
In January 1966 Benson endorsed the Birch Society and its program at stake conferences and at the LDS institute in Logan, Utah. (7)
-- 21 Jan 1966
[Benson's endorsement of the Birch Society in stake conference and the Logan LDS institute this month] disturbed Utah's Republican senator, a devoted Mormon. Senator Wallace Bennett urged David O. McKay's son to persuade the church president to disassociate himself from Benson's "very clever statement about your father which would seem to give your father's endorsement" to the Birch Society. (8)
-- During End of Janurary, 1966
At the end of the month the Birch Society released its Bulletin which announced that Benson would speak at a testimonial for Robert Welch in Seattle on 19 February "with the full approval of President McKay of the Mormon Church." (9)
Endnotes:
1 - "Birch Society Advises Public Of Film," Leland Edwards, Logan Herald Journal, Nov 16, 1965 (provided by Joe Geisner)
2 - David O. McKay diary 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)
3 - Clare Middlemiss, "Notes" 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)
4 - Middlemiss to Russell F. Dickey, 8 Dec. 1965 -- 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
5 - Board of Trustees, Executive Committee minutes, 16 Dec. 1965, archives, Brigham Young University; Wilkinson diary, 21 Dec. 1965; Bergera and Priddis, Brigham Young University, 197; N. Eldon Tanner statement in the mid-1960s to J. Kenneth Davies as reported in Davies interview by Gary James Bergera, 24 Dec. 1984.However, Apostle Delbert L. Stapley's vote against the Birch Society president as a BYU speaker should not be construed as evidence of his disagreement with Benson's political views. For example, Stapley wrote a woman that "we are drifting towards the socialized state," and sent her copies of Benson's conference talks on Communism (Stapley to Mrs. W. E. Daddow, 19 Feb. 1965, LDS archives). 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
6 - "Benson Took Birchite on Tours," Washington Post, 12 July 1961, D-ll; "The Council," Vie John Birch Society Bulletin (Feb. 1960): 2. 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
7 - "LDS Apostle Backs Up Birch Group," Salt Lake Tribune, 16 Jan. 1966, B-14; "Speak Up! Says Ezra to Save Your Soul and Maybe Your Country," Fact Finder 24 (28 Feb. 1966). 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
8 - Wallace F. Bennett to David Lawrence McKay, 21 Jan. 1966, folder 3, box 24, Bennett Papers, Western Americana, Marriott Library -- 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
9 - The John Birch Society Bulletin (Feb. 1966): 30 -- 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
Ezra Taft Benson, 19 Sept 1965
-- 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/
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/
Ezra Taft Benson, 24 Jun 1965
-- 24 Jun 1965
[A Birch student-spy] complained to Ernest Wilkinson in 1965 about Poll's negative reviews of the Skousen's Naked Communist and of None Dare Call It Treason. (1)
-- 2 July 1965
The NAACP in July 1965 passed a unanimous resolution asking all Third World nations "to refuse to grant visa to missionaries and representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . . . until such time as the doctrine of non-white inferiority is changed and rescinded by that church and a positive policy of support for civil rights is taken." ["Critical of Church: NAACP Studies Action," Deseret News, 2 July 1965, A-6] (2)
-- July 21, 1965
Reed Benson, the John Birch Society's representative in the nation's capital, has accused Martin Luther King of hurting the cause of the American Negro. Benson, son of former Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson, said King has "set back the cause of the Negro in this country for years, many years". "I'm not opposed to civil rights. I am opposed to men like Martin Luther King." ... (3)
-- mid-Aug 1965
The Watts riot of African-Americans erupted in Los Angeles (4)
-- 19-22 Aug 1965
BYU president Ernest Wilkinson ... attended three days of private indoctrination by the president of the Birch Society, and ... resolved "to press forward for more training along this line at the BYU." (5)
-- 1 Sept 1965
On 17 August the society's "Major Coordinators" sent instructions to all the Birch officers in California to take "immediate action" to "expose the so-called Civil Rights Movement." (8)
A follow-up letter instructed Birch Society leaders in Los Angeles County to "take advantage of the current situation" as a means of repudiating civil rights activism. (9)
-- 2 Sep 1965
Reed Benson escalated both the Birch conflict and racial tensions in Mormonism with a memorandum to all Birch Society chapters in Utah on 2 September 1965:
It is common knowledge that the Civil Rights Movement is Communist controlled, influenced and dominated. . . . Our founder and guide, Mr. Robert Welch, has instructed us that when necessary we must adopt the communist technique in our ever present battle against Godless Communism. It is urged that in the coming weeks the Utah Chapters begin a whispering campaign and foster rumors that the Civil Rights groups are going to organize demonstrations in Salt Lake City in connection with the forthcoming LDS conference. . . . A few well placed comments will soon mushroom out of control and before the conference begins there will be such a feeling of unrest and distrust that the populace will hardly know who to believe. The news media will play it to the very hilt. No matter what the Civil Rights leaders may try to say to deny it the seed will have been sown and again the Civil Rights movement will suffer a telling blow. President McKay's nephew, Quinn McKay, recognized the letter's signature and regarded it as genuine. (10)
Endnotes:
1 - Poll to Wilkinson, 24 June 1965, defending himself against the complaints by Bryce -- 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 - "Benson Ties Rights Issue to Reds in Mormon Rift," Washington Post, 13 Apr. 1965, A-5; Seattle Times, 5 May 1965,13; "NAACP Asks Foreign Bar of Missionaries," Daily Utah Chronicle, 6 May 1965, 1, 3, 4; Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 May 1965, 6, Microforms, Marriott Library. I could not find any reference to this in Deseret News or Salt Lake Tribune for May; The Salt Lake City chapter of the NAACP had called for the national resolution in apparent response to Apostle Benson's statement a month earlier that the civil rights movement was Communist and revolutionary. 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
3 - "Bircher Asserts King Injures Negro's Cause," Modesto Bee, Jul 21, 1965 (provided by Joe Geisner)
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 - Wilkinson diary, 19-22 Aug. 1965, 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
8 - D. Richard Pine and Charles R. Armour to "All Coordinators, Section Leaders and Chapter Leaders in California," 17 Aug. 1965, and D. Richard Pine to "Coordinators, Section Leaders and Chapter Leaders—L.A. County," 1 Sept. 1965, in Harvey B. Schechter, How To Listen to a John Birch Society Speaker, 3d. ed. rev. (New York: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1967), 25-26 -- 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
9 - Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts".
10 - Reed A. Benson, "Memo to the Utah Chapters," 2 Sept. 1965, on letterhead of the John Birch Society, photocopy in Williams Papers; Quinn G. McKay to J. D. Williams, 20 May 1966, Williams Papers. 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
[A Birch student-spy] complained to Ernest Wilkinson in 1965 about Poll's negative reviews of the Skousen's Naked Communist and of None Dare Call It Treason. (1)
-- 2 July 1965
The NAACP in July 1965 passed a unanimous resolution asking all Third World nations "to refuse to grant visa to missionaries and representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . . . until such time as the doctrine of non-white inferiority is changed and rescinded by that church and a positive policy of support for civil rights is taken." ["Critical of Church: NAACP Studies Action," Deseret News, 2 July 1965, A-6] (2)
-- July 21, 1965
Reed Benson, the John Birch Society's representative in the nation's capital, has accused Martin Luther King of hurting the cause of the American Negro. Benson, son of former Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson, said King has "set back the cause of the Negro in this country for years, many years". "I'm not opposed to civil rights. I am opposed to men like Martin Luther King." ... (3)
-- mid-Aug 1965
The Watts riot of African-Americans erupted in Los Angeles (4)
-- 19-22 Aug 1965
BYU president Ernest Wilkinson ... attended three days of private indoctrination by the president of the Birch Society, and ... resolved "to press forward for more training along this line at the BYU." (5)
-- 1 Sept 1965
On 17 August the society's "Major Coordinators" sent instructions to all the Birch officers in California to take "immediate action" to "expose the so-called Civil Rights Movement." (8)
A follow-up letter instructed Birch Society leaders in Los Angeles County to "take advantage of the current situation" as a means of repudiating civil rights activism. (9)
-- 2 Sep 1965
Reed Benson escalated both the Birch conflict and racial tensions in Mormonism with a memorandum to all Birch Society chapters in Utah on 2 September 1965:
It is common knowledge that the Civil Rights Movement is Communist controlled, influenced and dominated. . . . Our founder and guide, Mr. Robert Welch, has instructed us that when necessary we must adopt the communist technique in our ever present battle against Godless Communism. It is urged that in the coming weeks the Utah Chapters begin a whispering campaign and foster rumors that the Civil Rights groups are going to organize demonstrations in Salt Lake City in connection with the forthcoming LDS conference. . . . A few well placed comments will soon mushroom out of control and before the conference begins there will be such a feeling of unrest and distrust that the populace will hardly know who to believe. The news media will play it to the very hilt. No matter what the Civil Rights leaders may try to say to deny it the seed will have been sown and again the Civil Rights movement will suffer a telling blow. President McKay's nephew, Quinn McKay, recognized the letter's signature and regarded it as genuine. (10)
Endnotes:
1 - Poll to Wilkinson, 24 June 1965, defending himself against the complaints by Bryce -- 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 - "Benson Ties Rights Issue to Reds in Mormon Rift," Washington Post, 13 Apr. 1965, A-5; Seattle Times, 5 May 1965,13; "NAACP Asks Foreign Bar of Missionaries," Daily Utah Chronicle, 6 May 1965, 1, 3, 4; Journal History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 May 1965, 6, Microforms, Marriott Library. I could not find any reference to this in Deseret News or Salt Lake Tribune for May; The Salt Lake City chapter of the NAACP had called for the national resolution in apparent response to Apostle Benson's statement a month earlier that the civil rights movement was Communist and revolutionary. 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
3 - "Bircher Asserts King Injures Negro's Cause," Modesto Bee, Jul 21, 1965 (provided by Joe Geisner)
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 - Wilkinson diary, 19-22 Aug. 1965, 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
8 - D. Richard Pine and Charles R. Armour to "All Coordinators, Section Leaders and Chapter Leaders in California," 17 Aug. 1965, and D. Richard Pine to "Coordinators, Section Leaders and Chapter Leaders—L.A. County," 1 Sept. 1965, in Harvey B. Schechter, How To Listen to a John Birch Society Speaker, 3d. ed. rev. (New York: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1967), 25-26 -- 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
9 - Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts".
10 - Reed A. Benson, "Memo to the Utah Chapters," 2 Sept. 1965, on letterhead of the John Birch Society, photocopy in Williams Papers; Quinn G. McKay to J. D. Williams, 20 May 1966, Williams Papers. 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
Ezra Taft Benson, 20 Apr 1965
-- 20 Apr 1965
[A] Birch student-[spy] had been involved in the 1965 monitoring of Professor Richard Poll and had publicly accused Poll ... of having a Communist subversive speak to his classes. (1)
-- 22 Apr 1965
Reed Benson publicly endorsed Birch Society founder Robert Welch's accusation that U.S. president Eisenhower had been a Communist agent. Then the loyal son probably consulted Apostle Benson in advance about his apparent plan to use the Birch Society to disrupt the next general conference with rumors of a violent demonstration by African- Americans. Ezra Taft Benson's official biography is silent about Benson's and his son's devotion to the Birch Society but observes that in 1965-66 Reed Benson "continued to be involved in the fight for freedom which his father supported . . ." (2)
-- 26 Apr 1965
Covert surveillance by BYU-Birch student in the form of either correspondence, classroom questioning, or private meetings to extract "pro-Communist" views from their professors. (3)
-- 27 April 1965
Ernest Wilkinson wrote to Apostle Benson's son Mark for "any specific information that will be helpful to me respecting Richard Poll and his associates . . ." This demonstrates Wilkinson's belief that Mark A. Benson (also a Bircher) was involved with his brother Reed in the BYU campus espionage which their father had proposed five years earlier. (4)
-- 5 May 1965
A Birch student-spy complained to President McKay that Poll was "the most vocal leader of this opposition" to "Bro. Skousen and Elder Benson." (5)
-- May 14, 1965
[Upon request of the First Presidency Elder [Delbert L.] Stapley called and presented samples of the new ceremonial garment which is to take the place of the string garment now being used in the Temples. (6)
-- May 17, 1965
Ezra Taft Benson wrote to Hoover with a plea. "Word has come to me, not yet fully confirmed, that some of our liberal 'soft-on-communist' groups are planning to put pressure on you to come out with a statement against the John Birch Society." He urged Hoover not to do so. "It is my conviction that this organization is the most effective non-church group in America against creeping socialism and godless communism," Benson wrote.
Hoover, however, in response to a question at a news conference soon thereafter, said he had little respect for the society or its founder, Robert Welch.
After Hoover's disavowal of Welch, Benson decided to meet with Hoover to explain his support of the society and how Welch's writings had convinced him that Eisenhower aided communism.
Files show that Hoover's aides twice told Benson that he was unavailable for such a meeting — as memos had advised them to do. So Benson wrote Hoover the sensitive "personal-confidential" letter of May 28, 1965, outlining his conclusions about Eisenhower.
Benson also soon sent a book by Welch titled The Politician, noting it was what led him to his conclusions about Eisenhower.
In the book, Welch argues that Eisenhower was either ignorant, a politician blinded by opportunism or was "consciously aiding the communist conspiracy" — and said it really didn't matter because "they all come to the same end … namely tragedy."
Benson wrote Hoover that he inscribed the following words on the flyleaf of the book after he first read it:
"Have just finished this shocking volume. ... While I do not agree with all or the extent of some of the author's conclusions, one must agree that the documented record makes the thesis of the book most convincing.
"How can a man [Eisenhower] who seems to be so strong for Christian principles and base American concepts be so effectively used as a tool to serve the communist conspiracy?
"I believe the answer is found in the fact that these godless communist conspirators and their fellow travelers are masters of deceit — who deceived the very elect. How our people need to be alerted and informed."
Benson added that he hoped the $1 book would be made available widely.
"This story must be told even at the risk of destroying the influence of men who are widely respected and loved by the American people. The stakes are high. Freedom and survival are the issues," he had written in his copy of the book.
Benson also wrote of Eisenhower: "I presume I will never know in this life why he did some of the things he did which gave help to the [communist] conspiracy. It is not my divine prerogative to know the motives of men. It is easier, however, to judge the consequences of man's actions." (7)
-- June 1965
The official publication of April 1965 conference talks deleted Benson's reference to LDS "traitors," as well as his assessment of the civil rights movement as Communist and revolutionary. (8)
Endnotes:
1 - E. Eugene Bryce, "Campus Speaker Affiliated With Subversive Groupings," Provo Daily Herald, 20 Apr. 1965, 10 -- 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 - "Reed Benson Says Welch Was Correct in Calling Eisenhower Communist," Provo Daily Herald, 22 Apr. 1965, 2; Dew, Ezra Taft Benson, 391. 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
3 - Whittaker and McClellan, "The Collection: Description," 2, register of Hillam Papers; Stephen Hays Russell to Ernest L. Wilkinson, 26 Apr. 1965. 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
4 - Ernest L. Wilkinson to Mark Benson, 27 Apr. 1965, Wilkinson Papers -- 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
5 - Lisle Updike to Ernest L. Wilkinson, 5 May 1965, Curt Conklin to David O. McKay, 29 Jan. 1965 [1966], also referred to in Clare Middlemiss to Ernest L. Wilkinson, 3 Feb. 1966, Conklin to Wilkinson, 16 Feb. 1966, all in Wilkinson Papers -- 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 - David O. McKay diary, May 14, 1965 as quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship
7 - "Ike and the Birch Society," Lee Davidson, Salt Lake Tribune, November 16, 2010 (provided by Joe Geisner)
8 - "President McKay Emphasizes Individual," with subheading for Elder Benson's talk: "Restored Gospel," Salt Lake Tribune, 7 Apr. 1965, A-5; compare with Improvement Era 68 (June 1965): 539. However, in 1968 Deseret Book Company published (and reprinted in 1969) Benson's Civil Rights: Tool of Communist Deception, 3, which stated: "The so-called civil rights movement as it exists today is used as a Communist program for revolution." The addition of "used as" softened his original words. 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
[A] Birch student-[spy] had been involved in the 1965 monitoring of Professor Richard Poll and had publicly accused Poll ... of having a Communist subversive speak to his classes. (1)
-- 22 Apr 1965
Reed Benson publicly endorsed Birch Society founder Robert Welch's accusation that U.S. president Eisenhower had been a Communist agent. Then the loyal son probably consulted Apostle Benson in advance about his apparent plan to use the Birch Society to disrupt the next general conference with rumors of a violent demonstration by African- Americans. Ezra Taft Benson's official biography is silent about Benson's and his son's devotion to the Birch Society but observes that in 1965-66 Reed Benson "continued to be involved in the fight for freedom which his father supported . . ." (2)
-- 26 Apr 1965
Covert surveillance by BYU-Birch student in the form of either correspondence, classroom questioning, or private meetings to extract "pro-Communist" views from their professors. (3)
-- 27 April 1965
Ernest Wilkinson wrote to Apostle Benson's son Mark for "any specific information that will be helpful to me respecting Richard Poll and his associates . . ." This demonstrates Wilkinson's belief that Mark A. Benson (also a Bircher) was involved with his brother Reed in the BYU campus espionage which their father had proposed five years earlier. (4)
-- 5 May 1965
A Birch student-spy complained to President McKay that Poll was "the most vocal leader of this opposition" to "Bro. Skousen and Elder Benson." (5)
-- May 14, 1965
[Upon request of the First Presidency Elder [Delbert L.] Stapley called and presented samples of the new ceremonial garment which is to take the place of the string garment now being used in the Temples. (6)
-- May 17, 1965
Ezra Taft Benson wrote to Hoover with a plea. "Word has come to me, not yet fully confirmed, that some of our liberal 'soft-on-communist' groups are planning to put pressure on you to come out with a statement against the John Birch Society." He urged Hoover not to do so. "It is my conviction that this organization is the most effective non-church group in America against creeping socialism and godless communism," Benson wrote.
Hoover, however, in response to a question at a news conference soon thereafter, said he had little respect for the society or its founder, Robert Welch.
After Hoover's disavowal of Welch, Benson decided to meet with Hoover to explain his support of the society and how Welch's writings had convinced him that Eisenhower aided communism.
Files show that Hoover's aides twice told Benson that he was unavailable for such a meeting — as memos had advised them to do. So Benson wrote Hoover the sensitive "personal-confidential" letter of May 28, 1965, outlining his conclusions about Eisenhower.
Benson also soon sent a book by Welch titled The Politician, noting it was what led him to his conclusions about Eisenhower.
In the book, Welch argues that Eisenhower was either ignorant, a politician blinded by opportunism or was "consciously aiding the communist conspiracy" — and said it really didn't matter because "they all come to the same end … namely tragedy."
Benson wrote Hoover that he inscribed the following words on the flyleaf of the book after he first read it:
"Have just finished this shocking volume. ... While I do not agree with all or the extent of some of the author's conclusions, one must agree that the documented record makes the thesis of the book most convincing.
"How can a man [Eisenhower] who seems to be so strong for Christian principles and base American concepts be so effectively used as a tool to serve the communist conspiracy?
"I believe the answer is found in the fact that these godless communist conspirators and their fellow travelers are masters of deceit — who deceived the very elect. How our people need to be alerted and informed."
Benson added that he hoped the $1 book would be made available widely.
"This story must be told even at the risk of destroying the influence of men who are widely respected and loved by the American people. The stakes are high. Freedom and survival are the issues," he had written in his copy of the book.
Benson also wrote of Eisenhower: "I presume I will never know in this life why he did some of the things he did which gave help to the [communist] conspiracy. It is not my divine prerogative to know the motives of men. It is easier, however, to judge the consequences of man's actions." (7)
-- June 1965
The official publication of April 1965 conference talks deleted Benson's reference to LDS "traitors," as well as his assessment of the civil rights movement as Communist and revolutionary. (8)
Endnotes:
1 - E. Eugene Bryce, "Campus Speaker Affiliated With Subversive Groupings," Provo Daily Herald, 20 Apr. 1965, 10 -- 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 - "Reed Benson Says Welch Was Correct in Calling Eisenhower Communist," Provo Daily Herald, 22 Apr. 1965, 2; Dew, Ezra Taft Benson, 391. 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
3 - Whittaker and McClellan, "The Collection: Description," 2, register of Hillam Papers; Stephen Hays Russell to Ernest L. Wilkinson, 26 Apr. 1965. 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
4 - Ernest L. Wilkinson to Mark Benson, 27 Apr. 1965, Wilkinson Papers -- 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
5 - Lisle Updike to Ernest L. Wilkinson, 5 May 1965, Curt Conklin to David O. McKay, 29 Jan. 1965 [1966], also referred to in Clare Middlemiss to Ernest L. Wilkinson, 3 Feb. 1966, Conklin to Wilkinson, 16 Feb. 1966, all in Wilkinson Papers -- 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 - David O. McKay diary, May 14, 1965 as quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship
7 - "Ike and the Birch Society," Lee Davidson, Salt Lake Tribune, November 16, 2010 (provided by Joe Geisner)
8 - "President McKay Emphasizes Individual," with subheading for Elder Benson's talk: "Restored Gospel," Salt Lake Tribune, 7 Apr. 1965, A-5; compare with Improvement Era 68 (June 1965): 539. However, in 1968 Deseret Book Company published (and reprinted in 1969) Benson's Civil Rights: Tool of Communist Deception, 3, which stated: "The so-called civil rights movement as it exists today is used as a Communist program for revolution." The addition of "used as" softened his original words. 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
Ezra Taft Benson, January 1965
-- January 1965
[N]ationally prominent Mormon journalist Jack Anderson was reporting that the First Presidency was exasperated with Reed Benson's role as his father's surrogate for the Birch Society.
In response to an inquiry by a Mormon Bircher about this allegation, Clare Middlemiss replied that "neither Elder Ezra Taft Benson of the Council of the Twelve nor his son, Reed Benson, have been rebuked by the church." Barely concealing her own pro-Birch sentiments, the church president's longtime personal secretary added: "Reed Benson, a member of the church in good standing, used his own intelligence and free agency in accepting his position with the John Birch Society." The Mormon Bircher almost immediately released this endorsement to the press. (1)
-- 15 Jan 1965
Reed Benson ... published full page ads in Idaho of Apostle Benson's endorsement of the Birch Society. (2)
-- 23 Feb 1965
"All of us are one hundred percent against Communism in all its phases," [Hugh B.] Brown wrote in February 1965, "but the leaders of the Church are not convinced that any conspiracy exists within our own country." (3)
-- 7 Mar 1965
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) [called] for a prayer march in Salt Lake City "to ask the LDS Church to use their influence for moral justice in regards to civil rights." (4)
-- April 1965
In Church general conference in April 1965, he warned, "To have been on the wrong side of the freedom issue during the war in heaven meant eternal damnation. How then can Latter-day Saints expect to be on the wrong side in this life and escape the eternal consequences?" (5)
What are we doing to fight it? <Before I left for Europe I warned how the communists were using the civil rights movement to promote revolution and eventual takeover of this country. When are we going to wake up? What do you know about the dangerous civil rights agitation in Mississippi! do you fear the destruction of all vestiges of state government?
Now brethren, the Lord never promised there would not be traitors in the Church. We have the ignorant, the sleepy and the deceived who provide temptations and avenues of apostasy for the unwary and the unfaithful, but we have a prophet at our head and he has spoken. Now what are we going to do about it?>
Do Homework
Brethren, if we had done our homework and were faithful we could step forward at this time and help save this country.
Note: the words in angled brackets (<>) were omitted in the Improvement Era. (6)
-- April 4, 1965
"Benson linked the civil rights movement to Communists and made vague insinuations about "traitors in the church." Last month the NAACP protested the Mormons' failure to endorse civil rights legislation by picketing the church headquarters wile the Utah Legislature was in session. [Hugh B. Browns pro-civil rights statement] was contradicted at this month's conference [by] Ezra Taft Benson, an apostle of the church. ... "Before I left for Europe, I warned how the Communists were using the civil rights movement to promote revolution and eventual takeover of this country. When are we going to wake up? ... Do you fear the destruction of all vestiges of State government? Now, brethern, the Lord has never promised there would not be traitors in the church. We have the ignorant, the sleepy, and the deceived who provide temptations and avenues of apostasy for the unwray and the unfaithful." (7)
-- April 7, 1965
Departing from his prepared text, Elder Benson ... referred to the fight against communism as "the war in heaven now raging on the earth." ... Elder Benson detailed the various arguments which he said Satan is using in a effort to blunt the fight against communism. ... "The Lord may not set up a specific program to fight for freedom for fear it might split the Church." (8)
-- 7 Apr 1965
While in Utah for general conference, Ezra Taft Benson ... complained to BYU's president that "many of our political science and economics teachers are teaching false doctrine." This was a month after the Provo "section leader" of the John Birch Society began receiving reports from a Birch student majoring in economics about his "covert surveillance" of BYU's "liberal professors," including professor Richard D. Poll. BYU's Wilkinson concluded that Apostle Benson had received this information through his son Reed. Wilkinson was ... receiving separate reports from this same BYU-Birch student about Poll. (9)
-- 12 Apr 1965
[Regarding] Benson's April 1965 conference talk... One LDS student wrote a letter to the Utah Chronicle that Benson "told a damned lie" when he instructed LDS general conference that Communists controlled the NAACP. (10)
-- 13 Apr 1965
Asked about Benson's [April 1965] talk, [Hugh B.] Brown replied "tartly" to reporters that the apostle "speaks strictly for himself. My statement is the official Church position. It was personally approved by President McKay . . ." (11)
Endnotes:
1 - Anderson, "Reed Benson Spreads Birch Gospel"; Clare Middlemiss to Kent Brennan (ca. 20 Jan. 1965), quoted in Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 14; also published in "No Church Rebuke Given to Bensons," Spokane Daily Chronicle, and reprinted by the Salt Lake City Citizens Information Committee, Comments and Corrections, No. 3 (15 Jan. 1968): 8, which inaccurately dates the Chronicle article as 15 January 1965, three days before Brennan's original letter to McKay. 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
2 - Jack Anderson, "Reed Benson Spreads Birch Gospel," Washington Post, 15 Jan. 1965, B-13 -- 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 - Brown to Mrs. W. E. Daddow, 23 Feb. 1965, LDS archives, photocopy in my possession -- 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 - "NAACP Calls March for LDS Appeal," Salt Lake Tribune, 7 Mar. 1965, A-18; "Marchers Pray At LDS Doorstep," Daily Utah Chronicle, 8 Mar. 1965,1. 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
5 - Encyclopedia of Mormonism, "Ezra Taft Benson," Reed Benson and Sheri Dew, Daniel H. Ludlow (editor), New York: Macmillan, 1992
6 - Improvement Era, June 1965, p.539; 135th Annual Conference
7 - "Mormons Bickering Over Rights Issue," Pittsburg Courier, Apr 4, 1965 (provided by Joe Geisner)
8 - Deseret News, April 7, 1965, "Fight Red Influence" (provided by Joe Geisner)
9 - "Benson Ties Rights Issue to Reds in Mormon Rift," Washington Post, 13 Apr. 1965, A-5 -- 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
10 - Leon Johnson, "Benson Told A 'Damned Lie,'" Daily Utah Chronicle, 12 Apr. 1965, 2 -- 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
11 - "Benson Ties Rights Issue to Reds in Mormon Rift," Washington Post, 13 Apr. 1965, A-5 -- 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
[N]ationally prominent Mormon journalist Jack Anderson was reporting that the First Presidency was exasperated with Reed Benson's role as his father's surrogate for the Birch Society.
In response to an inquiry by a Mormon Bircher about this allegation, Clare Middlemiss replied that "neither Elder Ezra Taft Benson of the Council of the Twelve nor his son, Reed Benson, have been rebuked by the church." Barely concealing her own pro-Birch sentiments, the church president's longtime personal secretary added: "Reed Benson, a member of the church in good standing, used his own intelligence and free agency in accepting his position with the John Birch Society." The Mormon Bircher almost immediately released this endorsement to the press. (1)
-- 15 Jan 1965
Reed Benson ... published full page ads in Idaho of Apostle Benson's endorsement of the Birch Society. (2)
-- 23 Feb 1965
"All of us are one hundred percent against Communism in all its phases," [Hugh B.] Brown wrote in February 1965, "but the leaders of the Church are not convinced that any conspiracy exists within our own country." (3)
-- 7 Mar 1965
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) [called] for a prayer march in Salt Lake City "to ask the LDS Church to use their influence for moral justice in regards to civil rights." (4)
-- April 1965
In Church general conference in April 1965, he warned, "To have been on the wrong side of the freedom issue during the war in heaven meant eternal damnation. How then can Latter-day Saints expect to be on the wrong side in this life and escape the eternal consequences?" (5)
What are we doing to fight it? <Before I left for Europe I warned how the communists were using the civil rights movement to promote revolution and eventual takeover of this country. When are we going to wake up? What do you know about the dangerous civil rights agitation in Mississippi! do you fear the destruction of all vestiges of state government?
Now brethren, the Lord never promised there would not be traitors in the Church. We have the ignorant, the sleepy and the deceived who provide temptations and avenues of apostasy for the unwary and the unfaithful, but we have a prophet at our head and he has spoken. Now what are we going to do about it?>
Do Homework
Brethren, if we had done our homework and were faithful we could step forward at this time and help save this country.
Note: the words in angled brackets (<>) were omitted in the Improvement Era. (6)
-- April 4, 1965
"Benson linked the civil rights movement to Communists and made vague insinuations about "traitors in the church." Last month the NAACP protested the Mormons' failure to endorse civil rights legislation by picketing the church headquarters wile the Utah Legislature was in session. [Hugh B. Browns pro-civil rights statement] was contradicted at this month's conference [by] Ezra Taft Benson, an apostle of the church. ... "Before I left for Europe, I warned how the Communists were using the civil rights movement to promote revolution and eventual takeover of this country. When are we going to wake up? ... Do you fear the destruction of all vestiges of State government? Now, brethern, the Lord has never promised there would not be traitors in the church. We have the ignorant, the sleepy, and the deceived who provide temptations and avenues of apostasy for the unwray and the unfaithful." (7)
-- April 7, 1965
Departing from his prepared text, Elder Benson ... referred to the fight against communism as "the war in heaven now raging on the earth." ... Elder Benson detailed the various arguments which he said Satan is using in a effort to blunt the fight against communism. ... "The Lord may not set up a specific program to fight for freedom for fear it might split the Church." (8)
-- 7 Apr 1965
While in Utah for general conference, Ezra Taft Benson ... complained to BYU's president that "many of our political science and economics teachers are teaching false doctrine." This was a month after the Provo "section leader" of the John Birch Society began receiving reports from a Birch student majoring in economics about his "covert surveillance" of BYU's "liberal professors," including professor Richard D. Poll. BYU's Wilkinson concluded that Apostle Benson had received this information through his son Reed. Wilkinson was ... receiving separate reports from this same BYU-Birch student about Poll. (9)
-- 12 Apr 1965
[Regarding] Benson's April 1965 conference talk... One LDS student wrote a letter to the Utah Chronicle that Benson "told a damned lie" when he instructed LDS general conference that Communists controlled the NAACP. (10)
-- 13 Apr 1965
Asked about Benson's [April 1965] talk, [Hugh B.] Brown replied "tartly" to reporters that the apostle "speaks strictly for himself. My statement is the official Church position. It was personally approved by President McKay . . ." (11)
Endnotes:
1 - Anderson, "Reed Benson Spreads Birch Gospel"; Clare Middlemiss to Kent Brennan (ca. 20 Jan. 1965), quoted in Anderson, "Church and Birch In Utah," 14; also published in "No Church Rebuke Given to Bensons," Spokane Daily Chronicle, and reprinted by the Salt Lake City Citizens Information Committee, Comments and Corrections, No. 3 (15 Jan. 1968): 8, which inaccurately dates the Chronicle article as 15 January 1965, three days before Brennan's original letter to McKay. 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
2 - Jack Anderson, "Reed Benson Spreads Birch Gospel," Washington Post, 15 Jan. 1965, B-13 -- 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 - Brown to Mrs. W. E. Daddow, 23 Feb. 1965, LDS archives, photocopy in my possession -- 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 - "NAACP Calls March for LDS Appeal," Salt Lake Tribune, 7 Mar. 1965, A-18; "Marchers Pray At LDS Doorstep," Daily Utah Chronicle, 8 Mar. 1965,1. 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
5 - Encyclopedia of Mormonism, "Ezra Taft Benson," Reed Benson and Sheri Dew, Daniel H. Ludlow (editor), New York: Macmillan, 1992
6 - Improvement Era, June 1965, p.539; 135th Annual Conference
7 - "Mormons Bickering Over Rights Issue," Pittsburg Courier, Apr 4, 1965 (provided by Joe Geisner)
8 - Deseret News, April 7, 1965, "Fight Red Influence" (provided by Joe Geisner)
9 - "Benson Ties Rights Issue to Reds in Mormon Rift," Washington Post, 13 Apr. 1965, A-5 -- 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
10 - Leon Johnson, "Benson Told A 'Damned Lie,'" Daily Utah Chronicle, 12 Apr. 1965, 2 -- 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
11 - "Benson Ties Rights Issue to Reds in Mormon Rift," Washington Post, 13 Apr. 1965, A-5 -- 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
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
Ezra Taft Benson, September 17, 1964
-- September 17, 1964
Arch Madsen, president of the church-owned KSL, relayed to the First Presidency an inquiry from a committee of broadcasters charged with selecting a new president of the National Association of Broadcasters. The committee wished to know if Benson, who was on their short list, would be available on a full-time basis to serve in that position. "After hearing all the facts pertaining to the matter," McKay dictated in his diary: "I indicated that so far as the Church is concerned, Brother Benson would be available for such an appointment." Hugh B. Brown concurred with McKay's decision, but added a strong qualifier, saying "if Brother Benson severed his relationship with [the John Birch Society] and accepted this position as a non-partisan assignment for the benefit of the Church primarily, he could do a lot of good; otherwise, he could do us a lot of harm." Benson was not offered the position. (1)
-- 1964, October
Observance of Family Home Evening reemphasized. (2)
-- October 1964
While on his European mission Benson authorized the Birch Society to publish a talk he had prepared as an endorsement of the society. In addition, he authorized the society to publish his photograph on the cover of its magazine in October 1964. This issue of the Birch organ also favorably reviewed Benson's just-published Title of Liberty and observed that he "is a scholar and a patriot, [but] he is primarily a man of God." (3)
-- 5 Nov 1964
U.S. representative Harding, who had condemned Benson in Congress, publicly praised his exile to Europe, and circulated the anti-Benson letters of church leaders, was defeated that fall for re-election. Harding and others saw his defeat as a result of Mormon voters' distaste for public criticism of LDS leaders and as evidence of Birch Society influence.
To the contrary, an analysis of election returns from 1960 to 1964 shows that Harding overwhelmingly retained the support of Mormon voters. In fact, in Madison County with its 91.7 percent Mormon population, the number of votes for Harding actually increased from 1960 to 1964, despite his public criticism of Benson. In other words, public criticism of Benson in the 1960s seems not to have alienated a large majority of faithful Mormon voters. They may have shared Harding's dismay at the apostle's endorsement of the Birch Society. (4)
-- December 1964
Benson ... authorized the Birch magazine to publish his "The Christ and the Constitution." (5)
-- April 1965
12 Dec 1964 The FBI's director publicly denied communist dommination of the NAAP. (6)
-- 16 Dec 1964
Reed Benson becomes John Birch Society coordinater of washington D.C. (7)
-- 1965
FBI directory Hoover left the impression with Benson that they were friends and fellow fighters of communism. Files show they exchanged copies of books and speeches. Hoover sent messages of encouragement when Benson was sick and when his stepmother died. He wrote a note of thanks for Benson's service when he left the Cabinet. He also once invited Benson to have his son, Reed, apply to become an FBI agent. In turn, Benson invited Hoover to speak at an LDS Church general conference (which Hoover declined), to attend a concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with Benson's wife, to allow the LDS Church's Deseret Book Co. to print a compilation of Hoover's speeches (which did not happen), and even to attend a song recital by one of Benson's daughters.
"I realize that only in the next life will we fully appreciate all you have done to preserve freedom in this country," Benson wrote Hoover in 1965. "I am most grateful for your exposure of the communist conspiracy and for the wonderful organization you have established in the FBI." (8)
Endnotes:
1 - David O. McKay diary as referenced in Greg Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
2 - Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Daniel H. Ludlow (editor), New York: Macmillan, 1992, Appendix 2: A Chronology of Church History
3 - Benson, An Internal Threat Today (Belmont, MA: American Opinion (1964); the Birch Society's American Opinion 7 (Oct. 1964): cover page and 43-44, 97. 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
4 - "How Could He Lose?" Idaho Daily Statesman, 5 Nov. 1964, 1-2; Harding to Frank H. Jonas, 8 Dec. 1964, Jonas Papers; Jack Anderson, "Birch Society Influence Defeated Ralph Harding," Blackfoot News, 15 Jan. 1965, 4, also printed as "Reed Benson Spreads Birch Gospel" in Washington Post, 15 Jan. 1965, B-13; Lynn Broadhead to Dean M. Hansen, 15 June 1967; Swanson, "McCarthyism in Utah," 143; Hansen, "Analysis of the 1964 Idaho Second Congressional District Election. 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
5 - Ezra Taft Benson, "The Christ and the Constitution," American Opinion 7 (Dec. 1964): 41-45, 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 - Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts"
7 - "Utahn Heads Birch Office in Capital," Deseret News, 16 Dec. 1964, A-13, 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
8 - "Ike and the Birch Society," Lee Davidson, Salt Lake Tribune, November 16, 2010 (provided by Joe Geisner)
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
Arch Madsen, president of the church-owned KSL, relayed to the First Presidency an inquiry from a committee of broadcasters charged with selecting a new president of the National Association of Broadcasters. The committee wished to know if Benson, who was on their short list, would be available on a full-time basis to serve in that position. "After hearing all the facts pertaining to the matter," McKay dictated in his diary: "I indicated that so far as the Church is concerned, Brother Benson would be available for such an appointment." Hugh B. Brown concurred with McKay's decision, but added a strong qualifier, saying "if Brother Benson severed his relationship with [the John Birch Society] and accepted this position as a non-partisan assignment for the benefit of the Church primarily, he could do a lot of good; otherwise, he could do us a lot of harm." Benson was not offered the position. (1)
-- 1964, October
Observance of Family Home Evening reemphasized. (2)
-- October 1964
While on his European mission Benson authorized the Birch Society to publish a talk he had prepared as an endorsement of the society. In addition, he authorized the society to publish his photograph on the cover of its magazine in October 1964. This issue of the Birch organ also favorably reviewed Benson's just-published Title of Liberty and observed that he "is a scholar and a patriot, [but] he is primarily a man of God." (3)
-- 5 Nov 1964
U.S. representative Harding, who had condemned Benson in Congress, publicly praised his exile to Europe, and circulated the anti-Benson letters of church leaders, was defeated that fall for re-election. Harding and others saw his defeat as a result of Mormon voters' distaste for public criticism of LDS leaders and as evidence of Birch Society influence.
To the contrary, an analysis of election returns from 1960 to 1964 shows that Harding overwhelmingly retained the support of Mormon voters. In fact, in Madison County with its 91.7 percent Mormon population, the number of votes for Harding actually increased from 1960 to 1964, despite his public criticism of Benson. In other words, public criticism of Benson in the 1960s seems not to have alienated a large majority of faithful Mormon voters. They may have shared Harding's dismay at the apostle's endorsement of the Birch Society. (4)
-- December 1964
Benson ... authorized the Birch magazine to publish his "The Christ and the Constitution." (5)
-- April 1965
12 Dec 1964 The FBI's director publicly denied communist dommination of the NAAP. (6)
-- 16 Dec 1964
Reed Benson becomes John Birch Society coordinater of washington D.C. (7)
-- 1965
FBI directory Hoover left the impression with Benson that they were friends and fellow fighters of communism. Files show they exchanged copies of books and speeches. Hoover sent messages of encouragement when Benson was sick and when his stepmother died. He wrote a note of thanks for Benson's service when he left the Cabinet. He also once invited Benson to have his son, Reed, apply to become an FBI agent. In turn, Benson invited Hoover to speak at an LDS Church general conference (which Hoover declined), to attend a concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with Benson's wife, to allow the LDS Church's Deseret Book Co. to print a compilation of Hoover's speeches (which did not happen), and even to attend a song recital by one of Benson's daughters.
"I realize that only in the next life will we fully appreciate all you have done to preserve freedom in this country," Benson wrote Hoover in 1965. "I am most grateful for your exposure of the communist conspiracy and for the wonderful organization you have established in the FBI." (8)
Endnotes:
1 - David O. McKay diary as referenced in Greg Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
2 - Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Daniel H. Ludlow (editor), New York: Macmillan, 1992, Appendix 2: A Chronology of Church History
3 - Benson, An Internal Threat Today (Belmont, MA: American Opinion (1964); the Birch Society's American Opinion 7 (Oct. 1964): cover page and 43-44, 97. 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
4 - "How Could He Lose?" Idaho Daily Statesman, 5 Nov. 1964, 1-2; Harding to Frank H. Jonas, 8 Dec. 1964, Jonas Papers; Jack Anderson, "Birch Society Influence Defeated Ralph Harding," Blackfoot News, 15 Jan. 1965, 4, also printed as "Reed Benson Spreads Birch Gospel" in Washington Post, 15 Jan. 1965, B-13; Lynn Broadhead to Dean M. Hansen, 15 June 1967; Swanson, "McCarthyism in Utah," 143; Hansen, "Analysis of the 1964 Idaho Second Congressional District Election. 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
5 - Ezra Taft Benson, "The Christ and the Constitution," American Opinion 7 (Dec. 1964): 41-45, 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 - Quinn, "Mormon Political Conflicts"
7 - "Utahn Heads Birch Office in Capital," Deseret News, 16 Dec. 1964, A-13, 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
8 - "Ike and the Birch Society," Lee Davidson, Salt Lake Tribune, November 16, 2010 (provided by Joe Geisner)
LDS History Chronology: Ezra Taft Benson
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Ezra Taft Benson
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
Ezra Taft Benson, Spring 1964
-- Spring 1964
... [Reed Benson became the John Birch] coordinator for the Mormon counties of southern Idaho. (1)
-- 22 May 1964
Louis Midgley, a BYU political scientist, published an anti- Birch editorial in the school's Daily Universe in May 1964. He concluded: "It is little wonder that the First Presidency has taken steps to warn Church members not to try to align the Church or its leadership with the partisan views of the Welch-Birch or any similar monstrosity." This resulted in President McKay's instructions to stop future discussion of the Birch Society in the Universe. (2)
-- May 22, 1964
[BYU Professor Louis Midgley] It is difficult to believe that anyone at a university—anyone who reads books and thinks—would take such a movement [The John Birch Society] seriously…. The man who wrote The Politician did so to inform his followers that former President Eisenhower was a communist. Of course he provides no evidence but the usual collection of garbage. For absurdity, the charge against Ike would have to be placed next to the belief, as far as I know, held by no one, that President McKay is secretly a Catholic. What Welch-Birch really wants is to return to a world without taxes, the U.N., labor unions, racial minorities demanding some kind of legal equality; Birchers want a world without fluoridation, the Soviet Union, large cities and emerging nations and all the rest that goes with our world. (3)
-- May 26, 1964
Mark E. Peterson to Hugh B. Brown: "he wished there was some way to keep Brother Benson out of politics." (4)
McKay telephoned Earl C. Crockett, BYU's acting president, and directed him to meet with Midgley "and ask him why he should have written the editorial 'Birch Society Reviewed' for ten thousand students to read…. This matter of the John Birch Society should be dropped." (4)
-- June 4, 1964
McKay: "It would be well for faculty members to hold no discussions whatsoever on the John Birch Society, and to drop the matter entirely." (5)
-- 1964
Mark A. Benson compiled a collection of his father's talks for a Deseret Book Company publication. Nearly every sermon referred to the threat of Communism, and the book also mentioned the Birch Society's president five times. By contrast, before their mutual involvement in the Birch Society, Reed Benson had compiled a book of his father's sermons which discussed Communism only three times. (6)
-- July, 1964
The John Birch Society began a recruitment project entitled "JBS Personal Letter Campaign". The idea was for members to contact potential supporters by using different types of letters with enclosures which would be coded so that it could be determined which packet was the most effective and productive. One proposed letter enclosed a copy of the John Birch Society reprint "The Time Has Come". Another letter enclosed a copy of John Stormer's conspiracy classic 1964 book, None Dare Call It Treason. A third letter enclosed a copy of a speech by Ezra Taft Benson. (7)
-- 23 July 1964
[Richard D.] Poll ... joined with twenty-one other BYU professors in publicly condemning John A. Stormer's None Dare Call It Treason as "this piece of fanatacism." Poll was the one who publicly responded to complaints by BYU's ultra-conservative students about this statement. At the time Stormer's book was "in sales and in loans, the most popular book" within the Birch Society. (8)
Endnotes:
1 - Reed A. Benson to Dean M. Hansen, 22 May 1967, in Dean Maurice Hansen, "An Analysis of the 1964 Idaho Second Congressional District Election Campaign," M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1967, 50, 221, 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
2 - "Birch Society Reviewed By Prof. Louis Midgley," Brigham Young University Daily Universe, 22 May 1964, 2; David O. McKay to Earl C. Crockett, 4 June 1964, Wilkinson Papers, photocopy in my possession; Louis Midgley to Ray C. Hillam, 11 Aug. 1966, folder 10, Hillam Papers, archives, Lee Library, and box 34, Buerger Papers; Bergera and Priddis, Brigham Young University, 196-97, 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
3 - Louis Midgley, "Birch Society Reviewed by Prof. Louis Midgley," (BYU) Daily Universe as referenced in Greg Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
4 - David O. McKay diary as referenced in Greg Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
5 - David O. McKay to Earl C. Crockett as referenced in Greg Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
6 - Benson, Title of Liberty, comp. Mark A. Benson (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1964), with references to Robert Welch on 1,12,36,39, and 40. Compare to Benson, So Shall Ye Reap, comp. Reed A. Benson (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1960), with references to Communism on 163, 208, and 328, 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
7 - Ernie Lazar, Documentary History of the John Birch Society, https://sites.google.com/site/ernie1241b/home
8 - "Faculty Members Deplore 'Fanaticism' of Booklet," Provo Daily Herald, 23 July 1964, 14; "None Dare Call It Treason Causes Sincere Concern," Brigham Young University Daily Universe, 23 July 1964, 2; "Students Take Issue With 'None Dare Call It Treason' Critics," Brigham Young University Daily Universe, 28 July 1964, 2; "Poll Answers Student Letters," Brigham Young University Daily Universe, 30 July 1964, 2. 138. ", 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/
... [Reed Benson became the John Birch] coordinator for the Mormon counties of southern Idaho. (1)
-- 22 May 1964
Louis Midgley, a BYU political scientist, published an anti- Birch editorial in the school's Daily Universe in May 1964. He concluded: "It is little wonder that the First Presidency has taken steps to warn Church members not to try to align the Church or its leadership with the partisan views of the Welch-Birch or any similar monstrosity." This resulted in President McKay's instructions to stop future discussion of the Birch Society in the Universe. (2)
-- May 22, 1964
[BYU Professor Louis Midgley] It is difficult to believe that anyone at a university—anyone who reads books and thinks—would take such a movement [The John Birch Society] seriously…. The man who wrote The Politician did so to inform his followers that former President Eisenhower was a communist. Of course he provides no evidence but the usual collection of garbage. For absurdity, the charge against Ike would have to be placed next to the belief, as far as I know, held by no one, that President McKay is secretly a Catholic. What Welch-Birch really wants is to return to a world without taxes, the U.N., labor unions, racial minorities demanding some kind of legal equality; Birchers want a world without fluoridation, the Soviet Union, large cities and emerging nations and all the rest that goes with our world. (3)
-- May 26, 1964
Mark E. Peterson to Hugh B. Brown: "he wished there was some way to keep Brother Benson out of politics." (4)
McKay telephoned Earl C. Crockett, BYU's acting president, and directed him to meet with Midgley "and ask him why he should have written the editorial 'Birch Society Reviewed' for ten thousand students to read…. This matter of the John Birch Society should be dropped." (4)
-- June 4, 1964
McKay: "It would be well for faculty members to hold no discussions whatsoever on the John Birch Society, and to drop the matter entirely." (5)
-- 1964
Mark A. Benson compiled a collection of his father's talks for a Deseret Book Company publication. Nearly every sermon referred to the threat of Communism, and the book also mentioned the Birch Society's president five times. By contrast, before their mutual involvement in the Birch Society, Reed Benson had compiled a book of his father's sermons which discussed Communism only three times. (6)
-- July, 1964
The John Birch Society began a recruitment project entitled "JBS Personal Letter Campaign". The idea was for members to contact potential supporters by using different types of letters with enclosures which would be coded so that it could be determined which packet was the most effective and productive. One proposed letter enclosed a copy of the John Birch Society reprint "The Time Has Come". Another letter enclosed a copy of John Stormer's conspiracy classic 1964 book, None Dare Call It Treason. A third letter enclosed a copy of a speech by Ezra Taft Benson. (7)
-- 23 July 1964
[Richard D.] Poll ... joined with twenty-one other BYU professors in publicly condemning John A. Stormer's None Dare Call It Treason as "this piece of fanatacism." Poll was the one who publicly responded to complaints by BYU's ultra-conservative students about this statement. At the time Stormer's book was "in sales and in loans, the most popular book" within the Birch Society. (8)
Endnotes:
1 - Reed A. Benson to Dean M. Hansen, 22 May 1967, in Dean Maurice Hansen, "An Analysis of the 1964 Idaho Second Congressional District Election Campaign," M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University, 1967, 50, 221, 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
2 - "Birch Society Reviewed By Prof. Louis Midgley," Brigham Young University Daily Universe, 22 May 1964, 2; David O. McKay to Earl C. Crockett, 4 June 1964, Wilkinson Papers, photocopy in my possession; Louis Midgley to Ray C. Hillam, 11 Aug. 1966, folder 10, Hillam Papers, archives, Lee Library, and box 34, Buerger Papers; Bergera and Priddis, Brigham Young University, 196-97, 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
3 - Louis Midgley, "Birch Society Reviewed by Prof. Louis Midgley," (BYU) Daily Universe as referenced in Greg Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
4 - David O. McKay diary as referenced in Greg Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
5 - David O. McKay to Earl C. Crockett as referenced in Greg Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
6 - Benson, Title of Liberty, comp. Mark A. Benson (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1964), with references to Robert Welch on 1,12,36,39, and 40. Compare to Benson, So Shall Ye Reap, comp. Reed A. Benson (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1960), with references to Communism on 163, 208, and 328, 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
7 - Ernie Lazar, Documentary History of the John Birch Society, https://sites.google.com/site/ernie1241b/home
8 - "Faculty Members Deplore 'Fanaticism' of Booklet," Provo Daily Herald, 23 July 1964, 14; "None Dare Call It Treason Causes Sincere Concern," Brigham Young University Daily Universe, 23 July 1964, 2; "Students Take Issue With 'None Dare Call It Treason' Critics," Brigham Young University Daily Universe, 28 July 1964, 2; "Poll Answers Student Letters," Brigham Young University Daily Universe, 30 July 1964, 2. 138. ", 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/
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