1350: Ezra Taft Benson and the Making of the Mormon Right (Matt Harris) - Pt. 1

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2020

⏱️ 340 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ezra Taft Benson is perhaps the most controversial apostle-president in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For nearly fifty years he delivered impassioned sermons in Utah and elsewhere, mixing religion with ultraconservative right-wing political views and conspiracy theories. His teachings inspired Mormon extremists to stockpile weapons, predict the end of the world, and commit acts of violence against their government. The First Presidency rebuked him, his fellow apostles wanted him disciplined, and grassroots Mormons called for his removal from the Quorum of the Twelve. Yet Benson was beloved by millions of Latter-day Saints, who praised him for his stances against communism, socialism, and the welfare state, and admired his service as secretary of agriculture under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Using previously restricted documents from archives across the United States.

Matthew L. Harris breaks new ground as the first to evaluate why Benson embraced a radical form of conservatism, and how under his leadership Mormons became the most reliable supporters of the Republican Party of any religious group in America.

Matthew L. Harris is professor of history at Colorado State University-Pueblo. He is the author of The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History and editor of Thunder from the Right: Ezra Taft Benson in Mormonism and Politics.

Matthew's new book can be purchased here: https://uofupress.lib.utah.edu/watchman-on-the-tower/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Mormon Stories podcast. I'm your host John
0:05.5	Delin. It is October 5th, 2020 and I'm so incredibly thrilled for today's interview. I might
0:14.2	be guilty of hyperbole because I say that almost every time I do an interview, but today
0:18.8	is going to be what I think is an epic groundbreaking interview. The likes that you've only seen
0:25.2	a few times on Mormon Stories podcast. Today we're interviewing Matthew L. Harris, who is an amazing
0:32.5	Mormon studies Mormon history scholar. I think he's at the University of Colorado at Remind me, Matt.
0:41.9	Got Colorado State University of Pueblo. Colorado State Pueblo, that's right, Colorado State Pueblo.
0:47.5	But this is a phenomenal book. It's called Watchman on the Tower, Ezra Tatt Benson in the
0:52.6	Making of the Mormon Right. I stayed up till 5 a.m. this morning finishing this book. I've read it
0:59.4	covered a cover including the forward and the afterward. The amount of notes I have are insane.
1:07.3	And this is personal for me for so many reasons. I am a cousin of Ezra Tatt Benson. So my grandmother,
1:13.7	Karma Benson Parkinson was was like very close cousins with Ezra Tatt Benson. She grew up in Franklin
1:22.4	Preston Idaho. And I'm a Benson if we go far out of back. And so I met Ezra Tatt Benson when he
1:31.2	came to Houston as a as a prophet when I was growing up as a boy. And I I used to super love Ezra
1:39.9	Tatt Benson before I grew kind of frustrated with him at BYU. But he is one of the most important
1:46.4	President prophets and apostles in Mormon Church history. And this book does a phenomenal job
1:52.4	exploring why. And so we are going to dig into this amazing book today. And we are so lucky to have
2:02.6	Dr. Matt Harris with us to talk about the book. Matt Harris, welcome, welcome, welcome to
2:07.7	Mormon Stories podcast. Thanks John. So pleasure to be with you today.
2:13.4	Okay, so I'll just say this that I'm very first Mormon Stories interview of all times with Greg
2:20.1	Prince. And I interviewed him talking about a book that was new at the time, which was David
2:25.8	O. McCay and the rise of modern Mormonism. We've had Greg Prince on several times. But I've
	...

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