LETTERS

Follow Your Bliss? people or with ideas." These assertions Doniger fleshes out with what were, for I am sorry to see that Jack Newell, me, sad and shocking answers to my whose thinking, writing, and speaking earlier questions about why he was not I have admired since first I read his represented in my text. Then Doniger wonderful essay "An Echo from the concludes: Foothills," has fallen to a Johnny-One- Note reverence for Joseph Campbell's We must be grateful to him for mak- flawed philosophies in the spring 1993 ing so many people aware of the existence issue of Dialogue. Newell should, at of great myths... but we must regret that he did it so slickly that no one was ever least, be reminded that Campbell is not encouraged to go on to the second stage, well thought of in the scholarly com- to do the serious work done by other munity. comparativists.... He cooked up the TV I first became aware of this at the dinner of mythology, so that everything time of the Bill Moyers "Power of Myth" tastes the same. . . . He reduced great television series. Being somewhat taken books to slogans, he made the myths he in by the charisma of Campbell myself, retold his myths, instead of letting them I wondered why in my text for my class tell their own story.... in "Folklore and Religion" Campbell The evidence in this book presents the image of a man who inspired many was not represented, even in a footnote. people to love his versions of the great There were the greats in folklore and myths of the world . . . but who was religion—Levi-Strauss, Mary Douglas, neither a scholar nor a gentleman. Victor Turner. Why not Campbell, this presence, I wondered. More recently I read a memoir by Then early in 1992, when a biogra- Brendan Gill about Campbell (A New phy of Campbell appeared (A Fire in the York Life, Poseidon Press, 1990). Gill Mind, by Stephen Larsen and Robin knew Campbell well and concludes by Larsen), I read reviews with interest. observing sadly that the TV series Wendy Doniger (New York Times Book caused his "friend" to "become, if not Review, 2 Feb. 1992), Mircea Eliade Pro- my enemy, then at least my adversary." fessor at the Divinity School of the Uni- And with good reason. The series glori- versity of Chicago, assessed Campbell fied a man whose bigotry was transpar- and the biography. She chronicles some ent. Gill tells of a dinner with Campbell of Campbell's bigotry and anti-Semi- when "Campbell spent much of his time tism and then summarily says, "He was arguing that it was of no use to admit certainly not a scholar." She early ob- blacks [to Sarah Lawrence] because they serves that "Campbell avoided any pro- were 'unable to retain information.'" found, difficult, messy contact with Gill also tells of Campbell's habit of Letters to the Editor V meeting people and saying, "You're a Newell Responds Jew, aren't you? I can always spot a Jew." And when astronauts landed on I am both complimented and trou- the moon, Campbell told a member of bled by Professor Cannon's sentiments. Gill's family that "the moon would be a I am complimented, of course, by the good place to put Jews." Gill makes earnestness of her response to my essay clear that Campbell's despising of Freud in the spring 1993 issue and by her kind (and admiring of J u n g ) had to do at least words about my earlier writing. in part with the fact that Freud was Jew- I am troubled, however, on several ish (while Jung was not). accounts. While I agree completely that It appears that Jack Newell, bright we are most compelling when we speak humanitarian, has come to sit w i th Moy- in our own voice, I believe it is ridicu- ers at Campbell's feet, no longer pre- lous to suppose that every idea in my senting his own good thoughts for us to head is original. As individuals and read, but serving over Campbell's mi- scholars, we owe enormous debts to one crowaved TV dinners (to pick up the another, both near and far. "Liberal earlier metaphor). Can it be that Newell Spirituality" is an account of my relig- has fallen for the feel-good message that ious sojourn—as I am living it and as others are influencing it. popularized Campbell's flawed think- It is no secret that Joseph Camp- ing? Are we as LDS intellectuals to bell's work "is not well thought of in the adopt Campbell's advice to simply "Fol- scholarly community." In making this low [our] bliss"? Brendan Gill deplores point, however, and citing other schol- this simplistic world view: ars to support and extend her view, isn't Helen falling into the pattern for which If it is only to do whatever makes she faulted me—using others' voices to one happy, then obviously it sanctions reinforce her j u d g m e n t ? Speaking in our selfishness on a colossal scale. ... It is a own voice, and linking ours with others selfishness that is the unspoken... ration- ale of that contemporary army of Wall (supporters and critics alike), is the way Street yuppies, of junk-bond dealers, of ideas are formed and refined. takeover lawyers who have come to be The trick, I suppose, is to tread among the most conspicuous members of gracefully along the path between hid- our society [and Newell might add, the ing behind others' voices and ignoring most conspicuous attitude of contempo- or failing to credit them. Erring in either rary LDS society] Is it not radically at direction is bad business. In looking odds with Judeo-Christian traditions that back at my article, Professor Cannon have served as the centuries-old founda- may be right that I offered more of tions of our society? Campbell in that section than was ap- propriate for my purpose. I suggest that Jack Newell study On the issue of Campbell's credibil- more critically the works of Campbell, ity, readers may recall that I led into the his idol, and that he trust, instead, his disputed section of my essay with these own voice, his own thinking—a good words: "Campbell and [Ernest] Becker and true voice that we need to hear. are important to me not because their logic or evidence is airtight but because Helen B. Cannon they continued to stimulate my thinking Logan, and raise questions I like to ponder" Letters to the Editor vi

(83). That was my bow to Campbell's organizing principles. That's the debt able critics and an acknowledgement of we owe him. His ideas compel us to my own questions about the foundation think on a large scale and to search for of some of his work. increasingly valid insights about hu- What I like about Joseph Camp- man nature and the human condition. bell's thought is his willingness to risk His mistake, especially in the bloom of thinking big, thinking globally. The ab- his career, was listening too much and sence of this quality is precisely what I too selectively to others' voices. A find limiting about so much academic keener and more willing ear may have thought. We have long engaged chiefly opened his reputedly intolerant heart as in the earth-shattering examination of well. minutia. Our implicit faith is that our I thank Professor Cannon for offer- separate studies will add up to some- ing her critique for Dialogue readers (in- thing larger, but when someone is bold cluding me) to ponder. enough to suggest a greater whole we are disposed to criticize it. And criticize L. Jackson Newell it we should. , Utah From one perspective at least, un- derstanding human culture (and all of nature) is a never-ending seesaw be- tween getting small things in focus and Speaking Out trying to form larger images from them. But the larger images inevitably blur the Those in the highest leadership po- precision of the constituent elements. If sitions of the church would have us be- one of those elements happens to be my lieve that in order to be true disciples own, I'm offended by the blurring. And of Christ, we must follow them in un- so it goes. questioning obedience and refrain from If we use this set of assumptions criticizing their pronouncements or be- about knowledge, then the more ele- havior no matter what the resulting in- ments we bring together, the clearer the justice or injury to individual members picture we form—and the more confi- might be. At the very least, we should dent we are that we have smoked out overlook falsehoods, secret files, or false images among the parts. The irony punishment for disagreement with doc- in all this is that the more our mental trines or procedures as simple manifes- picure of the world begins to match the tations of the humanity of those bewildering complexity of the real directing an otherwise divine church thing, the more incomprehensible the and say nothing in the interest of avoid- image becomes—mirroring reality as it ing contention and remain close to the does. To deal with our disorientation we Lord. seesaw back to broader generalizations The exact opposite is the case. The and look at more particulars—then Jesus who cleared the court of the gen- grapple once again for organizing prin- tiles in the temple of the money chang- ciples. ers and sellers of sacrificial animals Joseph Campbell's sweeping con- would never remain silent in the face of clusions about the world's myths and the latter-day desecration of his church religions were flawed, but I admire his by those in positions of power who en- courage and imagination in looking for gage in spiritual oppression. If we are to Letters to the Editor vii be true followers of Christ, we must greater openness, humility, and love, as speak out against this oppression what- suggested by Paul Toscano in the spring ever the personal risk involved. 1993 issue of Dialogue, they will move The brethren would have us believe ever farther from Jesus, in whose name that opposition to them is opposition to they claim to speak and act, and the day the Savior, but it is utterly impossible to will surely come, if it has not already see the refusal to disclose the financial arrived, when the tabernacle, the tem- dealings of the church, the management ples, the highrise office building, and of history in order to present the organi- the Corporation of the President will zation in the best possible light, the lying remain but the Lord will say unto those about political activities, or the conceal- in authority, "Behold, your church is left ment of documents as behavior that unto you, desolate." would be sanctioned by one who said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth Eileen Davies shall make you free." Salt Lake City, Utah And how are the compilation of se- cret files on members, confiscation of temple recommends, and imposition of other sanctions for the sin of disagree- Uncannily Accurate ment with church leaders manifesta- tions of the love which Jesus said would I want to compliment D. Michael be the identifying characteristics of his Quinn for his heady, revealing examina- disciples? tion of the events and personalities It is interesting that after Jesus found in his article, " cleared the temple, "the blind and the and Mormon Political Conflicts," in the lame came to him in the temple; and he summer 1993 issue. With a minor excep- healed them" (Matt. 21:14)—the very tion, his account is uncannily accurate people who needed him and who with what I recall. would have found it most difficult to Since the publication of Quinn's ar- make their way through the crowds sur- ticle I have been inundated with ques- rounding the hagglers and money tions from friends, colleagues, and changers. Jesus stated emphatically that acquaintances asking me about my in- his temple was meant to be a house of volvement with the infamous BYU Spy prayer for all nations, and surely the Scandal. The events took place in 1966, commerce in the court of the gentiles some twenty-five-plus years ago. I was would have rendered it virtually impos- completely ignorant of much of the con- sible for non-Jews, who could not go troversy between Ezra Taft Benson and further into the temple, to commune his fellows of t h e Quorum of the Twelve. with God. There are no throngs of buy- Had I been aware, I am confident I ers and sellers in the lobby of the Salt would have not been involved with Lake temple, b u t how many, both in and either the , the Young out of the church, have found their ap- Americans for Freedom, or the spying proach to the Lord impeded by the fear- incident. ful and self-protective actions of those in What Quinn writes of the incident positions of authority? is essentially correct. I recall being asked If the leaders of the church do not to attend Ray Hillam's "Current Af- alter their behavior in the direction of fairs" class, Political Science 105 I be- Letters to the Editor viii lieve it was, right after the Wilkinson my own convictions until, in my own address. We were told not to bring up naivete, I wrote and asked President the topic, but to simply report what Hil- McKay if it were true. In retrospect, I lam said about Wilkinson's remarks. As doubt if President McKay even saw the I recall, Hillam was asked about it by a letter. His secretary, Clare Middlemiss, student and his reply was something forwarded it to President Wilkinson, like, "No comment, I don't want to get who demanded to know the teacher's fired." I remember feeling very uncom- name. During a personal appointment fortable in what I was doing, and dis- in Wilkinson's office, he was most per- tinctly recall burying my head in my sistent, and I was made to feel my status hands during the class period and say- as a student was threatened unless I ing over and over to myself, "This is revealed her name, which was Wash- wrong, this is wrong." There were at burn. It is my understanding that she least three or four other "spies" in the did not return as a teacher, whether be- classroom. I did not even bother to re- cause she was a graduate student and port. I ceased active involvement with completed her program or was dis- both the John Birch Society and the missed, to this day I do not know. Young Americans for Freedom shortly To say I feel badly about my partici- after, and left to serve a in pation in the Spy Scandal and the prob- southern Austrailia a few months later. able dismissal of an English instructor is After I returned to BYU from my mis- an understatement, especially in light of sion, I attended a few JBS meetings for the fact that what Ms. Washburn told a time, but it was more a sop to my me privately is true. From this whole landlord than from any conviction. By experience I have learned that our lead- 1972 I was completely disenchanted by ers are men, and as such, they can get them. carried away, and that when they do, Quinn used my letter of 29 January they are capable of making some hor- 1965 (sic 1966) to David O. McKay as rendous mistakes in judgment. I was evidence of a continuing effort to "ex- young, foolish, immature, naive, and tract 'pro-communist views'" from cer- too trusting of certain individuals. I re- tain professors (n212). I do not dispute sent Middlemiss fowarding what was a that there may have been continued ef- private letter from me to the prophet forts of surveillance or that some Birch- David O. McKay to Wilkinson, and I ers and YAFers attempted to "extract" resent his leaving them in his files to be such statements, but I was not involved. later essentially opened for public scru- Thus, Quinn is mistaken in his use of my tiny. I do not resent Quinn for using letter to President McKay as evidence of them, as an historian, he is only doing a conspiracy to do so. The letter was his job, examining the documents and written of my own volition, without any interpreting their significance. consulting or acknowledgement to any- Further, in retrospect, to suggest one. It was in reply to a statement made that the victims of the Spy Scandal, men to me privately by my freshman English like Ed Morrell, Ray Hillam, Louis instructor, to the effect that the reason Midgely, and Richard Poll, were in why Ezra Taft Benson was sent to some way connected to some mythical Europe was because he would not keep "Communist Conspiracy" or were quiet about political issues. "Communist Sympathizers or Dupes" This shocked me, and ate away at is ludicrous. I have the utmost respect Letters to the Editor ix for them all. After my mission I took phone discussion with him, and I ques- courses from both Morrell and Midgely. tion Quinn when he quotes Elder Ben- Morrell served as a counselor in my own son and others, then procedes to tell us Provo East Stake presidency, served as what they actually meant to say or what a , and then as a unnamed person they were talking bishop of my sister ward. Poll is the about, or what their motives were for author of one of the most significant and their actions or statements. Quinn may meaningful essays about the church that be right in some of his assumptions, but I have ever read: "What the Church how can we prove or disprove it if the Means to People Like Me" (Dialogue, person quoted never got as specific as Winter 1967). Quinn? As a consequence of my experi- Surprised I was to read about my ences, I now temper my own sustaining alleged "spy" activities when I was a of the leaders of the church by reserving student at the University of Utah (8-9) the right to determine for myself and at BYU (51, n211). Contrary to whether their words and deeds are of Quinn's report, I never in my life took a God or not. This is in accordance with class from J. D. Williams or anyone else what even Brigham Young preached expressly to "monitor . . . classroom (see Journal of Discourses 9:150). Cer- statements" (9) so I could report to Reed tainly, in the case of the BYU Spy Scan- Benson or any of my other friends or dal, the activities of leaders and men associates. J. D. Williams was a very whom I trusted were not inspired. I am talented and interesting teacher of po- saddened to find church leaders once litical science, and I was glad to learn again apparently involved in spying, from him, although we differed in our that is, keeping secret files and dossiers political views. I did often collect cam- on certain invididuals. I know from per- pus and metropolitan newspaper arti- cles and editorials regarding campus sonal experience that this is wrong. political events, protests, and speakers. I also attended some public lectures and Curt E. Conklin sometimes observed students protests Provo, Utah or demonstrations. On a few occasions I shared my observations and a few newspaper clipplings with Reed Ben- "Spy" Reply son, who had previously expressed a desire to be kept informed of same. At D. Michael Quinn's article on Elder the U of U and at BYU I was never Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon political associated with any students, faculty, conflicts (summer 1993) detailed some administrators, or Provo chapter of the very interesting history. Let's give John Birch Society in any sort of organ- Quinn at least a "B" or an "A" for all the ized "spy ring." During the 1965-66 relevant material he has researched and school year when I was "listed by BYU presented—it must have taken months professors as part of this spy ring" and possibly years of dedicated re- (51n211), I was actually a graduate stu- search and digging. dent at the U of U, was involved in a I would give Quinn less than an political campaign in Salt Lake City, and "A" for his accuracy in reporting and was in the fall of 1966 drafted into the interpreting my own remarks in a tele- U.S. army. Letters to the Editor X

Quinn's first paragraph on page 72 we learn to love one another, to pray, related the fact that I lost my employ- and to listen to the promptings of the ment in the Church Publications De- Spirit, which will unite us in harmony partment. I can't be certain that I lost my and truth? job because of my political views or ac- tivities, neither do I know that it was Bryon Cannon Anderson "the state coordinator of the Birch Soci- West Valley City, Utah ety" who informed Elder Benson of this incident. In Quinn's footnote 53 (14-15) he Quinn Responds calls the "Citizens for Honest Govern- ment" (CHG) a "Birch Society spin-off I appreciate the further insights and group" and says that I, as its chairman, comments of Curt E. Conklin and Byron was a member of the Birch Society. I do Cannon Anderson. Their perspectives not believe that I had become a member are important, since they were insiders of the Birch Society when I organized to some of the events in my article on and chaired the CHG. Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon political May I now make a few remarks conflicts. However, part of Conklin's re- regarding our attitudes and our treat- sponse is a slight misreading of the text ment of one another? in my article, while Anderson asserts If God controls the selection of more serious criticisms. those who sit in the presiding councils of the church, should we not go the extra The article didn't cite Conklin's mile to support and sustain them, rather January 1966 letter as evidence of efforts than criticize them? I am reluctant to put "to extract 'pro-Communist' views forth my hand to steady the ark of God from their professors." Instead, his let- (see Num. 1:51; 1 Cor. 13:9-10; D&C ter was in the footnote for the previous 85:8), to criticize any of the "Brethren." sentence which summarized activities Following the earthly ministry of of several BYU students during the year Christ, "the multitude of them that be- before they were recruited as part of the lieved were of one heart and of one BYU "Spy Ring" in 1966. Although I soul" (Acts 4:20). In a revelation during regarded their activities prior to April a church conference in 1831 the Lord 1966 as more than coincidental, I had no said, "I say unto you, be one; and if ye evidence that they co-ordinated among are not one ye are not mine" (D&C themselves or were co-ordinated by 38:27). One of the Savior's messages in someone else. Therefore, I merely cata- his visits to the Nephites was, "he that loged the evidence of their prior activ- hath the spirit of contention is not of me, ism against Professor Richard Poll as a but is of the devil, who is the father of demonstration of their partisanship be- contention, and he stirreth up the hearts fore Stephen Hays Russell selected of men to contend with anger, one with them to monitor BYU professors. I another" (3 Ne. 11:29). didn't state or suggest they were func- Are we not too often guilty of con- tioning as "a conspiracy" prior to April tention in politics and in the church? Do 1966. Conklin seems to have read the we as a people need to repent of our footnote reference to his letter as my pride, our contentions, and our criti- comment on the period after April 1966, cisms of the leaders of the church? Can rather than (as I intended) on the period Letters to the Editor xi before then. In a rewrite, I would make was an extension of what Reed Benson that chronological distinction more em- had asked him to do. Anderson's letter phatic. The bulk of Conklin's letter was now denies that this was intentional his candid reflection which I found very monitoring, but that was the context of moving. what he told me about Reed's request to I regret that Byron Cannon Ander- monitor campus liberals. Until Ander- son disputes my "accuracy in reporting son described it, I had no idea that there and interpreting my own remarks in a had been any surveillance by students telephone discussion with [Quinn]." at the University of Utah, much less that Our January 1993 conversation began this involved Reed Benson. with my request for him to give his per- There are obviously differing views spective on the controversy involving about Anderson's alleged involvement Ezra Taft Benson and the John Birch in campus monitoring. Anderson's let- Society. I had no intention to inquire ter said he merely "attended some pub- about what Ernest Wilkinson (not I) lic lectures and sometimes observed called campus "espionage," but ex- student protests or demonstrations" at plained I was making this request for an the University of Utah, and then re- upcoming article in Dialogue. In fact, I ported back to Reed Benson. It was hardly asked Anderson any direct ques- BYU's pro-Birch Wilkinson who used tion, because he immediately began to the word "espionage" when Reed first reminisce with details that I wrote down proposed such activities in 1960 for the as fast as I could. Provo school. In recognition of those Once he started reminiscing, An- two polarized views, my article used derson's first words were that Reed Ben- both the neutral term "monitoring" son introduced him to the John Birch (usually without quotes) and the judg- Society as a freshman at the University mental term "espionage" (in quotes). of Utah, and that he joined the JBS while My note 211 on page 51 said that still an undergraduate. Anderson BYU professors claimed in 1966 that An- added that Reed's mother and brother derson had been monitoring them. The Mark were formal members of the soci- note observed that he was not a BYU ety. This was all new to me. As I wrote student that year. Immediately after his on page 8 of the article, he then volun- remarks concerning Professor Williams, teered the information that Reed asked however, Anderson told me on the Anderson "to provide him with the phone (and I quoted his words exactly names of students who were active in in the article): "I transferred to Brigham liberal causes" at the University of Utah. Young University where I was involved Anderson's letter restates that he sup- in the same sorts of things." Again, An- plied such information to "Reed Ben- derson was volunteering answers to a son, who had previously expressed a question I never asked him. desire to be kept informed of same." BYU's student directories show On the telephone, Anderson imme- that Anderson was enrolled from fall diately added that he attended one or 1964 through the summer of 1965. He more classes taught by J.D. Williams then returned to the University of Utah whom he liked personally, despite the as a graduate student from fall 1965 difference in their political views. From through spring 1966. Therefore, if An- his comments, I concluded that Ander- derson's statement to me was accurate, son meant his attendance in J. D.'s class then he was "involved in the same Letters to the Editor xii sorts" of student monitoring at BYU a sides in a controversy which was polar- year before the famous "Spy Ring" of ized and bitter (even to the casual ob- spring 1966. This is supported by the server of the 1960s). In response to the allegations of BYU professors who objection of Anderson (and possibly didn't specify the time period Anderson other supporters of Elder Benson's had monitored them. I buried most of views in the 1960s), I'll add something this in a footnote, but his letter requires here that I decided not to put even in the its discussion here. footnotes of the article. Anderson's letter also says that he What I knew of the mid-1960s con- wasn't a member of the JBS when he troversy between Hugh B. Brown and organized and chaired the Citizens for Ezra Taft Benson I read from the news- Honest Government in March 1966. papers as a returned missionary. I felt However, its other executive officers close to the philosophy Hugh B. Brown were the prominent Mormon Birchers J. expressed on many issues, but I had a Reese Hunter and Mark E. Anderson. In testimony from personal experience the Salt Lake Tribune's report of the Utah that Elder Benson was a prophet, seer, Birch Society's dinner for Robert Welch and revelator. During this very public a month later, Anderson was listed as controversy, school friends and ward one of the banquet's organizers. And he members sometimes asked me which of had told me on the phone that he joined the two church leaders I thought was the Birch Society during his first years at "right." Privately and publicly (in testi- the University of Utah. mony meetings) during the 1960s, I said Concerning the account of Ander- that I felt both President Brown and son's loss of church employment (which Apostle Benson were each carrying out again he surprised me by volunteering), God's mission for them. God didn't find I regarded him as a victim of anti-Birch it necessary to sort out the controversy sentiment at LDS headquarters. His between those two prophets, seers, and words on the phone to me were that "the revelators, so I've never felt it necessary head" of the Birch Society in Utah told to reconcile the apparent contradiction Benson, and reported back the apostle's in my affirming they were both doing response to Anderson. The article used his will. the phrase "state coordinator," since Whole sections of the Benson-Birch that was the official term as I under- article surprised me during my dragnet stood from published Birch sources. A approach to research. However, I did historian is always limited by access to my best to be fair to all concerned in sources and one's personal abilities, but narrating that experience. Other I did my best to present Byron Cannon authors may feel it necessary to identify Anderson's experience as accurately as who they think wore the White-hat and I could from the combination of evi- who wore the Black-hat in controversial dence created in the 1960s and his direct events. Or at least to inform the reader statements to me in 1993. who the author regards as "right" and Anderson's letter concludes that who was "wrong." Instead, I think it's my article about Ezra Taft Benson and usually better for historians to leave the other general authorities was mere value judgments to the reader, even "criticisms of the leaders of the church." though authors may have strong opin- To the contrary, I bent over backward to ions of their own. I've never tried to present an evenhanded narrative of all ignore evidence I disliked or to skew its Letters to the Editor xiii presentation to force the reader to a pre- the Mormon hierarchy, I've felt I was determined conclusion. That kind of describing White-hats who were some- "objectivity" was the goal in my biogra- times caught in the dust storms and phy of the controversial J. Reuben Clark, stampedes of mortal life. and I was pleased to learn that both his supporters and detractors felt my book D. Michael Quinn had vindicated their views of Counselor Salt Lake City, Utah Clark. In twenty years of writing about

CALL FOR PAPERS

The editors of Dialogue envision a special issue to be published in 1995 devoted to "The LDS Church in the Twenty-first Century." Papers on that theme from various disciplines and perspectives will be selected by the editorial board, and by a special guest editor, from among those offered during the next few months. Especially welcome are papers dealing with the future of Mormonism outside of North America. Please send either completed papers or extensive abstracts for papers to Dialogue editors, P.O. Box 658, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84110-0658.