This blog post was written by History Ph.D. candidate Emma Fenske. This is the final post covering former Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson, his speeches, the Christian Right, and American agriculture politics from 1958-1961.
While it might stand out that a leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had such a public religious and pro-America platform from 1958-1961, this version of a Christian America was prevalent at the time. The 1950s-1960s demonstrated a period of Christian ecumenicalism within American government. A month before he entered office, President-elect Eisenhower declared, “We are a religious people…our form of government has no sense unless it is founded in a deeply-felt religious faith, and I don’t care what it is.” [28] Eisenhower later selected Benson as his Secretary of Agriculture.
As John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic president, was elected in the 1960s, America once again expanded what Christian faiths could fit under the political umbrella. Kennedy connected these expanding religious ideas to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “as the Mormons succeeded so America can succeed.” [29] Lyndon Johnson also expanded this lens to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Johnson had a close relationship with Church President David O. McKay, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang at his inauguration.
While The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did face some evangelical push back., Benson held a public leadership position that celebrated values of a Christian America while maintaining his faith. [30] Contributing articles for Christianity Today, the cultural pacesetter for the evangelical movement, and publicly speaking on religious themes, Benson did not separate his position in government from his faith. [31]
While most of his speeches utilized ecumenical Christian language, he also often incorporated theological ideas specific to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ideas like “Free Agency,” or “the privilege of choice which was introduced by God the Eternal Father to all of his spirit children in the premortal state,” which “occurred in the great council in heaven before the peopling of this earth.” [32] Benson uses this idea in his speeches, within the same context as religious language of the Christian Right,
“Gentlemen, all that we hold dearest in our way of life is based on spiritual truth. Our heritage of liberty is not man-made. It is God-given. Free Agency is an eternal principle. Next to life itself, I am most grateful for this gift of Free Agency. It is more to be prized than any earthly possession.” [33]
Similarly, his speeches place emphasis on humans as eternal beings. In a narrative that frequently appeared in Benson’s speeches concerning his visit to two Baptist churches while in Moscow in 1959, [34] Benson related how he spoke to the church and told them,
“I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I extended greetings from the millions and millions of church people in America and round the world. I affirmed my own belief in God, the Father of us all. I spoke of my faith in prayer, our avenue of communication with the Almighty, that blessed gift which makes it possible to reach out and tap that unseen Power we so much need. I testified that Jesus is Christ; that he directs the course of this earth. I urged them to be unafraid, to love one another, to love all mankind, to pray for peace, and all would be well. I testified to the reality of the resurrection – that we are all eternal beings. I closed by leaving my witness as a church servant for many years that truth will endure; that the basic concepts of Christianity are true, and that time is always on the side of truth. I asked God’s blessings on them.” [35]
As the service closed with a hymn, Benson was struck with the sense of Christian unity that was felt in the spaces that evening. While speaking in public spaces, Benson connected larger themes of Christian unity with specific principles of his personal faith and The Church he held a leadership position within.
But Benson’s Christian language also deeply replicated the growing language of white Christian nationalism that so closely associated with the rise of the Christian Right. To Benson, America’s position as a Christian nation was foreordained by God. As he told the Rotary Club of Washington D.C.,
“Gentlemen, I love this nation. It is my firm belief that the God of Heaven raised up the Founding Fathers and inspired them to establish the Constitution of this land. This is part of my religious faith. To me this is not just another nation. It is a great and glorious nation with a divine mission to perform for liberty-loving people everywhere.” [36]
This language of Christian Nationalism continued into his Presidency in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where he gave numerous speeches on topics like, “The Constitution—A Heavenly Banner,” “God’s Hand in Our Nation’s History,” and “This Nation Shall Endure.” [37]
But Benson’s view of this Christian Nation did not equal rights for all people. Benson connected of his communist fears with church policies to speak out against the Civil Rights movement. In 1967, Christianity Today reports that Benson stated that, “‘today’s civil-rights movement is a Communist program’ and defended the church’s ban on full membership rights for Negroes as God’s will.” [38] Benson was affiliated with three ultra-right groups: the John Birch Society, the All-American Society, and the Freeman Institute. [39] He was even tapped to run for Vice President under George Wallace’s presidential ticket. [40] Benson’s track record on Civil Rights led a Black Latter-day Saint, Chester Lee Hawkins, to claim that, “Ezra Taft Benson kind of messed up the whole ball game…The black people knew him, about him, and the John Birch society… I am not going to blame the Church for the John Burch Society because of one man. That wouldn’t be right [but] I have to be frank and honest that so many people got the impression that the John Birch Society was running the church.” [41] It wasn’t until a revelation in 1978 that full participation for Black members was authorized in The Church.
To Ezra Taft Benson, America was a Christian Nation, ordained by God. This meant fighting godless communism in many forms—including the Civil Rights movement—to live in a religious and economically free country. Incorporating his religious beliefs with the rising language of the Christian Right, Benson’s role as the Secretary of Agriculture gave him a public and global platform to share his belief.
Examples of Speeches by Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson featuring the title and closing quote of this article [42]
In 1985, almost a quarter of a century after his service as Secretary of Agriculture came to a close, Ezra Taft Benson became the 13th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Benson remains a complex figure in history. A symbol of the growing trend towards Christian nationalism as well as a figure that cemented that policy within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a study of Benson reveals a combination of conservative anti-communist politics and partisan politics. Promoting the centrality of God, family, and free farming within the United States, he also stands as a figure affiliated with conspiracy politics and the John Birch society, connected to George Wallace in the Civil Rights Era, and in contested conversations about the role of history. [43]
Benson believed the farm was the key to a Capitalist and Christian America of prosperity, and utilized his position to teach that, “With God’s help, let us build a prosperous, expanding, and free agriculture – a prosperous, expanding, and free economy – in a prosperous, expanding, and free America – an America that is economically, socially, and spiritually sound.” [44]
Sources cited
[28] Benjamin E. Parks, American Zion, p. 253.
[29] Benjamin E. Parks, American Zion, p. 279.
[30] Evangelical Pushback – Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster, The Mormon Quest for the Presidency: From Joseph Smith to Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, John Whitmer Books (Independence, 2011). P.139.
[31] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1958/july-21/clergy-and-economic-freedom.html
[32] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1975/04/using-our-free-agency?lang=eng
[33] Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 181, Folder 2). Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and Salt Lake Rotary Club Joint Meeting, Talk Highlights, April 5, 1960. P. 29.
[34] A few examples of this narrative in Benson’s Speeches: Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 181, Folder 2). Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and Salt Lake Rotary Club Joint Meeting, Talk Highlights, April 5, 1960.
Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 179, Folder 35) Chicago Dental Society, Talk Highlights, February 8, 1960
Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 179, Folder 31) Brotherhood Luncheon of the Kiwanians, Remarks, February 25, 1960
[35] Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 181, Folder 2). Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and Salt Lake Rotary Club Joint Meeting, Talk Highlights, April 5, 1960. P. 11-12.
[36] Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 180, Folder 46). Rotary Club of Washington D.C., Talk Highlights, December 14, 1960. P.13
[37] https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/ezra-taft-benson/constitution-heavenly-banner/
https://speeches.byu.edu/speakers/ezra-taft-benson/
[38] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1967/october-27/medium-sized-faith.html
[39] Harris, Watchman on the Tower, p. 3.
[40] Benjamin E. Parks, American Zion, p. 288-289.
[41] Harris, Watchman on the Tower, p. 108.
[42] Image: Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 180, Folder 43). Rockingham Poultry Marketing Cooperative, Talk Highlights, June 27, 1960.
Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 181, Folder 8). State Grange and Delaware Poultry Improvement Association, Talk Highlights, March 31, 1960.
Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 181, Folder 13). Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Talk Highlights, March 22, 1960.
Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 181, Folder 16). United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, Talk Highlights, February 3, 1960.
[43] https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/ezra-taft-benson/gods-hand-nations-history/
[44] Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 179, Folder 46). Farmer-Businessman Dinner, Annual, Talk Highlights – March 1, 1960, P. 16.
See Also: Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 180, Folder 43). Rockingham Poultry Marketing Cooperative, Talk Highlights, June 27, 1960.
Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 181, Folder 8). State Grange and Delaware Poultry Improvement Association, Talk Highlights, March 31, 1960.
Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 181, Folder 13). Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Talk Highlights, March 22, 1960.
Baylor Collection of Political Materials W.R. Poage Legislative Library, Waco, Texas. (Hyde H. Murray: Speeches, Box 181, Folder 16). United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, Talk Highlights, February 3, 1960.