217 - Ezra Taft Benson: His Life in Washington D.C. I Religion & Politics I Church History Matters

Scott Woodward (0:00)

Ezra Taft Benson is simultaneously an Apostle of the Church. He's a member of the President's Cabinet, and he's one of the most controversial public officials in America.

Casey Griffiths (0:09)

Ezra Taft Benson is the Latter-day Saint who actually came the closest to being President of the United States.

Scott Woodward (0:16)

He was not afraid to speak his mind against what he saw as the evils and perils that surrounded Americans and Latter-day Saints.

Casey Griffiths (0:24)

He's kind of anti-big government. The Great Depression was when the government really asserted itself.

Scott Woodward (0:29)

Him and his family kind of become a symbol.

Casey Griffiths (0:31)

He'd become a national political figure almost overnight.

Scott Woodward (0:34)

Some commentators called Secretary Benson the Achilles Hill of the Eisenhower administration. No Latter-day Saint has ever exercised greater influence on an American president.

Casey Griffiths (0:46)

Sometimes authenticity turns into one of the best public relations strategies that you can imagine.

Scott Woodward (0:51)

Ezra Taft Benson was going to shock Washington.

Casey Griffiths (0:56)

Hello, Scott. Good to see you.

Scott Woodward (0:58)

You too. We're back.

Casey Griffiths (1:00)

Yes, we are back and we're coming to the, like, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel with our religion and politics series. And yet, as with every topic we've done, there's so much more than we thought there was.

Initially, there's a lot of stuff. So I thought we were going to do one episode on Ezra Taft Benson. But when we started digging into his story, I was like, there's no way we can cover this in one episode and do a good job. And we probably ought to do seven or eight episodes on him, but we're going to spare you a little bit of our prognostications on this particular subject.

Scott Woodward (1:42)

So today... That's the word of the day today, everybody. Prognostications.

Casey Griffiths (1:46)

Prognostications, which I hope I'm using right. I don't know if I am.

Scott Woodward (1:50)

I liked it.

So we're talking about politics and religion. And we recognize that both topics can be a little socially perilous to talk about. And we're even getting into more sensitive territory as we get closer to the present moment. So thank you, everybody, for hanging in here with us and for not being too offended as we talk about both of these topics.

Casey Griffiths (2:23)

Yeah, yeah, it's kind of a maxim that history gets more controversial the closer you get to the present. I found this out when someone I had written an article about called me. It was, I'm not gonna say who it was because they specifically asked me not to say who they were. But they called me and said, hey, here's a couple of things that maybe you didn't know. And so I realized, when we get to where our time is, we're still sorting through history.

And so I don't know if we're gonna go much further than the time period that we're gonna reach today, which is like the 60s, 70s. After all, this is a history podcast. This is not a politics podcast. So we're gonna refrain from weighing in on current political figures or events.

Scott Woodward (3:09)

At the same time, I think a major part of what we do in this podcast is we try to connect the present with the perspective of the past, right? And some of the history we're covering today actually directly impacts the present for Latter-day Saints.

Casey Griffiths (3:25)

Yes, that is true. And that's because today we're talking about someone who's still relatively recent Latter-day Saint memory, that's President Ezra Taft Benson. And I have to admit, Scott, that I barely have memories of Presidents Kimball and Benson, well, they were the leaders of the church when I was born.

Scott Woodward (3:43)

Yeah, same.

Casey Griffiths (3:44)

I just don't remember very much about them.

Scott Woodward (3:46)

Same. I can remember as a very young boy praying for the health of President Spencer W. Kimball. Isn't that crazy? And then when I looked at later, I found out he died when I was four. And so, but I remember, like little Scott would were praying for Spencer W. Kimball.

And then remembering that it was hard to switch from President Kimball to President Benson in my prayers. But I do remember President Benson talking a lot about the Book of Mormon as a kid. I remember that. But I do admit that it wasn't until adulthood, Casey, that I learned that Ezra Taft Benson was so deeply involved and so influential in the US government.

Casey Griffiths (4:27)

And in hindsight, I mean, President Benson looms pretty large in the collective memory of the church because of all the work he did with the US government and the church and how it raised the visibility of Latter-day Saints throughout the world.