Have you ever wondered why some of the cowboys out west hate Convention of States? These folks have been victims of land coveting schemes since the Louisiana Purchase, yet surprisingly, they believe a Convention of States will "runaway" and destroy the Constitution. Western cattle producers often refer to the John Birch Society as the source for their position. Why?
The answer is Ezra Taft Benson.
Ezra Taft Benson was a farmer who became the agriculture extension agent for Oneida County, Idaho. He moved on to become a supervisor for all agricultural extension agents for the state of Idaho and took an executive position for the National Council for Farm Cooperatives.
President Eisenhower appointed Benson to Secretary of Agriculture upon his election, even though Benson had endorsed his cousin Senator Robert Taft, who ran against Eisenhower in the Republican primary.
Ezra Taft Benson also shared the same religious faith with many of the cattle producers out in the west. He was a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints overseeing the church's relief operations during World War II. Benson served the LDS Church as a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles at the same time that he was Secretary of Agriculture for the Eisenhower Administration. His leadership had earned the respect of the hard-working families who managed land better than every single one of the government agencies and organizations intent on coveting their farms.
Politically, Ezra Taft Benson was a known critic of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's agricultural policies outlined in the New Deal. He was also a very outspoken opponent of communism and socialism. It was this position that made him a friend to Robert Welch Jr. of the John Birch Society.
The John Birch Society was growing in popularity at the time that Dwight D. Eisenhower became President of the United States. Robert Welch's sales pitch to recruit new members was a letter called "The Politician." In "The Politician," Welch made the claim that Eisenhower was a communist. That he colluded with Winston Churchill to make up a lie about Jews being killed in Germany in order to protect the spread of communism in Eastern Europe under Russian leadership. Welch claimed that the Holocaust never happened, and that Nazi Germany was the one true freedom fighter in the world that tried to hold back the communists.
With convincing detail, the John Birch Society founder claimed that Eisenhower used his military connections to be introduced to Winston Churchill's daughter shortly after World War I. This introduction, Welch claimed, led to an affair between the two. That affair gave Eisenhower an opportunity to build a relationship with Winston Churchill. It was in that relationship that the communist plans to squash Germany's anti-communist war and bring communism to the west were supposedly conspired.
"The Politician" was originally a secret letter sent to individuals in an effort to recruit them to join the John Birch Society. It was very convincing, however, very unpopular among the World War II veterans at that time. Over the years, "The Politician" was edited several times in hopes of attracting the veterans who rebuked the original narratives. Eventually "The Politician" evolved into a book published by JBS.
At the time that Robert Welch Jr. was sending his letter all over the United States, his friend Ezra Taft Benson was appointed as a member of the Eisenhower Ten and tasked by the President to serve as one of the federal administrators in the event of a National Emergency. The Cold War between the communist U.S.S.R. and the capitalist United States continued to build tension.
At the end of Eisenhower's term, Ezra Taft Benson was nominated by JBS to run on the presidential ticket. By this time, the John Birch Society was changing their recruiting efforts from accusing Eisenhower of communism to accusing Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement of bringing communism to the United States.
Ezra Taft Benson's leadership in the LDS Church was very strong. He routinely used the LDS Church facilities to hold JBS meetings and was instrumental in building the John Birch Society in Idaho and Utah. He proclaimed that no person could be a communist and a Latter-day Saint.
That alignment between the segregationist and the John Birch Society eventually became as unpopular to other leaders of the LDS Church as it did with the rest of the country. Benson was sent to Europe to oversee missionary work.
The John Birch Society became very unpopular as the Civil Rights Movement gained traction. By the time JBS began attacking the separatist movement, the damage was already done. JBS was considered an extremist society by the average American.
Ezra Taft Benson returned to the United States after his missionary work. He was elected the 13th President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1973. He did not take an active position in politics nor pursued his relationship with the John Birch Society while President. However, it is his earlier work on behalf of JBS in the LDS Church and his inspiring work as the 13th President, that still influences cattle producers today.
