60 years ago today - Dec 13, 1962

By the fall of 1962 members of the Birch Society's national council and editorial advisory committee had been speakers at BYU's "Forum" assemblies which were attended by a majority of students. This reflected the pro-Birch sentiments of BYU's president. On the other hand, anti- Birchers on the BYU faculty formally complained to Hugh B. Brown that the administration had arranged for national leaders of the Birch Society to address the student body.

[Richard D. Poll to Hugh B. Brown, 13 Dec. 1962; "The Council," The John Birch Society Bulletin (Feb. 1960): 2; John Birch Society's American Opinion. From D. Michael Quinn, Ezra Taft Benson and Mormon Political Conflicts, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 26:2 (Summer 1992), also in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Salt Lake City (Signature Books, 1994), Chapter 3.]