A question that I can't find the answer to anywhere: anyone know who was in the SLC 'temple' when SPK got his 'revelation' that blacks could get the priesthood? SPK obviously was and we have accounts from McConkie and GBH but I can't find a list anywhere. The only thing that seems certain is that not all of the Big 15 were there. Maybe Steve Benson might know?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2013 01:18PM by steve benson.

Thanks Steve. Any chance you know who wasn't there?

. . . at least according to this article:

"On 1 June 1978, following the monthly meeting of LDS General Authorities in the Salt Lake Temple, Kimball asked his counselors and the ten members of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles then present[ to remain behind for a special meeting , , ,

" . . . Mark E. Petersen was in Ecuador on an assignment and Delbert L. Stapley was in the hospital receiving medical care."

("Spencer W. Kimball," under "1978 Revelation on Priesthood," at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_W._Kimball)
_____


Petersen and Stapley were notorious racists, which may or may not have resulted in them not being present at the 1 June 1978 announcement by Kimball to the remaining members of the Quorum of the Twelve who were in attendance at the Salt Lake temple meeting called by Kimball (meaning that, given their deep antipathy toward Blacks, Kimball may have figured it would be easier for his "revelation" to be accepted by the Quorum if Petersen and Stapley weren't there for the announcement to complicate matters).

Anyway, below is a copy of Petersen's infamously-racist sermon against Blacks, delivered at BYU in 1954:

("Mark E. Petersen's Horrific Racist Speech at BYU," http://mormontruth.blogspot.com/2007/04/mark-e-petersons-horrific-racist-speech.html)


As for fellow-racist Stapley, here is a copy of a 1964 letter he wrote to George W. Romney (then-governor of Michigan and father of Mitt Romney), telling G.W. Romney that his (Romney's) support of civil rights for Blacks was contrary to Mormon Church doctrine and therefor urging him to back off:

("A letter George Romney received in 1964 . . . from a Mormon apostle named Delbert L. Stapley," http://mormonmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/delbert_stapley.pdf)



Edited 17 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2013 11:11PM by steve benson.

Brilliant, thank you. And thank you for the extra stuff, you read my mind. I was wondering if those who were absent would have opposed the move. Announcing it as a revelation forced their hand - clever work Kimball!

Scroll down toward the bottom of the linked thread to get to the 3-part breakout:

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,761567,761575



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2013 05:16PM by steve benson.

Damn McDonkies, they are always there.

The old, send inconvenient people away, or wait until they are sick to have a revelation trick. Works just as good as letting blacks have the priesthood as it does sleeping with other men's wives.

"Brethren, here's what will happen if you continue withholding the priesthood from negros." What a revelation that was.

or they're naive enough to believe, that business decisions come from God.

I was a little kid in 1978. However my father was working for the LDS church is South America. His supervisor was a guy who is now the temple president of one of the temples down there. They were in the office when the announcement came across. Brother Bigot, my Dad's supervisor walked to my dad. told him, and then undid his tie and walked outside and sat on the sidewalk and wept. My dad, who up until this point saw this man as a near god, walked up to him and thinking that he was crying for joy sat next to him and said "well it was time, now the lords work can go on down here", turns out the guy was not crying for joy...he was devastated and felt the church had caved in and the priesthood of God was not tainted by negroes. He told my dad that he had always dreaded having his sons sit next to negroes on the sacrament bench, since it was them that betrayed jesus in heaven, blah blah, my dad was stunned and bit wiser after that.