Item Detail
-
6274
-
2
-
0
-
English
-
Political Feud in Salt Lake City : J. Bracken Lee and the Firing of W. Cleon Skousen
-
Utah Historical Quarterly
-
Fall 1974
-
42
-
4
-
316-43
-
"On March 21, 1960, Mayor J. Bracken Lee fired Salt Lake City Police Chief W. Cleon Skousen. . . . The community reeled under the impact of this thunderbolt.
". . . The credibility of public officials was placed in serious question, as the people tried to discern whether the mayor or the chief spoke the truth. Letters and phone calls of protest to the media reached record proportions. Sincere concern was voiced by the public and the media that police protection would suffer. Members of the Mormon church, many of whom had enthusiastically supported non-Mormon Lee's brand of politics, found themselves torn between him and one of their own; Skousen was a Mormon and a conservative. Moreover, there was clear evidence that some General Authorities of the church had taken sides in the dispute." [Author]