--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "yifuxero" <yifux...@...> wrote: > > --- > from Wiki: > [edit] Professional life > Skousen went to work for the Agricultural Adjustment Administration in June > 1935. The following year he joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), > where he worked until 1951. > > From 1951 to 1955, he taught at Brigham Young University. He served as Salt > Lake City, Utah police chief for four years before being fired in 1960, by > Mayor J. Bracken Lee.[1][2] Skousen was summarily dismissed shortly after > Skousen raided an illegal poker club, where J. Bracken Lee was in > attendance.[3][4] Lee characterized Skousen's strict enforcement of > anti-gambling laws as "like a Gestapo."[5][6] For the next fifteen years, > Skousen edited the police journal, "Law and Order". He returned to Brigham > Young University as a professor of religion in 1967, retiring in 1978. >
I took a 'Book of Mormon' class from Skousen at BYU. I enjoyed it so much that I took a more advanced class from him on the same topic the second semester I was there. Religion classes were mandatory, even for non-Mormons such as myself. Skousen was an excellent Book of Mormon and scripture teacher, but in my view he was also a shifty eyed creep. I didn't trust him at all on a personal level. Two semesters was all I could stand of BYU. I transfered out to the U of Utah. Did you read the article below, yifuxero? > > > > In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "do.rflex" <do.rflex@> wrote: > > > > > > > > Meet the man who changed Glenn Beck's life - > > > > Cleon Skousen was a right-wing crank whom even conservatives despised. > > > > Then Beck discovered him > > > > > > By Alexander Zaitchik - Salon.com - Sept. 16, 2009 > > > > > > Excerpted from the article: > > > > In reality...the so-called 912ers were summoned to D.C. by the man who > > changed Beck's life, and that helps explain why the movement is not the > > nonpartisan lovefest that Beck first sold on air with his trademark tears. > > > > Beck has created a massive meet-up for the disaffected, paranoid Palin-ite > > "death panel" wing of the GOP, those ideologues most susceptible to > > conspiracy theories and prone to latch on to eccentric distortions of fact > > in the name of opposing "socialism." > > > > In that, they are true disciples of the late Mormon, W. Cleon Skousen, > > Beck's favorite writer and the author of the bible of the 9/12 movement, > > "The 5,000 Year Leap." > > > > A once-famous anti-communist "historian," Skousen was too extreme even for > > the conservative activists of the Goldwater era, but Glenn Beck has now > > rescued him from the remainder pile of history, and introduced him to a > > receptive new audience... > > > > What has Beck been pushing on his legions? "Leap," first published in 1981, > > is a heavily illustrated and factually challenged attempt to explain > > American history through an unspoken lens of Mormon theology. > > > > Anyone who has followed Beck will recognize the book's title. > > > > Beck has been furiously promoting "The 5,000 Year Leap" for the past year, > > a push that peaked in March when he launched the 912 Project. That month, a > > new edition of "The 5,000 Year Leap," complete with a laudatory new > > foreword by none other than Glenn Beck, came out of nowhere to hit No. 1 on > > Amazon. It remained in the top 15 all summer, holding the No. 1 spot in the > > government category for months. > > > > The book tops Beck's 912 Project "required reading" list, and is routinely > > sold at 912 Project meetings where guest speakers often use it as their > > primary source material... > > > > But more interesting than the contents of "The 5,000 Year Leap," and more > > revealing for what it says about 912ers and the Glenn Beck Nation, is the > > book's author. > > > > W. Cleon Skousen was not a historian so much as a player in the history of > > the American far right; less a scholar of the republic than a threat to it. > > At least, that was the judgment of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, which maintained > > a file on Skousen for years that eventually totaled some 2,000 pages. > > > > Before he died in 2006 at the age of 92, Skousen's own Mormon church > > publicly distanced itself from the foundation that Skousen founded and that > > has published previous editions of "The 5,000 Year Leap." ... > > > > > > ---Willard Cleon Skousen was born in 1913 to American parents in a small > > Mormon frontier town in Alberta, Canada. When he was 10 his family moved to > > California, where he remained until he shipped off to England and Ireland > > for Mormon missionary work. > > > > In 1935, after graduating from a California junior college, the 23-year-old > > Skousen moved to Washington, where he worked briefly for a New Deal farm > > agency. He then began a 15-year career with the FBI, also earning a law > > degree from George Washington University in 1940. His posts at the FBI were > > largely administrative and clerical in nature, first in Washington and > > later in Kansas. > > > > After retiring from the FBI in 1951, Skousen joined the faculty of Brigham > > Young University, the Latter-day Saints university in Utah. He then enjoyed > > a tumultuous four years as chief of police in Salt Lake City. > > > > During his tenure he gained a reputation for cutting crime and ruthlessly > > enforcing Mormon morals. > > > > But Skousen was too earnest by half. The city's ultraconservative mayor, J. > > Bracken Lee, fired him in 1960 for excessive zeal in raiding private clubs > > where the Mormon elite enjoyed their cards. > > > > "Skousen conducted his office as Chief of Police in exactly the same manner > > in which the Communists operate their government," Lee wrote to a friend > > explaining his firing of Skousen. > > > > "The man is a master of half-truths. In at least three instances I have > > proven him to be a liar. He is a very dangerous man [and] one of the > > greatest spenders of public funds of anyone who ever served in any capacity > > in Salt Lake City government." ... > > > > After his firing from the police force, Skousen became a star on the > > profitable far-right speakers circuit. He worked for both the > > Bircher-operated American Opinion Speakers Bureau and Fred Schwarz's > > Christian Anti-Communism Crusade. > > > > The two groups competed in describing ever more terrifying threats posed by > > America's enemies, foreign and domestic. > > > > As the scenarios became more and more outlandish, the feds grew concerned. > > In an internal memo, the FBI described Skousen's friend and employer Fred > > Schwarz as "an opportunist," the likes of which "are largely responsible > > for misinforming people and stirring them up emotionally ... Schwartz [sic] > > and others like him can only do the country and the anticommunist work of > > the Bureau harm." ... > > > > By 1963, Skousen's extremism was costing him. No conservative organization > > with any mainstream credibility wanted anything to do with him. > > > > Members of the ultraconservative American Security Council kicked him out > > because they felt he had "gone off the deep end." One ASC member who shared > > this opinion was William C. Mott, the judge advocate general of the U.S. > > Navy. Mott found Skousen "money mad ... totally unqualified and interested > > solely in furthering his own personal ends." > > > > When Skousen aligned himself with Robert Welch's charge that Dwight > > Eisenhower was a "dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy," > > the last of Skousen's dwindling corporate clients dumped him. The National > > Association of Manufacturers released a statement condemning the Birchers > > and distancing itself from "any individual or party" that subscribed to > > their views. Skousen, author of a pamphlet titled "The Communist Attack on > > the John Birch Society," was the nation's most prominent Birch defender... > > > > Skousen laid low for much of the '60s. But he reemerged at the end of the > > decade peddling a new and improved conspiracy that merged left with right: > > the global capitalist mega-plot of the "dynastic rich." Families like the > > Rockefellers and the Rothschilds, Skousen now believed, used left forces -- > > from Ho Chi Minh to the American civil rights movement -- to serve their > > own power... > > > > Toward the end of Reagan's second term, Skousen became the center of a > > minor controversy when state legislators in California approved the > > official use of another of his books, the 1982 history text "The Making of > > America." > > > > Besides bursting with factual errors, Skousen's book characterized > > African-American children as "pickaninnies" and described American slave > > owners as the "worst victims" of the slavery system. Quoting the historian > > Fred Albert Shannon, "The Making of America" explained that "[slave] gangs > > in transit were usually a cheerful lot, though the presence of a number of > > the more vicious type sometimes made it necessary for them all to go in > > chains." ... > > > > "The 5,000 Year Leap" is not the only Skousen title to find new life on the > > 912 circuit. The president of the National Center for Constitutional > > Studies, Dr. Earl Taylor Jr., is currently touring the country offering > > daylong seminars to 912 chapters based on Skousen's "Making of America." > > > > For $25, participants will receive a bagged lunch and stories about > > America's religious Founders and their happy slaves. > > > > An ad for Taylor's "Making of America" seminar, currently featured on the > > Web site of the Tampa 912 Project, claims that Skousen's book is > > "considered a great masterpiece to Constitutional students [and is] the > > 'granddaddy' of all books on the United States Constitution." > > > > Like so much declaimed by W. Cleon Skousen and his 21st century acolyte > > Glenn Beck, this last statement is fantasy. But it is also a profitable and > > popular one. In coming to terms with a movement that has an ever more > > tenuous relationship with accepted fact, we relearn that perennial lesson > > grasped even by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. Fantasies can have serious > > consequences. > > > > > > Full article here: > > http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/09/16/beck_skousen/ > > >
