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| Damage to the front of the Salt Lake Temple following the explosion. Note the broken windows. Source: Deseret News, 14 Nov 1962, B1. |
Shortly before 2 AM on Wednesday, 14 November 1962 those
living near Salt Lake’s Temple Square were awakened by an explosion which shook
their homes. An employee at the nearby Greyhound Bus Depot reported that it
“kind of rocked things for a while,” and that “it felt a little like [a] quake,
but I figured it was an explosion.”(2) The Salt Lake City Police switchboard was
flooded with calls from concerned neighbors, while three watchmen on Temple
Square scrambled to find the source of the blast.
Reports in the Deseret
News and Salt Lake Tribune
conflict in regards to which of the watchmen finally discovered the damage, and
how long it took to do so (with 20 minutes being the shortest time and 40 the
longest). When finally discovered, one of the doors on the temple’s east front
exhibited a five-inch hole where a doorknob had once sat. The windows on that
door, and several set in the granite walls above and around the door had all
been shattered; a total of 11 windows were broken, including some in the
interior. Inside of the temple, damage was done to doors, light fixtures, and
plaster. The foyer behind the front door was covered in wooden splinters
along with bits of metal and glass. The Trib
reported that one of the temple’s famous doorknobs had been sent flying into
the building, puncturing a hole in a wall.(1)
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| A view of the damage inside the temple's foyer. The splintered front door is on the right. Source: Deseret News, 14 Nov 1962, B10, SLC Police photo. |
Initial investigations concluded that the damage was most
likely done with a plastic explosive. The Church gave permission for FBI Agents
and experts from Dugway Proving Ground to examine the damaged area. There was a
concern that the explosive used may have been sold to the public as surplus
property. Investigators guessed that the culprit had scaled the wall or hidden on
the square at closing time, because the wall’s gates were locked at the time of
the explosion.
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| "Viva Castro" Graffiti. Source: Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Nov 1962, B1. |
Both newspapers mention some recent “pranks” pulled on the
Church, most prominently graffiti left near the site of the blast. This
consisted of the words “Viva Castro” inscribed on the wall just opposite where
the bomb went off (but there is some ambiguity in both articles whether the graffiti was done a few days prior to or if it was concurrent with the bombing). These words were no doubt a reference to Fidel Castro and the
successful Cuban Revolution which had brought a major change in that country’s
government. Castro and communism had been discussed during the 132nd
semi-annual general conference, held the month prior to the bombing. During
that conference the perceived dangers of communism were discussed by a few
speakers, with Elder Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaking
at length on Castro, Cuba, and communism.(8)
In his personal life Elder Benson was a strong supporter of
the anti-communist John Birch Society, even writing to FBI Director J. Edgar
Hoover in support of the society and condemning their mutual friend President Dwight
D. Eisenhower.(4) Benson’s son Reed had become coordinator of Utah’s chapter of
the John Birch Society just weeks prior to the attack on the temple.(7) Because
of this some Latter-day Saints and non-members had started to wonder about the
relationship between the Church and the John Birch Society, something which
distressed President David O. McKay. As a result the First Presidency of the
Church released a statement, which read in part: “We deplore the presumption of
some politicians, especially officers, co-ordinators and members of the John
Birch Society, who undertake to align the Church or its leadership with their
political views.”(3) This statement was released in January 1963, less than two
months after the bombing.
Did the political activism of the Benson family, which was
often over the pulpit, convince the bomber that the Church and the John Birch
Society were conspiring together? There are other ideas about who bombed the
temple; historian Jeffery O. Johnson has said “many Mormons
associated this incident with the violence of the nation’s racial strife.”(6) Perhaps
racial tensions, especially over the Church’s Priesthood Ban, was what bothered the bomber. And yet still it could have been simply a nighttime prank. Unfortunately the crime never seems to have been solved and I have been unable to find
any further reports on the investigation.
 |
| Two SLC Police officers look at each other through the hole blasted in the temple door. Source: Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Nov 1962, B1. |
This was not the only time a bomb went off on Temple Square.
During the construction of the Hotel Utah (now the Joseph Smith Memorial
Building) a bomb set by members of an ironworkers union damaged the partially
built hotel and also damaged the Angel Moroni atop the Salt Lake Temple. A
fellow blogger has written an article on this episode here: http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2009/08/23/the-day-the-angel-moroni-almost-lost-his-horn/
Also nearby, the infamous Mark Hofmann was injured by one of
his own bombs which exploded just north of the present Conference Center on 16 October 1985.
Works Cited
1. Baldwin, Jim G. “Blast Damages Temple in S.L.” Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City,
Utah), 15 November 1962, B1/B2.
2. “Blast Damages S.L. Temple- Believed Work of Vandals.” Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), 14
November 1962, B1/B10.
3. “Church Sets Policy on Birch Society.” Deseret News, 3 January 1963, A1. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LZMpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JUoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6155%2C556242
4. Davidson, Lee. “FBI files shed light on Ezra Taft Benson,
Ike and the Birch Society.” Salt Lake
Tribune, 16 November 2010. http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=11289154&itype=storyID
5. “Detonation of Plastic Explosive Damages Front Door of
Salt Lake Temple.” Church News (Salt
Lake City, Utah), 17 November 1962, 4.
6. Johnson, Jeffery O. “Change and Growth: The Mormon Church
& the 1960s.” Sunstone Magazine, June
1994, 25.
7. Nokes, R. Greg. “Son of Former Agriculture Secretary Now
Heads State John Birch Society.” Gadsden
Times (Gadsden, Alabama), 19 May 1963, 6.
8. Report of the 132nd Semi-Annual Conference of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1962. https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1962sa
