Who bombed the Salt Lake Temple?

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)

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.

"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 132^nd 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 132^nd Semi-Annual Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1962. https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1962sa