Progressive Mormon Teachings posted an excerpt of this talk and I loved it. I tried to find the original source, but all I was able to find was a short summary in the Ogden Standard-Examiner. I decided to reach out to BYU’s library and sure enough, they had a recording of this talk. They digitized it for me, and I quickly made this transcript to serve as a public documentation of Brother Brown’s full remarks.
This was given as part of a Cold War–era public forum at BYU where a major U.S. diplomat spoke about world politics and answered student questions. It was organized as part of a regional international relations conference and United Nations Week activities.
Thank you very much. I shall take special note of the announcement and the emphasis on the word “a few remarks” and limit myself accordingly. I did not come for the purpose of speaking, but I came primarily to renew an acquaintance with a very distinguished man from New York and Washington with whom it’s been my privilege to be acquainted [with] for some years. While I’m not introducing him – as he will be introduced at the next meeting – I was very happy when President McKay indicated that because he could not come personally he wanted me to come so that Governor Harriman would know that we appreciate him and the wonderful things he has done and is doing for our country, and especially for us here locally, governor. We’re proud of the fact that your father was one of the Empire building builders of the west and largely through his enterprise and generosity we have our state capital building in Salt Lake City. A more complete introduction of course will be made later but I must say that much.
Now I would like to say in the beginning that while it is announced that I’m here representing the church – and I suppose I cannot go anywhere where I do not represent the church in general – I should like it distinctly understood that if I make any statement with respect to my own convictions, they will be my own convictions, as the church does not speak on matters political as an organization. Despite the fact that some of our members have assiduously undertaken to make it appear that what they represent has the full backing of the church. I shall not name names, but leave you to surmise to whom I refer. When I say that as a church – and here I can speak for the church – we deplore the attempt of people anywhere to ascribe to the church convictions which they themselves entertain, if they have convictions.
I’d like just for a moment to refer to this group some comments which I recently heard and noted with respect to the United Nations. I’d like just quickly to give you two or three headings as a challenge that upon leaving this group and going back to your regular academic work, you take time to find out what has been accomplished in the United Nations and thereby prepare yourselves to meet the criticism of those who expected too much of the United Nations and are not willing to give credit for what they have done. So, to economize time I ask you to look into what has happened in the Congo and find out why it happened and why certain other things didn’t happen and it’ll bring you right back to what the United Nations has done. I call your attention to Laos which was almost lost despite our costly commitment of men and money, but has been neutralized and that’s almost equal to victory. The big squeeze is off in Berlin. In the Middle East the communists have suffered serious reverses the last year, particularly in Iraq, yet U.S. Indian relations were never better. And I might go on down the list, but this one paragraph I should like to read:
The balance [of] the state of the world as seen from Washington looks considerably more hopeful than it did three years ago. This you would never suspect from listening to many or some of our fellow citizens. What you hear all too often is that the communists are scoring on all points in this Cold War, that Africa and Asia are as good as down the drain, that the United Nations is a failure, that foreign aid is wasted since nobody likes it anyway, and that Castro shaking his fists on a Havana balcony is just about the greatest threat that our country has faced since Pearl Harbor. Now, those are statements being recklessly made by others. We challenge them.
A lot of this nonsense gets disseminated by the professional self-styled anti-communist who make a comfortable living scoring people all over the country and who have a financial stake in making the communist look stronger than we. Some of it also comes from the press, where bad news always reach the biggest headlines and good news is usually no news.
I shall not take more of your time except for this: our aim and our strength is that we stand for free choice and not coercion so long as a nation values its independence and does not threaten the freedom of others we do not try to tell tell it how to manage its own affairs. This approach – this support of diversity, instead of conformity – is the main reason why we’re no longer distrusted as the Russians are in so many corners of the world.
I bring these two or three headline thoughts to this outstanding group of young intellectuals, young people, who are interested in world affairs and say to you one and all: beware of extremists. Beware of self-styled patriots who take it upon themselves to attack all who disagree with them and label them as communists. Let us be Americans! let us be true to ourselves, true to our country, true to our institutions ,true to our great leaders – in both and all political parties – and in that way true to the future.
I’m very happy to be with you and shall not trespass farther. Thank you very much.