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W. Cleon Skousen

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For other people named Skousen (disambiguation), see Skousen (disambiguation) (disambiguation).

Willard Cleon Skousen (January 20, 1913 – January 9, 2006) was an American conservative author, political commentator, academic, and civil servant. He was a prominent figure among American conservatives and authored several books on conservative thought.

Early life and education

Skousen was born to a Mormon family in Raymond, Alberta, Canada, and moved with his family to both Mexico and then back to California as a youth. At the age of 17 he accepted a religious assignment in Great Britain as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

Skousen graduated from San Bernardino Valley Jr. College in 1935 and married Jewel Pitcher in August 1936. Together they raised eight children, an experience which, along with his later juvenile delinquency work at the FBI, inspired the book So You Want to Raise a Boy. By the time he graduated with an LL.B. from George Washington University Law School in June 1940, he had already passed the Washington, D.C. bar examination. The school upgraded his degree to Juris Doctor (J.D.) in 1972 after reviewing the sufficiency of his law school studies.

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.

Political life

Skousen was admired by members and leaders of the John Birch Society throughout the 1960s. Although he was never a John Birch Society member, he spoke at society events, was pictured on the cover of its magazine American Opinion, and his son was the leader of a Utah chapter. He authored a pamphlet titled The Communist Attack on the John Birch Society, observing that those who criticized Birch Society members tended to promote Communism.[7]

After the American election of 1980, Skousen was appointed to the Council for National Policy, a think tank of influential politicians, scholars and academics that lent support and advice to President Ronald Reagan’s administration. Skousen's proposals included a plan to convert the Social Security system to private retirement accounts, as well as a plan to completely wipe out the national debt.

Skousen was not a tax protester, but he did campaign for several proposals to eliminate the federal income tax. One proposal, the Liberty Amendment, would return federally owned land to the states and preclude the federal government from being involved in any activities that competed with private enterprise.

In 1971, Skousen founded a non-profit educational foundation, "The Freeman Institute," which is now known as the National Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS) and became known as a political lecturer.[8]

In 1986, Skousen and William H. Doughty founded the Meadeau View Institute, which took over the Institute for Constitutional Education, formerly a part of the NCCS, and sought to build a Skousen Center of Politics along with a library to house his personal writings. Skousen resigned from the board in 1993, "citing 'irregularities' in management."[9]

World view

Skousen spoke against communism,[10] and against David Rockefeller[citation needed]. He linked super-capitalists to their supposed enemies, the world communist leaders.[11]

Skousen claimed that treason had occurred in the U.S. State Department with respect to what he argued was the betrayal of China after World War II. In the 1970s, he gave a speech to an LDS group aboard a cruise ship returning from Israel. In this excerpt,[12] he speaks of the sham of elections in the United States. He claimed that for ten elections, the United States had not had a legitimate election where there was truly a choice. He also referred to what he argued was Chiang Kai-shek's betrayal.

Skousen spoke of David Rockefeller as being one of the most powerful men in the world. Rockefeller had praised Mao Zedong in a New York Times article in 1973, stating that the communist leader was one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century. Skousen blasted this notion and asked who would write or say such a thing, then responded that it was David Rockefeller.[13]

His nephews include Joel Skousen, a survivalist/political author, Royal Skousen, a linguist, Mark Skousen, a libertarian economist and author, and Neil Skousen, a Utah attorney. He was the personal mentor and friend of Oliver DeMille, and his influence helped shape George Wythe Univeristy.

Books

Skousen authored The Naked Communist and was the source of the publication "1963 Communist Goals"[14] list. He later wrote a follow-up, The Naked Capitalist, based on Carroll Quigley's assertions made in the books Tragedy and Hope and The Anglo-American Establishment, which claimed that top Western merchant bankers, industrialists and related institutions were behind the rise of Communism and Fascism around the world.

The Naked Capitalist has been cited by many, including Cleon Skousen's nephew Joel Skousen, as proof of a "New World Order" strategy to create a One World Government.

Skousen's writings generally present a conservative viewpoint of political and religious topics. His works include:

As of June 2009, the seventh edition of The 5000 Year Leap is the #1 bestseller in Amazon.com's Government category, #10 in the Nonfiction category, and ranks #20 on Amazon.com's overall list of bestselling books. At the same time, the 30th Anniversary edition of The 5000 Year Leap is #11 in the Nonfiction category.[15][15][16]

References

  1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/22/us/j-bracken-lee-is-dead-at-97-was-blunt-governor-of-utah.html
  2. ^ Dennis L. Lythgoe, Let 'em holler : a political biography of J. Bracken Lee. Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society, 1982.
  3. ^ http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705292222,00.html
  4. ^ Political Feud in Salt Lake City: J. Bracken Lee and the Firing of W. Cleon Skousen, Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 42, No. 4, 1974, p. 316 article by Dennis L. Lythgoe
  5. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,895749-4,00.html
  6. ^ http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_02/005718.php
  7. ^ Hemingway, Mark (2007-08-06). "Romney's Radical Roots". National Review Online. Retrieved 2009-02-16. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ National Center for Constitutional Studies - NCCS
  9. ^ Backers Tried In Vain To Recover Losses. Paul Parkinson and Karl Cates. Deseret News. July 26, 1994.
  10. ^ W. Cleon Skousen, The Naked Communist (Ensign Publishing Co., 1958).
  11. ^ See, e.g., W. Cleon Skousen, The Naked Capitalist (Ensign Publishing Co., 1970).
  12. ^ W. Cleon Skousen: US Betrayal of China after WWII, Elections, shams
  13. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iYM28mRuxY
  14. ^ Communist Goals - 1963 Congressional Record
  15. ^ a b http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/16022931/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_5_last
  16. ^ http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/ref=pd_ts_b_bcrm_books
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