By Jerald and Sandra Tanner

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While it is easy for a person to criticize an adversary, it is always hard to blow the whistle when something goes wrong in one’s own camp. It is with some difficulty, therefore, that we report the following: About two months after the Mormon President Spencer W. Kimball gave the famous revelation concerning blacks holding the Priesthood, a friend of ours met with the Apostle LeGrand Richards. Although Apostle Richards was not aware of it, a tape-recorder inside the man’s brief case was recording the conversation. Apostle Richards was very frank in the discussion and uttered statements that seemed to confirm some observations in the last issue of the Messenger. However this may be, we were rather concerned that a tape-recording had been made. We knew, of course, that this was not illegal because one party had consented to the recording. Nevertheless, we felt that Apostle Richards should have been aware of the fact that his voice was being preserved on tape. In any case, someone later borrowed the tape and made a transcription. Subsequently the tape fell into the hands of a man who decided to publish it. Another man has even been playing portions of the tape on radio stations.

We became so concerned about these developments that we discussed the matter at length with the individual who had made the original recording. After thinking the matter over, he decided to send a letter to Apostle Richards in which he apologized for his indiscretion in allowing such a situation to develop. Also he has sent a message asking the man who has been playing portions of the tape over the radio to desist. In addition to this, he has contacted the man who published it, and the plates from which it was printed have been destroyed. We think these actions are to be commended, and we hope that no one else will attempt to publish or duplicate this tape. We also hope that in the future both sides will refrain from the use of secret recordings. Such recordings will only tend to cause distrust and unnecessary dissension. For a discussion of the problems involved in secret tape-recordings see our book Mormons Spies, Hughes and the CIA, pages 59-62.

As to the question of whether the President of the Church really received a “revelation” on the blacks, the report of the 148th Semiannual General Conference throws some light upon the subject (see The Ensign, November 1978, page 16). Members of the Church were asked to “accept this revelation as the word and will of the Lord, but the only document presented to the people was the letter of the First Presidency, dated June 8, 1978 (see the Salt Lake City Messenger, July 1978). We feel that it is becoming increasingly clear that there is no written “revelation” on the subject.

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