Willard Cleon Skousen (; January 20, 1913 – January 9, 2006) was an American law enforcement officer and conservative and nationalist author associated with the John Birch Society.
In addition to his role as a notable anti-communist and supporter of the John Birch Society, Skousen had a significant influence on Mormonism. He served as a prominent figure within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), contributing to Mormon literature and theology. Skousen's works often reflected his Mormon beliefs and included discussions on Mormon eschatology, which is the study of the end times according to LDS Church teachings.
While his writings covered a wide range of subjects including the Six-Day War, New World Order conspiracies, and parenting, his influence within Mormonism stemmed from his interpretations of LDS doctrine and his efforts to promote conservative values within the faith community. Skousen's impact on Mormonism is a significant aspect of his legacy within both religious and political spheres. Two of his most popular works, The Five Thousand Year Leap and The Naked Communist, also resonated with audiences within the LDS community, further solidifying his influence in both realms.
Skousen was born on a dryland farm in Raymond, Alberta, Canada, the second of nine children of Royal Pratt Skousen and Margarita Bentley Skousen, who were U.S. citizens. He lived in Canada until he was ten years old, then moved with his family to California where his father supervised the paving of some of the original Route 66. In 1926, Skousen went to the Mormon colony, Colonia Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, for two years to help his seriously ill grandmother. While there, he attended the Juarez Academy and was employed for a time as a race horse jockey. Skousen then returned to California, graduating from high school in 1930. At the age of 17 he traveled to Great Britain as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
After completing his missionary service, Skousen attended San Bernardino Valley Jr. College, graduating in 1935. He married Jewel Pitcher in August 1936, and they raised eight children together. He graduated with an LL.B. from George Washington University Law School in June 1940 (the school updated his degree as Juris Doctor (J.D.) in 1972 with its degree nomenclature).
In June 1935, Skousen went to work for the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, a New Deal program to subsidize farmers. Soon thereafter, he found employment with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), working as a messenger while attending law school at night. In 1940, after passing the Washington, D.C., bar exam, he became an FBI Special Agent. FBI memos have described his work at the Bureau as mainly clerical and administrative. Skousen left the FBI in 1951. The FBI would maintain a file on Skousen that would come to number more than 2,000 pages.
From 1951 to 1955, he taught at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. In 1956, Salt Lake City mayor Adiel F. Stewart hired Skousen to serve as police chief in the wake of a police department scandal. Skousen was a well-respected police chief for nearly four years.
In 1960, newly elected mayor J. Bracken Lee dismissed Skousen shortly after Skousen raided an illegal poker club where Lee was in attendance. National Review commentator Mark Hemingway characterized the gathering as "a friendly card game." Skousen supporters protested the abrupt firing by disrupting a city council meeting and planting burning crosses on Lee's lawn. Lee characterized Skousen's strict enforcement of anti-gambling laws as Gestapo-like. Lee said that although Skousen was an anti-communist, he "ran the police department in exactly the same manner as the Communists in Russia operate their government." Time magazine reported in 1960 that Skousen's "real offense seemed to be that he had failed to show enough enthusiasm for Lee's determination to slash the police-department budget." Lee told a friend that Skousen was "one of the greatest spenders of public funds of anyone who ever served in any capacity in Salt Lake City government", and a "master of half truths".
The National Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS), an organization founded by Skousen, claimed that Skousen had eliminated the sources of illegal activity in the city by 1959. The group asserts that after Skousen's firing, his model police programs were dismantled, and crime increased, on the average, by 22%.
Skousen continued his involvement in law enforcement issues by working as the editor of the police journal Law and Order for fifteen years. He also served as field director for the American Security Council, but an increasing perception of paranoia resulted in his abrupt termination in 1962. In 1967 he was hired as a BYU religion professor by Ernest L. Wilkinson, BYU's 7th president. Other professors in the religion department were very critical of his hiring, believing he was unqualified for the position and was only hired because of his conservative viewpoints. Dallin H. Oaks, Wilkinson's successor, attempted to separate politics from BYU in his dealings with Skousen. During the Oaks administration, Skousen claimed to have been authorized to teach a new course about "Priesthood and Righteous Government", which would be published clandestinely under the name "Gospel Principles and Practices". This course was intended to be for ultra-conservative students to inform them of what to do about communist infiltration. Upon learning of Skousen's intentions, Oaks informed the First Presidency that he would not be permitted to teach that course. Skousen was told to stop mixing church doctrine and politics and to stop activities associated with his educational politics-based organization called the Freemen Institute, now known as the National Center for Constitutional Studies. However, he largely ignored this instruction, and continued teaching his version of politically infused doctrine until his retirement from BYU in 1978.
After losing his police job, Skousen founded a group called the All-American Society, which Time magazine described in 1961 as an "exemplar of the far-right ultras." Throughout the 1960s, Skousen was also admired by members and leaders of the John Birch Society, although members of the more mainstream conservative movement and the American Security Council snubbed him out of fear that his controversial views would hurt the credibility of the conservative movement. Skousen used Birch Society magazines as source and reference material, and was pictured on the cover of its magazine, American Opinion. Although he was never officially a member of the organization, he was a member of its speakers' bureau and lectured at John Birch Society events throughout the United States for many years. A 1962 FBI memo described Skousen as affiliating with an "extreme right-wing" group which was promoting "anticommunism for obvious financial purposes". Skousen authored a pamphlet titled The Communist Attack on the John Birch Society, characterizing criticism of the Society as incipient communism.
Although Skousen was not a tax protester, he campaigned for several proposals to eliminate the federal income tax. One, the proposed Liberty Amendment, would have precluded the federal government from involvement in any activities that competed with private enterprise and transferred federally-owned land to the states.
In 1970, the LDS Church was under considerable attack for its refusal to ordain Black people into its priesthood. In response, Skousen penned an article, "The Communist Attack on the Mormons," in which he accused critics of "distorting the religious tenet of the Church regarding the Negro and blowing it up to ridiculous proportions" and of serving as Communist dupes. The LDS Church altered its stance in the 1978 Revelation on Priesthood.
In 1971, Skousen founded a non-profit educational foundation, The Freeman Institute. In 1982, it became the National Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS), a national organization headquartered in Malta, Idaho.