LJA DIARY, FRIDAY AFTERNOON, 9 JUNE 1978

Although I had no premonition of the announcement of this day revealing that the Lord will now permit blacks to hold the Priesthood and go to the temple, I will record here some things that I have known.

First, approximately six months ago Elder Neal Maxwell telephoned me on a confidential basis to ask if I could find or him the quote of Joseph Fielding Smith that "darkies are wonderful people." He said he understood Joseph Fielding had said something more xxx in that interview about blacks ultimately being given the priesthood. My memory was that this was in an article in Time about 1966, or 1967. I hundr^ted through Time and through other publications and could not find it. Then about a month ago, quite by accident, I learned that it was in an article in Look in 1968. I hunted that article up, zeroxed the article and sent it on to Elder Maxwell. He expressed his appreciation and asked for a xerox of the Deseret News interview on which it was based. I sent that as well. He expressed appreciation for that as well. This suggests that xxxxxx Elder Maxwell, as chief planning officer, was actively working on a memorandum to President Kixxxx^mball about the issue and wanted all the evidence he could find.