A trooper of E. V. Sumner's First Cavalry Regiment, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, 1858. Lee-Palfrey Family Collection, Library of Congress.
125 Years of Conspiracy Theories: Origins of the Utah Expedition of 1857-58 BY WILLIAM P. MACKINNON
T h e World generally is not interested in the motives of any overt act but in its consequences. Man may smile and smile, but he is not an investigating animal. He loves the obvious. He shrinks from explanations. Yet I will go on with mine. Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
AMERICANS, AMONG OTHER PEOPLE, LOVE CONSPIRACY THEORIES,
and
they have used them to explain a growing list of tragedies in U.S. Mr. MacKinnon of Birmingham, Michigan, is General Motors Corporation's vice president for personnel administration and development. This article is based on his paper presented at the 1983
