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Factual Corrections
==Conspiracy theories==
==Conspiracy theories==
There should be a fact tag on the mention of JBS being conspiracy theorists. I've never seen this charge and it seems unfounded. We certainly do call a spade a spade when it comes to outing people with troubling ideologies. [[User:JamesonD|JamesonD]] 14:20, 8 July 2009 (EDT)
There should be a fact tag on the mention of JBS being conspiracy theorists. I've never seen this charge and it seems unfounded. We certainly do call a spade a spade when it comes to outing people with troubling ideologies. [[User:JamesonD|JamesonD]] 14:20, 8 July 2009 (EDT)
==SOME MAJOR ERRORS==
(1) It should be noted that the most potent opposition to the John Birch Society did not originate with "liberals" or even "establishment Republicans". Actually, it came from major conservative organizations and institutions. JBS critics have included prominent '''conservative''' Americans such as:
Sen. Barry Goldwater, Cong. Walter Judd, Gen. Albert C. Wedemeyer, Russell Kirk, Eugene Lyons, Willmoore Kendall, James Burnham, Robert Bork, J. Edgar Hoover, Herbert Philbrick, Frank S. Meyer, Cong. Gordon H. Scherer, William F. Buckley Jr., Patrick Buchanan, Fred Schwarz, Lee Edwards, the editors of the conservative newspaper, ''Human Events'', William Loeb, George Sokolsky, Roy Cohn, Anthony Bouscaren, plus even many former Birchers such as: Alan Stang, Gary Allen, Fred Koch, Milorad Draskovich, Don Fotheringham, John Rees, William Norman Grigg, Mrs. Robert Welch --- and many many more.
(2) There is no factual basis for claiming (as this article does) that:
''"'''At its peak in 1964, the Society claimed to have hundreds of chapters throughout the country, 100,000 members...'''"''
According to the Birch Society's CPA firm (Spark, Mann and Company), dues income from JBS members during 1964 amounted to: '''$536,566'''. Since men paid $24 year and women paid $12 year, we can use an $18 average to calculate that the JBS had approximately 44,713 members in 1964.
(3) With respect to "''subversive infiltration of the United States"'' -- it should be kept in mind that every major official of the Birch Society during the 1960's emphatically declared that former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was our nation's most knowledgeable, reliable, and authoritative source of fact-based information about the Communist movement in the United States AND about what constituted effective anti-Communist activities. For example, see the October 1966 issue of the JBS magazine, ''American Opinion'', for its article entitled ''"The Wisdom and Warning of J. Edgar Hoover".
'''''Bold text'''
In fact, Robert Welch instructed subordinates to contact the FBI in order to get Hoover's permission for the JBS to publish a book containing Hoover's statements under the title ''"J. Edgar Hoover On Communism''".
FBI memos summarize their contacts with the JBS:
''"Mr. Welch advised he had the greatest admiration for the Director and that the captioned book was intended as an instrument against communism. He said he felt the statements on the subject from Mr. Hoover would be taken as statements from the world's greatest authority on the matter of communism..."'' [FBI HQ main file 62-104401, serials 3146, 3148, 3149, and 3151].
One clear way to evaluate the conclusions and assertions made by Robert Welch and the JBS concerning "''subversive infiltration of the United States''" is revealed below.
'''According to Robert Welch''':
'''"…we believe that there are not more than 300,000 to 500,000 Communists in our country (or about ¼ of 1% of our population) and not more than a million allies, dupes, and sympathizers whom they can count on for any conscious support…”''' [''JBS Bulletin'', July 1961, page 14]
By contrast, in July 1961, the actual number of CP members in the United States according to the FBI was '''5262''' --i.e. nothing remotely close to Welch's perception of 300,000 to 500,000! [See FBI New York field file 100-80638, serial #1882, which is a 6/30/61 FBI Chart of CPUSA Membership, by state, by FBI field divisions and by CPUSA Districts.]
BTW--the actual peak membership of the CPUSA was in 1944 -- when it had 80,000 members during our wartime alliance with Russia.
Missing the correct number of CPUSA members by a factor of 60 to 100 -- reveals a HUGE deficiency in Welch's understanding of internal security matters and even brings into question what methodology he used to identify a "''Communist"'' or a "''Communist sympathizer''".
Similarly, when Welch then stated that there were not more than a million "''allies, dupes, and sympathizers''" which Communists could count on for ''"any conscious support''" (the operative word there being "''conscious''") also flies in the face of statistical summaries prepared by the FBI and updated on a monthly basis in its "Security Index" file (100-358086).
The FBI's Security Index was a monthly report designed to track all persons considered actually or potentially dangerous to U.S. internal security. It included known and suspected Communist Party members plus Communist sympathizers, financial contributors to radical organizations, leaders in Communist fronts, radicals and anarchists, fascists, and anyone else whom the Bureau considered a potential security risk. In fact, during time of national emergency, Security Index subjects were scheduled to be apprehended and detained.
At the time Welch made his statement '''in July 1961''', the FBI's July 1961 ''Security Index'' report listed a total of 11,833 persons of which '''9899''' were in the "''Communist''" category--which included all the various types of individuals mentioned above. Thus, while Welch perceived more than '''a million''' Communist operatives or sympathizers, the FBI concluded that only '''9899''' Americans were a potential security concern. [HQ 100-358086, serial #2939].
The following Report on the JBS is based, primarily, upon documents in various FBI investigative files -- and the Report addresses most of the major arguments of the JBS during its formative years.
[https://sites.google.com/site/ernie124102/jbs-1 '''JBS REPORT BASED UPON FBI FILES'''] [[User:Ernie1241|Ernie1241]] ([[User talk:Ernie1241|talk]]) 17:24, 9 June 2019 (EDT)ernie1241[[User:Ernie1241|Ernie1241]] ([[User talk:Ernie1241|talk]]) 17:24, 9 June 2019 (EDT)