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John Birch Society

2010-05-29T01:51:54Z

ConsChris: Removed undocumented conjecture

The '''John Birch Society''' is an American paleoconservative organization founded in 1958 by Massachusetts businessman [[Robert Welch]] (1900-1985). Until the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991, it focused on Communism as the enemy of American values, warning that Communism already exerted a powerful control on the national government.

At its peak in 1964 the Society claimed to have hundreds of chapters throughout the country, 100,000 members, 400 American Opinion bookstores to distribute and sell its magazine and pamphlets, and an active cadre of speakers that crisscrossed the country. Welch ruled with an iron hand,<ref> Schoenwald, (2001) pp. 83-91</ref> sending out his agents to make sure the local units never engaged in operations on their own, such as endorsing candidates or lobbying for legislation. All the dues went to national headquarters in Belmont, Massachusetts and the members were to spend their energy writing letters that echoed Welch's thesis that that Communists were already in power in Washington and were about to fully take over the country. Welch sponsored "Support Your Local Police"
campaign which opposed civilian review boards to monitor police brutality.<ref> Some chapters without Welch's approval did organize opposition to fluoridation of local water supplies or pushed a slate for election to local school boards.</ref> The one notable national campaign was to demand the impeachment of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]]. Not a single member of Congress was willing to present an impeachment resolution, and over the years only three Congressmen were members, most notably [[Larry McDonald]] (1935-1983), the Society president when his plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Force.<ref>One of the society's most popular spokesmen was John Rousselot, a former Republican congressman from southern California. Another was John Schmitz (1930-2001), briefly a Congressman from Southern California.</ref>

==Conspiracies==
The organization was founded by [[Robert Welch]] in 1958 to fight subversive infiltration of the United States.<ref>Welch said he named the Society after [[John Birch]], the first American to die in the [[Cold War]]. </ref> He designed the Society like the Communist movement, with a strong leader at the top (himself), with each lower level following the orders they were given. Society literature denounced collectivist infiltration from Communists, the [[United Nations]], and various front groups. Welch himself decided that the root cause of most of the troubles was a two-century-long conspiracy of the "Illuminati," a group supposedly founded in Bavaria in 1776. He declared it was responsible for the French and Russian Revolutions and the two world wars, as well as evils of Lincoln's income taxes, Wilson's Federal Reserve, and Roosevelt's New Deal. Most insidious of all was the United Nations. It also controlled the Communist party and the Trilateral Commission. The only member of the Illuminati he could identify by name was [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. Reagan was suspect because he picked for vice president the choice of the Illuminati, [[George H.W. Bush]]. Welch argued that the Illuminati was subversive of good government, destructive of religion, and used professional agitators and massive terror to destroy the good people, while manufacturing smears to destroy the brave souls who tried to expose it.<ref>There's more; see Stewart (2002). </ref>

In October, 2009, it is exposing the diabolic totalitarian schemes of the Department of Homeland Security's TSA:
:''It’s not enough that the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gropes us at checkpoints in airports, photographs passengers naked, steals from them, and even killed one. Now it’s recruiting the nation’s truck- and bus-drivers as snitches against us in a scheme it calls First Observer. The logic is diabolical, totalitarian, and simple...."<ref> Becky Akers, "Eyes on the Road" Oct. 15, 2009 [http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/opinion/948-becky-akers/1988-eyes-on-the-road on JBS official website]</ref>
===Eisenhower and Johnson===
Welch wrote in a widely circulated statement, ''The Politician,'' "Could Eisenhower really be simply a smart politician, entirely without principles and hungry for glory, who is only the tool of the Communists? The answer is yes." He went on. ""With regard to ... Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason."<ref> Quoted at [http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/1375-glenn-beck-talks-with-jbs-president-john-f-mcmanus "Glenn Beck talks with JBS President John F. McManus" Aug. 15, 2006]</ref>

In the 1960s Welch insisted that the Johnson administration's fight against communism in Vietnam was part of a communist plot aimed at taking over the United States. Welch demanded that the United States get out of Vietnam, thus aligning the Society with the far left.<ref>Stephen Earl Bennett, "Modes of Resolution of a 'Belief Dilemma' in the Ideology of the John Birch Society," ''Journal of Politics'' 1971 33(3): 735-772, </ref>

==Rejected by most conservatives==
It was moderately active in the 1960s with numerous chapters, but rarely engaged in coalition building with other conservatives. Indeed, it was rejected by most conservatives because of the outlandish conspiracy theories of its leader [[Robert Welch]]. [[William F. Buckley]] and his ''National Review'' regularly attacked Welch, and by 1965 was attacking the Society as well. Starting with Welch considered conservative President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] a Communist stooge, it was deeply distrustful of all presidents since Franklin Roosevelt.

Eisenhower cabinet member [[Ezra Taft Benson]], a leading Mormon, spoke in favor of the John Birch Society, but in January 1963 the Mormon church issued a statement distancing itself from the Society.<ref>Gregory A. Prince, "The Red Peril, the Candy Maker, and the Apostle: David O. Mckay's Confrontation with Communism," ''Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought'' 2004 37(2): 37-94, </ref>
==Liberal target==
The John Birch Society has always been a favorite target of liberals who want to embarrass the conservative movement by citing some ridiculous conspiracy theory on the right. Some liberals just laugh and employ misinterpretations of social anxieties to warn that Birchers are misfits; most warn darkly that the John Birch Society is a dangerous manifestation of the "radical right" that aimed to subvert democracy. In practice, the Society actually did little more than publish pamphlets and sponsor local discussion groups.

Historian [[Richard Hofstadter]] claimed the Birch Society was the leader of the right wing in the 1960s.<ref>Hofstadter himself later turned right. Hofstadter, ''The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays'' (1967) p. 70</ref> In 1968 Governor Pat Brown of California, about to be defeated for reelection by Reagan, unleashed a 13-page report calling Reagan a puppet of the John Birch Society. (Reagan considered the JBS leaders to be kooky and kept them out of his campaign.)<ref> Rick Perlstein, ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2008) p. 113</ref> As late as 1980, House Speaker [[Tip O'Neill]] warned that "John Birchers control the Republican Party," overlooking the fact that the only Birch Society member in Congress at the time was a Democrat from Georgia, [[Larry McDonald]] who caucused with O'Neill. In fact the John Birch Society never controlled the Republican party in any state at any level at any time.<ref> Steven F. Hayward, ''The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980'' (2001) pp 101, 675; </ref>

==Ideology==
The Society works towards educating Americans about the original intent of the [[Founding Fathers]]. The John Birch Society strongly believes that the United States is a [[Constitutional Republic]], not a democracy.

Although the JBS is considered to be "right-wing", the group has vigorously attacked President [[George W. Bush]] as a pawn of neo-conservatism seeking a "New World order" that would swallow up America. That is only the latest of a long line of conspiracy theories it has promoted.

==Publications==
The official magazine of the John Birch Society since 1985 ''[[The New American]]''. It replaced ''American Opinion'', which was published from 1958 to 1985.

The Birch Society has an active publication and reprint program. Reflecting its distrust of national leadership over the last 70 years, many of the books blame the White House and national leaders for deliberately damaging the national interest--for example, by encouraging the Japanese to sink the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
==Members==
There are unofficial JBS chapters on many college campuses throughout the United States.

One survey in the early 1970s found the typical John Birch Society member was middle or upper-middle class, Republican and Protestant. He was also fairly young and well educated: the majority of the sample was under 40 at time of recruitment and had completed at least three years of college. A later survey in the mid 1980s found the membership then was disproportionately Southwesterners, young, urban, male, and Catholic. They were consistently conservative on secular issues, antigovernment, and negative toward communism. The evidence does not support liberal notions that irrationality, social strains, or status anxiety explained their beliefs.<ref>Stone (1974); Wilcox (1988) </ref>

==Further reading==
* Griffin, G. Edward. "The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve". American Media, 1994.
* Grigg, William Norman. "Global Gun Grab: The United Nations Campaign to Disarm Americans". John Birch Society, 2001.
* Jasper, William F. "The United Nations Exposed". John Birch Society, 2001.
* McManus, John F. "Changing Commands: The Betrayal of America's Military". John Birch Society, 1995.
* Perloff, James. "The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline". Western Islands, 1988.
* Smoot, Dan. "The Invisible Government". Western Islands, 1962.
* Stewart, Charles J. "The Master Conspiracy of the John Birch Society: From Communism to the New World Order," ''Western Journal of Communication'' (2002) v.66#4 pp 424+ [http://www.questia.com/read/5002503885?title=The%20Master%20Conspiracy%20of%20the%20John%20Birch%20Society%3a%20From%20Communism%20to%20the%20New%20World%20Order online edition]
* Stone, Barbara S. "The John Birch Society: a Profile," ''Journal of Politics'' 1974 36(1): 184-197,
* Wilcox, Clyde. "Sources of Support for the Old Right: a Comparison of the John Birch Society and the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade." ''Social Science History'' 1988 12(4): 429-450,
===Primary sources===
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The Blue Book of the John Birch Society''. Boston: Western Islands, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. and the John Birch Society ''The White Book of the John Birch Society for 1964.'' Belmont: John Birch Society, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The New Americanism and Other Speeches.'' Boston: Western Islands, 1966.
*Gary Allen. ''None Dare Call It Conspiracy.'' G S G & Associates, Inc., 1971.
*[[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] - Congressman [[Larry McDonald]], the 2nd President of the JBS, was a passenger of this flight downed by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983 in international waters near [[Moneron Island]] west of Sakhalin Island.

== External Links ==
*[http://www.jbs.org/ The John Birch Society Website]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/ The New American]
*[http://johnbirchsocietyvolunteers.org/ The JBS Volunteers]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/node/8694 "KAL Flight 007 Remembered" New American Magazine]
*[http://www.rescue007.org/ Website of the International Committee for the Rescue of KAL 007 Survivors]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/john-birch-soc.html members prominent in politics]
====References====
<references/>
[[category:Political Organizations]]
[[category:Conservatives]]
[[category:Cold War]]
[[category:1960s]]
[[category:Conspiracy theorists]]

John Birch Society

2010-05-22T02:37:57Z

ConsChris:

The '''John Birch Society''' is an American paleoconservative organization founded in 1958 by Massachusetts businessman [[Robert Welch]] (1900-1985). Until the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991, it focused on Communism as the enemy of American values, warning that Communism already exerted a powerful control on the national government.

At its peak in 1964 the Society claimed to have hundreds of chapters throughout the country, 100,000 members, 400 American Opinion bookstores to distribute and sell its magazine and pamphlets, and an active cadre of speakers that crisscrossed the country. Welch ruled with an iron hand,<ref> Schoenwald, (2001) pp. 83-91</ref> sending out his agents to make sure the local units never engaged in operations on their own, such as endorsing candidates or lobbying for legislation. All the dues went to national headquarters in Belmont, Massachusetts and the members were to spend their energy writing letters that echoed Welch's thesis that that Communists were already in power in Washington and were about to fully take over the country. Welch sponsored "Support Your Local Police"
campaign which opposed civilian review boards to monitor police brutality.<ref> Some chapters without Welch's approval did organize opposition to fluoridation of local water supplies or pushed a slate for election to local school boards.</ref> The one notable national campaign was to demand the impeachment of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]]. Not a single member of Congress was willing to present an impeachment resolution, and over the years only three Congressmen were members, most notably [[Larry McDonald]] (1935-1983), the Society president when his plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Force.<ref>One of the society's most popular spokesmen was John Rousselot, a former Republican congressman from southern California. Another was John Schmitz (1930-2001), briefly a Congressman from Southern California.</ref>

It never had a major impact on politics. It is still in operation, generating reports on new conspiracies from its base in Appleton, Wisconsin. However its main role has always been as a target of attack by liberals who use it to ridicule and smear conservatives in general.

==Conspiracies==
The organization was founded by [[Robert Welch]] in 1958 to fight subversive infiltration of the United States.<ref>Welch said he named the Society after [[John Birch]], the first American to die in the [[Cold War]]. </ref> He designed the Society like the Communist movement, with a strong leader at the top (himself), with each lower level following the orders they were given. Society literature denounced collectivist infiltration from Communists, the [[United Nations]], and various front groups. Welch himself decided that the root cause of most of the troubles was a two-century-long conspiracy of the "Illuminati," a group supposedly founded in Bavaria in 1776. He declared it was responsible for the French and Russian Revolutions and the two world wars, as well as evils of Lincoln's income taxes, Wilson's Federal Reserve, and Roosevelt's New Deal. Most insidious of all was the United Nations. It also controlled the Communist party and the Trilateral Commission. The only member of the Illuminati he could identify by name was [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. Reagan was suspect because he picked for vice president the choice of the Illuminati, [[George H.W. Bush]]. Welch argued that the Illuminati was subversive of good government, destructive of religion, and used professional agitators and massive terror to destroy the good people, while manufacturing smears to destroy the brave souls who tried to expose it.<ref>There's more; see Stewart (2002). </ref>

In October, 2009, it is exposing the diabolic totalitarian schemes of the Department of Homeland Security's TSA:
:''It’s not enough that the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gropes us at checkpoints in airports, photographs passengers naked, steals from them, and even killed one. Now it’s recruiting the nation’s truck- and bus-drivers as snitches against us in a scheme it calls First Observer. The logic is diabolical, totalitarian, and simple...."<ref> Becky Akers, "Eyes on the Road" Oct. 15, 2009 [http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/opinion/948-becky-akers/1988-eyes-on-the-road on JBS official website]</ref>
===Eisenhower and Johnson===
Welch wrote in a widely circulated statement, ''The Politician,'' "Could Eisenhower really be simply a smart politician, entirely without principles and hungry for glory, who is only the tool of the Communists? The answer is yes." He went on. ""With regard to ... Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason."<ref> Quoted at [http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/1375-glenn-beck-talks-with-jbs-president-john-f-mcmanus "Glenn Beck talks with JBS President John F. McManus" Aug. 15, 2006]</ref>

In the 1960s Welch insisted that the Johnson administration's fight against communism in Vietnam was part of a communist plot aimed at taking over the United States. Welch demanded that the United States get out of Vietnam, thus aligning the Society with the far left.<ref>Stephen Earl Bennett, "Modes of Resolution of a 'Belief Dilemma' in the Ideology of the John Birch Society," ''Journal of Politics'' 1971 33(3): 735-772, </ref>

==Rejected by most conservatives==
It was moderately active in the 1960s with numerous chapters, but rarely engaged in coalition building with other conservatives. Indeed, it was rejected by most conservatives because of the outlandish conspiracy theories of its leader [[Robert Welch]]. [[William F. Buckley]] and his ''National Review'' regularly attacked Welch, and by 1965 was attacking the Society as well. Starting with Welch considered conservative President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] a Communist stooge, it was deeply distrustful of all presidents since Franklin Roosevelt.

Eisenhower cabinet member [[Ezra Taft Benson]], a leading Mormon, spoke in favor of the John Birch Society, but in January 1963 the Mormon church issued a statement distancing itself from the Society.<ref>Gregory A. Prince, "The Red Peril, the Candy Maker, and the Apostle: David O. Mckay's Confrontation with Communism," ''Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought'' 2004 37(2): 37-94, </ref>
==Liberal target==
The John Birch Society has always been a favorite target of liberals who want to embarrass the conservative movement by citing some ridiculous conspiracy theory on the right. Some liberals just laugh and employ misinterpretations of social anxieties to warn that Birchers are misfits; most warn darkly that the John Birch Society is a dangerous manifestation of the "radical right" that aimed to subvert democracy. In practice, the Society actually did little more than publish pamphlets and sponsor local discussion groups.

Historian [[Richard Hofstadter]] claimed the Birch Society was the leader of the right wing in the 1960s.<ref>Hofstadter himself later turned right. Hofstadter, ''The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays'' (1967) p. 70</ref> In 1968 Governor Pat Brown of California, about to be defeated for reelection by Reagan, unleashed a 13-page report calling Reagan a puppet of the John Birch Society. (Reagan considered the JBS leaders to be kooky and kept them out of his campaign.)<ref> Rick Perlstein, ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2008) p. 113</ref> As late as 1980, House Speaker [[Tip O'Neill]] warned that "John Birchers control the Republican Party," overlooking the fact that the only Birch Society member in Congress at the time was a Democrat from Georgia, [[Larry McDonald]] who caucused with O'Neill. In fact the John Birch Society never controlled the Republican party in any state at any level at any time.<ref> Steven F. Hayward, ''The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980'' (2001) pp 101, 675; </ref>

==Ideology==
The Society works towards educating Americans about the original intent of the [[Founding Fathers]]. The John Birch Society strongly believes that the United States is a [[Constitutional Republic]], not a democracy.

Although the JBS is considered to be "right-wing", the group has vigorously attacked President [[George W. Bush]] as a pawn of neo-conservatism seeking a "New World order" that would swallow up America. That is only the latest of a long line of conspiracy theories it has promoted.

==Publications==
The official magazine of the John Birch Society since 1985 ''[[The New American]]''. It replaced ''American Opinion'', which was published from 1958 to 1985.

The Birch Society has an active publication and reprint program. Reflecting its distrust of national leadership over the last 70 years, many of the books blame the White House and national leaders for deliberately damaging the national interest--for example, by encouraging the Japanese to sink the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
==Members==
There are unofficial JBS chapters on many college campuses throughout the United States.

One survey in the early 1970s found the typical John Birch Society member was middle or upper-middle class, Republican and Protestant. He was also fairly young and well educated: the majority of the sample was under 40 at time of recruitment and had completed at least three years of college. A later survey in the mid 1980s found the membership then was disproportionately Southwesterners, young, urban, male, and Catholic. They were consistently conservative on secular issues, antigovernment, and negative toward communism. The evidence does not support liberal notions that irrationality, social strains, or status anxiety explained their beliefs.<ref>Stone (1974); Wilcox (1988) </ref>

==Further reading==
* Griffin, G. Edward. "The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve". American Media, 1994.
* Grigg, William Norman. "Global Gun Grab: The United Nations Campaign to Disarm Americans". John Birch Society, 2001.
* Jasper, William F. "The United Nations Exposed". John Birch Society, 2001.
* McManus, John F. "Changing Commands: The Betrayal of America's Military". John Birch Society, 1995.
* Perloff, James. "The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline". Western Islands, 1988.
* Smoot, Dan. "The Invisible Government". Western Islands, 1962.
* Stewart, Charles J. "The Master Conspiracy of the John Birch Society: From Communism to the New World Order," ''Western Journal of Communication'' (2002) v.66#4 pp 424+ [http://www.questia.com/read/5002503885?title=The%20Master%20Conspiracy%20of%20the%20John%20Birch%20Society%3a%20From%20Communism%20to%20the%20New%20World%20Order online edition]
* Stone, Barbara S. "The John Birch Society: a Profile," ''Journal of Politics'' 1974 36(1): 184-197,
* Wilcox, Clyde. "Sources of Support for the Old Right: a Comparison of the John Birch Society and the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade." ''Social Science History'' 1988 12(4): 429-450,
===Primary sources===
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The Blue Book of the John Birch Society''. Boston: Western Islands, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. and the John Birch Society ''The White Book of the John Birch Society for 1964.'' Belmont: John Birch Society, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The New Americanism and Other Speeches.'' Boston: Western Islands, 1966.
*Gary Allen. ''None Dare Call It Conspiracy.'' G S G & Associates, Inc., 1971.
*[[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] - Congressman [[Larry McDonald]], the 2nd President of the JBS, was a passenger of this flight downed by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983 in international waters near [[Moneron Island]] west of Sakhalin Island.

== External Links ==
*[http://www.jbs.org/ The John Birch Society Website]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/ The New American]
*[http://johnbirchsocietyvolunteers.org/ The JBS Volunteers]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/node/8694 "KAL Flight 007 Remembered" New American Magazine]
*[http://www.rescue007.org/ Website of the International Committee for the Rescue of KAL 007 Survivors]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/john-birch-soc.html members prominent in politics]
====References====
<references/>
[[category:Political Organizations]]
[[category:Conservatives]]
[[category:Cold War]]
[[category:1960s]]
[[category:Conspiracy theorists]]

John Birch Society

2010-05-22T02:10:13Z

ConsChris: /* Further reading */

The '''John Birch Society''' is an American paleoconservative organization founded in 1958 by Massachusetts businessman [[Robert Welch]] (1900-1985) with a largely conservative membership. Until the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991, it focused on Communism as the enemy of American values, warning that Communism already exerted a powerful control on the national government.

At its peak in 1964 the Society claimed to have hundreds of chapters throughout the country, 100,000 members, 400 American Opinion bookstores to distribute and sell its magazine and pamphlets, and an active cadre of speakers that crisscrossed the country. Welch ruled with an iron hand,<ref> Schoenwald, (2001) pp. 83-91</ref> sending out his agents to make sure the local units never engaged in operations on their own, such as endorsing candidates or lobbying for legislation. All the dues went to national headquarters in Belmont, Massachusetts and the members were to spend their energy writing letters that echoed Welch's thesis that that Communists were already in power in Washington and were about to fully take over the country. Welch sponsored "Support Your Local Police"
campaign which opposed civilian review boards to monitor police brutality.<ref> Some chapters without Welch's approval did organize opposition to fluoridation of local water supplies or pushed a slate for election to local school boards.</ref> The one notable national campaign was to demand the impeachment of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]]. Not a single member of Congress was willing to present an impeachment resolution, and over the years only three Congressmen were members, most notably [[Larry McDonald]] (1935-1983), the Society president when his plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Force.<ref>One of the society's most popular spokesmen was John Rousselot, a former Republican congressman from southern California. Another was John Schmitz (1930-2001), briefly a Congressman from Southern California.</ref>

It never had a major impact on politics. It is still in operation, generating reports on new conspiracies from its base in Appleton, Wisconsin. However its main role has always been as a target of attack by liberals who use it to ridicule and smear conservatives in general.

==Conspiracies==
The organization was founded by [[Robert Welch]] in 1958 to fight subversive infiltration of the United States.<ref>Welch said he named the Society after [[John Birch]], the first American to die in the [[Cold War]]. </ref> He designed the Society like the Communist movement, with a strong leader at the top (himself), with each lower level following the orders they were given. Society literature denounced collectivist infiltration from Communists, the [[United Nations]], and various front groups. Welch himself decided that the root cause of most of the troubles was a two-century-long conspiracy of the "Illuminati," a group supposedly founded in Bavaria in 1776. He declared it was responsible for the French and Russian Revolutions and the two world wars, as well as evils of Lincoln's income taxes, Wilson's Federal Reserve, and Roosevelt's New Deal. Most insidious of all was the United Nations. It also controlled the Communist party and the Trilateral Commission. The only member of the Illuminati he could identify by name was [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. Reagan was suspect because he picked for vice president the choice of the Illuminati, [[George H.W. Bush]]. Welch argued that the Illuminati was subversive of good government, destructive of religion, and used professional agitators and massive terror to destroy the good people, while manufacturing smears to destroy the brave souls who tried to expose it.<ref>There's more; see Stewart (2002). </ref>

In October, 2009, it is exposing the diabolic totalitarian schemes of the Department of Homeland Security's TSA:
:''It’s not enough that the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gropes us at checkpoints in airports, photographs passengers naked, steals from them, and even killed one. Now it’s recruiting the nation’s truck- and bus-drivers as snitches against us in a scheme it calls First Observer. The logic is diabolical, totalitarian, and simple...."<ref> Becky Akers, "Eyes on the Road" Oct. 15, 2009 [http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/opinion/948-becky-akers/1988-eyes-on-the-road on JBS official website]</ref>
===Eisenhower and Johnson===
Welch wrote in a widely circulated statement, ''The Politician,'' "Could Eisenhower really be simply a smart politician, entirely without principles and hungry for glory, who is only the tool of the Communists? The answer is yes." He went on. ""With regard to ... Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason."<ref> Quoted at [http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/1375-glenn-beck-talks-with-jbs-president-john-f-mcmanus "Glenn Beck talks with JBS President John F. McManus" Aug. 15, 2006]</ref>

In the 1960s Welch insisted that the Johnson administration's fight against communism in Vietnam was part of a communist plot aimed at taking over the United States. Welch demanded that the United States get out of Vietnam, thus aligning the Society with the far left.<ref>Stephen Earl Bennett, "Modes of Resolution of a 'Belief Dilemma' in the Ideology of the John Birch Society," ''Journal of Politics'' 1971 33(3): 735-772, </ref>

==Rejected by most conservatives==
It was moderately active in the 1960s with numerous chapters, but rarely engaged in coalition building with other conservatives. Indeed, it was rejected by most conservatives because of the outlandish conspiracy theories of its leader [[Robert Welch]]. [[William F. Buckley]] and his ''National Review'' regularly attacked Welch, and by 1965 was attacking the Society as well. Starting with Welch considered conservative President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] a Communist stooge, it was deeply distrustful of all presidents since Franklin Roosevelt.

Eisenhower cabinet member [[Ezra Taft Benson]], a leading Mormon, spoke in favor of the John Birch Society, but in January 1963 the Mormon church issued a statement distancing itself from the Society.<ref>Gregory A. Prince, "The Red Peril, the Candy Maker, and the Apostle: David O. Mckay's Confrontation with Communism," ''Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought'' 2004 37(2): 37-94, </ref>
==Liberal target==
The John Birch Society has always been a favorite target of liberals who want to embarrass the conservative movement by citing some ridiculous conspiracy theory on the right. Some liberals just laugh and employ misinterpretations of social anxieties to warn that Birchers are misfits; most warn darkly that the John Birch Society is a dangerous manifestation of the "radical right" that aimed to subvert democracy. In practice, the Society actually did little more than publish pamphlets and sponsor local discussion groups.

Historian [[Richard Hofstadter]] claimed the Birch Society was the leader of the right wing in the 1960s.<ref>Hofstadter himself later turned right. Hofstadter, ''The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays'' (1967) p. 70</ref> In 1968 Governor Pat Brown of California, about to be defeated for reelection by Reagan, unleashed a 13-page report calling Reagan a puppet of the John Birch Society. (Reagan considered the JBS leaders to be kooky and kept them out of his campaign.)<ref> Rick Perlstein, ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2008) p. 113</ref> As late as 1980, House Speaker [[Tip O'Neill]] warned that "John Birchers control the Republican Party," overlooking the fact that the only Birch Society member in Congress at the time was a Democrat from Georgia, [[Larry McDonald]] who caucused with O'Neill. In fact the John Birch Society never controlled the Republican party in any state at any level at any time.<ref> Steven F. Hayward, ''The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980'' (2001) pp 101, 675; </ref>

==Ideology==
The Society works towards educating Americans about the original intent of the [[Founding Fathers]]. The John Birch Society strongly believes that the United States is a [[Constitutional Republic]], not a democracy.

Although the JBS is considered to be "right-wing", the group has vigorously attacked President [[George W. Bush]] as a pawn of neo-conservatism seeking a "New World order" that would swallow up America. That is only the latest of a long line of conspiracy theories it has promoted.

==Publications==
The official magazine of the John Birch Society since 1985 ''[[The New American]]''. It replaced ''American Opinion'', which was published from 1958 to 1985.

The Birch Society has an active publication and reprint program. Reflecting its distrust of national leadership over the last 70 years, many of the books blame the White House and national leaders for deliberately damaging the national interest--for example, by encouraging the Japanese to sink the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
==Members==
There are unofficial JBS chapters on many college campuses throughout the United States.

One survey in the early 1970s found the typical John Birch Society member was middle or upper-middle class, Republican and Protestant. He was also fairly young and well educated: the majority of the sample was under 40 at time of recruitment and had completed at least three years of college. A later survey in the mid 1980s found the membership then was disproportionately Southwesterners, young, urban, male, and Catholic. They were consistently conservative on secular issues, antigovernment, and negative toward communism. The evidence does not support liberal notions that irrationality, social strains, or status anxiety explained their beliefs.<ref>Stone (1974); Wilcox (1988) </ref>

==Further reading==
* Griffin, G. Edward. "The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve". American Media, 1994.
* Grigg, William Norman. "Global Gun Grab: The United Nations Campaign to Disarm Americans". John Birch Society, 2001.
* Jasper, William F. "The United Nations Exposed". John Birch Society, 2001.
* McManus, John F. "Changing Commands: The Betrayal of America's Military". John Birch Society, 1995.
* Perloff, James. "The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline". Western Islands, 1988.
* Smoot, Dan. "The Invisible Government". Western Islands, 1962.
* Stewart, Charles J. "The Master Conspiracy of the John Birch Society: From Communism to the New World Order," ''Western Journal of Communication'' (2002) v.66#4 pp 424+ [http://www.questia.com/read/5002503885?title=The%20Master%20Conspiracy%20of%20the%20John%20Birch%20Society%3a%20From%20Communism%20to%20the%20New%20World%20Order online edition]
* Stone, Barbara S. "The John Birch Society: a Profile," ''Journal of Politics'' 1974 36(1): 184-197,
* Wilcox, Clyde. "Sources of Support for the Old Right: a Comparison of the John Birch Society and the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade." ''Social Science History'' 1988 12(4): 429-450,
===Primary sources===
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The Blue Book of the John Birch Society''. Boston: Western Islands, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. and the John Birch Society ''The White Book of the John Birch Society for 1964.'' Belmont: John Birch Society, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The New Americanism and Other Speeches.'' Boston: Western Islands, 1966.
*Gary Allen. ''None Dare Call It Conspiracy.'' G S G & Associates, Inc., 1971.
*[[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] - Congressman [[Larry McDonald]], the 2nd President of the JBS, was a passenger of this flight downed by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983 in international waters near [[Moneron Island]] west of Sakhalin Island.

== External Links ==
*[http://www.jbs.org/ The John Birch Society Website]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/ The New American]
*[http://johnbirchsocietyvolunteers.org/ The JBS Volunteers]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/node/8694 "KAL Flight 007 Remembered" New American Magazine]
*[http://www.rescue007.org/ Website of the International Committee for the Rescue of KAL 007 Survivors]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/john-birch-soc.html members prominent in politics]
====References====
<references/>
[[category:Political Organizations]]
[[category:Conservatives]]
[[category:Cold War]]
[[category:1960s]]
[[category:Conspiracy theorists]]

John Birch Society

2010-05-22T00:19:10Z

ConsChris: /* Conspiracies */

The '''John Birch Society''' is an American paleoconservative organization founded in 1958 by Massachusetts businessman [[Robert Welch]] (1900-1985) with a largely conservative membership. Until the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991, it focused on Communism as the enemy of American values, warning that Communism already exerted a powerful control on the national government.

At its peak in 1964 the Society claimed to have hundreds of chapters throughout the country, 100,000 members, 400 American Opinion bookstores to distribute and sell its magazine and pamphlets, and an active cadre of speakers that crisscrossed the country. Welch ruled with an iron hand,<ref> Schoenwald, (2001) pp. 83-91</ref> sending out his agents to make sure the local units never engaged in operations on their own, such as endorsing candidates or lobbying for legislation. All the dues went to national headquarters in Belmont, Massachusetts and the members were to spend their energy writing letters that echoed Welch's thesis that that Communists were already in power in Washington and were about to fully take over the country. Welch sponsored "Support Your Local Police"
campaign which opposed civilian review boards to monitor police brutality.<ref> Some chapters without Welch's approval did organize opposition to fluoridation of local water supplies or pushed a slate for election to local school boards.</ref> The one notable national campaign was to demand the impeachment of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]]. Not a single member of Congress was willing to present an impeachment resolution, and over the years only three Congressmen were members, most notably [[Larry McDonald]] (1935-1983), the Society president when his plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Force.<ref>One of the society's most popular spokesmen was John Rousselot, a former Republican congressman from southern California. Another was John Schmitz (1930-2001), briefly a Congressman from Southern California.</ref>

It never had a major impact on politics. It is still in operation, generating reports on new conspiracies from its base in Appleton, Wisconsin. However its main role has always been as a target of attack by liberals who use it to ridicule and smear conservatives in general.

==Conspiracies==
The organization was founded by [[Robert Welch]] in 1958 to fight subversive infiltration of the United States.<ref>Welch said he named the Society after [[John Birch]], the first American to die in the [[Cold War]]. </ref> He designed the Society like the Communist movement, with a strong leader at the top (himself), with each lower level following the orders they were given. Society literature denounced collectivist infiltration from Communists, the [[United Nations]], and various front groups. Welch himself decided that the root cause of most of the troubles was a two-century-long conspiracy of the "Illuminati," a group supposedly founded in Bavaria in 1776. He declared it was responsible for the French and Russian Revolutions and the two world wars, as well as evils of Lincoln's income taxes, Wilson's Federal Reserve, and Roosevelt's New Deal. Most insidious of all was the United Nations. It also controlled the Communist party and the Trilateral Commission. The only member of the Illuminati he could identify by name was [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. Reagan was suspect because he picked for vice president the choice of the Illuminati, [[George H.W. Bush]]. Welch argued that the Illuminati was subversive of good government, destructive of religion, and used professional agitators and massive terror to destroy the good people, while manufacturing smears to destroy the brave souls who tried to expose it.<ref>There's more; see Stewart (2002). </ref>

In October, 2009, it is exposing the diabolic totalitarian schemes of the Department of Homeland Security's TSA:
:''It’s not enough that the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gropes us at checkpoints in airports, photographs passengers naked, steals from them, and even killed one. Now it’s recruiting the nation’s truck- and bus-drivers as snitches against us in a scheme it calls First Observer. The logic is diabolical, totalitarian, and simple...."<ref> Becky Akers, "Eyes on the Road" Oct. 15, 2009 [http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/opinion/948-becky-akers/1988-eyes-on-the-road on JBS official website]</ref>
===Eisenhower and Johnson===
Welch wrote in a widely circulated statement, ''The Politician,'' "Could Eisenhower really be simply a smart politician, entirely without principles and hungry for glory, who is only the tool of the Communists? The answer is yes." He went on. ""With regard to ... Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason."<ref> Quoted at [http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/1375-glenn-beck-talks-with-jbs-president-john-f-mcmanus "Glenn Beck talks with JBS President John F. McManus" Aug. 15, 2006]</ref>

In the 1960s Welch insisted that the Johnson administration's fight against communism in Vietnam was part of a communist plot aimed at taking over the United States. Welch demanded that the United States get out of Vietnam, thus aligning the Society with the far left.<ref>Stephen Earl Bennett, "Modes of Resolution of a 'Belief Dilemma' in the Ideology of the John Birch Society," ''Journal of Politics'' 1971 33(3): 735-772, </ref>

==Rejected by most conservatives==
It was moderately active in the 1960s with numerous chapters, but rarely engaged in coalition building with other conservatives. Indeed, it was rejected by most conservatives because of the outlandish conspiracy theories of its leader [[Robert Welch]]. [[William F. Buckley]] and his ''National Review'' regularly attacked Welch, and by 1965 was attacking the Society as well. Starting with Welch considered conservative President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] a Communist stooge, it was deeply distrustful of all presidents since Franklin Roosevelt.

Eisenhower cabinet member [[Ezra Taft Benson]], a leading Mormon, spoke in favor of the John Birch Society, but in January 1963 the Mormon church issued a statement distancing itself from the Society.<ref>Gregory A. Prince, "The Red Peril, the Candy Maker, and the Apostle: David O. Mckay's Confrontation with Communism," ''Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought'' 2004 37(2): 37-94, </ref>
==Liberal target==
The John Birch Society has always been a favorite target of liberals who want to embarrass the conservative movement by citing some ridiculous conspiracy theory on the right. Some liberals just laugh and employ misinterpretations of social anxieties to warn that Birchers are misfits; most warn darkly that the John Birch Society is a dangerous manifestation of the "radical right" that aimed to subvert democracy. In practice, the Society actually did little more than publish pamphlets and sponsor local discussion groups.

Historian [[Richard Hofstadter]] claimed the Birch Society was the leader of the right wing in the 1960s.<ref>Hofstadter himself later turned right. Hofstadter, ''The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays'' (1967) p. 70</ref> In 1968 Governor Pat Brown of California, about to be defeated for reelection by Reagan, unleashed a 13-page report calling Reagan a puppet of the John Birch Society. (Reagan considered the JBS leaders to be kooky and kept them out of his campaign.)<ref> Rick Perlstein, ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2008) p. 113</ref> As late as 1980, House Speaker [[Tip O'Neill]] warned that "John Birchers control the Republican Party," overlooking the fact that the only Birch Society member in Congress at the time was a Democrat from Georgia, [[Larry McDonald]] who caucused with O'Neill. In fact the John Birch Society never controlled the Republican party in any state at any level at any time.<ref> Steven F. Hayward, ''The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980'' (2001) pp 101, 675; </ref>

==Ideology==
The Society works towards educating Americans about the original intent of the [[Founding Fathers]]. The John Birch Society strongly believes that the United States is a [[Constitutional Republic]], not a democracy.

Although the JBS is considered to be "right-wing", the group has vigorously attacked President [[George W. Bush]] as a pawn of neo-conservatism seeking a "New World order" that would swallow up America. That is only the latest of a long line of conspiracy theories it has promoted.

==Publications==
The official magazine of the John Birch Society since 1985 ''[[The New American]]''. It replaced ''American Opinion'', which was published from 1958 to 1985.

The Birch Society has an active publication and reprint program. Reflecting its distrust of national leadership over the last 70 years, many of the books blame the White House and national leaders for deliberately damaging the national interest--for example, by encouraging the Japanese to sink the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
==Members==
There are unofficial JBS chapters on many college campuses throughout the United States.

One survey in the early 1970s found the typical John Birch Society member was middle or upper-middle class, Republican and Protestant. He was also fairly young and well educated: the majority of the sample was under 40 at time of recruitment and had completed at least three years of college. A later survey in the mid 1980s found the membership then was disproportionately Southwesterners, young, urban, male, and Catholic. They were consistently conservative on secular issues, antigovernment, and negative toward communism. The evidence does not support liberal notions that irrationality, social strains, or status anxiety explained their beliefs.<ref>Stone (1974); Wilcox (1988) </ref>

==Further reading==
* Griffin, G. Edward. "The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve". American Media, 1994.
* Jasper, William F. "The United Nations Exposed". John Birch Society, 2001.
* Perloff, James. "The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline". Western Islands, 1988.
* Smoot, Dan. "The Invisible Government". Western Islands, 1962.
* Stewart, Charles J. "The Master Conspiracy of the John Birch Society: From Communism to the New World Order," ''Western Journal of Communication'' (2002) v.66#4 pp 424+ [http://www.questia.com/read/5002503885?title=The%20Master%20Conspiracy%20of%20the%20John%20Birch%20Society%3a%20From%20Communism%20to%20the%20New%20World%20Order online edition]
* Stone, Barbara S. "The John Birch Society: a Profile," ''Journal of Politics'' 1974 36(1): 184-197,
* Wilcox, Clyde. "Sources of Support for the Old Right: a Comparison of the John Birch Society and the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade." ''Social Science History'' 1988 12(4): 429-450,
===Primary sources===
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The Blue Book of the John Birch Society''. Boston: Western Islands, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. and the John Birch Society ''The White Book of the John Birch Society for 1964.'' Belmont: John Birch Society, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The New Americanism and Other Speeches.'' Boston: Western Islands, 1966.
*Gary Allen. ''None Dare Call It Conspiracy.'' G S G & Associates, Inc., 1971.
*[[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] - Congressman [[Larry McDonald]], the 2nd President of the JBS, was a passenger of this flight downed by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983 in international waters near [[Moneron Island]] west of Sakhalin Island.

== External Links ==
*[http://www.jbs.org/ The John Birch Society Website]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/ The New American]
*[http://johnbirchsocietyvolunteers.org/ The JBS Volunteers]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/node/8694 "KAL Flight 007 Remembered" New American Magazine]
*[http://www.rescue007.org/ Website of the International Committee for the Rescue of KAL 007 Survivors]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/john-birch-soc.html members prominent in politics]
====References====
<references/>
[[category:Political Organizations]]
[[category:Conservatives]]
[[category:Cold War]]
[[category:1960s]]
[[category:Conspiracy theorists]]

John Birch Society

2010-05-22T00:14:32Z

ConsChris: /* Further reading */

The '''John Birch Society''' is an American paleoconservative organization founded in 1958 by Massachusetts businessman [[Robert Welch]] (1900-1985) with a largely conservative membership. Until the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991, it focused on Communism as the enemy of American values, warning that Communism already exerted a powerful control on the national government.

At its peak in 1964 the Society claimed to have hundreds of chapters throughout the country, 100,000 members, 400 American Opinion bookstores to distribute and sell its magazine and pamphlets, and an active cadre of speakers that crisscrossed the country. Welch ruled with an iron hand,<ref> Schoenwald, (2001) pp. 83-91</ref> sending out his agents to make sure the local units never engaged in operations on their own, such as endorsing candidates or lobbying for legislation. All the dues went to national headquarters in Belmont, Massachusetts and the members were to spend their energy writing letters that echoed Welch's thesis that that Communists were already in power in Washington and were about to fully take over the country. Welch sponsored "Support Your Local Police"
campaign which opposed civilian review boards to monitor police brutality.<ref> Some chapters without Welch's approval did organize opposition to fluoridation of local water supplies or pushed a slate for election to local school boards.</ref> The one notable national campaign was to demand the impeachment of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]]. Not a single member of Congress was willing to present an impeachment resolution, and over the years only three Congressmen were members, most notably [[Larry McDonald]] (1935-1983), the Society president when his plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Force.<ref>One of the society's most popular spokesmen was John Rousselot, a former Republican congressman from southern California. Another was John Schmitz (1930-2001), briefly a Congressman from Southern California.</ref>

It never had a major impact on politics. It is still in operation, generating reports on new conspiracies from its base in Appleton, Wisconsin. However its main role has always been as a target of attack by liberals who use it to ridicule and smear conservatives in general.

==Conspiracies==
The organization was founded by [[Robert Welch]] in 1958 to fight subversive infiltration of the United States.<ref>Welch said he named the Society after [[John Birch]], the first American to die in the [[Cold War]]. </ref> He designed the Society like the Communist movement, with a strong leader at the top (himself), with each lower level following the orders they were given. In practice the local chapters were little more than discussion clubs and rarely engaged in much activism. Society literature denounced collectivist infiltration from Communists, the [[United Nations]], and various front groups. Welch himself decided that the root cause of most of the troubles was a two-century-long conspiracy of the "Illuminati," a group supposedly founded in Bavaria in 1776. He declared it was responsible for the French and Russian Revolutions and the two world wars, as well as evils of Lincoln's income taxes, Wilson's Federal Reserve, and Roosevelt's New Deal. Most insidious of all was the United Nations. It also controlled the Communist party and the Trilateral Commission. The only member of the Illuminati he could identify by name was [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. Reagan was suspect because he picked for vice president the choice of the Illuminati, [[George H.W. Bush]]. Welch argued that the Illuminati was subversive of good government, destructive of religion, and used professional agitators and massive terror to destroy the good people, while manufacturing smears to destroy the brave souls who tried to expose it.<ref>There's more; see Stewart (2002). </ref>

In October, 2009, it is exposing the diabolic totalitarian schemes of the Department of Homeland Security's TSA:
:''It’s not enough that the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gropes us at checkpoints in airports, photographs passengers naked, steals from them, and even killed one. Now it’s recruiting the nation’s truck- and bus-drivers as snitches against us in a scheme it calls First Observer. The logic is diabolical, totalitarian, and simple...."<ref> Becky Akers, "Eyes on the Road" Oct. 15, 2009 [http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/opinion/948-becky-akers/1988-eyes-on-the-road on JBS official website]</ref>
===Eisenhower and Johnson===
Welch wrote in a widely circulated statement, ''The Politician,'' "Could Eisenhower really be simply a smart politician, entirely without principles and hungry for glory, who is only the tool of the Communists? The answer is yes." He went on. ""With regard to ... Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason."<ref> Quoted at [http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/1375-glenn-beck-talks-with-jbs-president-john-f-mcmanus "Glenn Beck talks with JBS President John F. McManus" Aug. 15, 2006]</ref>

In the 1960s Welch insisted that the Johnson administration's fight against communism in Vietnam was part of a communist plot aimed at taking over the United States. Welch demanded that the United States get out of Vietnam, thus aligning the Society with the far left.<ref>Stephen Earl Bennett, "Modes of Resolution of a 'Belief Dilemma' in the Ideology of the John Birch Society," ''Journal of Politics'' 1971 33(3): 735-772, </ref>

==Rejected by most conservatives==
It was moderately active in the 1960s with numerous chapters, but rarely engaged in coalition building with other conservatives. Indeed, it was rejected by most conservatives because of the outlandish conspiracy theories of its leader [[Robert Welch]]. [[William F. Buckley]] and his ''National Review'' regularly attacked Welch, and by 1965 was attacking the Society as well. Starting with Welch considered conservative President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] a Communist stooge, it was deeply distrustful of all presidents since Franklin Roosevelt.

Eisenhower cabinet member [[Ezra Taft Benson]], a leading Mormon, spoke in favor of the John Birch Society, but in January 1963 the Mormon church issued a statement distancing itself from the Society.<ref>Gregory A. Prince, "The Red Peril, the Candy Maker, and the Apostle: David O. Mckay's Confrontation with Communism," ''Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought'' 2004 37(2): 37-94, </ref>
==Liberal target==
The John Birch Society has always been a favorite target of liberals who want to embarrass the conservative movement by citing some ridiculous conspiracy theory on the right. Some liberals just laugh and employ misinterpretations of social anxieties to warn that Birchers are misfits; most warn darkly that the John Birch Society is a dangerous manifestation of the "radical right" that aimed to subvert democracy. In practice, the Society actually did little more than publish pamphlets and sponsor local discussion groups.

Historian [[Richard Hofstadter]] claimed the Birch Society was the leader of the right wing in the 1960s.<ref>Hofstadter himself later turned right. Hofstadter, ''The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays'' (1967) p. 70</ref> In 1968 Governor Pat Brown of California, about to be defeated for reelection by Reagan, unleashed a 13-page report calling Reagan a puppet of the John Birch Society. (Reagan considered the JBS leaders to be kooky and kept them out of his campaign.)<ref> Rick Perlstein, ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2008) p. 113</ref> As late as 1980, House Speaker [[Tip O'Neill]] warned that "John Birchers control the Republican Party," overlooking the fact that the only Birch Society member in Congress at the time was a Democrat from Georgia, [[Larry McDonald]] who caucused with O'Neill. In fact the John Birch Society never controlled the Republican party in any state at any level at any time.<ref> Steven F. Hayward, ''The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980'' (2001) pp 101, 675; </ref>

==Ideology==
The Society works towards educating Americans about the original intent of the [[Founding Fathers]]. The John Birch Society strongly believes that the United States is a [[Constitutional Republic]], not a democracy.

Although the JBS is considered to be "right-wing", the group has vigorously attacked President [[George W. Bush]] as a pawn of neo-conservatism seeking a "New World order" that would swallow up America. That is only the latest of a long line of conspiracy theories it has promoted.

==Publications==
The official magazine of the John Birch Society since 1985 ''[[The New American]]''. It replaced ''American Opinion'', which was published from 1958 to 1985.

The Birch Society has an active publication and reprint program. Reflecting its distrust of national leadership over the last 70 years, many of the books blame the White House and national leaders for deliberately damaging the national interest--for example, by encouraging the Japanese to sink the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
==Members==
There are unofficial JBS chapters on many college campuses throughout the United States.

One survey in the early 1970s found the typical John Birch Society member was middle or upper-middle class, Republican and Protestant. He was also fairly young and well educated: the majority of the sample was under 40 at time of recruitment and had completed at least three years of college. A later survey in the mid 1980s found the membership then was disproportionately Southwesterners, young, urban, male, and Catholic. They were consistently conservative on secular issues, antigovernment, and negative toward communism. The evidence does not support liberal notions that irrationality, social strains, or status anxiety explained their beliefs.<ref>Stone (1974); Wilcox (1988) </ref>

==Further reading==
* Griffin, G. Edward. "The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve". American Media, 1994.
* Jasper, William F. "The United Nations Exposed". John Birch Society, 2001.
* Perloff, James. "The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline". Western Islands, 1988.
* Smoot, Dan. "The Invisible Government". Western Islands, 1962.
* Stewart, Charles J. "The Master Conspiracy of the John Birch Society: From Communism to the New World Order," ''Western Journal of Communication'' (2002) v.66#4 pp 424+ [http://www.questia.com/read/5002503885?title=The%20Master%20Conspiracy%20of%20the%20John%20Birch%20Society%3a%20From%20Communism%20to%20the%20New%20World%20Order online edition]
* Stone, Barbara S. "The John Birch Society: a Profile," ''Journal of Politics'' 1974 36(1): 184-197,
* Wilcox, Clyde. "Sources of Support for the Old Right: a Comparison of the John Birch Society and the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade." ''Social Science History'' 1988 12(4): 429-450,
===Primary sources===
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The Blue Book of the John Birch Society''. Boston: Western Islands, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. and the John Birch Society ''The White Book of the John Birch Society for 1964.'' Belmont: John Birch Society, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The New Americanism and Other Speeches.'' Boston: Western Islands, 1966.
*Gary Allen. ''None Dare Call It Conspiracy.'' G S G & Associates, Inc., 1971.
*[[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] - Congressman [[Larry McDonald]], the 2nd President of the JBS, was a passenger of this flight downed by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983 in international waters near [[Moneron Island]] west of Sakhalin Island.

== External Links ==
*[http://www.jbs.org/ The John Birch Society Website]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/ The New American]
*[http://johnbirchsocietyvolunteers.org/ The JBS Volunteers]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/node/8694 "KAL Flight 007 Remembered" New American Magazine]
*[http://www.rescue007.org/ Website of the International Committee for the Rescue of KAL 007 Survivors]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/john-birch-soc.html members prominent in politics]
====References====
<references/>
[[category:Political Organizations]]
[[category:Conservatives]]
[[category:Cold War]]
[[category:1960s]]
[[category:Conspiracy theorists]]

John Birch Society

2010-05-21T22:31:12Z

ConsChris:

The '''John Birch Society''' is an American paleoconservative organization founded in 1958 by Massachusetts businessman [[Robert Welch]] (1900-1985) with a largely conservative membership. Until the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991, it focused on Communism as the enemy of American values, warning that Communism already exerted a powerful control on the national government.

At its peak in 1964 the Society claimed to have hundreds of chapters throughout the country, 100,000 members, 400 American Opinion bookstores to distribute and sell its magazine and pamphlets, and an active cadre of speakers that crisscrossed the country. Welch ruled with an iron hand,<ref> Schoenwald, (2001) pp. 83-91</ref> sending out his agents to make sure the local units never engaged in operations on their own, such as endorsing candidates or lobbying for legislation. All the dues went to national headquarters in Belmont, Massachusetts and the members were to spend their energy writing letters that echoed Welch's thesis that that Communists were already in power in Washington and were about to fully take over the country. Welch sponsored "Support Your Local Police"
campaign which opposed civilian review boards to monitor police brutality.<ref> Some chapters without Welch's approval did organize opposition to fluoridation of local water supplies or pushed a slate for election to local school boards.</ref> The one notable national campaign was to demand the impeachment of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]]. Not a single member of Congress was willing to present an impeachment resolution, and over the years only three Congressmen were members, most notably [[Larry McDonald]] (1935-1983), the Society president when his plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Force.<ref>One of the society's most popular spokesmen was John Rousselot, a former Republican congressman from southern California. Another was John Schmitz (1930-2001), briefly a Congressman from Southern California.</ref>

It never had a major impact on politics. It is still in operation, generating reports on new conspiracies from its base in Appleton, Wisconsin. However its main role has always been as a target of attack by liberals who use it to ridicule and smear conservatives in general.

==Conspiracies==
The organization was founded by [[Robert Welch]] in 1958 to fight subversive infiltration of the United States.<ref>Welch said he named the Society after [[John Birch]], the first American to die in the [[Cold War]]. </ref> He designed the Society like the Communist movement, with a strong leader at the top (himself), with each lower level following the orders they were given. In practice the local chapters were little more than discussion clubs and rarely engaged in much activism. Society literature denounced collectivist infiltration from Communists, the [[United Nations]], and various front groups. Welch himself decided that the root cause of most of the troubles was a two-century-long conspiracy of the "Illuminati," a group supposedly founded in Bavaria in 1776. He declared it was responsible for the French and Russian Revolutions and the two world wars, as well as evils of Lincoln's income taxes, Wilson's Federal Reserve, and Roosevelt's New Deal. Most insidious of all was the United Nations. It also controlled the Communist party and the Trilateral Commission. The only member of the Illuminati he could identify by name was [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. Reagan was suspect because he picked for vice president the choice of the Illuminati, [[George H.W. Bush]]. Welch argued that the Illuminati was subversive of good government, destructive of religion, and used professional agitators and massive terror to destroy the good people, while manufacturing smears to destroy the brave souls who tried to expose it.<ref>There's more; see Stewart (2002). </ref>

In October, 2009, it is exposing the diabolic totalitarian schemes of the Department of Homeland Security's TSA:
:''It’s not enough that the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gropes us at checkpoints in airports, photographs passengers naked, steals from them, and even killed one. Now it’s recruiting the nation’s truck- and bus-drivers as snitches against us in a scheme it calls First Observer. The logic is diabolical, totalitarian, and simple...."<ref> Becky Akers, "Eyes on the Road" Oct. 15, 2009 [http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/opinion/948-becky-akers/1988-eyes-on-the-road on JBS official website]</ref>
===Eisenhower and Johnson===
Welch wrote in a widely circulated statement, ''The Politician,'' "Could Eisenhower really be simply a smart politician, entirely without principles and hungry for glory, who is only the tool of the Communists? The answer is yes." He went on. ""With regard to ... Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason."<ref> Quoted at [http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/1375-glenn-beck-talks-with-jbs-president-john-f-mcmanus "Glenn Beck talks with JBS President John F. McManus" Aug. 15, 2006]</ref>

In the 1960s Welch insisted that the Johnson administration's fight against communism in Vietnam was part of a communist plot aimed at taking over the United States. Welch demanded that the United States get out of Vietnam, thus aligning the Society with the far left.<ref>Stephen Earl Bennett, "Modes of Resolution of a 'Belief Dilemma' in the Ideology of the John Birch Society," ''Journal of Politics'' 1971 33(3): 735-772, </ref>

==Rejected by most conservatives==
It was moderately active in the 1960s with numerous chapters, but rarely engaged in coalition building with other conservatives. Indeed, it was rejected by most conservatives because of the outlandish conspiracy theories of its leader [[Robert Welch]]. [[William F. Buckley]] and his ''National Review'' regularly attacked Welch, and by 1965 was attacking the Society as well. Starting with Welch considered conservative President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] a Communist stooge, it was deeply distrustful of all presidents since Franklin Roosevelt.

Eisenhower cabinet member [[Ezra Taft Benson]], a leading Mormon, spoke in favor of the John Birch Society, but in January 1963 the Mormon church issued a statement distancing itself from the Society.<ref>Gregory A. Prince, "The Red Peril, the Candy Maker, and the Apostle: David O. Mckay's Confrontation with Communism," ''Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought'' 2004 37(2): 37-94, </ref>
==Liberal target==
The John Birch Society has always been a favorite target of liberals who want to embarrass the conservative movement by citing some ridiculous conspiracy theory on the right. Some liberals just laugh and employ misinterpretations of social anxieties to warn that Birchers are misfits; most warn darkly that the John Birch Society is a dangerous manifestation of the "radical right" that aimed to subvert democracy. In practice, the Society actually did little more than publish pamphlets and sponsor local discussion groups.

Historian [[Richard Hofstadter]] claimed the Birch Society was the leader of the right wing in the 1960s.<ref>Hofstadter himself later turned right. Hofstadter, ''The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays'' (1967) p. 70</ref> In 1968 Governor Pat Brown of California, about to be defeated for reelection by Reagan, unleashed a 13-page report calling Reagan a puppet of the John Birch Society. (Reagan considered the JBS leaders to be kooky and kept them out of his campaign.)<ref> Rick Perlstein, ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2008) p. 113</ref> As late as 1980, House Speaker [[Tip O'Neill]] warned that "John Birchers control the Republican Party," overlooking the fact that the only Birch Society member in Congress at the time was a Democrat from Georgia, [[Larry McDonald]] who caucused with O'Neill. In fact the John Birch Society never controlled the Republican party in any state at any level at any time.<ref> Steven F. Hayward, ''The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980'' (2001) pp 101, 675; </ref>

==Ideology==
The Society works towards educating Americans about the original intent of the [[Founding Fathers]]. The John Birch Society strongly believes that the United States is a [[Constitutional Republic]], not a democracy.

Although the JBS is considered to be "right-wing", the group has vigorously attacked President [[George W. Bush]] as a pawn of neo-conservatism seeking a "New World order" that would swallow up America. That is only the latest of a long line of conspiracy theories it has promoted.

==Publications==
The official magazine of the John Birch Society since 1985 ''[[The New American]]''. It replaced ''American Opinion'', which was published from 1958 to 1985.

The Birch Society has an active publication and reprint program. Reflecting its distrust of national leadership over the last 70 years, many of the books blame the White House and national leaders for deliberately damaging the national interest--for example, by encouraging the Japanese to sink the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
==Members==
There are unofficial JBS chapters on many college campuses throughout the United States.

One survey in the early 1970s found the typical John Birch Society member was middle or upper-middle class, Republican and Protestant. He was also fairly young and well educated: the majority of the sample was under 40 at time of recruitment and had completed at least three years of college. A later survey in the mid 1980s found the membership then was disproportionately Southwesterners, young, urban, male, and Catholic. They were consistently conservative on secular issues, antigovernment, and negative toward communism. The evidence does not support liberal notions that irrationality, social strains, or status anxiety explained their beliefs.<ref>Stone (1974); Wilcox (1988) </ref>

==Further reading==
* McGirr, Lisa. ''Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right'' (2001), focus on Los Angeles suburbs in 1960s
* Schoenwald, Jonathan M. ''A Time for Choosing: The Rise of Modern American Conservatism'' (2001) [http://www.questia.com/read/104931191?title=A%20Time%20for%20Choosing%3a%20%20The%20Rise%20of%20Modern%20American%20Conservatism online edition]
* Stewart, Charles J. "The Master Conspiracy of the John Birch Society: From Communism to the New World Order," ''Western Journal of Communication'' (2002) v.66#4 pp 424+ [http://www.questia.com/read/5002503885?title=The%20Master%20Conspiracy%20of%20the%20John%20Birch%20Society%3a%20From%20Communism%20to%20the%20New%20World%20Order online edition]
* Stone, Barbara S. "The John Birch Society: a Profile," ''Journal of Politics'' 1974 36(1): 184-197,
* Wilcox, Clyde. "Sources of Support for the Old Right: a Comparison of the John Birch Society and the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade." ''Social Science History'' 1988 12(4): 429-450,
===Primary sources===
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The blue book of the John Birch Society''. Boston: Western Islands, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. and the John Birch Society ''The White Book of the John Birch Society for 1964.'' Belmont: John Birch Society, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The New Americanism and Other Speeches.'' Boston: Western Islands, 1966.
*Gary Allen. ''None Dare Call It Conspiracy.'' G S G & Associates, Inc., 1971.
*[[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] - Congressman [[Larry McDonald]], the 2nd President of the JBS, was a passenger of this flight downed by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983 in international waters near [[Moneron Island]] west of Sakhalin Island.

== External Links ==
*[http://www.jbs.org/ The John Birch Society Website]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/ The New American]
*[http://johnbirchsocietyvolunteers.org/ The JBS Volunteers]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/node/8694 "KAL Flight 007 Remembered" New American Magazine]
*[http://www.rescue007.org/ Website of the International Committee for the Rescue of KAL 007 Survivors]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/john-birch-soc.html members prominent in politics]
====References====
<references/>
[[category:Political Organizations]]
[[category:Conservatives]]
[[category:Cold War]]
[[category:1960s]]
[[category:Conspiracy theorists]]

John Birch Society

2010-05-21T22:30:43Z

ConsChris:

The '''John Birch Society''' is a American paleoconservative organization founded in 1958 by Massachusetts businessman [[Robert Welch]] (1900-1985) with a largely conservative membership. Until the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991, it focused on Communism as the enemy of American values, warning that Communism already exerted a powerful control on the national government.

At its peak in 1964 the Society claimed to have hundreds of chapters throughout the country, 100,000 members, 400 American Opinion bookstores to distribute and sell its magazine and pamphlets, and an active cadre of speakers that crisscrossed the country. Welch ruled with an iron hand,<ref> Schoenwald, (2001) pp. 83-91</ref> sending out his agents to make sure the local units never engaged in operations on their own, such as endorsing candidates or lobbying for legislation. All the dues went to national headquarters in Belmont, Massachusetts and the members were to spend their energy writing letters that echoed Welch's thesis that that Communists were already in power in Washington and were about to fully take over the country. Welch sponsored "Support Your Local Police"
campaign which opposed civilian review boards to monitor police brutality.<ref> Some chapters without Welch's approval did organize opposition to fluoridation of local water supplies or pushed a slate for election to local school boards.</ref> The one notable national campaign was to demand the impeachment of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]]. Not a single member of Congress was willing to present an impeachment resolution, and over the years only three Congressmen were members, most notably [[Larry McDonald]] (1935-1983), the Society president when his plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Force.<ref>One of the society's most popular spokesmen was John Rousselot, a former Republican congressman from southern California. Another was John Schmitz (1930-2001), briefly a Congressman from Southern California.</ref>

It never had a major impact on politics. It is still in operation, generating reports on new conspiracies from its base in Appleton, Wisconsin. However its main role has always been as a target of attack by liberals who use it to ridicule and smear conservatives in general.

==Conspiracies==
The organization was founded by [[Robert Welch]] in 1958 to fight subversive infiltration of the United States.<ref>Welch said he named the Society after [[John Birch]], the first American to die in the [[Cold War]]. </ref> He designed the Society like the Communist movement, with a strong leader at the top (himself), with each lower level following the orders they were given. In practice the local chapters were little more than discussion clubs and rarely engaged in much activism. Society literature denounced collectivist infiltration from Communists, the [[United Nations]], and various front groups. Welch himself decided that the root cause of most of the troubles was a two-century-long conspiracy of the "Illuminati," a group supposedly founded in Bavaria in 1776. He declared it was responsible for the French and Russian Revolutions and the two world wars, as well as evils of Lincoln's income taxes, Wilson's Federal Reserve, and Roosevelt's New Deal. Most insidious of all was the United Nations. It also controlled the Communist party and the Trilateral Commission. The only member of the Illuminati he could identify by name was [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. Reagan was suspect because he picked for vice president the choice of the Illuminati, [[George H.W. Bush]]. Welch argued that the Illuminati was subversive of good government, destructive of religion, and used professional agitators and massive terror to destroy the good people, while manufacturing smears to destroy the brave souls who tried to expose it.<ref>There's more; see Stewart (2002). </ref>

In October, 2009, it is exposing the diabolic totalitarian schemes of the Department of Homeland Security's TSA:
:''It’s not enough that the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gropes us at checkpoints in airports, photographs passengers naked, steals from them, and even killed one. Now it’s recruiting the nation’s truck- and bus-drivers as snitches against us in a scheme it calls First Observer. The logic is diabolical, totalitarian, and simple...."<ref> Becky Akers, "Eyes on the Road" Oct. 15, 2009 [http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/opinion/948-becky-akers/1988-eyes-on-the-road on JBS official website]</ref>
===Eisenhower and Johnson===
Welch wrote in a widely circulated statement, ''The Politician,'' "Could Eisenhower really be simply a smart politician, entirely without principles and hungry for glory, who is only the tool of the Communists? The answer is yes." He went on. ""With regard to ... Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason."<ref> Quoted at [http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/1375-glenn-beck-talks-with-jbs-president-john-f-mcmanus "Glenn Beck talks with JBS President John F. McManus" Aug. 15, 2006]</ref>

In the 1960s Welch insisted that the Johnson administration's fight against communism in Vietnam was part of a communist plot aimed at taking over the United States. Welch demanded that the United States get out of Vietnam, thus aligning the Society with the far left.<ref>Stephen Earl Bennett, "Modes of Resolution of a 'Belief Dilemma' in the Ideology of the John Birch Society," ''Journal of Politics'' 1971 33(3): 735-772, </ref>

==Rejected by most conservatives==
It was moderately active in the 1960s with numerous chapters, but rarely engaged in coalition building with other conservatives. Indeed, it was rejected by most conservatives because of the outlandish conspiracy theories of its leader [[Robert Welch]]. [[William F. Buckley]] and his ''National Review'' regularly attacked Welch, and by 1965 was attacking the Society as well. Starting with Welch considered conservative President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] a Communist stooge, it was deeply distrustful of all presidents since Franklin Roosevelt.

Eisenhower cabinet member [[Ezra Taft Benson]], a leading Mormon, spoke in favor of the John Birch Society, but in January 1963 the Mormon church issued a statement distancing itself from the Society.<ref>Gregory A. Prince, "The Red Peril, the Candy Maker, and the Apostle: David O. Mckay's Confrontation with Communism," ''Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought'' 2004 37(2): 37-94, </ref>
==Liberal target==
The John Birch Society has always been a favorite target of liberals who want to embarrass the conservative movement by citing some ridiculous conspiracy theory on the right. Some liberals just laugh and employ misinterpretations of social anxieties to warn that Birchers are misfits; most warn darkly that the John Birch Society is a dangerous manifestation of the "radical right" that aimed to subvert democracy. In practice, the Society actually did little more than publish pamphlets and sponsor local discussion groups.

Historian [[Richard Hofstadter]] claimed the Birch Society was the leader of the right wing in the 1960s.<ref>Hofstadter himself later turned right. Hofstadter, ''The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays'' (1967) p. 70</ref> In 1968 Governor Pat Brown of California, about to be defeated for reelection by Reagan, unleashed a 13-page report calling Reagan a puppet of the John Birch Society. (Reagan considered the JBS leaders to be kooky and kept them out of his campaign.)<ref> Rick Perlstein, ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2008) p. 113</ref> As late as 1980, House Speaker [[Tip O'Neill]] warned that "John Birchers control the Republican Party," overlooking the fact that the only Birch Society member in Congress at the time was a Democrat from Georgia, [[Larry McDonald]] who caucused with O'Neill. In fact the John Birch Society never controlled the Republican party in any state at any level at any time.<ref> Steven F. Hayward, ''The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980'' (2001) pp 101, 675; </ref>

==Ideology==
The Society works towards educating Americans about the original intent of the [[Founding Fathers]]. The John Birch Society strongly believes that the United States is a [[Constitutional Republic]], not a democracy.

Although the JBS is considered to be "right-wing", the group has vigorously attacked President [[George W. Bush]] as a pawn of neo-conservatism seeking a "New World order" that would swallow up America. That is only the latest of a long line of conspiracy theories it has promoted.

==Publications==
The official magazine of the John Birch Society since 1985 ''[[The New American]]''. It replaced ''American Opinion'', which was published from 1958 to 1985.

The Birch Society has an active publication and reprint program. Reflecting its distrust of national leadership over the last 70 years, many of the books blame the White House and national leaders for deliberately damaging the national interest--for example, by encouraging the Japanese to sink the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
==Members==
There are unofficial JBS chapters on many college campuses throughout the United States.

One survey in the early 1970s found the typical John Birch Society member was middle or upper-middle class, Republican and Protestant. He was also fairly young and well educated: the majority of the sample was under 40 at time of recruitment and had completed at least three years of college. A later survey in the mid 1980s found the membership then was disproportionately Southwesterners, young, urban, male, and Catholic. They were consistently conservative on secular issues, antigovernment, and negative toward communism. The evidence does not support liberal notions that irrationality, social strains, or status anxiety explained their beliefs.<ref>Stone (1974); Wilcox (1988) </ref>

==Further reading==
* McGirr, Lisa. ''Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right'' (2001), focus on Los Angeles suburbs in 1960s
* Schoenwald, Jonathan M. ''A Time for Choosing: The Rise of Modern American Conservatism'' (2001) [http://www.questia.com/read/104931191?title=A%20Time%20for%20Choosing%3a%20%20The%20Rise%20of%20Modern%20American%20Conservatism online edition]
* Stewart, Charles J. "The Master Conspiracy of the John Birch Society: From Communism to the New World Order," ''Western Journal of Communication'' (2002) v.66#4 pp 424+ [http://www.questia.com/read/5002503885?title=The%20Master%20Conspiracy%20of%20the%20John%20Birch%20Society%3a%20From%20Communism%20to%20the%20New%20World%20Order online edition]
* Stone, Barbara S. "The John Birch Society: a Profile," ''Journal of Politics'' 1974 36(1): 184-197,
* Wilcox, Clyde. "Sources of Support for the Old Right: a Comparison of the John Birch Society and the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade." ''Social Science History'' 1988 12(4): 429-450,
===Primary sources===
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The blue book of the John Birch Society''. Boston: Western Islands, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. and the John Birch Society ''The White Book of the John Birch Society for 1964.'' Belmont: John Birch Society, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The New Americanism and Other Speeches.'' Boston: Western Islands, 1966.
*Gary Allen. ''None Dare Call It Conspiracy.'' G S G & Associates, Inc., 1971.
*[[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] - Congressman [[Larry McDonald]], the 2nd President of the JBS, was a passenger of this flight downed by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983 in international waters near [[Moneron Island]] west of Sakhalin Island.

== External Links ==
*[http://www.jbs.org/ The John Birch Society Website]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/ The New American]
*[http://johnbirchsocietyvolunteers.org/ The JBS Volunteers]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/node/8694 "KAL Flight 007 Remembered" New American Magazine]
*[http://www.rescue007.org/ Website of the International Committee for the Rescue of KAL 007 Survivors]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/john-birch-soc.html members prominent in politics]
====References====
<references/>
[[category:Political Organizations]]
[[category:Conservatives]]
[[category:Cold War]]
[[category:1960s]]
[[category:Conspiracy theorists]]

John Birch Society

2010-05-21T22:29:05Z

ConsChris: /* External Links */

The '''John Birch Society''' is a American anti-conspiracy organization founded in 1958 by Massachusetts businessman [[Robert Welch]] (1900-1985) with a largely conservative membership. Until the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991, it focused on Communism as the enemy of American values, warning that Communism already exerted a powerful control on the national government.

At its peak in 1964 the Society claimed to have hundreds of chapters throughout the country, 100,000 members, 400 American Opinion bookstores to distribute and sell its magazine and pamphlets, and an active cadre of speakers that crisscrossed the country. Welch ruled with an iron hand,<ref> Schoenwald, (2001) pp. 83-91</ref> sending out his agents to make sure the local units never engaged in operations on their own, such as endorsing candidates or lobbying for legislation. All the dues went to national headquarters in Belmont, Massachusetts and the members were to spend their energy writing letters that echoed Welch's thesis that that Communists were already in power in Washington and were about to fully take over the country. Welch sponsored "Support Your Local Police"
campaign which opposed civilian review boards to monitor police brutality.<ref> Some chapters without Welch's approval did organize opposition to fluoridation of local water supplies or pushed a slate for election to local school boards.</ref> The one notable national campaign was to demand the impeachment of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]]. Not a single member of Congress was willing to present an impeachment resolution, and over the years only three Congressmen were members, most notably [[Larry McDonald]] (1935-1983), the Society president when his plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Force.<ref>One of the society's most popular spokesmen was John Rousselot, a former Republican congressman from southern California. Another was John Schmitz (1930-2001), briefly a Congressman from Southern California.</ref>

It never had a major impact on politics. It is still in operation, generating reports on new conspiracies from its base in Appleton, Wisconsin. However its main role has always been as a target of attack by liberals who use it to ridicule and smear conservatives in general.

==Conspiracies==
The organization was founded by [[Robert Welch]] in 1958 to fight subversive infiltration of the United States.<ref>Welch said he named the Society after [[John Birch]], the first American to die in the [[Cold War]]. </ref> He designed the Society like the Communist movement, with a strong leader at the top (himself), with each lower level following the orders they were given. In practice the local chapters were little more than discussion clubs and rarely engaged in much activism. Society literature denounced collectivist infiltration from Communists, the [[United Nations]], and various front groups. Welch himself decided that the root cause of most of the troubles was a two-century-long conspiracy of the "Illuminati," a group supposedly founded in Bavaria in 1776. He declared it was responsible for the French and Russian Revolutions and the two world wars, as well as evils of Lincoln's income taxes, Wilson's Federal Reserve, and Roosevelt's New Deal. Most insidious of all was the United Nations. It also controlled the Communist party and the Trilateral Commission. The only member of the Illuminati he could identify by name was [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. Reagan was suspect because he picked for vice president the choice of the Illuminati, [[George H.W. Bush]]. Welch argued that the Illuminati was subversive of good government, destructive of religion, and used professional agitators and massive terror to destroy the good people, while manufacturing smears to destroy the brave souls who tried to expose it.<ref>There's more; see Stewart (2002). </ref>

In October, 2009, it is exposing the diabolic totalitarian schemes of the Department of Homeland Security's TSA:
:''It’s not enough that the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gropes us at checkpoints in airports, photographs passengers naked, steals from them, and even killed one. Now it’s recruiting the nation’s truck- and bus-drivers as snitches against us in a scheme it calls First Observer. The logic is diabolical, totalitarian, and simple...."<ref> Becky Akers, "Eyes on the Road" Oct. 15, 2009 [http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/opinion/948-becky-akers/1988-eyes-on-the-road on JBS official website]</ref>
===Eisenhower and Johnson===
Welch wrote in a widely circulated statement, ''The Politician,'' "Could Eisenhower really be simply a smart politician, entirely without principles and hungry for glory, who is only the tool of the Communists? The answer is yes." He went on. ""With regard to ... Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason."<ref> Quoted at [http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/1375-glenn-beck-talks-with-jbs-president-john-f-mcmanus "Glenn Beck talks with JBS President John F. McManus" Aug. 15, 2006]</ref>

In the 1960s Welch insisted that the Johnson administration's fight against communism in Vietnam was part of a communist plot aimed at taking over the United States. Welch demanded that the United States get out of Vietnam, thus aligning the Society with the far left.<ref>Stephen Earl Bennett, "Modes of Resolution of a 'Belief Dilemma' in the Ideology of the John Birch Society," ''Journal of Politics'' 1971 33(3): 735-772, </ref>

==Rejected by most conservatives==
It was moderately active in the 1960s with numerous chapters, but rarely engaged in coalition building with other conservatives. Indeed, it was rejected by most conservatives because of the outlandish conspiracy theories of its leader [[Robert Welch]]. [[William F. Buckley]] and his ''National Review'' regularly attacked Welch, and by 1965 was attacking the Society as well. Starting with Welch considered conservative President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] a Communist stooge, it was deeply distrustful of all presidents since Franklin Roosevelt.

Eisenhower cabinet member [[Ezra Taft Benson]], a leading Mormon, spoke in favor of the John Birch Society, but in January 1963 the Mormon church issued a statement distancing itself from the Society.<ref>Gregory A. Prince, "The Red Peril, the Candy Maker, and the Apostle: David O. Mckay's Confrontation with Communism," ''Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought'' 2004 37(2): 37-94, </ref>
==Liberal target==
The John Birch Society has always been a favorite target of liberals who want to embarrass the conservative movement by citing some ridiculous conspiracy theory on the right. Some liberals just laugh and employ misinterpretations of social anxieties to warn that Birchers are misfits; most warn darkly that the John Birch Society is a dangerous manifestation of the "radical right" that aimed to subvert democracy. In practice, the Society actually did little more than publish pamphlets and sponsor local discussion groups.

Historian [[Richard Hofstadter]] claimed the Birch Society was the leader of the right wing in the 1960s.<ref>Hofstadter himself later turned right. Hofstadter, ''The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays'' (1967) p. 70</ref> In 1968 Governor Pat Brown of California, about to be defeated for reelection by Reagan, unleashed a 13-page report calling Reagan a puppet of the John Birch Society. (Reagan considered the JBS leaders to be kooky and kept them out of his campaign.)<ref> Rick Perlstein, ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2008) p. 113</ref> As late as 1980, House Speaker [[Tip O'Neill]] warned that "John Birchers control the Republican Party," overlooking the fact that the only Birch Society member in Congress at the time was a Democrat from Georgia, [[Larry McDonald]] who caucused with O'Neill. In fact the John Birch Society never controlled the Republican party in any state at any level at any time.<ref> Steven F. Hayward, ''The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980'' (2001) pp 101, 675; </ref>

==Ideology==
The Society works towards educating Americans about the original intent of the [[Founding Fathers]]. The John Birch Society strongly believes that the United States is a [[Constitutional Republic]], not a democracy.

Although the JBS is considered to be "right-wing", the group has vigorously attacked President [[George W. Bush]] as a pawn of neo-conservatism seeking a "New World order" that would swallow up America. That is only the latest of a long line of conspiracy theories it has promoted.

==Publications==
The official magazine of the John Birch Society since 1985 ''[[The New American]]''. It replaced ''American Opinion'', which was published from 1958 to 1985.

The Birch Society has an active publication and reprint program. Reflecting its distrust of national leadership over the last 70 years, many of the books blame the White House and national leaders for deliberately damaging the national interest--for example, by encouraging the Japanese to sink the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
==Members==
There are unofficial JBS chapters on many college campuses throughout the United States.

One survey in the early 1970s found the typical John Birch Society member was middle or upper-middle class, Republican and Protestant. He was also fairly young and well educated: the majority of the sample was under 40 at time of recruitment and had completed at least three years of college. A later survey in the mid 1980s found the membership then was disproportionately Southwesterners, young, urban, male, and Catholic. They were consistently conservative on secular issues, antigovernment, and negative toward communism. The evidence does not support liberal notions that irrationality, social strains, or status anxiety explained their beliefs.<ref>Stone (1974); Wilcox (1988) </ref>

==Further reading==
* McGirr, Lisa. ''Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right'' (2001), focus on Los Angeles suburbs in 1960s
* Schoenwald, Jonathan M. ''A Time for Choosing: The Rise of Modern American Conservatism'' (2001) [http://www.questia.com/read/104931191?title=A%20Time%20for%20Choosing%3a%20%20The%20Rise%20of%20Modern%20American%20Conservatism online edition]
* Stewart, Charles J. "The Master Conspiracy of the John Birch Society: From Communism to the New World Order," ''Western Journal of Communication'' (2002) v.66#4 pp 424+ [http://www.questia.com/read/5002503885?title=The%20Master%20Conspiracy%20of%20the%20John%20Birch%20Society%3a%20From%20Communism%20to%20the%20New%20World%20Order online edition]
* Stone, Barbara S. "The John Birch Society: a Profile," ''Journal of Politics'' 1974 36(1): 184-197,
* Wilcox, Clyde. "Sources of Support for the Old Right: a Comparison of the John Birch Society and the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade." ''Social Science History'' 1988 12(4): 429-450,
===Primary sources===
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The blue book of the John Birch Society''. Boston: Western Islands, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. and the John Birch Society ''The White Book of the John Birch Society for 1964.'' Belmont: John Birch Society, 1961.
*Robert W. Welch Jr. ''The New Americanism and Other Speeches.'' Boston: Western Islands, 1966.
*Gary Allen. ''None Dare Call It Conspiracy.'' G S G & Associates, Inc., 1971.
*[[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] - Congressman [[Larry McDonald]], the 2nd President of the JBS, was a passenger of this flight downed by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983 in international waters near [[Moneron Island]] west of Sakhalin Island.

== External Links ==
*[http://www.jbs.org/ The John Birch Society Website]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/ The New American]
*[http://johnbirchsocietyvolunteers.org/ The JBS Volunteers]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com/node/8694 "KAL Flight 007 Remembered" New American Magazine]
*[http://www.rescue007.org/ Website of the International Committee for the Rescue of KAL 007 Survivors]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/john-birch-soc.html members prominent in politics]
====References====
<references/>
[[category:Political Organizations]]
[[category:Conservatives]]
[[category:Cold War]]
[[category:1960s]]
[[category:Conspiracy theorists]]

Paleoconservative

2010-05-21T22:14:24Z

ConsChris: /* Paleoconservative Organizations */

'''Paleoconservative''' is a term that describes an academic or scholarly [[conservative]] who emphasizes religious heritage, national and Western identity, [[tradition]], [[civil society]] and classical [[federalism]], the importance of [[demographics]], and an anti-interventionist policy of [[Robert Taft]]. Paleoconservatives oppose immigration, communism, [[authoritarianism]], [[social democracy]] and entitlement programs. The most prominent figure is TV commentator and author [[Pat Buchanan]].

Many paleoconservatives identify themselves as "classical conservatives" and trace their philosophy to the [[Old Right]] Republicans of the interwar period, which helped keep the U.S. out of the [[League of Nations]], reduced immigration with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, and opposed [[Franklin Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]]. They were [[isolationists]] who opposed entry into [[World War II]].

They often look back even further, to [[Edmund Burke]], as well as the American anti-federalist movement that stretched from the days of [[Thomas Jefferson]] to [[John C. Calhoun]].

Paleoconservatism is popular in the [[Bible Belt]] states.

==Etymology==
The term paleoconservative was first used by paleoconservative historians [[Thomas Fleming]] and [[Paul Gottfried]], with the "paleo" prefix meaning "old" in opposition to the "neo", or "new", conservatives. The term is now routinely used by both its proponents and its detractors.<ref>'''Phillips, Dan''' "What the Heck is a Paleoconservative and Why You Should Care" (2006) [http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2006/12/08/what-the-heck-is-a-paleoconservative-and-why-you-should-care/ Intellectual Conservative]. Accessed 26 December 2007.</ref>

Gottfried wrote in his entry to ''American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia'': "Paleoconservative" becomes a conceptual and political counterpoint to "neoconservative" in "The Conservative Movement" by Thomas Fleming and Paul Gottfried (1988). Here the term no longer refers merely to conservative traditionalists of the 1950s and 1960s, e.g., Southern Agrarians, Catholic anticommunists associated with "National Review", and Taft Republicans who rallied to the Cold War. Instead, the term is now applied to embattled conservatives who opposed the growing influence of anticommunist New Deal Democrats on the Reagan presidency and on the conservative movement on the 1980s."

==Philosophy==
Paleoconservatism "is distinguished by certain philosophical presumptions that differ markedly from the presumptions of [[neocon]]s and most modern conservatives."<ref>'''Phillips, Dan''' "What the Heck is a Paleoconservative and Why You Should Care" op cit.</ref>

Unlike most conservatives today, paleoconservatives are against the [[Iraq War]]. They are highly critical of the [[George W. Bush|Bush administration]] and the mainstream conservative movement. Paleoconservatism vocally distinguishes itself in its opposition to [[neoconservative|neoconservatism]]. However, what really sets them apart from other conservatives is much deeper than just policy: they generally reject the [[Enlightenment]] in whole or in part; they reject [[John Locke|Lockean]] "[[Social contract|contract theory]]"

Most controversially, they reject the concept of "natural rights" outright. Dr. Donald Livingston, Professor of Philosophy at Emory University, has argued that natural rights are a "philosophical superstition," and that "Whatever they might be, natural rights are universal and apply to all men. Further, they are known by reason, independent of any inherited moral tradition... It follows, therefore, that the doctrine of natural rights must be in a condition of permanent hostility to all inherited moral traditions. Any such tradition, no matter how noble the goods of excellence cultivated in it, can always be seen as violating ''someone's'' natural rights under some interpretation or another."<ref>'''Phillips, Dan''' "Understanding the Paleoconservative Perspective on Life" (2006) [http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2006/10/31/understanding-the-paleoconservative-perspective-on-life/ Intellectual Conservative]. Accessed 26 December 2007.</ref>

Paleos agree with mainstream conservatives on issues like opposition to [[secularism]], abortion on demand and gay marriage, while supporting capital punishment, handgun ownership and an original intent reading of the [[U.S. Constitution]]. Paleocons also often argue that modern managerial society is a threat to stable families.

=== Government ===

Paleos strongly oppose American membership in the [[United Nations]]. They also seek to limit the power of the [[Federal|Federal Government]], while strongly supporting [[Local Government|State's Rights]]. Paleos believe America was founded as a [[Constitutional Republic]] and support this form of government in favor of pure [[democracy]]. Some paleos in the [[Neo-Confederate]] movement, support the seccession of the Southern States.

=== Culture ===

Paleoconservatives differ from neoconservatives on [[immigration]], [[affirmative action]] and, unlike mainstream conservatives, paleos generally oppose [[miscegenation]] (multicultural integration). Paleoconservatives also question the supposition that [[European]] [[culture]] and mores can ever be transplanted or forced upon non-Western cultures, due to separate cultural heritages. As a result, paleocons are most distinctive in their emphatic opposition to open immigration by non-Europeans, and their general disapproval of U.S. intervention overseas for the purposes of exporting democracy.<ref>http://www.nationalinvestor.com/Experts-Lubinskas.htm</ref>

=== Religion ===

Paleoconservatives are [[Conservative Christianity|Conservative Christians]], like [[Christian Fundamentalism|Protestant Fundamentalists]] and [[Traditionalist Catholics]]. They oppose religious [[pluralism]] and support orthodoxy of the [[doctrine]] within the respective denominations. They stress the importance of the need of America to return to its Christian Heritage.

=== Economy ===

Paleoconservatives support [[free market]] [[capitalism]], but many are ardent opponents of [[free trade]], citing disintegration of America's manufacturing base, and American dependance on imports as adverse effects of free trade. They strongly oppose all forms of [[socialism]] or [[communism]]. They seek to replace [[Federal Reserve System]] with a Constitutional monetary system. They are deeply concerned with the United States' loans of large amounts of money from the [[World Bank]] and the huge trade deficit the country is experiencing. Unlike mainstream conservatives, paleos oppose the continuing US financial support of [[Israel]]. Like other conservatives, they emphasize the importance of creating jobs for the working class and the slashing of [[taxes]] and spending.

== Definitions ==

In the March 2004 edition of [[Chronicles (magazine)|''Chronicles'']] magazine, [[Samuel Francis]] defined paleoconservatism versus conservatism as: "What paleoconservatism tries to tell Americans is that the dominant forces in their society are no longer committed to conserving the traditions, institutions, and values that created and formed it, and, therefore, that those who are really conservative in any serious sense and wish to live under those traditions, institutions, and values need to oppose the dominant forces and form new ones."

Journalist Rod Dreher of the ''Dallas Morning News'' outlined what he called the "Crunchy Con Manifesto", which summarizes most paleoconservative principles:

*"We are conservatives who stand outside the conservative mainstream; therefore, we can see things that matter more clearly.
*Modern conservatism has become too focused on money, power, and the accumulation of stuff, and insufficiently concerned with the content of our individual and social character.
*Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government.
*Culture is more important than politics and economics.
*A conservatism that does not practice restraint, humility, and good stewardship — especially of the [[Conservation|natural world]] — is not fundamentally conservative.
*Small, Local, Old, and Particular are almost always better than Big, Global, New, and Abstract.
*Beauty is more important than efficiency.
*The relentlessness of media-driven pop culture deadens our senses to authentic truth, beauty, and wisdom.
*We share Russell Kirk’s conviction that “the institution most essential to conserve is the family.”
*Politics and economics won’t save us; if our culture is to be saved at all, it will be by faithfully living by the [[Russell Kirk|Permanent Things]], conserving these ancient moral truths in the choices we make in our everyday lives."<ref>'''Dreher, Rod''' "A Crunchy Con Manifesto" [http://crunchycon.nationalreview.com/about/ National Review Online]. Accessed 26 December 2007.</ref>

The leading publications of the paleoconservatives includes ''[[The American Conservative]]'' and ''[[Chronicles (magazine)]].'' Perhaps the most well known paleoconservative is [[Patrick J. Buchanan]]. Other paleoconservatives include [[Ron Paul]], [[Chuck Baldwin]], [[Peter Brimelow]], [[Thomas Fleming]], the late [[Samuel Francis]], [[Peter Hitchens]], [[William S. Lind]], [[Scott McConnell]], [[Charley Reese]], [[Paul Craig Roberts]], [[Steve Sailer]], [[Clyde Wilson]], U.S. Congressman and 2nd Chairman of the [[John Birch Society]], [[Larry McDonald]], passsenger on [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] shot down by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983. The term has also been applied to the three key intellectuals in post-war conservatism: [[Russell Kirk]], [[Richard Weaver]], and [[Robert Nisbet]].

== Paleoconservative Organizations ==

* [[The John Birch Society]]
* [[The Conservative Caucus]]
* [[Constitution Party]]
* [[Council of Conservative Citizens]]
* [[Family Research Council]]
* [[Institute on the Constitution]]
* [[League of the South]] ([[Neo-Confederate]])
* [[Rockford Institute]]
* [[VDARE]]

== See also ==

*[[Paleoconservatism Worldwide]]
*[http://www.youtube.com/user/rescueKAL007#p/a/FD3DE4F0642C350C/0/1c8v-kgLvhM Pat Buchanan's "Crossfire" interview with [[Larry McDonald]] 3 months before downing of [[KAL 007]], Ron Paul intro]

==Further reading==
* Gottfied, Paul Edward. ''Conservatism in America: Making Sense of the American Right'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Conservatism-America-Making-Sense-American/dp/1403974322/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258805389&sr=1-5 excerpt and text search]

==References==
<references/>
[[category:political Ideologies]]
[[category:Conservatives]]
[[category:Paleoconservatives]]