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The '''John Birch Society''' ('''JBS''') is an American educational and advocacy organization committed to [[paleoconservativeAmericanism]] organization founded . Founded in 1958 by [[Massachusetts]] businessman [[Robert Welch]] (1900–1985). Until the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] in 1991, it focused on [[Communism]] as the enemy of [[American values]], warning that the extremist ideology already exerted a powerful control on the [[United States government|United States federal government]]. Today, it focuses on fighting against [[globalism]], the [[War on Sovereignty]], the [[homosexual agenda]], and other forces in the [[radical Left ]] and [[establishment ]] GOP.

Originally based in Belmont, Massachusetts, its headquarters are now in Appleton, [[Wisconsin]],<ref>{{Cite news|author = Dan Barry |url= httphttps://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/us/26Land.html |title = Holding Firm Against Plots by Evildoers |work = [[The New York Times]] |date = June 25, 2009 |accessdate = January 1, 2017}}</ref> with local chapters throughout the United States. The organization owns American Opinion Publishing, which publishes ''[[The New American]]''.<ref name="newamerican">{{Cite web |url= httphttps://www.thenewamerican.com/ |title = The New American }}</ref>

At its peak in 1964, the Society claimed to have had 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 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.

Over the years only three Congressmen were four congressmen are known to have been members, including [[Howard Buffett]] of [[Nebraska]].<ref>Klein, Phillip (September 20, 2011). [https://web.archive.org/web/20120119122137/http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/buffett-vs-buffett Buffett's dad was the Ron Paul of his day]. ''Washington Examiner'' via ''Internet Archive''. Retrieved May 24, 2021.</ref> The most notably notable was [[Larry McDonald]] (1935–1983), the Society president when his plane, [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]], was shot down by the Soviet Air Force on Sept. 1, 1983 in international airspace in between Soviet [[Moneron Island]] and [[Sakhalin]] island.<ref>Since June of 2012, there is a petition drive, supported by Senator [[Scott Brown]], to be presented to President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner, to reopen the investigation into the shooting down of KAL 007 and reports of the survival of Congressman McDonald [http://www.change.org/petitions/president-barack-obama-speaker-of-the-house-john-boehner-conduct-an-investigation-of-flight-kal-007].</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.

:''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 [httphttps://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/opinion/948-becky-akers/1988-eyes-on-the-road on JBS official website]</ref>

The John Birch Society opposes the deployment of utility smart meters at residences out of a concern for both privacy and radiation health risks.<ref>{{cite web|url=httphttps://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/energy/item/24569-the-great-smart-meter-con|title=The Great Smart Meter Con|work=New American|accessdate=January 2, 2017}}</ref> The John Birch Society worries that society will become so dependent upon technology that it will evolve into a [[technocracy]] where technologist will be in control.<ref>{{cite web|url=httphttps://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/24927-alex-newma-patrick-wood-warns-technocracy-takeover|title=Researcher Warns of Technocracy Takeover|work=New American|accessdate=January 2, 2017}}</ref>

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> The John Birch Society has been labeled by the left as "racist", "fascist", and "anti-semitic". The John Birch Society has been falsely associated with the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party by the far-left [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] (itself an extremist organization) and at the 1964 Republican National Convention, establishment [[RINO]] candidate [[Nelson Rockefeller]] mentioned the John Birch Society's name with the Communists and the Ku Klux Klan. But the John Birch Society was never a hate group and the society accepts non-whites, Jews and Freemasons.<ref>https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VjtYovgRxF4</ref> And the reason it was called "racist" by leftists is its opposition to certain aspects of the Civil Rights movement that were communist-influenced. The JBS opposed the civil rights movement because it was campaigning for federal government legislation which would restrict the freedoms of all Americans, of all races as well as create federal government programs which would expand the government's power. They did not oppose civil rights for blacks – they opposed restriction of rights in the name of "anti-discrimination" and expansion of federal government power and spending, and they believe that civil rights laws should be passed by the states rather than the federal government.<ref>https://www.jbs.org/about-jbs/myths-vs-facts</ref><ref>https://youtube.com/watch?v=LSqiX-vcgg8</ref><ref>https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kLqQK-jKLZg</ref> A historical analysis by a leader of the JBS suggested that some generals and government officials during the [[Civil War]] were communists.<ref>https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E0XeYmHBNw8</ref>

* [[Dan Smoot|Smoot, Dan]]. "The Invisible Government". Western Islands, 1962.

* Stone, Barbara S. "The John Birch Society: a Profile," ''Journal of Politics'' 1974 36(1): 184-197184–197, * 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): 429-450429–450,

*[httphttps://www.thenewamerican.com/node/8694 "KAL Flight 007 Remembered" New American Magazine]