John Birch Society

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[[File:John Birch Society logo.svg|thumb|right|165px|Just Bull Shit]]
{{uspolitics}}
{{cquote|Now we all agree with [[Hitler]]’s views<br>Although [[Holocaust|he killed six million Jews]]<br>It don’t matter too much that he was a [[Fascist]]<br>At least you can't say he was a Communist!|||Bob Dylan, ''Talkin' John Birch [[Paranoia|Paranoid]] Blues''<ref>[http://bobdylan.com/songs/talkin-john-birch-paranoid-blues/ Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues] ''Bob Dylan''.</ref>}}

The '''John Birch Society''' (J[[BS]]) is an [[extremist]], [[isolationist]], anti-[[atheist]] right-wing organization<ref>''Rabble Rousers: The American Far Right in the Civil Rights Era'' by Clive Webb (2010) University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0820327646.</ref>{{rp|10}}<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|5,213}} founded by candy manufacturer {{wpl|Robert W. Welch, Jr.}} in 1958 as a last line of defense against the massively ongoing, clandestine [[Communist]] takeover of the [[United States]] in his view, but in [[reality]], it is a [[wingnut]] [[red-baiting]] [[propaganda]] machine. Starting in 1954, when [[Dwight Eisenhower]] was [[POTUS|President]], Welch circulated various drafts of a "letter"{{efn|Actually a lengthy screed}} calling Eisenhower (among others) a "conscious, dedicated agent of the Communist Conspiracy".<ref name=politician>[https://archive.org/details/welchrobertthepoliticianmanuscript/mode/2up ''The Politician''] by Robert Welch (1950s manuscript).</ref>{{rp|266}} Welch eventually self-published it in a 1964 in a book titled ''[[The Politician]]''.<ref>''The Politician'' by Robert Welch (1964) Belmont Pub. Co.</ref><ref name=politician2>[https://archive.org/details/WelchRobertThePoliticianALookAtThePoliticalForcesThatPropelledDwightDavidEisenhowerIntoThePresi/page/n5/mode/2up ''The Politician''] by Robert Welch (2002 reprint).</ref> The publication was an early example of how ridiculously [[Wingnut|batshit]] the JBS is. Welch and the early Birchers knew how far from the mainstream they were and so they were largely successful in hiding their activities and motivations in their early years. Welch even tried to deny that he had called Eisenhower a communist in print, telling the ''Boston Herald'' that Eisenhower "may be too dumb to be a communist."<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|62-63}}

JBS is basically the [[KKK]], but with a thin, stringy veneer of political theory (read: more fears of [[Water fluoridation|fluorinated water controlling their brains]]). In fact, both groups claimed the [[civil rights movement]] was a communist plot! By 1965, the opposition to the civil rights movement became more overtly [[white supremacist]] in the JBS.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|99-100,151-152}}

Despite being opposed to the civil rights movement and to forced desegregation of public schools, the JBS claimed to have local [[African American]] chapters, and did have spokespeople who were African American: Ezola Foster ([[Pat Buchanan]] presidential running mate),<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|241-242}} George Schuyler (former [[NAACP]] business manager)<ref>[https://library.syracuse.edu/digital/guides/s/schuyler_gs.htm George S. Schuyler Papers] ''Syracuse University''.</ref> and Veronica A. Wilson (former [[CPUSA]] member and [[FBI]] informant).<ref>"To Tell All My People": Race, Representation, and John Birch Society Activist Julia Brown by Veronica A. Wilson (2012) In: ''Women of the Right'', edited by Kathleen M. Blee and Sandra McGee Deutsch. Penn State University Press. pp. 242-256. ISBN 9780271061719.</ref>
{{cquote|Yet in the main, despite the presence of a handful of Jewish and Black members in the organization, antisemitic and racist ideas and language were endemic to the society from the beginning.|||Matthew Dallek<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|154}}}}

==Origins==
The JBS was founded on December 8-9, 1958 when Welch organized a secret meeting at the home of Marguerite Dice (vice chair of the anti-communist {{wpl|Minute Women of the U.S.A.|Minute Women}}) in Indianapolis, [[Indiana]] of 11 like-minded, mostly-business executives who saw commie plots everywhere. Welch had developed such contacts from his stint as a board member of the {{wpl|National Association of Manufacturers}} during the 1950s, and some of the invitees had also been board members.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|18-19}} Welch advised them to book room in separate hotels and to and tell no one of their real reasons for traveling.<ref name=dallek>''Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right'' by Matthew Dallek (2023) Basic Books. ISBN 1541673565.</ref>{{rp|17-18}} Why, it was not [[paranoid]] or conspiratorial at all! Subsequent early meetings were filled with secrecy and paranoia.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|38}} The attendees included:<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|20-21}}
{{collist|2|
#{{wpl|T. Coleman Andrews||,}} former Internal Revenue commissioner under Eisenhower and ran for President under the [[States' rights|States' Rights Party]] in 1956
#Laurence E. Bunker, served as Colonel under General [[Douglas MacArthur]] in [[World War II]]
#William J. Grede,{{efn|Pronounced "grady",<ref name=whs/> not "greed" as one might expect.}} Milwaukee industrialist and leader of the national [[YMCA]]<ref name=whs>[https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;cc=wiarchives;view=text;rgn=main;didno=uw-whs-mss00341 William J. Grede Papers, 1909-1979] ''Wisconsin Historical Society''.</ref>
#William R. Kent<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110414180001/http://sites.google.com/site/ernie1241/ ''Documentary History of the John Birch Society''. Chapter 9: JBS DOCUMENTS...rev. 05/17/14]</ref>
#[[Oil]] baron [[Koch Industries|Fred C. Koch]]{{efn|Pronounced "coke", not "cock" as one might expect}} was also among the original members. One of Fred's sons, Charles, was also a Bircher.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|218}} Fred Koch gave the JBS something that none of the other founding members did: [[cognitive dissonance]]. He was responsible for setting up the Soviet Union's petroleum refining industry from 1929-1932 (profiting handsomely).<ref>''Dark Money: the Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right'' by Jane Mayer (2016) Doubleday. ISBN 0385535597.</ref>{{rp|28-29,31}} Yet, Welch called Eisenhower a communist simply for having discussions with Soviet Premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] in 1959.
#W. B. McMillan, president of the Hussmann Refrigerator Company
#{{wpl|Revilo P. Oliver||,}} professor of philology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and [[Holocaust denier]].<ref>""Transatlantic Connections and Conspiracies: A.K. Chesterton and The New Unhappy Lords" by Graham Macklin (2012) ''Journal of Contemporary History'' 47(2):270-290. doi:10.1177/0022009411431723.</ref> In 1966, he was forced out of the JBS for excessive [[antisemitism]] but mainly for [[International Jewish conspiracy|accusing the JBS of being controlled by Jews]].<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|157}}<ref>[https://archive.org/details/ReviloOliverResignationFromJohnBirchSociety/mode/2up Revilo Oliver Resignation From John Birch Society] (14 August 1966).</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/06-12-82-letter-by-revilo-oliver-to-joseph-kamp-about-oliver-resignation-from-jbs/mode/2up Letter By Revilo Oliver To Joseph Kamp About Oliver Resignation From Birch Society] (12 June 1982).</ref>
#Louis Ruthenburg, retired president of {{wpl|Servel}}
#Fitzhugh Scott, founder of the Vail Ski Resort
#{{wpl|Robert Waring Stoddard|Robert W. Stoddard|,}} president of the Wyman-Gordon Company
#Ernest Swigert, head of {{wpl|Hyster}}
}}
The JBS was officially founded the following year in 1959. The founding Board members, Swigert, Grede, Stoddard, Koch, and Robert Gaylord and Cola Parker relied on [[Austrian school]] [[libertarian]] economists [[Friedrich Hayek]] and [[Ludwig von Mises]] for ideas to sway public opinion.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|27-28}}

The early years of the JBS were marked by:
*Use of a [[front group]] to attract unsuspecting people, the Committee Against Summit Entanglements (CASE), which even garnered endorsements from later critics of the JBS, [[William F. Buckley]] and [[Barry Goldwater]]<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|48-50}}
*Use of propaganda films to attract middle class and working class membership<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|57}}
*Use of intimidation, [[bullying]], and violence<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|59}}

<gallery>
File:Robert Welch pointing to John Birch.jpg|Robert Welch pointing to a portrait of John Birch
T. Coleman Andrews.jpg|T. Coleman Andrews
LaurenceEBunker1a.jpg|Laurence E. Bunker
File:Fred C. Koch.jpg|Fred C. Koch
File:Charles Koch portrait (cropped).jpg|Charles Koch
File:Revilo p oliver.jpg|Revilo P. Oliver
</gallery>

==Who is John Birch?==
{{cquote|Now, there's no one that we're certain the Kremlin doesn't touch<br>
We think that {{wpl|Westbrook Pegler}} doth protest a bit too much<br>
We only hail the hero from whom we got our name<br>
We're not sure what he did, but he's our hero just the same|||Chad Mitchell Trio, "The John Birch Society"<ref>[https://www.songlyrics.com/chad-mitchell-trio/the-john-birch-society-lyrics/ Chad Mitchell Trio - The John Birch Society Lyrics]</ref>}}
[[File:John Birch.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Official military portrait of John Birch]]
The John Birch Society took its name from a [[missionary]] named {{wpl|John Birch (missionary)|John Morrison Birch}} {{lived|May 28, 1918|August 25, 1945}}. According to the society, Birch, a missionary in [[China]] who joined the [[United States]] military during [[World War II]], became the first victim of the [[Cold War]] when he was shot by Chinese Communists after the Japanese surrender (reasons for which remain unclear).<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|26-27}} The start of the Cold War, however, has generally been regarded as starting several months later in February 1946 when diplomat George Kennan wrote the "Long Telegram", which was primarily with regard to hostility by the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Long_Telegram The Long Telegram] by George F. Kennan (1946) ''Wikisource''.</ref><ref>[https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/the-long-telegram/ The Long Telegram] Teaching American History.</ref> The US government kept it quiet (because Birch was just one of millions of deaths during World War II) until one Robert Welch discovered the [[Truthiness|truth]] and exploited the poor son-of-a-Birch's name for his own political agenda.

The JBS has a history of misrepresenting what Birch actually did (though why precisely Birch was shot IS something of a mystery):
{{cquote|Welch claims the killing was cold-blooded. William Miller of ''Life'' feels it was hot-blooded. According to Miller, Birch was provoked at being held up and disarmed by the Reds. At one point, he got very angry, seized a Red officer by the collar, and cried, "You are worse than bandits!" And they shot him.|||Edward Cain<ref name=Cain>''They'd Rather Be Right: Youth and the Conservative Movement'' by Edward Cain (1963) Macmillan.</ref>{{rp|75}}}}

==In the post-WWII world==
{{cquote|The old American virtues have already been eaten away by cosmopolitans and intellectuals; the old competitive capitalism has been gradually undermined by socialistic and communistic schemers; the old national security and independence have been destroyed by treasonous plots, having as their most powerful agents not merely outsiders and foreigners as of old but major statesmen who are at the very centers of American power. Their predecessors had discovered conspiracies; the modern radical right finds conspiracy to be betrayal from on high.|||[[Richard Hofstadter]], "The Paranoid Style in America Politics"<ref>Hofstader, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140213145206/http://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/4/ "The Paranoid Style in American Politics"], ''Harper's Weekly'' November 1964.</ref>}}

The JBS was founded in 1958, after Welch had already established his [[conspiracy theories|conspiracist]] mindset.<ref name=politician/> JBS has claimed that then President Eisenhower was an "agent of the Communist conspiracy" (simply for talking to the Soviet Union as opposed to starting [[World War III]]). Welch expounded on this [[bullshit]] at book length in ''The Politician''.<ref name=politician2/> "Birchers", as they were known, wrote a lot of letters during their early years on various scare issues, such as opposition to summits between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and keeping [[Water fluoridation|fluoride out of the water supply]], from which it could [[Dr. Strangelove|enter our precious bodily fluids and corrupt our purity of essence]]. The Birchers were frequent promoters of [[moral panic]]s on everything from the [[Panama]] Canal treaties to the [[Nuclear disarmament|nuclear weapons disarmament]] movement. All of these were claimed by Birchers to be part of the communist movement to undermine American security. Birchers shared cross-membership and tactics with early [[Religious Right]] groups like [[Billy James Hargis]]'s "Christian Crusade."<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|100,144,157}}

The JBS was not only anti-Communist, but critical of government in general as well, and claimed that [[Good old days|America was the greatest in 1900]]:
{{cquote|There was still plenty of [[poverty]] in many areas, of course. But, it was a healthy kind of poverty, where every man took for granted that relief from dire want was entirely his own problem and responsibility. And, even the poverty was thus offset by the enormous blessing of [[freedom]].|||John Birch Society Bulletin, July 1976.}}

Their tactics quickly alienated the mainstream American [[conservative]]s; years later, [[William F. Buckley]] wrote an article on how he, [[Barry Goldwater]], Russell Kirk, and a bunch of [[PR]] people did some very delicate maneuvering so that the Goldwater campaign could denounce the John Birch Society without losing the votes of the society's members, with Goldwater eventually stating, "We cannot allow the emblem of irresponsibility to attach to the conservative banner."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090903140834/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019713.php Drawing the Line] by Steve Benen (August 31, 2009) ''Washington Monthly'' (archived from September 3, 2009).</ref> Behind the scenes at ''National Review'', Buckley did not want to alienate the substantial JBS readership and debated how to criticize JBS without doing so. The ''National Review'' even had JBS contributors at that time ({{wpl|Clarence Manion||).}} In the end, Buckley and Goldwater met and decided to denounce Welch as an extremist but to absurdly claim that Birchers were "nice people".<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|112-113}}{{efn|The similar claim would later be regurgitated by [[Donald Trump]] that similar claim that while the [[Enthymeme|leaders might be nuts]], the followers are "very fine people" with regard to neo-Nazis at [[Unite the Right]] [[Enthymeme|because we need their votes]].<ref>[https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/15/full-text-trump-comments-white-supremacists-alt-left-transcript-241662 Full text: Trump's comments on white supremacists, ‘alt-left’ in Charlottesville] (08/15/2017 04:48 PM EDT; Updated 08/15/2017 06:16 PM EDT) ''Politico''.</ref>}}

Nevertheless, they were out campaigning on Goldwater's behalf; during the 1964 campaign, Birchers mastered the tactic of mass distribution of cheap paperbacks, and three in particular: ''None Dare Call It Treason'' by John Stormer, ''A Texan Looks At Lyndon'' by J. Evetts Haley, and ''A Choice, Not An Echo'' by [[Phyllis Schlafly]] (who was a member<ref>[https://archive.org/details/schlafly-in-jbs-bulletin-feb-1960/page/1/mode/2up ''John Birch Society Bulletin'', February 1960]</ref>). One can find multiple copies of all three at your local thrift store, most of them still unread.

They did the same thing in 1972 with a little book called ''None Dare Call It Conspiracy'' by Gary Allen, which posited the [[conspiracy theory]] that the [[environmental]] movement, the [[Pacifism|peace]] movement, [[Feminism|women's libbers]], the [[mainstream media]], international [[Red-baiting|Soviet Communism]], the [[United Nations]], and the Book of the Month Club (no mention of water fluoridation though, surprisingly) were [[Not even wrong|all in cahoots with the Rockefellers]]{{efn|[[Nelson Rockefeller]] was a commie according to Welch.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|127}}}} who sought to control the world through the [[Council on Foreign Relations]]. Somewhere around this point, the Birchers morphed from being mostly concerned with militant anti-communism into a group more concerned with exposing ''The Conspiracy''.

The JBS has been repeatedly dogged by charges of antisemitism, being compelled to deny it in 1964<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190129040010/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/17/archives/antijewish-bias-denied-by-welch-says-birch-society-will-not-be.html Anti‐Jewish Bias Denied by Welch; Says Birch Society Will Not Be Haven for Prejudice] (May 17, 1964)''The New York Times'' (archived from January 29, 2019).</ref> and again in 2009.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190129040635/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/us/26Land.html Holding Firm Against Plots by Evildoers] by Dan Barry (June 25, 2009) ''The New York Times'' (archived from January 29, 2019).</ref><ref name=clear>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190129035549/https://www.jbs.org/more-press-room-articles/item/3255-jewish-members-of-the-john-birch-society-clear-record-of-anti-semitism-charge-of-society%E2%80%99s-president-in-the-new-york-times Jewish members of The John Birch Society clear record of anti-Semitism charge of Society's President in The New York Times] (June 26, 2009) ''John Birch Society'' (archived from January 29, 2019).</ref> Why, [[Friend argument|some of their members are even Jews]].<ref name=clear/> Yet their publication, ''The New American'', returns again and again to the [[evil Jew]] [[stereotype]] with the [[Rothschild family]] conspiracy theory, including smearing [[George Soros]], e.g. 2011,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130205055510/https://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/commentary/item/4006-george-soros-funded-by-the-house-of-rothschild George Soros Funded by the House of Rothschild] by Joe Wolverton, II (02 May 2011 15:33) ''The New American'' (archived from February 5, 2013).</ref> 2016,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160805202851/https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/europe/item/23793-top-rothschild-bankster-pushes-corrupt-communist-to-lead-un Top Rothschild Bankster Pushes Corrupt Communist to Lead UN] by Alex Newman (04 August 2016) ''The New American'' (archived from August 5, 2016).</ref> and 2018.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180109032505/https://www.thenewamerican.com/print-magazine/item/27869-deep-state-follow-the-rothschild-soros-and-rockefeller-money Deep State: Follow the Rothschild, Soros, and Rockefeller Money] by Alex Newman (08 January 2018) ''The New American'' (archived from January 9, 2018).</ref> All these charges of antisemitism are no doubt insidious lies spread by the Joos.

The Birchers' favored term for the "conspiracy" was the [[New World Order]] (which included the [[Council on Foreign Relations]], the [[Trilateral Commission]], and the [[Illuminati]]<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|233}}). Not surprisingly, their rapidly falling membership in the 1970s and 1980s turned around after 1990 when [[George H.W. Bush]] in an act of ill-advised stupidity used that very phrase in a speech.<ref>[https://bush41library.tamu.edu/archives/public-papers/2217 Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the Persian Gulf Crisis and the Federal Budget Deficit] by George H.W. Bush (1990-09-11) ''George H.W. Bush Presidential Library''.</ref> This gave the Birchers a new lease on life during the 1990s. During that time, New World Order conspiracy theories took outlandish and bizarre directions, ranging from tales of [[black helicopters]] to [[David Icke|shape-shifting reptilians]], the Birchers staked out a position of relative moderation among the lunatic [[fringe]] and warned against acceptance of these more outlandish theories while promoting the New World Order theory as laid out in Gary Allen's 1972 book as being a [[liberal]]-[[secularist]] [[Rockefeller conspiracy theories|conspiracy led by the Rockefellers]] and other high financiers to bring about a socialist world government… again.

Arguably the Society's greatest claim to fame came in 1983, when [[Korean Air Lines Flight 007]] was shot down by a Soviet interceptor after straying into Soviet airspace. The flight was carrying [[Georgia]] Congressional Representative Larry McDonald,{{efn|Besides being a JBS member, he kept a portrait of [[Francisco Franco]] hanging in his office, he said that [[Nazi]] [[war criminal]] [[Rudolf Hess]] should be nominated for a [[Nobel Peace Prize]], and he was a former urologist who promoted the use of [[laetrile]] for cancer treatment.<ref name>[https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/12/02/larry-mcdonald-communists-deep-state-222726 The Congressman Who Created His Own Deep State. Really. When he feared communists were infiltrating America, Larry McDonald took extreme measures — building his own intelligence-gathering arm.] by Zach Dorfman (December 02, 2018) ''Politico''.</ref> Despite this, he was not forced out of the JBS.}} who also happened to be the Society's second president. It being one of several incidents that nearly started [[WWIII]], the fact that it didn't was taken by JBS's ''New American'' magazine as proof of the extent of Communist power over the US government. This really said more for [[Ronald Reagan]] keeping a cool head, and now that Reagan has been anointed a saint by the American Right for single-handedly destroying the Soviet Union, the whole affair [[Memory hole|never gets mentioned any more]].

===Assassination of John F. Kennedy===
[[File:JFKtreason.jpg|thumb|right|165px|The handbill in question]]
{{main|John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories}}
A day before [[John F. Kennedy]]'s assassination, a handbill was circulated by Robert A. Surrey. Surrey was a close associate of {{wpl|Edwin A. Walker|General Edwin A. Walker|,}}<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060222014429/http://www.jfk-assassination.de:80/warren/wcr/page298.php Warren Commission Report: Page 298] ''The John F. Kennedy Assassination Homepage'' (archived from February 22, 2006).</ref> a JBS member.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|73}} Kennedy had been a target of character assassination by the JBS from the time that he entered politics. After the assassination on November 22, 1963, members of the JBS feared that it was one of their members who had committed the murder and they feared that it would be the end of their organization. The JBS's forthcoming December issue of ''American Opinion'' was highly critical of JFK, and hence the JBS delayed its publication. When it was revealed that the assassin was [[Lee Harvey Oswald]], an admitted [[Marxist]], the JBS was relieved if not overjoyed, subsequently exploiting Oswald-as-Marxist for a fundraising and recruitment, and by devising conspiracy theories about the assassination.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|105-108}}

===Radicalization===
Welch tried to keep the JBS tightly controlled, keeping out members who espoused overt [[racism]] or antisemitism, but as the organization grew during the 1960s, that became increasingly difficult. With chapter sizes always being capped at a 20-member maximum, many chapters began to exercise more independence. Another problem was that Welch himself was never particularly [[reality]]-based, having a conspiracist [[worldview]]. By 1966, substantial disputes existed between JBS headquarters and individual chapters, resulting in Welch traveling across the country, trying to resolve disputes at individual chapters.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|178-179}} Every chapter head was then required to force new recruits to listen to almost 9 hours of Welch's recording of his conspiracies ("One Dozen Trumpets") over two consecutive days.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|179}} In 1971, JBS had a known Klansman (Roger Mellinger) and his wife as members; the JBS feared that they were too dangerous to confront or expel.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|182}}

Violence became more common within membership, and some members either used the JBS as a stepping stone into more extremist organizations or they formed their own.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|180-182}} Some examples:<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|181}}
*Donald Lobsinger for the group Breakthrough in Detroit, which worked alongside the JBS. Breakthrough offered a $1000 reward for a citizens arrest of Michigan Republican Governor [[George Romney]] and threatened to [[lynch]] African Americans
*Louis Byers formed the {{wpl|National Youth Alliance||,}} which was funded by [[Willis Carto]] who had also been a Bircher.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|201}} NYA called for 'smashing the state' and 'death to the establishment'.

===Alt-med===
{{main|Alternative medicine}}
Staring in the 1970s, the JBS expanded its alt-med promotion from opposing water fluoridation to [[Anti-vaccination movement|opposing vaccination]] and supporting [[laetrile]] as a [[cancer]] treatment.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/05/archives/rightists-are-linked-to-laetriles-lobby-but-backers-of-purported.html Rightists Are Linked to Laetrile Lobby] by Richard D. Lyons (July 5, 1977) ''The New York Times''.</ref> Urologist Larry McDonald and [[Ron Paul]] were the only medical doctors in Congress, and also the only two members who voted against funding for an [[influenza]] vaccine.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|254}} McDonald even introduced legislation to try to legitimize laetrile,<ref>[https://www.congress.gov/bill/96th-congress/house-bill/4045 H.R.4045 - A bill to permit the introduction or delivery for introduction of laetrile into interstate commerce without the approval of a new drug application under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. 96th Congress (1979-1980)] by Rep. McDonald, Lawrence P. (D-GA-7), ''Congress.gov''.</ref>

==Today==
[[File:USOutOfUN.jpg|thumb|right|The John Birch Society being overtaken by a foreign invader ({{wpl|Hedera helix|English ivy}}), and overshadowed by [[Ron Paul]]ism]]
{{cquote|It is estimated, from [[Anonymous authority|many reliable sources]], that from 70% to 90% of the responsible personnel in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare are Communists.|||JBS exposing the [[Communism|commie]] agenda using [[Schlafly statistics]].<ref>[https://youtu.be/-RJsEPMOHzQ?t=444 Rachel Maddow's rebuttal to the John Birch Society], available via [[YouTube]]. Also available [https://archive.org/stream/foia_JBS_Report--combined/JBS_Report--combined_djvu.txt here], courtesy of the [[Internet Archive]].</ref>}}

Their current whereabouts, alas, are unknown.<ref group=note>Some can still be found in [[New Hampshire]] campaigning for the [[Constitution Party]], or at least in 2008, for [[Ron Paul]].</ref> File them in the "where are they now" pile next to ''This Is Spinal Tap'' and ''The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo''.

The John Birch Society does still exist. Today, they are most worried about threats to US sovereignty, most particularly the (never actually proposed) [[North American Union|union between the US, Canada, and Mexico]]. They are also adamantly opposed to [[free trade]], immigration, and the [[United Nations]].

The society has been linked to 1988’s failed [[California]] Proposition 102, which required anyone who tested positive for [[HIV]] to be reported to the government and their sexual contacts investigated. It also would have erased laws against compulsory testing.<ref>[http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/advocate-45/2012/08/21/45-biggest-homophobes-our-45-years?page=full The 45 Biggest Homophobes of Our 45 Years] by Lucas Grindley (August 21 2012 5:00 AM EST) ''The Advocate''.</ref> Conservatives sure do treat HIV differently than they do Covid-19, don't they?

Recently, they have aligned themselves with the [[Tea Party]] movement, and they are even co-sponsoring the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC),<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100220092332/http://www.thedailybeast.com:80/blogs-and-stories/2010-02-16/return-of-the-gop-ultra-crazies/ Return of the Fright Wing] by John Avlon (February 16, 2010 | 10:32pm) ''The Daily Beast'' (archived from February 20, 2010).</ref> the largest conservative conference in the US (this probably says more about [[GOP|modern conservatism]] in the US than it does about the JBS). They have a web site where they push every right-wing conspiracy theory you can think of while trying to pass themselves off as [[small government]] conservatives, though they quickly give themselves away as fairly [[authoritarian]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130726154740/http://www.jbs.org/presidents-corner/presidents-corner-april-2011 President's Corner - April 2011] by John F. McManus (April 2011) ''The John Birch Society'' (archived from July 26, 2013).</ref> The JBS has long been considered authoritarian.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|101}}

Their website includes links to their major projects" "Stop a Con-Con" (opposition to a constitutional convention), leaving [[NAFTA]], leaving [[United Nations]], and to stopping the [[myth|chimeric]] [[North American Union]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180530004727/https://www.jbs.org/ The John Birch Society] (archived from May 30, 2018).</ref> Their magazine, ''The New American'', continues and they are also affiliated with FreedomProject, which pursues a similar agenda while opposing [[abortion]] and selling mugs.<ref>[http://www.freedomproject.com/ Freedom Project], accessed May 22, 2018</ref> As well as the idea that [[global warming]] is a liberal media conspiracy,<ref>[https://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/29094-mainstream-media-completely-ignores-global-cooling-data Mainstream Media Completely Ignores Global-cooling Data], The New American, May 21, 2018</ref> they also promote more esoteric conspiracy theories, such as that [[Karl Marx]] was only a front for a secret organisation, The League of the Just.<ref>[https://www.thenewamerican.com/print-magazine/item/28997-karl-marx-the-father-of-communism Karl Marx — The Father of Communism?] by Steve Byas (May 21, 2018) ''The New American''.</ref>{{efn|Definitely ''not'' the {{wpl|Justice League||.}}}} Some things never change…

==Cultish aspects==
{{main|Cult}}
{{cquote|I will fight these atheistic diabolical corrupt mass inslavers{{sic}} with my every heartbeat and every fibre of my bein{{sic}} and spread the knowledge to everyone I meet.|||Anthony Ferlanto, shortly after attending a recruitment meeting<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|240}}}}
Several aspects of the JBS indicate that it is a cult: the insistence on "a tough dictatorial boss" (himself) for leadership (according to Welch), secrecy, paranoia, conspiracy theories, closed 1- to 2-day meetings of like-minded individuals, the barring of anyone who offered any disagreement during meetings, front groups, and the notion that only they can offer salvation from communism.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|38,41,44,48-50,57,197,216-217}}

==Other people and things they hate==
As an organization founded by rich and powerful white men, it is unsurprising that anything that does not maintain the US [[caste]] system is basically fair game:<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|67-68,70-72,74,84,90-92,167,197,203-204,213-217}}
{{collist|2|
*[[Richard Nixon]] — when he ran for California governor in 1962, and as President for his handling of the [[Vietnam War]], détente with the Soviet Union and opening relations with what was then called "[[Communism|Red]] [[China]]"
*[[Earl Warren]] (appointed by Eisenhower) and the liberal-oriented [[Supreme Court]] that he led
**Banning [[school prayer]] in [[public schools]]
**''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' (and anything else anti-[[segregationist]]) — "procommunist"

*[[Anti-Defamation League]]
*[[Earth Day]] — a commie plot because the first Earth Day was on the 100<sup>th</sup> birthday of [[Vladimir Lenin]]<ref>''Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices'' by Roger Chapman (2010) M. E. Sharpe. ISBN 1849727139.</ref>{{rp|148}}
*[[Equal Rights Amendment]]
*Federal funding of public schools
*[[Income tax]]
*[[Mainstream media]] — commie enablers who exposed the Birchers
*[[Miranda warning]] — gives rights to criminal suspects
*[[NAACP]]
*Peace signs — symbol of the [[Antichrist]]
*[[Sex education]] in public schools
}}

==Legacy==
While the JBS has faded as an organization, the ideas that it has promoted within the fringes of the Republican Party have not, inspiring:<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|16,213,223-224,231-234,249-250,253-256,258-262,266,271-282}}
{{collist|2|
*[[Anti-vaccination movement]]
*[[Michele Bachmann]]
*[[Glenn Beck]]
*[[Pat Buchanan]]
*[[George H. W. Bush]] and [[George W. Bush]] — during campaigning but not during their presidencies
*[[Jerome Corsi]]
*[[COVID-19 denialism]]
*[[Jerry Falwell Sr.]]'s [[Moral Majority]]
*[[Marjorie Taylor Greene]]
*[[Alex Jones]]
*[[National Rifle Association]] — its radicalization in the mid-1960s against any form of [[gun control]]
*[[Sarah Palin]]
*[[Ron Paul]] — "I have a lot of friends in the John Birch Society. They’re generally well educated, and they understand the Constitution. I don’t know how many positions they would have that I don’t agree with. Because they’re real strict constitutionalists, they don’t like the war, they’re hard-money people…"<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/magazine/22Paul-t.html The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-Medicare Candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul] by Christopher Caldwell (July 22, 2007) ''The New York Times''.</ref>
*[[Pat Robertson]] and his [[Christian Coalition]]
*Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum
*[[Donald Trump]]
}}
The JBS fostered a fundraising network that continues to this day, as [[Hillary Clinton]] later coined it, the "[[vast right-wing conspiracy]]", which in her case was only in reference to [[Whitewater]]. In 1963, before John F. Kennedy was assassinated, his White House aide Myer "Mike" Feldman wrote in an internal report that the likely winning tactic in winning the 1964 election was attacking far-right groups such as the JBS. Regarding far-right funding, Feldman wrote that the groups raised between $15-25 million annually ($146-243 million inflation adjusted to 2023) from 70 foundations, 250 individuals and more than 100 corporations. Feldman also wrote, "The Conservative Right and the Radical Right, in short, often make common cause, and if the conservatives are not card-carrying Birchers and do not — for instance — advocate the impeachment of the Chief Justice [Warren], they deplore the same Supreme Court decisions as those who do."<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|101-103}}

The election of Trump in 2016, along with the dark money political donations fueled by the 2010 [[Supreme Court]]'s ''[[Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission]]'' decision enabled the takeover of the GOP by JBS- and Tea Party-inspired members of the radical right.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|283-284}}

==Pop culture references==
* In 1961, the Chad Mitchell Trio, one of many folk groups of the era, recorded the novelty track ''The John Birch Society Song'' which lampooned the organization.
* In 1962, Bob Dylan did likewise with ''Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues''.
* Cartoonist Walt Kelly created "The Jack Acid Society" in several story arcs in his comic strip ''Pogo''. The strips were collected, along with some original pieces, and published in 1962 as ''The Jack Acid Society Black Book''.<ref>''The Jack Acid Society Black Book'' by Walt Kelly (1962) Simon & Schuster.</ref>
* The 1971 film ''Cold Turkey'' has a scene where members of the "Christopher Mott Society" are listening to a phonographic record of a speech by a right-wing pundit.
* Paul Simon's solo version of "A Simple Desultory Philippic" includes the line "I've been John Birched, been stopped and searched."

==Other members of note==
{{collist|2|
*G. Edward Griffin — founder of the [[quack]] [[Cancer Cure Foundation]]<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|163,262}}
*[[Billy James Hargis]]<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|100,144,157,201,213}}
*[[Timothy LaHaye]]<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|215,232}}
*[[Meir Kahane]], founder of the [[Jewish Defense League]]<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|279,349n19}}
*[[David Lane]] (briefly a member)<ref>''Danger Extremism: The Major Vehicles and Voices on America's Far-Right Fringe'' by Alan M. Schwartz (1996) Anti-Defamation League. ISBN 0884641694.</ref>{{rp|64}}
*[[Minutemen]] — founded by former Bircher Robert DePugh
*[[David Noebel]]<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|266}}
*[[William Luther Pierce]]
*[[Lew Rockwell]] — lifetime member, and former writer for the Bircher "Members Monthly Message Department". He resigned the office job after a supervisor called his work "sloppy… lacks imagination".<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|254}}
*[[R.J. Rushdoony]] — Perhaps not a member, but he befriended Welch and praised the organization.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|216}}
*[[W. Cleon Skousen]]<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|130,169,262}}
}}

==See also==
{{collist|2|
*''[[A Choice Not an Echo]]'', a propaganda piece published by Birch Society alumni [[Phyllis Schlafly]] that catapulted [[Barry Goldwater]] to the Republican nomination
*[[Bob Jones University]] had ties to JBS.<ref name=dallek/>{{rp|219}}
*[[Know Nothing]]
*[[Liberty Lobby]]
*[[Minutemen (organization)]]
*[[Paleoconservatism]]
*[[Kevin Alfred Strom]], previously a member
*[[Fred Trump]], an alleged funder of JBS
*[[Vault-Co]]
*[[War on Christmas]], the JBS were the originators of this [[meme]].
}}

==External links==
*At [[Wikipedia]]:
**{{wpl|Category:John Birch Society|John Birch Society category page at Wikipedia|:}} Links to WP articles about several people with ties to the John Birch Society, plus other related articles;
**{{wpl|Category:John Birch Society members|Another category page with links to biographical articles about card-carrying Birchers}}
*[http://www.jbs.org/index.php Their homepage]
*[http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJohnBirchSociety Their YouTube channel, with copious amounts of red scare propaganda!]
*[http://www.thenewamerican.com ''The New American''], their magazine
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lecAy-3Qtxk&feature=plcp Robert Welch "predicts" the coming commie takeover.]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090114192937/http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/groups/john-birch-society Right Wing Watch's category for the JBS]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AylFqdxRMwE Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues] by Bob Dylan
*[https://birchwatcher.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/whats_wrong_with_civil_rights.png "What's Wrong With Civil Rights"], newspaper article alleging that the civil rights movement was created by the commies in order to create a Negro Soviet Republic.<ref>Clearly, [[RationalWiki]] touched a nerve here: the ''Palm Beach Post'' archive on Google Newspapers used to host an advert by the John Birch society (see [https://archive.ph/68ms archived]): However, this has since been removed.</ref> See also [https://youtu.be/T6UAgm3cgIs "Anarchy USA"], a similar 1hr15mins+ Cold War propaganda film produced by the Society against Civil Rights.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071212195730/http://ernie1241.googlepages.com/jbs-1 FBI Files on John Birch Society]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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