John Birch Society (JBS)
Background
The John Birch Society (JBS) was founded in December of 1958ย by businessmanย Robert Welch.1History,โ The John Birch Society. Archived July 15, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/HCoI8 It nowย describesย itself as an โeducation and action organizationโ that โhas never deviated from its opposition to communism and any other form of totalitarianism, certainly including the steady drift toward total government currently arising from within our own shores.โ The JBS has been described2Western Democracies and The New Extreme Right challenge (2004), Routledge, p. 43. as aย radicalย right organization.3Thomas Mallon. โA View from the Fringe,โ The New Yorker, January 11, 2016. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/SsXxL
The philosophy of the group was outlined in The Blue Book of the John Birch Society, which contained the thoughts of Welch and 12 other โpatriotic and public-spirited men.โ The society grew quickly, and claimed to have more than 100,000 members by 1961, publishing through their magazine American Opinion. Membership dropped after Welch died in 1985, although JBS has experienced a more recent revival with Donald Trump’s run for president.4Thom Burnett. Conspiracy Encyclopedia: The Encyclopedia of Conspiracy Theories, 2006. 5Jim Collar. โPolitical climate puts John Birch Society back in focus,โ USA Today, September 16, 2016. Archived October 2, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/jqzjK
The John Birch Society was named after an American intelligence officer killed 10 days after World War II, a man Birch Society founder Robert H. W. Welch Jr. thought to be the ”first casualty” of the Cold War. Citing what he described as an โaccumulation of evidence,โ Welch claimed that President Eisenhower was ”a dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.”6โROBERT WELCH JR. DEAD AT 85; JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY’S FOUNDER,โ The New York Times, January 8, 1985. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/gg2Wv
The John Birch Society currently describes its mission as โTo bring about less government, more responsibility, and โ with God’s help โ a better world by providing leadership, education, and organized volunteer action in accordance with moral and Constitutional principles.โ7โMission,โ The John Birch Society. Archived August 1, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/IXMOb
According to Politico Magazine, The John Birch Society began experiencing a resurgence in 2017.8โThe John Birch Society Is Back,โ Politico, July 16, 2017. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/BnEj
โThere definitely is an increase in [our] activity, particularly in Texas, because Americans are seeking answers, but they canโt quite put their finger on what some of the real problems are,โ Bill Hahn, the John Birch Societyโs vice president of communications, told Politico Magazine.9โThe John Birch Society Is Back,โ Politico, July 16, 2017. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/BnEj
Politico Magazine reported on โwhat the 21-st century John Birch Society looks like,โ outlining the group’s new goals including pulling the U.S, out of NAFTA, returning America to its Christian foundations, defunding the United Nations, abolishing the departments of education and energy, and drastically cutting the federal budget.10โThe John Birch Society Is Back,โ Politico, July 16, 2017. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/BnEj
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), among others, has reported that the JBS has long been faced by charges of racism and anti-Semitism:11Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
โIt opposed civil rights legislation in the 1960s, saying the African-American freedom movement was being manipulated from Moscow with the goal of creating a ‘Soviet Negro Republic’ in the Southern United States. The society was a close ally of Alabamaโs segregationist governor George Wallace and reportedly had 100 chapters in and around Birmingham, Alabamaโs largest city, as well as chapters across the rest of the state. Thompson, the groupโs CEO, said the society has never been either racist or anti-Semitic, going so far as to add that once a member is discovered to harbor such views he or she is immediately ‘booted out,โ โSPLC wrote of the John Birch Society.12Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
โItโs a fallacy to say that we ever went into hibernation,โ Thompson said in the interview with the SPLC’s Intelligence Report. โWeโve always been active. Weโve always influenced the conservative movement. We just donโt bang the drum and wave the flag about everything we do.โโ13Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
โMr. McManus is also heard to say that militant Jews have influenced the Freemasons, who are ‘Satanโs agents,’ ‘the enemies of Christ Church’ โ and, in the view of the John Birch Society, part of the Illuminati conspiracy to cause world upheaval,โ The New York Times reported.14Dan Barry. โHolding Firm Against Plots by Evildoers,โ The New York Times, June 25, 2009. Archived August 5, 2017. Arhive.is URL: https://archive.is/FQi4U
In February of 1962,ย Bill Buckley atย National Review, which generally thought itself to be โthe conscience of the conservative movement,โ15โThe Inside Story of William F. Buckley Jr.โs Crusade against the John Birch Society,โ National Review, June 20, 2017. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/4nhui wroteย critical articles about the JBS. According to some sources, these articles were what eventually led the JBS to be shunned by the mainstream conservative movement. In 1963, Buckley wrote that Robet Welch was โdamaging the cause of anticommunismโ because โhe persists in distorting reality and refuses to make the crucial moral and political distinction between an active pro-Communist and an ineffectually anticommunist Liberal.โ16Alfred S. Regnery. Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism (2008), Threshold Editions, New York, NY. p. 79.ย
Notable members of the John Birch Society have included its co-founder, Fred Koch, as well as Fred’s son Charles Koch. Harry Bradley, whose Bradley Foundation โdoled out nearly as much money as the seven Koch and Scaife foundations combinedโ between 2001 and 2009, was also one of the founding members of the JBS.17Steve Horn. โBeyond Koch: Meet the Other Right-Wing Oligarchs Featured in Jane Mayer’s ‘Dark Money’,โ DeSmog, January 21, 2016. 18Daniel Bice, Bill Glauber and Ben Poston. โFrom local roots, Bradley Foundation builds conservative empire,โ Milwaukee – Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, November 19, 2011. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/syift
Koch Ties
Fred Koch, father to Charles and David Koch, was a well-known leader of the John Birch Society. Charles Koch himself โwas an active member of the controversial right-wing John Birch Society during its active campaigns against the civil rights movement,โ The Progressive reported in 2014. Charles left the organization in 1968, the year after his father’s death.19Lisa Graves. โLike His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents),โ The Progressive, July 8, 2014. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/a5vl8
โCharles Koch was not simply a rank and file member of the John Birch Society in name only who paid nominal dues,โ The Progressive reported. โHe purchased and held a ‘lifetime membership’ until he resigned in 1968. He also lent his name and his wealth to the operations of the John Birch Society in Wichita, aiding its ‘American Opinion’ bookstore โ which was stocked with attacks on the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, and Earl Warren as elements of the communist conspiracy. He funded the John Birch Society’s promotional campaigns, bought advertising in its magazine, and supported its distribution of right-wing radio shows.โ20Lisa Graves. โLike His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents),โ The Progressive, July 8, 2014. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/a5vl8
In 2014, one of the Koch’s secretive donor retreats featured a dinner talk by Charles Murray, the white supremacist author of the widely-debunked and notoriously racist book, The Bell Curve.21Sharon Kelly. โFueling US Forward Presents Scholarships to Black Youth in North Carolina, Recalling Kochs’ Troubling History on Education and Race,โ DeSmog, February 15, 2017.
Charles Koch later resigned from the group in 1968, according to correspondence with Robert Welch. PR Watch reported: โOddly, it was Welch’s โWin the Warโ strategy of signing up people to support the Vietnam War that caused the breakup between Charles Koch and the John Birch Society.โ22Lisa Graves. โHow Charles Koch Backed the John Birch Society at the Height of Its Attacks on Martin Luther King,โ PR Watch, January 18, 2006. Archived August 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/J5TY7
Conspiracy Theories
Shortly before Ronald Reagan was elected president, John McManusโat the time public relations director of the JBS, and its future presidentโclaimed that Reagan was a โlackeyโ of Communist conspirators.23Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
โWeโre up against a conspiracy,โ McManus told the Birch birthday bash in Sacramento. โPeople say, โYou sound like a conspiracy theorist.โ I say, โNo, no, no. Iโm a conspiracy fact-ist.โ24Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
During a banquet speech, McManus described how the JBS had been โmarginalizedโ by key right-wing leaders for its conspiracy theories:25Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
โThe John Birch Society has been aced out of a direct role because they are a political third rail of conservatives and the right wing,โ Berlet said. โThey have been marginalized by the leadership of the right because of their conspiracy theories. But a lot of the right wing of the Republican Party was and is highly influenced by the John Birch Society. Step one in understanding the Birchers is that they are not that much more far out, compared to other people on the right,โ McManus said.26Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
Philosopher Ayn Rand ones said in a Playboy interview:27โWho Was Ayn Rand?โ Playboy, 1964. Retrieved from Ellenspace.net. Archived February 8, 2006. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fBkJW 28โThe ‘Lost’ Parts of Ayn Rand’s Playboy Interview,โ The Atlas Society. Archived July 20, 2006. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/twrzG
โI consider the Birch Society futile, because they are not for capitalism but merely against communism [โฆ] I gather they believe that the disastrous state of today’s world is caused by a communist conspiracy. This is childishly naรฏve and superficial. No country can be destroyed by a mere conspiracy, it can be destroyed only by ideas.โ29โWho Was Ayn Rand?โ Playboy, 1964. Retrieved from Ellenspace.net. Archived February 8, 2006. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fBkJW
White Supremacist Members
Several historical members of the John Birch Society went on to found or join White Sepremacist groups. For example, Robert Jay Mathews (1953 – 1984), founder of The Order, was a member of the JBS since age 11.30Daryl C. McClary. โRobert Jay Mathews, founder of the white-supremacist group The Order, is killed during an FBI siege on Whidbey Island on December 8, 1984,โ HistoryLink.org, December 6, 2006. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ng65O ย David Lane, described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as โone of the most important ideologues of contemporary white supremacy,โ was also briefly a member of the John Birch Society before joining the Ku Klux Klan and also The Order.31“DAVID LANE,โ Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/vbcjn
JBS member Tom Metzger, who once ran the controversial program โRace and Reason,โ went on to direct the White Aryan Resistance. His organization published WAR, a publication calling itself ”The Newspaper of the International White Racist.”32Wallace Turner. โEXTREMIST FINDS CABLE TV IS FORUM FOR RIGHT-WING VIEWS,โ The New York Times, October 7, 1986. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/qRIU7
William Luther Pierce, who would go on to found the National Alliance, was briefly a member of the JBS.33โWILLIAM PIERCE,โ Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/mHr91
Thomas Robb, who would go on to be a national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was a member of the John Birch Society in high school.34Vincent Coppola. Dragons of God: A Journey through Far-Right America. Longstreet Press, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia (1996).
Stance on Climate Change
The New American, published by โA wholly owned subsidiary of The John Birch Society,โ regularly questions the consensus around climate change science and frequently refers to โClimate Alarmismโ or โAlarmistsโ in its headlines.
For example, in one June 2004 article, climate change deniers Arthur B. Robinson and Jane M. Orient wrote at The New American that โeven when the Earth was much warmer than today, none of the predicted catastrophes of the supposed human-caused global warming occurred.โ35Arthur B. Robinson and Jane M. Orient. โScience, Politics, and Death,โ The New American, June 14, 2004. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/vcBQL
According to their article, the increase in temperature due to CO2 is a โfallacy.โ
โAtmospheric CO2 is not a pollutant. It is the single most important chemical constituent of the cycles of plant and animal life,โ they add. โCO2, by itself, is not a significant greenhouse gas, and there is no scientific evidence that it can raise global temperatures significantly.โ
View the attached spreadsheet for a complete list of The New American publications filtered by top keywords (.xlsx).36โAbout The New American,โ The New American. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/TkEsc
Below is a list of The New American articles that contain the term โAlarmistโ or โAlarmโ in the title:
- Despite Climate Alarmism, Global Sea Levels Fell Last Year
- Report Explodes Global-warming Alarmism โ โAdjustedโ Data Accounts for All the Hyped Temperatures
- Top Climate Alarmist: Computer Models Wrong, Skeptics Right on โPauseโ
- Top Climate Alarm โScientistโ: Get Rid of Cars, Coal, Steel โ or It’s the End of the World
- EPA Head Scott Pruitt Riles Global-warming Alarmists
- Global Warming Alarmist NY Times Discovers Cold Is 17 Times Deadlier
- โClimate Hustleโ Film Shown in Paris Polarizing Climate Change Alarmism
- Has Climate-change Alarmism Backfired?
- What’s the Real Agenda Behind Climate Change Alarmism?
- Alarmist Prosecutor Demands E-mails from Climate Skeptics
- What’s the Real Agenda Behind Climate-change Alarmism?
- Greenpeace Co-Founder: Climate Alarmists Would Kill Civilization
- Disarming the Alarmists: Climate-change Myth Takes Three More Hits
- Climate Alarmists Have Been Wrong About Virtually Everything
- At Anti-UN Climate Summit, Scientist Slams Alarmist โReligionโ
- Climate Alarmists Demand Wartime Austerity, Rationing, Controls
- Climate Alarmists Are in Panic Mode โ Because the Public Isn’t
- Climate Alarmists Cheer Ouster of Canada PM
- Hurricane Activity Down โ Climate Alarmists Wrong Again
- Scientists’ Message to Pope: Be Skeptical of Climate Change Alarm
- Media Rush to Aid Climate Alarmist Tia Nelson
- Greenpeace Founding Member: Climate Alarmism โPreposterous,โ CO2 Emissions Saving Lives
- Oops! No March Tornadoes? Climate Alarmists Perplexed
- Senate Climate Alarmists Get Punked by GOP
- Climate Alarmists Deceive Again: 2014 Was Not Hottest on Record
- Global Warming: False Alarm Over Polar Bears Exposed โ Again
- German Scientist-Author Challenges Global Warming Alarmism (Video)
- Climate Alarmists Ridiculed Amid Record Cold Year Across U.S.
- Obama’s Alarmist โClimateโ Report Debunked by Scientists
- In Bid for More Power, Obama Hypes Alarmist โClimateโ Report
- UN, Obama Flog Global-warming Alarmism โ As More Scientists Defect
- UN Climate-change Report Uses Alarmist โGlobal Warmingโ Language
- Climate Alarmists Push Chinese Communism, Population Control
- Global Warming Alarmists, Looking Ridiculous, Double Down
- Global Warming Alarmism Melting as Record Cold Sweeps Nation
- Global Warming Alarmists Stuck In Antarctic Sea Ice
- Major International Climate Report Challenges UN Alarmism
- Was 2012 the Hottest Year? Alarmists Blowing Hot Air Again
- Ethical Meltdown: Global Warming Alarmists Defend Peter Gleick’s Theft, Fraud
- Mother Nature to Alarmists: Chill Out!
- Alarmist ‘State of the Climate’ Report Draws Fire
- International Conference of Scientists to Challenge Global-warming Alarmism
- Global-warming Alarmism Dying a Slow Death
- CORE Leader Blasts Global-warming Alarmists
- Big Chills for Global-warming Alarmism
Comments Surrounding 2021 Capitol Insurrection
One day after the failed Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, the John Birch Society wrote in a social media post, โDonโt give up. Itโs always darkest before the dawn. We can fix this.โ
On Jan. 6, 2021, the John Birch Society circulated a video from Project Veritas that it claimed โshowsโ that Democrats broke election laws in the 2020 election.
Before the insurrection, the John Birch Society had also posted claims that the 2020 election of Joe Biden was the result of โvoter fraud.โ
On Jan. 6, 2021, the John Birch Society posted a link to an article whose headline asked โIs MAGAโs Storming of the Capitol an Omen of Coming Civil War?โ
Funding
According to its website, โThe John Birch Society depends on the kindness and generosity of donors to maintain the health of our organization.โ Details of its funding are not available online.37โDonate,โ John Birch Society. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/7Yc7D
JBS Research Documents
- โโFBI File on Robert Welch and the John Birch Society (JBS),โ Internet Archive.
- โFOIA: John Birch Society HQ 15,โ Internet Archive.
- โErnie Lazar FOIA Collection: John Birch Society,โ Internet Archive.
FBI Research Documents Via Internet Archive
Google Sites
The following documents are copies from research done at โDocumentary History of the John Birch Society.โ 38โDocumentary History of the John Birch Society,โ Accessed August 3, 2017. Archived .pdfs on file at DeSmog.
Key People
According to a 1966 Time magazine article, The John Birch Society had โa staff of 250โmore than that of the Republican and Democratic national committees combinedโat its Belmont, Mass., headquarters and at regional offices in New York, Chicago, Washington, Dallas and Los Angeles,โ however most of its members’ names were kept secret.39โOrganizations: Bedeviled Birchers,โ Time, September 9, 1966.
โSome 75 full-time field coordinators and 1,100 section leaders direct the society’s chapters throughout the U.S. And though John Rousselot, the former California Congressman who serves as the Birchers’ public relations director, admits that the growth in membership has slowed down, the society is still attracting new members. It officially claims a membership of just under 100,000, but some informed estimates place the figure as low as 32,000; the true figure is probably somewhere in between.โ40โOrganizations: Bedeviled Birchers,โ Time, September 9, 1966.
Notable & Historic Members
- Robert Welch, Jr. (1899 – 1985) โ Founder.41โHow the John Birch Society Was Founded,โ Time, December 9, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/pb1px
- Fred Koch (1900 – 1967)42Steve Horn. โBeyond Koch: Meet the Other Right-Wing Oligarchs Featured in Jane Mayer’s ‘Dark Money’,โ DeSmog, January 21, 2016.
- Charles Koch43Lisa Graves. โLike His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents),โ The Progressive, July 8, 2014. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/a5vl8
- Harry Bradley (1885โ1965)44Steve Horn. โBeyond Koch: Meet the Other Right-Wing Oligarchs Featured in Jane Mayer’s ‘Dark Money’,โ DeSmog, January 21, 2016.
- Gary Allen โ Member. (1936 – 1986)45AP. โGary Allen, 50, Dies in West; Spread Conservatives’ View,โ The New York Times, December 2, 1986. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wzBlP
- Reed Benson (1928 -2016).46Lee Davidson. โReed Benson โ BYU religion professor, John Birch Society leader, son of Mormon prophet โ dies,โ The Salt Lake Tribune, August 31, 2016. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/uk6q6
- Howard Buffett (1903 – 1964)47โThe Oracle of Omaha in all his human frailty,โ The Globe and Mail, November 19, 2008. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/UpDIr
- Larry Abraham (1937 โ 2008)48โLarry Abraham, R.I.P.โ Garynorth.com, July 9, 2008. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/aWFIw
- Robert Adelmann49โMeet Bob Adelmann,โ Light From the Right. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wv4pD
- Thomas J. Anderson (1910 – 2002)50George Barker. โThe Loudest Voice of The ‘Rigid Right’,โ The Tennessean, December 29, 1963.
- Ken Courtney (1918 – 1997)51โThe Inside Story of William F. Buckley Jr.โs Crusade against the John Birch Society,โ National Review, June 20, 2017. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/4nhui
- Robert DePugh (1923 – 2009) โ Left in 1960.52Jeffrey Ian Ross. Religion and Violence: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict from Antiquity to the Present. Routledge, Mar 4, 2015. P. 451.
- Dave Dravecky53Tom Friend. โThe tortured life of Eric Show,โ ESPN, September 11, 2010. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/PSJE7
- Medford Bryan Evans (1927 – 1989).54Bob Bowman. โAn Outspoken Man: Medford Bryan Evans,โ TexasEscapes.com, February 20, 2011. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/EQFpt
- Bonner Fellers (1896 – 1973)55Rachel Kolb. โHoover Archives Shed Light on New Film,โ Stanford Business, May/June 2013. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/5E8C9
- John Finn (1909 – 2010)56โMen of honor: among the elite fellowship of those who have earned our nation’s highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, the John Birch society is well represented,โ The New American, October 20, 2003. Retrieved from The Free Library. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wtBQP
- G. Edward Griffin โ Life member, former โMajor Coordinator and official spokesman.โ57โFAQ’s: WAS MR. GRIFFIN A MEMBER OF THE JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY, AND ISN’T THAT AN EXTREMIST GROUP?โ Freedom Force International. Archived April 16, 2007. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/zrlCb
- J. Evetts Haley (1901 – 1995)58โThe Alignment of Conservative Activists Against the Texas State Board of Education, 1960sโ (PDF), Textbooks as Common Ground.
- Billy James Hargis (1925 – 2004)59Lee roy Chapman. โTHE STRANGE LOVE OF DR. BILLY JAMES HARGIS,โ This Land, November 2, 2012. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ymU8o
- Merwin K. Hart (1881 – 1962)60โMERWIN K. HART OF BIRCH SOCIETY,โ The New York Times, December 2, 1962.
- Edgar W. Hiestand (1888 – 1970)61โHIESTAND, Edgar Willard, (1888 – 1970),โ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/TFmef
- Jamie Kelso62โJamie Kelso,โ Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/x5KGo
- Denison Kitchel (1908 – 2002); Briefly a member until after reading The Politician, a book written by Robert H. Welch Jr. that referred to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a โdedicated conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.โ63โKitchel Tells Birch History,โ Desert Sun, July 19, 1965. Retrieved from California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- Ben Klassen (1918 – 1993) โ Lifetime Member.64โProfile: Benhardt (‘Ben’) Klassen,โ History Commons. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/YUdT4
- Granville Knight (1904 – 1982) โ Former leader of California branch.65Lisa McGirr. Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right. Princeton University Press (2001).
- Alfred Kohlberg (1887 – 1960) โ Founding Member.66โALFRED KOHLBERG,GLOBAL ENTREPRENEUR AND HYPER-NATIONALISTโ (PDF), The Historical Society, June 3, 2006. *Draft*.
- David Lane (1938 – 2007)67โDAVID LANE,โ Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/vbcjn
- Robert Jay Mathews (1953 – 1984)68Daryl C. McClary. โRobert Jay Mathews, founder of the white-supremacist group The Order, is killed during an FBI siege on Whidbey Island on December 8, 1984,โ HistoryLink.org, December 6, 2006. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ng65O
- Larry McDonald (1935 – 1983)69โLawrence ‘Larry’ Patton McDonald,โ Rescue007.org, March 10, 2009. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/F1fPc
- Tom Metzger70Wallace Turner. โEXTREMIST FINDS CABLE TV IS FORUM FOR RIGHT-WING VIEWS,โ The New York Times, October 7, 1986. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/qRIU7
- Roger Milliken (1915 – 2010)71Jeet Heer. โSnobs Versus Slobs: National Review’s War With Its Audience,โ New Republic, September 14, 2015. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/Igtzs
- Stan Monteith (1929 – 2014) โ Resigned in 1987.72Victor F. Zonana. โProp. 102 Backer Told Birch Society to Make Political Use of AIDS Crisis,โ Los Angeles Times, October 21, 1988. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/dgFdi
- David A. Noebel73โTHE ANTI-GAY INDUSTRY IS NOW BEARING THE FRUITS OF THEIR WORK,โ ShadowProof, June 21, 2009. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/SfbIH
- Revilo P. Oliver (1908 – 1994) โ Resigned July 30, 1966.74โRevilo Oliver on the John Birch Society,โ Revilo P. Oliver. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/TaMQ0
- Floyd Paxton (1918 – 1975)75โBirch Society Figure Floyd Paxton Is Dead,โ Spokane Daily Chronicle, December 11, 1975. Retrieved from News.google.com.
- Martin T. Phelps (1881 1964) โ Former Member, National Council.76โJBS-Phoenix-1,โ FBI Research documents for John Birch Society, via Internet Archive.
- William Luther Pierce (1933 โ 2002)77โWILLIAM PIERCE,โ Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/mHr91
- Thomas Robb78Vincent Coppola. Dragons of God: A Journey through Far-Right America. Longstreet Press, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia (1996).
- Archibald Roosevelt (1894 – 1979)79โArchibald Bulloch Roosevelt,โ Theodore-Roosevelt.com. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/nGAew
- Morrie Ryskind (1895 – 1985); Former member.80Nancy Skelton. โWriter, Political Activist Morrie Ryskind Dies at 89,โ Los Angeles Times, August 25, 1985. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/4KqLj
- Kurt Saxon81โKurt Saxon 1970 Senate Testimonyโ (.doc) retrieved from Archive.org.
- John G. Schmitz82โThe Fall from Spyglass HIll,โ Los Angeles Times, April 29, 1998. Archived August 11, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/t8rpe
- Philippa Schuyler83โSo Young, So Gifted, So Sad,โ The Washington Post, November 24, 1995. Archived August 11, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/VwBiw
- Eric Show84โBASEBALL,โ The New York Times, March 27, 1994. Archived August 11, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/0rbhD
- John Rousselot (1927 – 2003)85Lee roy Chapman. โTHE STRANGE LOVE OF DR. BILLY JAMES HARGIS,โ This Land, November 2, 2012. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ymU8o
- John Wayne (1907 – 1979); Wayne was formerly a member until he reportedly gave up on JBS โafter it denounced fluoridation of water supplies as a communist plot.โ Other sources suggest that he quit โover its claim that President Eisenhower was a Soviet mole.โ86Pat Dowell. โJohn Wayne, Man and Myth,โ The Washington Post, September 25, 2009. Archived August 11, 2017. 87โThe Real Wayne,โ Law & Liberty, May 20, 2016. Archived December 1, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/7HEse
Other
- H. L. Hunt (1889 – 1974); While not a JBS member, Hunt had met with JBS Founder Robert Welch and listed him among those he admires.88โHaroldson L. Hunt,โ Spartacus Educational. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/a5SlG 89โH L. Hunt:Magnate with Mission; One of Richest Men in Nation, Oilman Aids Right Wing,โ The New York Times, August 17, 1964. Archived December 1, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/et7NF
- Walter Knott (1889 – 1981); Supported the Orange County’s chapter of JBS.90โFar right in O.C. faces turning point,โ The Orange County Register, August 10, 2016. Archived October 25, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/DfwNF
Leadership
JBS listed a select list of members on its website:
Name | 2008 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Description |
Arthur Crino | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
Arthur R. Thompson | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Chief Executive Officer |
Clark Curry | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Chairman of the Board |
F. Ward Rowley | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
George Wallace | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
Glenn Schmitz | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
Jess Roques | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
John F. McManus | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
Paul Leithart | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
Ray Clark | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | President |
Robert Bell | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
Thomas Sellers | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
William Blewster | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
Lloyd Bailey | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
Robert Owens | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
Ronald Britton | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
Sterling Lacy | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
Robert Henderson | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
David B. Jorgensen | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
Donald R. Griffin | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
Darr Moon | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||||
Deborah Pauly | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||||
Hillard Welch | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
Andy Dlinn | Y | Y | ||||||||
Duke Pesta | Y | Y | ||||||||
Tom DeWeese | Y | Y | ||||||||
Kurt Hyde | Y | |||||||||
Lori Watt | Y | |||||||||
James F. Fitzgerald | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | National Director-Field Activities | ||
Martin Ohlson | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Vice President, Development | |||
Bill Hahn | Y | Vice President, Communications | ||||||||
David Eisenberg | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
Dominick J. Odorizzi | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||
Larry O. Waters | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Vice President | |||
Nathaniel E. Adamson | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
Nelson Bunker Hunt | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||
Daniel L. McBride | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||||
Clifford Wasem | Y | Y |
Actions
June 12, 2017
While, as Politico Magazine reported, The JBS originally formed over the idea of Soviet infiltration of the U.S. government, it now wants to stop the investigation into potential meddling in the 2016 election by Russia.91โThe John Birch Society Is Back,โ Politico, July 16, 2017. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/BnEj
โ[T]hese are distractions hiding more pressing problems, such as the renegotiation of NAFTA, the future of healthcare, and the outrageous and unacceptable national debt. Lining up one by one, the masses are acting just like sheep, allowing the media to pit them in a Left vs. Right battle (instead of tyranny vs. liberty),โ a John Birch Society article reads.92Kristin Stockheimer. โRussian Hacking Agenda: Just Drop It Already,โ The John Birch Society, June 12, 2017. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL:https://archive.is/UD7jc
April 13, 2016
John Birch Society’s Liberty News Network was on-site at the Heartland Institute’s 4th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC4).93โ4th International Conference on Climate Change,โ YouTube video uploaded by user โTheJohnBirchSociety,โ April 13, 2016. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.
Liberty News Network also interviewed climate change denier Willie Soon at the event. Video below:94โInterview with Willie Soon, Ph.d. – Heartland Institute Climate Conference 2010,โ YouTube video uploaded by user โThe New American Video (formerly Liberty News Network).โ Archived mp4 on file at DeSmog.
December 10, 2015
JBS’s publication, The New American, was in Paris during the UN climate talks and interviewed climate change denier Marc Morano about his film, Climate Hustle. The New American described Morano’s film as โexposing global-warming alarmismโ. See their video below.95William F. Jasper. โ‘Climate Monarch’ Slams UN Global Warming Hysteria in Paris (Video),โ The New American. Archived August 4, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/FKhP5 96Graham Readfearn. โMarc Morano’s Climate Hustle Movie ‘Amateurish’ and ‘Not Very Watchable’ Says Filmmaker,โ DeSmog, April 29, 2016.
September โ December, 2011
As the SPLC reported, The John Birch Society had either sponsored or co-sponsored a range of lectures on the โdangersโ of Agenda 21 in Manahawkin, Somers Point, Williamstown, Pompton Plains, and Toms River, N.J.; in Bozeman, Great Falls, Kalispell, and Missoula, Mont.; in Indianapolis, Ind.; in Albany and Queens, N.Y.; in Deland, Jacksonville and Gainesville, Fla.; in Mobile, Ala.; and in Shelton and Westport, Con.97Arthur Goldwag. โJOHN BIRCH SOCIETY: โAGENDA 21โ IS STEALTH PLOT TO STEAL FREEDOM,โ Southern Poverty Law Center, December 5, 2011. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/12cyi
In one speech, Regional Field Director Hal Shurtlef described Agenda 21 as โa profound reorientation of all human society, unlike anything the world has ever experienced.โ He claimed that is goal was. He claimed that the goal was to de-populate rural areas, and enforce mandated family sizes.98Arthur Goldwag. โJOHN BIRCH SOCIETY: โAGENDA 21โ IS STEALTH PLOT TO STEAL FREEDOM,โ Southern Poverty Law Center, December 5, 2011. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/12cyi
โPatriots, Tea Partiers, and John Birchers hate pollution,โ Shurtlef said at the Westport speech. โBut we know that the free market and local governments can preserve the environment better than bureaucrats can.โ99Arthur Goldwag. โJOHN BIRCH SOCIETY: โAGENDA 21โ IS STEALTH PLOT TO STEAL FREEDOM,โ Southern Poverty Law Center, December 5, 2011. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/12cyi
2010
In 2010, the society was a co-sponsor of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) noted.100Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
January 23, 2008
One John Birch Society blogger described the risks of global warming as โbaseless and undisguised propaganda,โ and also claimed that evidence for climate change is โshoddy.โ She cited climate change denier Bjorn Lomborg‘s (thoroughly discredited) analysis, โa little warming wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.โ101Denise L. Behreandt. โWisconsin Residents Fed Global Warming Scare Stories,โ The John Birch Society, January 23, 2008. Archived June 10, 2008. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/DG4PE
DeSmog reported that the logic for her argument could be traced back to Marc Morano. โThis is classic ‘Echo Chamber’ PR: you start with a lie; you pass the lie around; and after you repeat it enough times, it starts to sound like the truth,โ Richard Littlemore wrote at DeSmog.102Richard Littlemore. โEcho Chamber: Morano’s Distortions Have Staying Power,โ DeSmog, January 24, 2008.
January 31, 2000
John F. McManus interviewed climate change denier Fred Singer in an issue of The New American. Sample below:103โHot Topics, Cold Truth,โ The New American, Vol. 16, No. 03 (January 31, 2000). Archived December 8, 2000. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ZPOEw
McManus: โDo you have a position regarding global warming?โ
Singer: โI certainly do. The climate warms and cools naturally all the time. It changes from day to day, month to month, season to season, year to year, and so on. At times, there is global warming; at other times there is global cooling. Some climate changes are predictable and some are not. We can predict that the winters are colder than the summers because we understand the mechanism. We cannot predict the climate from year to year, however, because we do not know why it fluctuates. When the climate warms, there could be a number of reasons for it doing so, including the sun. Another possibility is that human activities are adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and this could produce some warming.
The important question then is: How important is the effect of human activities? And that we cannot tell. We know the theory, which says that human activity could be important, but the theory cannot be trusted until it has been verified. Until now, this theory, which is based largely on a mathematical model, has not been validated against observations. If the theory becomes validated against observations, then we can be more confident about using it to predict the future. But weโre not there yet, and nobody should be basing conclusions and remedies on an unverified theory.โ
March 9, 1974
Robert Welch gave two speeches at the JBS Council Dinner in 1974. Below is a video compilation of the speeches via YouTube:104โ1958 – Great Speech by Robert Welch Founder of John Birch Society,โ YouTube video uploaded by user iysun777, August 21, 2009.
1960s
Charles Koch reportedly worked with the John Birch Society to combat the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) reported how Charles Koch fundraised for the John Birch Society at the height of its attacks on the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, and offers a detailed timeline of Koch’s involvement in JBS campaigns.105Lisa Graves. โHow Charles Koch Backed the John Birch Society at the Height of Its Attacks on Martin Luther King,โ PR Watch, January 18, 2006. Archived August 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/J5TY7
In 1963, the JBS claimed that a โdetailed study of โthe life and lies’ of Martin Luther King [โฆ] will convince any reasonable American that this man is not working for, but against, the real welfare and best interests of either the Negroes in the United States, or of the United States as a whole.โ106Lisa Graves. โHow Charles Koch Backed the John Birch Society at the Height of Its Attacks on Martin Luther King,โ PR Watch, January 18, 2006. Archived August 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/J5TY7
CMD reported that, among other things, Charles Koch helped promote the John Birch Society bookstore in Whichita, which was managed by Bob Love. The store sold titles and pamphlets such as Earl Lively’s โThe Invasion of Mississippi,โ which claims the racial integration of Ole Miss was unlawful. Other titles included Robert Welch’s pamphlet, โA Letter to the South on Segregationโ and a piece titled โIs the Supreme Court Pro-Communist.โ107Lisa Graves. โHow Charles Koch Backed the John Birch Society at the Height of Its Attacks on Martin Luther King,โ PR Watch, January 18, 2006. Archived August 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/J5TY7
1961
Charles Koch joined the John Birch Society. During this year, JBS announced that a top priority would be its โMovement to Impeach Earl Warren,โ the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court appointed by President Eisenhower.108Lisa Graves. โLike His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents),โ The Progressive, July 8, 2014. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/a5vl8
A core JBS document was titled โA Letter to the South on Segregation.โ It was a letter initially written by Welch in 1956, prior to the founding of JBS, that claimed the โeasy-going colored manโ of the South will be โeasily misled by agitatorsโ and that โcivil rightsโ was actually a communist slogan.109Lisa Graves. โLike His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents),โ The Progressive, July 8, 2014. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/a5vl8
The Society also promoted several books in favor of segregation in public schools, and went on to set up book stores โmanned โฆ by local members of our organizationโ promoted books approved by the society.110Lisa Graves. โLike His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents),โ The Progressive, July 8, 2014. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/a5vl8
June 29, 1959
According to archived documents, a John Birch Society project titled CASE (Committee Against Summit Entanglements) included support from a range of prominent conservatives. CASE opposed President Eisenhower’s proposal for a summit meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Many of these supporters would go on to reject the JBS in the future.111โDocumentary History of the John Birch Society,โ Accessed August 3, 2017. Archived .pdfs on file at DeSmog.
Below are key representatives of CASE:
Chairman
Vice Chairmen
- Charles Edison
- Alfred Kohlberg
- Clarence Manion
Executive Committee
- Thomas J. Anderson
- Spruille Braden
- Owen Brewater
- Robert B. Dresser
- E.P Hamilton
- A. G. Heinsohn
- Jr., Samuel B. Pettengill
- Archibald Roosevelt
- Robert W. Stoddard
- A.C. Wedemeyer
National Board
- T. Coleman Andrews
- George W. Armstrong, Jr .
- John U. Barr
- Laurence E. Bunker
- H . G. Carpenter
- F. Gano Chance
- Kenneth W. Colegrove
- Martin J. Condon, III
- W. J. Bryan Dorn
- Pierre S. du Pont, 3rd
- Franklin Farrel, Jr.
- Dorothy B. Frankston
- J. H . Gipson, Sr.
- Wm. J. Grede
- A. Brooks Harlow
- B. E. Hutchinson
- Husband E. Kimmel
- Fred C. Koch
- Rose Wilder Lane
- J. Bracken Lee
- F. F. Loock
- Ross Martin
- Frank E. Masland, Jr.
- N . Floyd McGowin
- W. L. McGrath
- Ludwig von Mises
- Revilo P. Oliver
- J. Howard Pew
- Henry Pope, Jr.
- Paulus P. Powell
- Louis Ruthenburg
- Gordon H . Scherer
- T. G. W. Settle
- Wint Smith
- Robert B. Snowden
- Suzanne Silvercruys Stevenson
- George H. Williamson
1958
Fred Koch, father of Charles and David Koch, attended the initial meeting of right-wing businessmen who proposed the creation of the John Birch Society. Its goal would be to fight against communism in the U.S. Fred would join the Executive Committee which would plan the Society’s strategy.112Lisa Graves. โLike His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents),โ The Progressive, July 8, 2014. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/a5vl8
Related Organizations
- The New American โ Published by American Opinion Publishing, โA wholly owned subsidiary of The John Birch Society.โ113โAbout The New American,โ The New American. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/TkEsc
- American Opinion Foundation, Inc. โAmerican Opinion and the JBS share a number of officers and is listed as โa related organizationโ on public 990 records.114โAOF Board,โ American Opinion Foundation, August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ZBSow
Contact & Address
As of August, 2017, JBS listed the following contact information on its website:115โContact US,โ The John Birch Society. Archived August, 11, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/xl58h
Address: 770 N. Westhill Blvd. Appleton, WI 54914
Phone: 800-JBS-USA1
Local: 920-749-3780
Fax: 920-749-5062
Social Media
- TheJohnBirchSociety on YouTube.
- @The_JBS on Twitter.
- InsideJBS (John Birch Society Blog)
- โThe John Birch Societyโฆ. Constitution Freedom Fightersโ on Pinterest.
Other Resources
- โWho Was John Birch?โ Time Magazine, April 14, 1961.
- โDocumentation History of the John Birch Society,โ Google Sites.
- โJohn Birch Society,โ Political Research Associates. Archived June 7, 2011.
- โThe Kochs’ Anti-Civil Rights Roots: New Docs Expose Charles Koch’s Ties to John Birch Society‘,โ Democracy Now, July 8, 2014. Archived August 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RjAcx
- โJohn Birch Society,โ Wikipedia.
- โโFBI File on Robert Welch and the John Birch Society (JBS),โ Internet Archive.
- โFOIA: John Birch Society HQ 15,โ Internet Archive.
- โErnie Lazar FOIA Collection: John Birch Society,โ Internet Archive.
- Lisa McGirr. Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right. Princeton University Press (2001).
- Michael Newton. The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: A History. (1951).
Resources
- 1History,โ The John Birch Society. Archived July 15, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/HCoI8
- 2Western Democracies and The New Extreme Right challenge (2004), Routledge, p. 43.
- 3Thomas Mallon. โA View from the Fringe,โ The New Yorker, January 11, 2016. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/SsXxL
- 4Thom Burnett. Conspiracy Encyclopedia: The Encyclopedia of Conspiracy Theories, 2006.
- 5Jim Collar. โPolitical climate puts John Birch Society back in focus,โ USA Today, September 16, 2016. Archived October 2, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/jqzjK
- 6โROBERT WELCH JR. DEAD AT 85; JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY’S FOUNDER,โ The New York Times, January 8, 1985. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/gg2Wv
- 7โMission,โ The John Birch Society. Archived August 1, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/IXMOb
- 8โThe John Birch Society Is Back,โ Politico, July 16, 2017. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/BnEj
- 9โThe John Birch Society Is Back,โ Politico, July 16, 2017. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/BnEj
- 10โThe John Birch Society Is Back,โ Politico, July 16, 2017. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/BnEj
- 11Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
- 12Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
- 13Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
- 14Dan Barry. โHolding Firm Against Plots by Evildoers,โ The New York Times, June 25, 2009. Archived August 5, 2017. Arhive.is URL: https://archive.is/FQi4U
- 15โThe Inside Story of William F. Buckley Jr.โs Crusade against the John Birch Society,โ National Review, June 20, 2017. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/4nhui
- 16Alfred S. Regnery. Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism (2008), Threshold Editions, New York, NY. p. 79.
- 17Steve Horn. โBeyond Koch: Meet the Other Right-Wing Oligarchs Featured in Jane Mayer’s ‘Dark Money’,โ DeSmog, January 21, 2016.
- 18Daniel Bice, Bill Glauber and Ben Poston. โFrom local roots, Bradley Foundation builds conservative empire,โ Milwaukee – Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, November 19, 2011. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/syift
- 19Lisa Graves. โLike His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents),โ The Progressive, July 8, 2014. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/a5vl8
- 20Lisa Graves. โLike His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents),โ The Progressive, July 8, 2014. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/a5vl8
- 21Sharon Kelly. โFueling US Forward Presents Scholarships to Black Youth in North Carolina, Recalling Kochs’ Troubling History on Education and Race,โ DeSmog, February 15, 2017.
- 22Lisa Graves. โHow Charles Koch Backed the John Birch Society at the Height of Its Attacks on Martin Luther King,โ PR Watch, January 18, 2006. Archived August 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/J5TY7
- 23Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
- 24Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
- 25Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
- 26Don Terry. โBringing Back Birch,โ Intelligence Report, Spring 2013 Issue (March 1, 2013). Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RE7ny
- 27โWho Was Ayn Rand?โ Playboy, 1964. Retrieved from Ellenspace.net. Archived February 8, 2006. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fBkJW
- 28โThe ‘Lost’ Parts of Ayn Rand’s Playboy Interview,โ The Atlas Society. Archived July 20, 2006. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/twrzG
- 29โWho Was Ayn Rand?โ Playboy, 1964. Retrieved from Ellenspace.net. Archived February 8, 2006. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/fBkJW
- 30Daryl C. McClary. โRobert Jay Mathews, founder of the white-supremacist group The Order, is killed during an FBI siege on Whidbey Island on December 8, 1984,โ HistoryLink.org, December 6, 2006. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ng65O
- 31“DAVID LANE,โ Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/vbcjn
- 32Wallace Turner. โEXTREMIST FINDS CABLE TV IS FORUM FOR RIGHT-WING VIEWS,โ The New York Times, October 7, 1986. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/qRIU7
- 33โWILLIAM PIERCE,โ Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived August 9, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/mHr91
- 34Vincent Coppola. Dragons of God: A Journey through Far-Right America. Longstreet Press, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia (1996).
- 35Arthur B. Robinson and Jane M. Orient. โScience, Politics, and Death,โ The New American, June 14, 2004. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/vcBQL
- 36โAbout The New American,โ The New American. Archived August 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/TkEsc
- 37โDonate,โ John Birch Society. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/7Yc7D
- 38โDocumentary History of the John Birch Society,โ Accessed August 3, 2017. Archived .pdfs on file at DeSmog.
- 39โOrganizations: Bedeviled Birchers,โ Time, September 9, 1966.
- 40โOrganizations: Bedeviled Birchers,โ Time, September 9, 1966.
- 41โHow the John Birch Society Was Founded,โ Time, December 9, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/pb1px
- 42Steve Horn. โBeyond Koch: Meet the Other Right-Wing Oligarchs Featured in Jane Mayer’s ‘Dark Money’,โ DeSmog, January 21, 2016.
- 43Lisa Graves. โLike His Dad, Charles Koch Was a Bircher (New Documents),โ The Progressive, July 8, 2014. Archived July 31, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/a5vl8
- 44Steve Horn. โBeyond Koch: Meet the Other Right-Wing Oligarchs Featured in Jane Mayer’s ‘Dark Money’,โ DeSmog, January 21, 2016.
- 45AP. โGary Allen, 50, Dies in West; Spread Conservatives’ View,โ The New York Times, December 2, 1986. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wzBlP
- 46Lee Davidson. โReed Benson โ BYU religion professor, John Birch Society leader, son of Mormon prophet โ dies,โ The Salt Lake Tribune, August 31, 2016. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/uk6q6
- 47โThe Oracle of Omaha in all his human frailty,โ The Globe and Mail, November 19, 2008. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/UpDIr
- 48โLarry Abraham, R.I.P.โ Garynorth.com, July 9, 2008. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/aWFIw
- 49โMeet Bob Adelmann,โ Light From the Right. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wv4pD
- 50George Barker. โThe Loudest Voice of The ‘Rigid Right’,โ The Tennessean, December 29, 1963.
- 51โThe Inside Story of William F. Buckley Jr.โs Crusade against the John Birch Society,โ National Review, June 20, 2017. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/4nhui
- 52Jeffrey Ian Ross. Religion and Violence: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict from Antiquity to the Present. Routledge, Mar 4, 2015. P. 451.
- 53Tom Friend. โThe tortured life of Eric Show,โ ESPN, September 11, 2010. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/PSJE7
- 54Bob Bowman. โAn Outspoken Man: Medford Bryan Evans,โ TexasEscapes.com, February 20, 2011. Archived August 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/EQFpt
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- 56โMen of honor: among the elite fellowship of those who have earned our nation’s highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, the John Birch society is well represented,โ The New American, October 20, 2003. Retrieved from The Free Library. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wtBQP
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