The JBS were “conspiracy nuts”—and virtually every conspiracy they warned about has come to pass...
The National Review types were playing checkers while the JBS guys were playing chess.
Yeah, but I always choked when they kept on insisting that Eisenhower was a Communist party cardholder.
Virtually the entire conservative movement in the United States denounced and rejected the JBS as an example of a “right wing extremist” organization that was “irrational” and “irresponsible”.
JBS critics include such prominent conservative Americans as:
Sen. Barry Goldwater, Cong. Walter Judd, Cong. Gordon H. Scherer, Gen. Albert C. Wedemeyer, Russell Kirk, Ronald Reagan, Eugene Lyons, Willmoore Kendall, James Burnham, Robert Bork, Richard Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, Herbert Philbrick, Frank S. Meyer, William F. Buckley Jr., Patrick Buchanan, Fred Schwarz, Lee Edwards, the editors of the conservative newspaper, Human Events, David Lawrence, Holmes Alexander, William Loeb, George Sokolsky, Roy M. Cohn, Anthony Bouscaren, plus even many former Birchers such as: Alan Stang, Gary Allen, Fred Koch, Milorad Draskovich, Don Fotheringham, John Rees, Wayne Rickert, former JBS Research Director Tom Eddlem, William Norman Grigg (senior editor of JBS magazine) and many more.
Even Mrs. Robert Welch withdrew her support from the JBS after her husband died because of the hostile articles about President Ronald Reagan published by the JBS.
The former Research Director of the JBS from 1991-2000 (Tom Eddlem) announced that he terminated his lifetime JBS membership in December 2019 because of what HE described as “nazi racial propaganda” published in the JBS magazine (The New American).
See Eddlem’s resignation here: https://teddlem.blogspot.com/2019/12/resignation-letter-to-john-birch-society.html
Some of the Birch Society’s most famous and prolific writers (like Gary Allen and Alan Stang and William Norman Grigg) also denounced the new JBS leadership after Robert Welch passed away.
During J. Edgar Hoover’s tenure as FBI Director, the FBI falsified every major predicate of JBS ideology. In November 1964 Hoover responded to numerous inquiries about Robert Welch and the JBS as follows:
“Personally, I have little respect for the head of the John Birch Society since he linked the names of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the late John Foster Dulles, and former CIA Director Allen Dulles with communism.” [J. Edgar Hoover comment during November 1964 press conference; also appears in FBI-HQ file 62-104401, serial #2381, 11/20/64 and HQ 100-114578-152, October 22, 1965 and 62-104401, #3865, 3/24/72.]
FBI POSITION ON JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY
“The supporters of this organization and those influenced by the vicious propaganda it has been putting out are typical of the fanatics who have been attempting lately to disparage and discredit Bureau speakers who have been giving audiences a true, factual picture concerning the nature of the threat which communist activities in this country represent.” [FBI-HQ 62-104401, serial #791, March 9, 1961, Chief Inspector W.C. Sullivan to A.H. Belmont].
“The John Birch Society is an extremist organization which was founded by Robert Welch in Indianapolis, Indiana in December 1958…We certainly should not allow ourselves to be placed in a position where an organization of the character of the JBS can use statements attributed to the Bureau or to the Director to support its position in this or any other matter. This organization would not hesitate to twist any statement by the Bureau to confirm with its extremist position.” J. Edgar Hoover wrote “OK” on memo as did Associate Director Clyde Tolson. [FBI HQ file 62-7582, #4729; 2/8/61 memo from A.J. Decker to A.H. Belmont re: JBS member phone call; also, in HQ file 62-104401, #unrecorded]
The Birch Society has the “distinction” of being the only national conservative “educational” organization to have lost an historic precedent-setting defamation lawsuit (which changed American libel law) after the JBS falsely described Chicago lawyer Elmer Gertz in an article it published in its monthly magazine as “a Communist fronter” and a “Leninist” who was engaged in a “conspiracy” (a criminal act) against the Chicago police.
After 14 years of litigation, including two different jury trials, numerous appeals, and review by the U.S. Supreme Court, the JBS paid Gertz $100,000 in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages for malice. Because the JBS appealed the initial decision, their final payment (including accrued interest) was almost $500,000 (which is about $2 million in 2021 dollars). Punitive damages are only allowed in libel actions when “malice” can be shown. Malice, in legalese, refers to “reckless disregard for truth” arising from evil intent and a desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering.
As one Appeals Court observed about the JBS article on Gertz:
“There was more than enough evidence for the jury to conclude that this article was published with utter disregard for the truth or falsity of the statements contained in the article about Gertz.” [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 81-2483, Elmer Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 6/16/82, page 20.
JBS 6-DECADE ATTACK UPON OUR CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
https://archive.org/details/0906-combined-pdf-racism-and-the-john-birch-society-283-pages/mode/2up