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The annual Rallies for G-d, Family, and Country were John Birch Society get-togethers (I used to be a JBS member).

Yes, you are correct. My parents were "Birchers" at the time as well as Young Americans for Freedom or "YAF" (WFBuckley's group). I believe today they are known as Young America's Foundation and are headed by Kate Obenshain among others

At those Rallies I attended each of those years (except 1963) I got to meet the authors Taylor Caldwell, Dan Smoot, E. Merrill Root, W. Cleon Skousen, and Hollywood actor, Walter Brennan ("Grampaw" in "The Real McCoys")

You'll undoubtedly recall JBS's familar rallying cry, "Will you be free in '73?" They concentrated on CFR/TriLatCom infiltration, and conspiracy exposure that later gave us stuff like what we see with Lew Rockwell, Ron Paul-types and to a degree, general Libertarianism.

They became more inwardly focused and they missed the emergence of Reagan. They effectively never saw him coming in 1980 long enough to help him get elected. They were too pissed at Reagan's Schweiker VP-pick as Reagan tried to tip the 1976 nomination (unsuccessfully) in his favor.

Birchers were left out in the cold once the "real conservative," Ronald Reagan, came to town. They were (as I was) to some degree suspicious of GHWBush as Reagan's VP pick, but Reagan knew what he needed to win, and effectively co-opted GHWB.

Interesting to see how JBS morphed and what they morphed into over time. Schuyler's authorship for American Opinion/ Review of the News at the dawn of the Carter era would have been to a substantially marginalized readership. Haven't seen an American Opinon bookstore anywhere in years.

What Wikipedia reports and fails to mention is that Schuyler's atheism was characteristic of his early writings in the 1920's and 30's and it was concurrent with his socialistic outlook at the time.

In his later writings he routinely inveighed against that which was anti-Christian -- particularly against Muslim thought and its inherent anti-Christian barbarism.

He believed MLK was phony as a Christian minister; very self-promomting, since the Christianity which he wrapped his anti-racism rhetoric in was primarily black-centered, and it was too easily co-opted (as one must admit it was) by race-baiters, race-rioters, and urban communists ("Black Panthers," etc.) Anyone remember the Communist "Black Power" fist salutes at the 1968 Olympics?

I believe it was Schuyler who once quipped, "Where ever Mr. Non-violoence showed up, violence invariably followed."

MLK was far from the perfect spokesman for mollifying race relations in this country and he had personal proclivities that many politicians and clergymen in the public eye too often tend to succumb to, unfortunately -- even as late in MLK's case as the night before MLK was gunned down, as he spent the night with women other than his wife.

Jesse Jackson was there. Ask him. He'll tell ya!

FReegards!

I don't remember the '73 slogan because I was only a member from 1977 to '81, concurrent with the Carter administration.

All I need to know about the Birch Society is that they supported Nationalist China, Spain, Portugal, Pinochet, Somoza, Rhodesia, and South Africa but didn't support Israel. They're the grandfathers of all the pseudo-pacifists who have suddenly discovered they're against war and the draft . . . now that Israel is considered the beneficiary.

I personally remember an article in American Opinion in which Lawrence Patton McDonald advocated reinstating the draft. I actually wrote a letter to protest, since drafting people is not only not mentioned in the Constitution but about as "big government" as you can get. I received a reply saying that my position was "libertarian" but theirs was "conservative."

Now that the Cold War is over that same JBS is now horrified at the very idea of a draft . . . since, you know, a draft would only serve the interests of the "neocons." Now ain't that a twist? Turns out they disapprove of the WWII draft as well. So . . . "Jewish wars" are bad, I gather.

I don't know if there are any American Opinion Bookstores any more. That magazine folded to be replaced by The New American, whose articles are sometimes posted here on FR.

I know a few other things, too. Like how John F. McManus (a really big honcho in the Society for decades) is also an anti-Semitic Feeneyite Catholic who addresses Feeneyite gatherings on the topic of "the Jewish menace." I also know they sold bowdlerized books by anti-Semitic authors, like Nesta Webster and Prince Michel Sturdza ("Zad Rust," author of Teddy Bare). Another one of their magazine writers, Frank Capell, also wrote for anti-Semitic publications on the side.

The JBS is basically the "blue lodge" of the anti-Semitic movement in America.

Ironically, considering your tag line, JBS founder Robert Welch (a Unitarian) was very much an evolutionist.

I forgot to respond to your comments about MLK in my last reply. The man was a typical “liberal chrstian” who denied all the basic dogmas of the religion he claimed to represent. Just check my posting history for my feelings on this subject.

They became more inwardly focused and they missed the emergence of Reagan. They effectively never saw him coming in 1980 long enough to help him get elected. They were too pissed at Reagan's Schweiker VP-pick as Reagan tried to tip the 1976 nomination (unsuccessfully) in his favor.

Birchers were left out in the cold once the "real conservative," Ronald Reagan, came to town. They were (as I was) to some degree suspicious of GHWBush as Reagan's VP pick, but Reagan knew what he needed to win, and effectively co-opted GHWB.

The Birchers weren't "left out in the cold"--they refused to come indoors. For some reason, they had some sort of beef against Reagan. In 1975, a local Birch leader wrote to me saying that my enthusiasm for Reagan was likely due to the left-wing atmosphere at the University of Southern California--which got me wondering what they consume at those Birch chapter meetings besides coffee and cookies. In the primary campaign a few months later, I couldn't get any Birchers to support Reagan. They chose to sit out the primary or vote for one of the also-rans like Walter Hollywood or Hannibal Caesar Burchette III--I'm not making these names up, they were on the GOP ballot in California.

In 1978, the Birchers came out against Proposition 13, tax limitation initiative that virtually all other conservatives enthusiastically supported. They then sat out the `1980 campaign and were never enthusiastic about him during his presidency.