I served as a Whitefoot at the BMA Camp in Cleveland GA in the summers of 1972 and 1973 while George Birch was there, and I helped him with wrangling the horses. My Daddy had gotten out of the JBS by that time, so I told him about it. Mr. Birch wanted me to understand that his murdered son John was no part of the society and that their family had no recourse to any means which might stop Robert Welch from using the name.
Welch thought that if he named the society after John Birch, then you might be curious about who he was and what happened to him. This would cause you to discover what the Chinese Communists were really like. That Welch thought this would actually happen seems naive. That he thought he had a right to take Birch’s name seems arrogant.
@BDParrish
Both George Birch and his wife were JBS members and they both praised the JBS so I’m not sure why he would have expressed any concerns to you — unless in later years the Birch family was concerned about some of Robert Welch’s more lunatic assertions——as happened with Fred and Charles Koch—both of whom resigned from the JBS.
Someone published a biography of John Birch a few years ago, very thoroughly researched. I don’t recall the author’s name.