Free Republic

A replica of a mildewed 14th- century scroll has been unfurled and displayed at a library in New York. An eagle clutching arrows and ribbons, on a tattered flag made around 1803, has just been restored and framed for viewing at a Philadelphia museum. Near Boston a museum exhibition decodes cryptic symbols like compasses and columns embossed on metal badges and embroidered onto aprons. That the public is now being enthusiastically shown these previously hidden-away items indicates that Freemasons in America are trying to shed their reclusive, somewhat fusty image. Tour guides at the groups’ lavishly ornamented lodges, mostly built...

For over 45 years the John Birch Society has disseminated poison into the American bloodstream by various methods: * a Speakers Bureau * American Opinion Bookstores * Robert Welch University* magazines (American Opinion, Review of the News, The New American)* a book publishing division* numerous front-groups* numerous article reprints * dozens of books and booklets* filmstrips, videotapes, audio cassettes* a website* and thousands members who promote JBS views all over the countryThis article is part of a series devoted to an in-depth analysis of the Birch Society. As a result of Freedom-Of-Information Act requests to the FBI and other agencies,...