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A decent history of the John Birch Society. Is it slanted, or biased? Well, that will depend on how you think politics and society in general should function.

In the before times (before Trump, because since we entered the Trumpocene era which seems forever ago , EVERYTHING is actually always about Trump) respect for others, forbearance, compromise, good manners, where things that might be applied to even the rough and tumble world of Politics. That is NOT how the John Birch Society rolls. But really, everything reported in here that sounds horrible and mean to what used to be “normal�� people, will actually seem great to a Bircher or a MAGA person. Because the John Birch Society shouted to the world they believed in wild conspiracies, like Eisenhower was a secret communist, or fluoridation was a communist plot to somehow hurt Americans.

So yeah, the author doesn’t view the Birchers sympathetically, BUT all he is doing is reporting on what they actually did, or wanted to do.

The society was created in the late 1950’s and while it is theoretically still around it mostly died out in the mid to late 1970’s. However with this book the author asserts that even though it’s reach was diminished, it solidified a winning style for ultra conservatives (now called just “conservatives��) which found that the special sauce of paranoia, meanness, self righteousness, and picking the right villains, was just waiting for the right time to be picked up my the next generation of right wing enthusiasts.

The language of violence pervaded society publications and rhetoric. Opponents were the personification of evil, anti-Americanism made flesh. The words pulsed with a raw vitriol �� ‘labor bosses�� where “tyrannical�� : society members were exhorted to fight “the White House Defense Department clique.�� The Bulletin characterized Birchers, in contrast as “a phalanx of tens of thousands of spears, which hurled simultaneously as one mighty weapon against any vulnerable spot on the Communist line.�� Pg 58

What few people at the time realized was that even as the society faded from public view (in the 1970s), its tactics, ideas, and rhetoric was being taken up by a mix of right wing groups that thought Ronald Reagan was not going far enough in pursuing their goals. Pg 212

It was a bit of bad timing for while the Birchers were definitely Christian, they were not able to cash in on the modern advantage of multiple megachurches acting as an ultra conservative propaganda network. Not part of this book...the super charged religious element was a change that happened just after the Birch society started to fade. The change being the churches feared losing tax exempt status if they resisted racial equality in their schools. Church fear of losing money acted as an accelerant on the conservative movement’s fire once they wrapped the racism in abortion abhorrence (this bit is my speculation from other sources).

Still, the paranoia of the JBS was ideological leavening in the doughy world of conservative politics.

Conservative Christians evolved into the Republican Party’s largest, most dependable voting bloc. The Birch Society’s religious proclivities, its apocalyptic rhetoric and faith in the end times, spoke to Christian activists who were growing concerned that the nation’s moral fiber was rotting from within, and that communists had corrupted American children with satanic ideas.Pg 213

It may just be a natural outcome of the way politics, power, and money work in America, OR if it was selective reporting on the author’s part, but it was weird to see that some political names cross decades in the conservative campaign

Council for National Policy CNP, co founded by LaHaye, was Birch adjacent with had ties with Coors family, Koch daddy and Birch founder Fred Koch, Amway executive Richard DeVoss, and also had the support of James Quayle (father of Dan Quayle) pg 215

LaHaye (of Left Behind books fame), Koch, DeVoss, Quayle, and later Romney...hooo boy

Quick side note; over the years I’ve heard “normal�� conservatives say The Birchers were pushed out of range by the republican elites like William F Buckley. Well if not complete hooey, maybe just mostly hooey. He and Goldwater thought the Eisenhower as a communist thing was nuts, but both of them wanted the rank and file on their side, and never called out the broader paranoia or conspiracism.

Buckley vowed "to make it absolutely clear that the National Review approves of the John Birch Society, while disapproving [of] Bob’s tendency to frame his entire position on he presumption endgame disloyalty" Pg 113


Now my nit picking ...Sometimes the author would have a bit is quotes, but then complete the story without quotes. Like he said, ‘Trump said “we will build a big beautiful wall�� ...to keep brown people out��

So I think he was saying in effect the reason for the wall was to keep brown people out, but he tacked that on without explanation right after the quoted part, as if it was what he actually said.

And this part about James Baker’s role in the Gore/Bush Florida recount..

[about the Bush Gore count in Florida]�� he brought in the ultimate pragmatist from his dad’s administration, James Baker, to get the job done. Within days of of the inconclusive election, a few dozen operative and congressional staffers descended on a ballot counting room in Miami-Dade County. Clad in blazers and button downs (hence the moniker “Brooks Brothers riot), they shouted, “Voter fraud�� and “Let us in�� and banged on doors and windows. One Democratic official caught in the melee said he felt that he was in physical danger. ��.The aggressive tactics worked. Miami-Dade scrapped their recount. Pg. 247

So he implies James Baker was the one who thought out the “Brooks Brothers riot��, but some moderate Googling had interesting details, but nothing that said it was James Baker’s idea. So why even put that in there?

First off, I am no fan of the NRA, but this one seem really weird.

Birchers were early pro-gun activists, urging the society’s home office to partner with the NRA. In 1964, one year after Oswald had used a gun purchased through the NRA to kill President Kennedy, Bircher Michael Carlucci pushed the society’s leadership "to preserver the 2nd amendment" Pg 223

I Googled the heck out of that one��.Oswald bought the rifle through the NRA? WOW. But I could not find anything even close, other than the NRA really like guns at the time and Oswald also wanted a gun.

Those kind of things really detract from what I think is pretty solid reporting.

Oh one more thing, he had end-notes but included multiple sources in one end-note so you didn’t know which reference applied to which bit of reporting. So you say, “that is interesting�� I want to know more...but the end-note has multiple links and the one I tried to look up I couldn’t find in any of the links.


IN CONCLUSION

The author assert the JBS laid the groundwork and figured out techniques that relied on paranoia, conspiracies, audacious bullying, even the threat of violence. All of which informed the modern conservative movement.

There was a JBS offshoot that points directly to justification taken up by the JAN 6 attackers.

[Donald Lobsinger formed Breakthrough]..Lobsinger echoed Bircher’s most potent messages. He lacerated the UN and the mass media (accusing them of “deliberate deceit of the American people��), and Breakthrough distributed a wanted poster offering $1,000 reward for a citizen’s arrest of moderate GOP governor George Romney, the perennial Birch nemesis. He told seven hundred sympathetic listeners at a Detroit area high school, “if it is going to take violence to save this country then violence it shall be�� Pg 181

And with the Romney reference this shows how politics has echoes from then to today.

Trump benefited from the rhetorical and ideological legacy that Birchers had bequeathed to subsequent generations. He stood on the shoulders of far-right wing giants... Pg 272

It was a vicious cycle: radicals drew still more radicals, and conspiracies attracted more extremists. Pg 281

I heard some political talking head recently analogize The John Birch Society to the scene with Marty McFly in Back to the future where he goes overboard with the hard rock guitar-ing for the 1950’s teen audience and says�� "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it."