John Birch Society
The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group.[1] Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist,[2][3] supports social conservatism,[2][3] and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, right-wing populist, and right-wing libertarian ideas.[12] Originally based in Belmont, Massachusetts, the JBS is now headquartered in Grand Chute, Wisconsin,[13] with local chapters throughout the United States. It owns American Opinion Publishing, Inc., which publishes the magazine The New American,[7] and it is affiliated with an online school called FreedomProject Academy.[14]
Abbreviation
JBS
December 9, 1958
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Grand Chute, Wisconsin, U.S.
Bill Hahn
Martin Ohlson
American Opinion Foundation
FreedomProject Academy
The society's founder, businessman Robert W. Welch Jr. (1899–1985), developed an organizational infrastructure of nationwide chapters in December 1958. The society rose quickly in membership and influence, and also became known for Welch's conspiracy theories.[15][16] His allegation that Dwight D. Eisenhower was a communist agent was especially controversial.[17][18] In the 1960s, the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. and National Review attempted to shun the JBS to the fringes of the American right.[19][16] JBS membership is kept private but is said to have neared 100,000 in the 1960s and 1970s, declining afterward.[3][20][21]
In the 2010s and 2020s, several observers and commentators argued that, while the organization's influence peaked in the 1970s, Bircherism and its legacy of conspiracy theories began making a resurgence in the mid-2010s,[21] and had become the dominant strain in the conservative movement.[22] In particular, they argued that the JBS and its beliefs shaped the Republican Party,[23][24] the Trump administration, and the broader conservative movement.[25][26][27]
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
The John Birch Society was established on December 9, 1958,[70] in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the conclusion of a two-day session of a group of 12 people led by Robert W. Welch Jr. Welch was a retired candy manufacturer from Belmont, Massachusetts, who had been a state Republican Party official and had unsuccessfully run in its 1950 lieutenant governor primary.[3][71][72] In 1954, Welch wrote the first book about John Birch (an Air Force intelligence officer and Baptist missionary), titled The Life of John Birch. He organized an anti-Communist society to "promote less government, more responsibility, and a better world".[71] He named his new organization in memory of Birch, saying that Birch was an unknown but dedicated anti-Communist, and the first American casualty of the Cold War.[73] Welch alleged that a Communist conspiracy within the American government had suppressed the truth about Birch's killing.[17]
