A Brief History
On August 25, 1945, American Army Intelligence officer, Captain John Birch, was killed by communist revolutionaries in China a mere 10 days after the end of World War II. Birch is seen by many, especially hard corps right wing anti-communists, as the first martyr or victim of the Cold War between the totalitarian communist states and the democratic capitalistic nations (largely East vs. West).
Digging Deeper
Birch was the son of Christian missionaries and was born in India in 1918. Highly intelligent, hard working, and a dedicated patriot, Birch graduated Magna cum laude from Mercer University in 1939, a Baptist affiliated school. His idea of Christianity was rather strict and literal, with no tolerance for divergent ideas. Birch followed his conscience and studied to become a missionary, traveling to China in 1940, learning the language and volunteering for service in the US Army when the US joined World War II.
Considered too valuable for his knowledge of Mandarin and the ways of the Chinese to serve as a chaplain, Claire Chennault, commander of the famous Flying Tigers (American Volunteer Group) made Birch an intelligence officer instead.
When the war ended China was torn between revolutionary communists and the Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai Shek. The US military employed the former occupiers of China, the Japanese Army, to keep order while things were sorted out, a situation that infuriated the Chinese communists. While traveling with a small group of Americans, Chinese and Koreans Birch was stopped by a communist patrol that demanded he turn over his pistol. Birch refused, a confrontation ensued, and Birch was shot and killed, the other members of his party taken prisoner.
John Birch became a symbol of anti-communism as a martyr in the struggle against the atheistic socialists, and in 1958 the John Birch Society was formed by Robert Welch, Jr., an American businessman. The John Birch Society is a radical right wing organization that firmly resists the idea of wealth redistribution, “big government,” any hint of communism or socialism, government intervention in business or society and later became synonymous with resistance to the Civil Rights movement by condemning the Civil Rights Act of 1964. At first considered a far right but still sort of mainstream organization without undue stigma attached to membership, the John Birch Society became demonized as a radical right quasi racist outfit that national level politicians could not associate with and expect to get elected, though in some extremely conservative localities politicians can still afford to proudly claim membership. This shift in social acceptance happened rapidly after 1985 when the founder, Robert Welch, died.
Originally based in Massachusetts, the John Birch Society is now based in Wisconsin. It is hard to determine exactly how many members the JBS currently has, although the Southern Poverty Law Center estimates as many as 100,000 people may have been members during its peak in the 1960‘s, and numbers are believed to be somewhat less today. The JBS may well have gotten a surge in interest and membership due to the elections of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, and his policies such as “Obamacare” remain priority targets of the group.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Hefley, James and Marti Hefley. Secret File on John Birch. Hannibal Books, 1995.
Lautz, Terry. John Birch: A Life. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Mulloy, D. J. The World of the John Birch Society: Conspiracy, Conservatism, and the Cold War. Vanderbilt University Press, 2014.