OPINION — It is one thing to have an opinion, and an entirely different thing to make blatantly false accusations.

Yet, under the guise of his “opinion,” columnist Ed Kociela used your website to make demonstrably false charges against hundreds of thousands or even millions of wonderful American men and women of all races and creeds across America who belong to or support the John Birch Society.

I refer to Mr. Kociela’s June 14 piece headlined “On the EDge: The ‘alt-right’ attack on Sistas in Zion represents deeper rooted racism.” In this post, Mr. Kociela falsely claims that the John Birch Society represents “white nationalism.” Further, he dishonestly attempts to make a comparison between JBS and the Ku Klux Klan — something only an ignorant fool or a liar with an agenda and no moral scruples would try to do.

This is the epitome of dishonesty. For one, the John Birch Society has always welcomed people of all races and creeds , even back when the Democratic Party was literally sending KKK leaders to Congress. In fact, so determined were JBS leaders to keep racism out of the Society that, unlike in the Democratic Party, expressing any racist or anti-Semitic sentiments has always been grounds for immediate and permanent expulsion from JBS.

What the Birch Society actually represents is summed up well in its motto, “Less government, more responsibility, and – with God’s help – a better world.”

Our goal is simply to preserve the Constitution and the liberties it protects by educating Americans with the truth and exposing the forces that would subvert our Republic. That is it. Race plays no role in it whatsoever, which is why people of all races have joined the Society.

Those are just some of the many reasons that Ezra Taft Benson, the only cabinet secretary to serve two terms in the Eisenhower administration, praised the Society as “the most effective non-church organization in our fight against creeping socialism and Godless Communism.” Benson later went on to become the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, against which Kociela appears to have an ax to grind.

That the JBS has always been opposed to racism is proven in its 60-year record of publications, its many Jewish and black leaders going back to its founding in 1958, its well-known expulsion of racists even when they were members of Congress or wealthy donors, and much else. You can find videos of many of the Society’s black and Jewish leaders speaking about JBS and what it stands for on Youtube.

Even official investigations have proven this. For example, a California Senate Fact-Finding Committee dominated by Democrats came to the obvious conclusion that the Society was not and is not racist.

“The organization is open to people of all religions, all races, all political persuasions except those deemed subversive,” the official investigation found, adding that investigators found “much evidence to the effect that it [JBS] opposes racism in all forms.”

Mr. Kociela is being incredibly dishonest. If he is ignorant of the facts, then he has no business writing on these topics and should issue an apology immediately. If he wrote this article knowing the truth, that would make him a liar, which is even worse, and he should still issue an apology. Either way, he should be embarrassed, and your website should be as well. Shame on Mr. Kociela for this blatant dishonesty.

When this dishonesty was exposed, excuses were made by the editor suggesting that this was merely Mr. Kociela’s “opinion,” and therefore that this was legitimate.

How would Mr. Kociela feel if he were called a pedophile and then, as a defense, his accuser claimed that, while Kociela does not characterize himself as a pedophile – a term that, along with child molester and the like, has varying definitions – characterizations by opponents will vary. No doubt he would not be happy .

Mr. Kociela and your website should have the intellectual honesty and integrity to correct this vicious lie immediately.

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Mr. Frison, you probably have done research on Mr. Kociela so I may be stating the obvious to you. I apologize ahead of time. Mr. Kociela in my opinion is a die hard leftist with personal issues with any church and people of faith. Mr. Kociela definitely not only opines but make innuendos on a regular basis. It is indeed unfortunate in this day that people can get away with slandering others and be defended by main stream media. Good luck. Hope you get your apology; as they say, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

The Birch Society has an ambiguous record, at best, on race relations. They opposed the Civil Rights Act, and relentlessly, fought desegregation and Martin Luther King Jr., believing he was a communist stooge. What is not ambiguous is the JBS obsession with communist conspiracies. It is amusing that the author cites the fact that Mormon President Benson was “the only cabinet secretary to serve two terms in the Eisenhower administration,” when the society continuously, and ridiculously, accused Ike of being a communist and conspiring with the USSR. Over the decades since WWII, they have established themselves as paranoid kooks who see a communist behind every bush. While nothing that Ed Kociela wrote even remotely approaches the legal standard of slander, the people who owe us an apology are those who promote the blatantly false theories of the JBS.

Thank you, Chris June. It’s easy to see who’s a member of the JBS. Ezra Taft Benson’s actions against a sitting President were seditious — but look who supports him.

So it’s just another organization made up of right-wing loons and kooks?

There’s nothing ambiguous about the JBS record on race relations. You do realize that most Democrats also opposed the Civil Rights Act, right? So did William Buckley, the establishment’s favorite “conservative.” The most fervent JBS opponents of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were actually black. You can still find many of the videos they produced warning about the dangers on Youtube. So either you believe that blacks and the Democrats are racist, or your argument implodes. (At least for Democrats, many were and are racist). As a side note I will say that the JBS opposed the two statutes because they were unconstitutional (in the case of the VRA this was confirmed by SCOTUS recently when it struck down parts as unconstitutional). Nowhere does the Constitution grant the federal government the powers it usurped with those laws, which are today being exploited to force Christians to participate in homosexual “weddings.” JBS never opposed desegregation, only unconstitutional usurpation of power by the feds.

Do you deny that there was a communist conspiracy? If so, I urge you to open a history book. If you wonder how Welch and Benson came to that conclusion about Eisenhower, I encourage you to read The Politician. Ike gave massive aid to Stalin, helped put Castro and Mao in power, used US troops to ship anti-communist Soviet refugees from Europe back to be tortured and murdered by Stalin in Operation Keelhaul, etc etc.

Using Alinsky tactics (eg ridicule and childish name calling) only works on mental midgets. I assume most readers have the intellectual fortitude to see through your lack of facts, logic, and reason. In the meantime perhaps a jury can determine if Mr. Kociela’s libelous piece meets the legal standard for slander. Talking to an attorney now.

Maybe you can point to one false theory promoted by JBS while we wait? Please be sure to include actual evidence and/or facts rather than the silly insults in your previous comment.

Hahahaha I don’t care about anything else you said because it’s all BS, but Christians being forced to participate in homosexual weddings? What drugs are you on and how long does the high last?

A Christian shouldn’t perform homosexual weddings. No one is forcing a Christian to do these things. A Christian has a choice to leave their position and not perform the homosexual wedding. And they should make the choice to leave rather than perform a homosexual wedding. But I agree with theone (imagine that) that no one is forcing them.

We all have to make choices to keep our integrity and soul in tact.

There are so many non-sequiturs and misleading statements in your message that it would take more space than exists here to respond to all of them. I will point out just a few:

You “forget” to mention that Winston Churchill also supported Operation Keelhaul. Are you now going to tell us that HE was a Communist traitor?

2. Bill Buckley / Civil Rights Act / Our Civil Rights Movement

Many principled conservatives (including Senator Barry Goldwater) opposed civil rights legislation during the 1960’s. But unlike the Birch Society, they did not associate themselves with arguments created and disseminated by white supremacists and they did not praise KKK-supported politicians like the JBS did.

More importantly, those conservative opponents of civil rights legislation did NOT promote the basic JBS argument. JBS founder Robert Welch and the JBS used every means at their disposal (billboards, speakers, books, articles, radio interviews, etc) to de-legitimize and demonize our civil rights movement by trying to persuade Americans that the movement was Communist-created, Communist-dominated and “served only Communist purposes”.

J. Edgar Hoover pointed out during one of his speeches that:

“Let me emphasize that the American civil rights movement is not, and has never been, dominated by the communists—because the overwhelming majority of civil rights leaders in this country, both Negro and white, have recognized and rejected communism as a menace to the freedoms of all.” [J. Edgar Hoover speech, 12/12/64, Our Heritage of Greatness, pg 7 – Hoover speech before Pennsylvania Society and the Society of Pennsylvania Women; bold emphasis in original document on “not” and “never”] The JBS believed precisely the OPPOSITE.

In November 1966, Hoover received an inquiry from a self-identified JBS member who saw the above quote in a letter-to-the-editor of his local newspaper and he wanted to know if the quote was an accurate reflection of Hoover’s judgment both in 1964 and 1966. Hoover replied affirmatively and concluded: “This position remains essentially unchanged today.” [HQ file 62-104401, serial #3021, 11/15/66 Hoover reply to incoming Bircher inquiry]

Robert Welch and the JBS circulated totally false and inflammatory information which is why senior FBI officials within the FBI’s Domestic Intelligence Division described the JBS in internal memos as “right-wing extremist”, “irrational”, “irresponsible”, “fanatics” and “lunatic fringe”.

That is also why J. Edgar Hoover stated during a 1964 press conference that:

“Personally, I have little respect for the head of the John Birch Society since he linked the names of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the late John Foster Dulles, and former CIA Director Allen Dulles with communism.” [HQ 62-104401, #2381, 11/20/64 and HQ 100-114578-152, October 22, 1965 and 62-104401, #3865, 3/24/72.]

Incidentally, the JBS position on our civil rights movement has never changed.

For example: in the May 2008 JBS Bulletin, members were told:

“Just as the John Birch Society showed in the 1960’s that the communists basically ran both the civil rights movement and the KKK, the strategy was nothing new. The former was used to transfer power to Washington DC in the name of civil rights and the latter provided a pretext for transferring power to Washington. You cannot get a really good conflict started unless you control both sides of the argument.”

Does anybody reading this message know of ANY conservative organization in our country that believes the KKK was under the control or domination of the Communist Party? Does anybody know of ANY reputable conservative organization that believes (with the JBS) that our civil rights movement was a “Communist” enterprise?

This is why so many people describe the JBS as a racist organization — because the JBS has never had anything positive to say about ANY of our national civil rights organizations or anything positive about our civil rights leaders AND, even worse, the JBS welcomed racists (segregationists) into its ranks as members, as chapter leaders, as Coordinators, as writers for its publications, and even as National Council members.

Furthermore, there is nothing in the historical record to document how the Birch Society helped alleviate or end social injustice in our country. Instead, the JBS has always associated itself with the very people and institutions that created and maintained Jim Crow and segregation. This is the same JBS which scored the late U.S. Senator James O. Eastland of Mississippi as 96 (out of 100) on its “Conservative Index” (now known as Freedom Index). In other words, the JBS believed that Eastland correctly understood our Constitution and voted accordingly.

Sen. Eastland was a life-long white supremacist who sought and received KKK support for his election campaigns — which is kind of funny considering the above JBS reference to the KKK being controlled by Communists! Eastland also did everything in his power to thwart prosecution of KKK members and supporters who murdered civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964. That never even bothered the JBS.

Ernie uses the exact same false smears and innuendo that the lying media uses today against Trump and Trump supporters. Americans see through this now, as we know from the fact that Trump got elected.

So many logical fallacies and falsehoods and smears in your post it’s hard to know where to begin. Since Ernie apparently has infinite time I’ll just point out a few to show how utterly dishonest he is, then I will bow out and allow him to continue to copying and pasting his lies, cherry-picked facts, etc so he can show everybody how important JBS is and how we live rent free in his head 🙂

1) JBS did not have much positive to say about “our national civil rights organizations” because they were all seeking unconstitutional expansions of federal power. You know this very well. You also know that many black members of JBS articulated these facts very well. The fact that you don’t concede that when I know you know it proves you are a liar. You also know that even President Reagan knew this, as he explained in a letter to the Governor of NH (and JBS member) Thomson. But unlike JBS, which always stands on principle, Reagan, who knew King’s persona was “based on an image, not reality,” nevertheless agreed to sign the bill creating a holiday. ”On the national holiday you mentioned, I have the reservations you have, but here the perception of too many people is based on an image, not reality. Indeed to them, the perception is reality. We hope some modifications might still take place in Congress.” The President was asked whether he agreed with the charges that Dr. King had Communist associations and was a Communist sympathizer. He replied, ”We’ll know in about 35 years, won’t we?” ”There is no way that this Government should violate its word and open files that are now sealed,” he added. Maybe in your next rant about how JBS did not pay sufficient homage to your heroes, you can offer the REST of the story? You know what they say in court about the WHOLE truth, right? Why does Ernie always have to avoid the whole truth? Because if people knew it, his deception would fall apart.

2) The JBS was not founded to alleviate social injustice, it was founded to protect our freedom, which helps alleviate social injustice more than just about anything because it leads to charity, massive wealth creation, and more. With that said, every Bircher I know is very active in their church or synagogue or temple helping alleviate social problem such as poverty. In fact Birchers are more active alleviating social problems than anyone I know. Enire know this very well and yet he chooses to lie about it, proving, yet again, that he is a liar with an agenda and will do anything to defame JBS. Frankly it smacks of desperation or possibly even a dangerous obsession. Hopefully not along the lines of James Hodgkinson….

3) The Conservative Index, as Ernie knows well, was formulated by grading select votes on whether they were constitutional or not. How Sen. Eastland would have done was never considered when the votes were selected. Not a single one of those votes was germane to Eastland’s views on race, the KKK, or anything else–the JBS was only interested in whether his votes were constitutional. Everyone can still find the Freedom Index online today and can see exactly how this process works: https://www.thenewamerican.com/freedom-index Check out whether your congressman obeys the Constitution. If he doesn’t, remove him! As long as we’re talking about KKK Senators, maybe we can talk about Hillary Clinton’s “friend and mentor” Sen Robert Byrd, a Democrat and a former KKK leader. Now THAT would be relevant, but Ernie doesn’t like to talk about those things because it interferes in his agenda and exposes his arguments as totally fraudulent and logically inconsistent.

Dear reader, now that you have seen the way Ernie tries to mislead you and rely on your ignorance about these matters to make his case, who are you going to trust? He will certainly follow this post with a never-ending stream of the same dishonesty and deception, copied and pasted from his arsenal of cherry-picked JBS attacks, but now that you know his tactics, I trust that reasonably intelligent people will be able to see right through his fraud.

This will be my last post because, as a member of the John Birch Society, I have a country to save and have no more time to waste on petty, deceitful people who have nothing better to do than lie and deceive because of some perceived slight decades ago. God bless America! And God bless the John Birch Society!

Virtually everything you have said is false. Here is one quick example: “You do realize that most Democrats also opposed the Civil Rights Act, right?” Quick lookup of the vote totals reveals that Democrats voted FOR the act by a ratio of 2:1, in fact a higher ratio than Republicans. Only a majority of southern Democrats voted against the bill, and those Democrats all changed over to the Republican party in subsequent years. This is typical of JBS arguments–take a small truth that favors your position and exaggerate it beyond any reality to demonize your opponent. Communist conspiracy? No, just deluded religious crackpots still living in fear of change.

“Talking to an attorney now.” Yeah, we really believe that.

Thanks desert girl. I did indeed check him out, seems like one sick puppy. Typical of die hard leftists, they will lie, cheat, steal and destroy to achieve their wicked goals and attack good people who stand in their way. His bigotry against people of faith is also clear. At least St. George News was willing to print my response but I can’t imagine why anyone would publish the obvious lies and poorly written propaganda this Kociela writes.

I have a challenge for Revamadeus:

(1) Name two individuals who have been sharply critical of the Birch Society (and you DO NOT agree with their views) but, nevertheless, you are prepared to acknowledge that they are intelligent, decent, thoughtful, principled, and patriotic Americans. Name two!

(2) Give us the name of ANY author during the past 58 years who has written a critical book or a critical book chapter or a critical article about the John Birch Society which you acknowledge to be FAIR and ACCURATE criticism.

A quick read of the JBS’s Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society shows the group hawking multiple false conspiracy theories in its 60-year history. It was FAKE NEWS before FAKE NEWS was cool.

The Birch Society has consistently proven to be correct and years or even decades ahead of its time. Here is a speech that JBS Founder Robert Welch gave in 1958 when JBS was founded predicting exactly what has happened over the intervening decades: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQiaDtQepJA People can decide for themselves if they think Welch was correct. It’s pretty obvious.

I find it interesting that after the previous lies and smears against JBS collapsed, people (Mr. Kociela hiding under a fake name?) are posting all sorts of other new lies. They will be just as easy to debunk and their authors will be left looking like dishonest fools.

Here are the 10 items Welch lays out in that video, for those too lazy to do their own homework:

1.) Greatly expanded government spending for every conceivable means of getting rid of ever larger sums of American money as wastefully as possible.

2.) Higher, and then, much higher taxes.

3.) An increasingly unbalanced budget, despite higher taxes.

4.) Wild inflation of our currency.

5.) Government control of prices, wages and materials, supposedly to combat inflation.

6.) Greatly increased socialistic controls over every operation of our economy and every activity of our daily lives. This is to be accompanied, naturally and automatically, by a correspondingly huge increase in our bureaucracy and in both the cost and reach of our domestic government.

7.) Far more centralized power in Washington, with practical elimination of our state lines.

8.) The steady advance of federal aid to and control over our educational system leading to complete federalization of our public education.

9.) A constant hammering into the American consciousness of the horror of modern warfare; the duties and the absolute necessity of peace — peace always on communist terms, of course.

10.) The consequent willingness of the American people to allow the steps of appeasement by our government, which amount to a piecemeal surrender of the rest of the free world and of the United States itself.

It’s hard to argue with the accuracy of these. Due to consistent push back from conservatives they’re still working on #5, but other than that they all border on the prophetic, especially when you have the historical perspective to realize what the world was like back then and how far we’ve fallen.

I’m not a JBS member, but it’s clear which history has proven right (hint: it’s not Ed or Bender).

Wow what an insightful guy considering the Founding Fathers said all that and then some, oh I don’t know, a 125 years before he did. Super impressed how he took old knowledge and stirred the pot with it. Man you guys really have something here………………………………………………………

Did Welch also predict snow in the winter and the regular rise of the morning sun? Pro tip for you Brian, should you ever wish to enter the prophet business, keep your predictions vauge and mostly already true.

What about all the numerous times when Robert Welch was totally wrong?

More importantly, what about all the times when the Birch Society circulated false information which not only attacked and defamed entirely decent, honorable, patriotic Americans but also sought to convince Americans to adopt viewpoints which actually harmed our country?

How do you assign proper weight and significance to those examples versus evaluating abstract intellectual arguments about various public policy matters?

With respect to Mr. Frison’s comments about what the California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities (CSFS) stated about the JBS in its 1963 Report: Mr. Frison “forgets” to mention several very important items:

1. First, that report was completed in 1961 although not published until 1963. The Subcommittee report was based upon affidavits submitted by numerous JBS members in California as well as literature published by the JBS up to that time.

2. The Subcommittee did not investigate the activities of the JBS outside California and it could not possibly know (at that time) how the JBS would later associate itself with well-known racists when the Society inaugurated its anti-civil rights movement campaigns (and its front group TACT) in later years.

3. Calif State Senator Hugh M. Burns (the former Chairman of the CSFS) was asked about the JBS in 1963, and he described it as…

“…an extremist group, and, like extremist groups from time immemorial, plagues our country. Extremists from the Know-Nothings on have served no useful purpose.”

When a conservative Sacramento newspaper asked Burns about the 1963 CSFS Report which Birchers always cite as “clearing” the JBS, Burns replied:

“As I have stated before, the report is highly critical of Robert Welch, making mention of his historical ignorance, his belonging to an organization started by Fabian Socialists, his organizing the Society along Communist lines, and his extreme statements against distinguished Americans. Since the report was first prepared, other information has been brought to our attention, which material — until further investigated and reported — makes highly undesirable and improper any use of the subcommittee’s name for seeming exoneration of the John Birch Society.”

The 1963 CSFS Report makes an important characterization of the JBS on page 53. It describes the JBS as being “sustained on a high degree of emotionalism” and the Report predicted that as the Society increased in numbers…

“…there is an increasing probability that among the new members will be a fringe of unstable, chauvinist people who are prone to accept as accurate the most irresponsible charges of Communist activity. This is the sort of person who is quick to accuse an innocent liberal of being a Communist, and of forever damning anyone who was trapped into joining a Communist front group. Some of these members have been making accusations that are impossible to sustain, and as a result have found themselves facing legal actions for libel or slander.”

In its 1965 Report, the CSFS updated its 1963 findings on the JBS. The Committee confirmed what it predicted about the JBS in 1963:

“It has, as we predicted, been beset by an influx of emotionally unstable people, some of whom have been prosecuted in the courts for their hoodlum tactics in disrupting meetings and heckling speakers with whom they disagree…We are more critical of the Society now than we were [in the 1963 Report] for the reason that it has, in our opinion, merited such criticism by reason of its activities as exemplified by the irresponsible articles by a member of its National Council, the re-publication of The Politician, the inexcusable actions of its minority of irresponsible members, and dangerous increase of anti-Semitism among a minority of the membership.”

On page 174, the CSFS concluded:

“According to reliable sources, we would estimate that the Society has grown so rapidly that it has attracted a lunatic fringe that is now assuming serious proportions. We find very little anti-Negro sentiment among the members, but we do find a growing incidence of anti-Semitism, although the Society as a whole is far from anti-Semitic.”

Very early after the Birch Society came into existence, our FBI recognized the hysteria and problems caused by the JBS as a result of the JBS circulating entirely false accusations regarding the extent of “Communist influence and control” within our nation’s institutions.

By memo dated October 2, 1961, J. Edgar Hoover told Attorney General Robert Kennedy about a 9/27/61 briefing on communism given at FBI headquarters to the American Bar Association Committee on Communist Tactics, Strategy and Objectives.

The Attorney General praised this activity and he then asked J. Edgar Hoover to consider a proposal for expanding such instruction to include FBI seminars on communism at FBI field offices for high school students and college freshmen “to create a nucleus of informed students to help offset and combat the Communist drive for young members and to start the development of responsible and informed community leaders.”

The idea was to set up such seminars along the lines of what the Bureau did at the FBI National Academy for law enforcement officers from around the country. The Bureau’s Domestic Intelligence Division subsequently analyzed this proposal in a 10/28/61 memo. The memo contains a paragraph entitled “Arguments in Favor” – copied below. Notice the derogatory reference to the JBS.

“Unquestionably there are apparent arguments in favor of such a procedure, including the reaching of a large segment of the American public during their formative years and thus thwarting to a great extent current recruiting drives among youths by the Communist Party USA, and combating the growth of extreme rightists as exemplified by the John Birch Society.” (FBI HQ file 62-106364, #72, 10/28/61 memo from Mr. Sullivan to Mr. Belmont, page 1)

FBI Director Hoover authorized several senior FBI employees to use their influence with the American Legion’s National Americanism Commission in order to combat the JBS and similar right-wing extremist organizations. The Legion assisted the FBI with neutralizing the malicious falsehoods circulated by the JBS which scared Americans into believing total absurdities.

In December 1961, J. Edgar Hoover met with Charles Bacon, the National Commander of the American Legion. During this meeting, Hoover expressed his concern over “extremists of the right-wing and the harm such groups were doing to our fight against communism” and he specifically referred to extreme right-wing attacks upon FBI speakers who attempted to correct falsehoods disseminated by the JBS and similar groups regarding “the extent of infiltration into the clergy.”

In November 1970, Hoover met with Alfred B. Chamie, the new National Commander of the American Legion. During this meeting, according to one FBI memo:

“The Director made mention of the John Birch Society and noted that this organization’s leadership has misled some good and well intended people. In this regard the Director cited the scurrilous allegations that Robert Welch made some years ago concerning the loyalty of the late General Eisenhower and the late John Foster Dulles, as examples of the type of disgraceful activity in which the leadership of the John Birch Society has been known to indulge.”

At the very time that the JBS was claiming in its annual “Scoreboard” issue of its magazine (American Opinion) that the United States was 60-80% “under Communist influence and control”, J. Edgar Hoover responded to inquiries about that JBS claim by declaring:

“The Communist Party in this country has attempted to infiltrate and subvert every segment of our society, but its continuing efforts have not achieved success of any substance. Too many self-styled experts on communism, without valid credentials and without any access whatsoever to classified factual data regarding the inner workings of the conspiracy, have engaged in rumor-mongering and hurling false and wholly unsubstantiated allegations against persons whose views differ from their own. This is dangerous business. It is divisive and unintelligent, and makes more difficult the task of the professional investigator.” [Hoover statement in February 5, 1962 letter to Mrs. W.R. Brown of Bountiful Utah; also published as letter-to-editor in Tri-Cities Daily newspaper of Sheffield, Alabama on Sunday March 31, 1963. Copy of Hoover letter in FBI HQ file 94-1-369, serial #1676].

So—how does a fair-minded American properly evaluate the grave consequences of believing the falsehoods circulated by the JBS — when compared to what Brian Revamadeus claim are examples of the JBS being “proven correct”???

As usual Ernie is wrong and deceitful. 1) None of the comments you posted about the California report are relevant to the issue at hand, which was a blatantly false allegation against the JBS. Thank you for confirming that this was all accurate and that even though they cleared JBS of the false charges regurgitated by Kociela, they did not like the JBS. If California Dems like JBS, we’d have a problem, lol! If you believe Hoover’s claims about the communist infiltration of America, you clearly have been under a rock for 50 years, as many of the planks of the communist party have been implemented in America (not by accident) and hundreds of Soviet agents we now know were operating at high levels in government and society (see Venona papers). Perhaps Hoover did not understand the extent of the problem, and perhaps Welch was wrong to trust his judgment.

I will be copying and pasting lots of stuff as well:

Formed by Robert Welch in December 1958, The John Birch Society takes its name from the legendary World War II Army Captain John Birch. The organization’s overall goal, never altered in the 50-plus years of its existence, has always been to create sufficient understanding amongst the American people about both their country and its enemies, so that they could protect freedom and ensure continuation of the nation’s independence.

Always an education and action organization, the Society has never deviated from its opposition to communism and any other form of totalitarianism, certainly including the steady drift toward total government currently arising from within our own shores. But the positive promise of what can be built in an atmosphere of freedom has always been more of a motivation for members than any negative fear of what must be opposed.

While the Society has always focused on combating — or occasionally applauding — actions taken by government, the organization was also built on a moral foundation. Its motto proclaims the long-range goal of “Less government, more responsibility, and – with God’s help – a better world.” How much “less” government? Officials point to the U.S. Constitution and claim that adherence to its many limitations on power would result in the federal government being 20 percent its size and 20 percent its cost.

As for “more responsibility,” the Society insists that the Ten Commandments should guide all personal and organizational conduct. Agreeing with numerous pronouncements of our nation’s Founders, Society members believe that national freedom cannot long endure without moral restraint.

Soon after its creation, enemies discovered the Society’s potential to arouse and inform a generally sleeping population. At that point, there arose a totally unfair and withering smear campaign painting the organization and its members with an array of nasty and completely false charges, none of which ever had any validity.

With a membership made up of Americans of all races, colors, creeds, and national origins, the Society is currently enjoying a surge in activity, a large growth in acceptance, and increased hope for a future marked by less government and more responsibility. It is that combination that surely will, with God’s help, lead to the better world desired by all men and women of good will.

Remarkably, the membership of The John Birch Society has had three Medal of Honor recipients within its ranks (John William Finn, Col. Lewis Millet, and Col. Mitchell Paige), now all deceased.

Why are there smear attacks on The John Birch Society?-

There will always be those who oppose any constitutional organization and attempt to discredit its legitimacy. The smear attacks originated in Moscow, USSR, and started with a relentless campaign in the February 25, 1961 issue of People’s World, the official newspaper of the Communist Party on the West Coast. The smear campaign was subsequently picked up by Time magazine and the rest of the mainstream media later in 1961. Most of the present-day smears on The John Birch Society stem from the misinformation included in those 1961 attacks.

You should join because The John Birch Society knows the problems, has the constitutional solutions, has the most experience in grassroots organizing, and has made great leaps forward in educating and activating millions in its over 50 years of existence. JBS members work hard to help preserve and restore our God-given rights, the proper limitations on government as stated in the Constitution, and the prosperity that the Founding Fathers worked toward for all Americans.

Our success is measured through our members’ accomplishments. They understand the urgency of creating an educated electorate to restore and preserve our freedoms. This involves grass-roots organizing and educating key decision makers, community leaders, elected officials, business owners, clergy, and other concerned citizens.

We have won many victories through the strength of grass-roots organizing:

We defended the Constitution by blocking and rescinding calls for a Constitutional Convention. Members did this by educating state legislators about its dangers and getting them to vote. Just six members in Oklahoma were able to stop NAFTA Super Highway by educating one legislator, who then educated his fellow representatives to vote against it. All across America, members defend property rights by stopping Agenda 21 in their local communities Members in dozens of states have influenced state representatives and senators regarding legislation that promotes the views and goal of JBS.

“A constant hammering into the American consciousness of the horror of modern warfare”?? And you think that is a bad thing? Clearly, you never served in the military.

” Wild inflation of our currency”?? You are quite ignorant of basic economics. Our inflation rate has averaged low single digits for over 35 years, and our highest inflation since WWII was about 14% in 1980, nothing close to “wild.” Also, wage and price controls were only briefly instituted during the Nixon administration with disastrous results, nothing like it since. Taxes?? Our current tax burden is the lowest since the early 1950’s. Can you ever get anything right, Brian?

The JBS has never been “correct” by any normal standard for truth and accuracy. Below I present two very significant examples. By way of preface, keep in mind that when the JBS or its surrogates have been forced to defend their defamatory accusations in a courtroom environment, more often than not, they have lost. The most famous example being when Chicago lawyer Elmer Gertz sued the publishing arm of the Birch Society because a JBS magazine article falsely described Gertz as a “Communist fronter” and a “Leninist” who was engaged in a “conspiracy against Chicago police.”

After 14 years of litigation, including two different jury trials, numerous appeals, and review by the U.S. Supreme Court, the JBS paid Gertz $100,000 in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages for malice. Punitive damages are only allowed when “malice” can be shown. Malice, in legalese, refers to “reckless disregard for truth” arising from evil intent and a desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering.

As one Appeals Court observed about the JBS article on Gertz:

“There was more than enough evidence for the jury to conclude that this article was published with utter disregard for the truth or falsity of the statements contained in the article about Gertz.” [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 81-2483, Elmer Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 6/16/82, page 20].

Another example of how the Birch Society attacked and defamed entirely honorable, decent, patriotic Americans is illustrated by Robert Welch’s comments to the first meeting of the JBS National Council — which was held in Chicago in January 1960.

During that meeting, Welch told his National Council members that:

“In the Senate, there are men like Stephen Young of Ohio, and Wayne Morse of Oregon, McNamara of Michigan, and Clifford Case of New Jersey and Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and Estes Kefauver of Tennessee and John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, whom it is utter folly to think of as just liberals. Every one of those men is either an actual Communist or so completely a Communist sympathizer or agent that it makes no practical difference…”

BY CONTRAST, here is the text of J. Edgar Hoover’s telegram to Mrs. Estes Kefauver upon the death of her husband:

“Please accept my deepest sympathy in the passing of your husband. This is a great shock to me and to his many friends throughout the nation and the world. While words are most inadequate on such an occasion, I hope you may gain some consolation from knowing that his outstanding contributions to the welfare of his country and his deep concern for his fellow man will long serve as a memorial to him. His achievements and devotion to duty as a public servant are a special tribute to his statesmanship. His passing creates a void which our nation can ill afford and is a great loss to all mankind. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. J. Edgar Hoover” [HQ 62-77208, #108, 8/10/63 Hoover telegram to Mrs. Estes Kefauver, Washington DC]

A notation on Bureau file copy of the telegram text is as follows:

“Senator Kefauver was a very close friend of the Director and the FBI. He was on the Special Correspondents’ List on a first-name basis.”

The Birch Society also attacked and defamed Dr. Harry Overstreet, author of the 1958 book, “What We Must Know About Communism”

JBS POSITION on OVERSTREET’S BOOK:

“…visibly designed to get your confidence with the first three quarters of its contents, and then in the last quarter to sell you the exact current Communist line.” [Robert Welch: What Is the John Birch Society?, 1970, page 18].

“Another generation–if we are still free–may well remember the Overstreets’ ‘What We Must Know About Communism, as a stupendous attempt that was designed to soften us at the very hour of our crisis…because the book attempts to make palatable certain notions which would, if accepted by large numbers of Americans, render us helpless in the face of the onslaught of World Communism.” [Edward Janisch, “What We Must Know About Overstreet”, American Opinion magazine, October 1959, pg 44].

FBI POSITION: “I do hope that your fine book ‘What We Must Know About Communism’ will enjoy excellent sales and wide reading throughout 1959. We need more and more people like yourselves who will devote their nationally recognized academic talents to the exposure and ultimate defeat of the menace of world communism.” [J. Edgar Hoover letter to Overstreet, 01/21/59; HQ 100-114575-95].

Unknown to Welch and the JBS, was the fact that the Bureau’s most knowledgeable expert about the Communist movement in our country (i.e. the FBI’s Chief Inspector) assisted Overstreet with the writing of his book!

NOTE: The Chief Inspector also wrote many of the FBI’s monographs which were used to train FBI Agents about the communist movement and he gave annual speeches to various civilian and military audiences where the persons attending required a security clearance (such as his annual speech at West Point Military Academy).

The FBI’s assistance to Overstreet consisted of loaning public source material from FBI files and the Chief Inspector spending “approximately one night each week (7:00pm to about 11:00pm) during the winter months…devoted to reading and analyzing the materials the Overstreets were preparing.” [HQ 100-114575-90, September 19, 1958, and 100-114575-88, October 1, 1958, William C. Sullivan to Alan H. Belmont].

In another memo, the Chief Inspector (who, incidentally, later became Assistant Director in charge of the FBI’s Domestic Intelligence Division) states that “while working with the Overstreets on this book I purposely had them direct 95% of their thinking to the world communist movement believing this would best supplement the Director’s book which was directed almost 100% to the communist movement in the United States.” [HQ 100-114575-92, November 25, 1958, Sullivan to Belmont].

A formal review of the Overstreet book was prepared at the Bureau in October 1958 after Harry sent a copy to Hoover inscribed from both him and his wife as follows:

“To J. Edgar Hoover — With personal gratitude for what you have superbly done for all of us.”

The review concluded that “this new book represents cogent advice to the thinking public. It reflects ideas common to the thinking which has gone on in the Bureau for many years.” It also was described as a “welcome new aid” in combating Communism. [HQ 100-114575-91, October 1, 1958, W.C. Sullivan to Alan H. Belmont].

Robert Welch observed that the JBS article on Overstreet in the October 1959 issue of American Opinion magazine “showed the blatant falsehoods to which Harry Overstreet has resorted in connection with his earlier and continuing close affiliations with Communists and support of Communist purposes.” [Robert Welch: What Is The John Birch Society?, 1970, page 18].

FBI POSITION ABOUT OVERSTREET “I have seen the interesting article about Mrs. Overstreet and you which appeared in the December 3, 1958 issue of the ‘Northern Virginia Sun’. It is always a pleasure to read about good friends because it serves as a reminder of happy associations. It is good to see your fine work recognized in this fitting manner, and your many friends in the FBI join me in sending our best wishes.” [J. Edgar Hoover letter to Overstreet 12/5/58; HQ 100-114575-93]

and when Harry passed away, J. Edgar Hoover sent Mrs. Overstreet this telegram:

“I was deeply saddened to learn of Dr. Overstreet’s passing and want you to know you have my deepest sympathy. Words certainly are inadequate at a time like this but I hope you will derive some measure of comfort from knowing that others share your sorrow…You can be justifiably proud of the many contributions which he made to his country and the high esteem in which he is held.” [J. Edgar Hoover telegram to Bonaro Overstreet; HQ 100-114575-195, August 19, 1970]

So much for Revamadeus’s assurances that “The JBS has consistently proven to be correct…” !

Additional information about grave errors made by the JBS, based primarily upon FBI investigative files as well using other sources normally recommended as knowledgeable, reliable and authoritative by the JBS may be seen here: https://sites.google.com/site/ernie124102/jbs-1

So that’s basically a really long way of saying that 1) Ed Kociela was wrong and 2) You have an unhealthy obsession with demonizing the JBS and cherry-picking facts along with too much time on your hands. 3) You like FBI files, unless they confirm what JBS says or support the JBS, such as all the memos sent to Hoover by Benson about Eisenhower outlining why he thought Welch was right. Maybe you could copy and paste those on the next article about JBS?

With respect to Revamadeus’s comments about FBI files:

1. There is no FBI file which (as you suggest) “confirms” what the JBS says.

When I started my research in 1981, I assumed that FBI files would tend to support the arguments made by Robert Welch and the JBS. Imagine my shock, therefore, when I discovered the precise opposite

2. The primary reason I wanted to see FBI files about the Birch Society and about JBS-related subject matters is precisely because JBS members had always told me that they recognized Hoover and the FBI as our nation’s indisputable authority re: internal security matters generally and about the communist movement in particular. Then the FBI told me that I was the first and only person to request and receive the entire FBI HQ main file on the JBS (62-104401) which is 12,000 pages.

I always thought Birchers would welcome the opportunity to compare what they believed to what was in a previously unknown (but respected) source of information — but I was totally wrong. They were immediately hostile (just like Revamadeus).

Here are some representative statements made by the JBS about Hoover and the FBI under his direction:

JBS Bulletin, July 1961, p 11 “But we have been equally emphatic at all times in expressing our confidence in J. Edgar Hoover and in the FBI under his direction.”

Robert Welch 11/20/64 letter to J. Edgar Hoover after seeing Boston newspaper article regarding Hoover’s criticisms of Welch at an 11/18/64 press conference:

“I can only hope that in time I may still earn your respect, simply by continuing to put all that I am and that I have into the same fight as your own. With all good wishes to you in the meantime, for your continued great service to our country, I am, Sincerely, Robert Welch” [FBI HQ file 62-104401, serial #2381, 11/20/64 letter by Welch]

Hattiesburg MS American, 5/5/65, p4 = “John Birch Society Representative Discusses Talk He Will Make Tonight” re Reed Benson (the National PR Director of the JBS):

“Benson praised the dedication of J. Edgar Hoover who he said is the foremost authority on Communism. ‘I fear and tremble at thought of the day when he will be out of the FBI’ Benson said.”

Albuquerque NM Journal, 3/22/66, p1, = “John Birch Lecturer” re Julia Brown (former FBI informant within CPUSA):

“We must demand full support for the great American, J. Edgar Hoover.”

American Opinion (JBS magazine), October 1966: “The Wisdom and Warning of J. Edgar Hoover”:

Hoover is described as “the government’s top authority on Communism. His patriotism, integrity, devotion to duty, and consistent efficiency are well known…Had we been wise enough to heed his clear words of warning over the years, we would not now be faced with such a monstrous conspiracy…God bless J. Edgar Hoover!”

Robert Welch letter to Hoover asking for permission to publish book with Hoover comments on communism:

“Mr. Welch advised he had the greatest admiration for the Director and that the captioned book was intended as an instrument against communism. He said he felt the statements on the subject from Mr. Hoover would be taken as statements from the world’s greatest authority on the matter of communism.” [FBI HQ file 62-104401, #3148; 6/28/67 airtel from SAC Boston to J. Edgar Hoover concerning contact made by Douglas C. Morse, Managing Editor of Western Islands Publishers.]

Review of the News (JBS magazine), 6/27/78, pp 31-44: = John Rees: “J Edgar Hoover Was Right: A Review of FBI Documents Under the Freedom of Information Act” and Review of the News, 9/5/79, pp 31-44: John Rees: “They’re Out To Destroy The FBI”

John Birch Society Website 8/19/93: Robert W. Lee: “Assassinating J. Edgar Hoover”

“If it is true that a person’s character can be judged as precisely by the enemies he earns as by the friends he makes, the character of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover must be rated high indeed…J. Edgar Hoover had, and obviously still has, the right enemies. They continue to stand, in their own peculiar way, as a special tribute to his character, his patriotism, and those ‘social values of home’ which he espoused.”

BUT NOW — Birchers like Revamadeus don’t want anybody to know what FBI investigative files reveal about the total falsehoods disseminated by the JBS.

Unlike Revamadeus, I have the entire FBI file on Mr. Benson and I also have seen the internal memos written about Benson by FBI officials. I also have copies of the letters written by Benson to Hoover and Hoover’s replies. NONE of them support JBS arguments. In fact, after Benson associated himself with the JBS point of view, Hoover and the FBI concluded that Benson had been seduced by right-wing extremist propaganda.

There are many examples in FBI files where individuals who were supportive of Hoover and the FBI received cordial replies from Hoover but notations appearing on the Bureau file copies of those letters reveal the actual hostile attitude of senior FBI employees toward those Birch supporters. Often, senior FBI officials (including Hoover) wrote extremely caustic handwritten notes on the Bureau file copies.

One of the clearest examples concerns former FBI Special Agent W. Cleon Skousen who was a JBS supporter and, in fact, he was a paid speaker under the auspices of the Society’s American Opinion Speaker’s Bureau. The JBS falsely described Skousen in the January 1968 issue of the John Birch Society Bulletin, page 1, as “for many years a top aide to J. Edgar Hoover”.

The actual position of the FBI regarding Skousen’s post-FBI activities is as follows:

“The activities of Skousen are well known to the Bureau…In recent years he has been aligned closely with the extreme right-wing such as the John Birch Society and has been characterized as an ‘unprincipled racketeer in anticommunism’ who is ‘money-mad’ and who is doing everything and anything to exploit the subject of anticommunism. Bureau files reveal Skousen has always been a strong supporter of the Bureau and the Director; however, he has not hesitated to trade on his former association with the Bureau in order to achieve stature as a writer and lecturer on anticommunism. In view of this, it is not felt we should acknowledge his favorable comments about Mr. Hoover.” [HQ 62-104401-2280, 10/8/64 memo from M.A. Jones to C. DeLoach.]

“As you know, we frequently receive inquiries from the public regarding Skousen’s qualifications to speak with authority on the subject of communism. In view of his obvious efforts to capitalize on his former Bureau association, I feel that it would be well for us to take positive measures to clarify the Bureau’s position in regard to Skousen whenever we receive public inquiries concerning him. I feel, for example, that in addition to stating that his views are his own, that we should also add in correspondence concerning him that he was not regarded as any authority on communism while employed with the FBI. That is certainly a true statement and it might serve in some measure to prevent Skousen from using the FBI’s name for his own personal gain.” [HQ 67-69602, #338; 1/2/63 memo from W.C. Sullivan to A.H. Belmont.]

“He has been making numerous speeches around the country in which he describes himself as a former ‘top aide’ to the Director. He did not hold such a position and it is felt we should set the record straight to those inquiring that he was not a ‘top aide’ “ [HQ 94-47468, #88; 8/22/68 memo from G.E. Malmfeldt to Mr. Bishop, captioned “Former Special Agent Now Representing Himself As Former ‘Top Aide’ to the Director”.]

Lastly, Revamadeus does what most Birchers do when they confront somebody who knows more than they do about JBS history. Keep in mind that Revamadeus and his supporters have never done so much as one nanosecond of independent research into the JBS. Instead, they just regurgitate every syllable which the JBS publishes about itself.

When Birchers confront someone who has overwhelming verifiable factual evidence which they cannot refute — they always resort to ad hominem attacks and insults (see Revamadeus and Mr. Frison’s messages). THEN, they abruptly withdraw from the debate by claiming they don’t have time to respond to the factual evidence presented by knowledgeable critics.

Revamadeus presents a flawless example of how Birchers merely copy and paste whatever falsehoods the JBS tells them to believe.

According to the JBS (and the Rev):

“The smear attacks originated in Moscow, USSR, and started with a relentless campaign in the February 25, 1961 issue of People’s World, the official newspaper of the Communist Party on the West Coast. The smear campaign was subsequently picked up by Time magazine and the rest of the mainstream media later in 1961. Most of the present-day smears on The John Birch Society stem from the misinformation included in those 1961 attacks.”

This is standard JBS mythology. Here is the REALITY:

LONG BEFORE the February 1961 article in People’s World, Robert Welch told JBS members about the relentless attacks which were being published against the JBS–including by conservative individuals and groups!

For example: In Welch’s opening paragraph of the September 1960 JBS Bulletin:

“For the past five weeks – it seems like five months – the John Birch Society has lived through one massive smear campaign on a national scale, and several regional attacks with varying degrees of plausibility, reach, and impact.”

In a 11/16/60 memo to JBS National Council members, Welch reported that one item on the agenda for the next National Council meeting scheduled for 12/10/60 in New York City would be “A brief report of the various smears of, and attacks on, the Society during the past few months.”

OBVIOUSLY, Welch and JBS officials were totally aware of very hostile media articles and editorials LONG BEFORE anything appeared in People’s World! Here is a brief list:

04/11/59………………………………National Review article “Folklore of the Right”

10/59…………………………………The Dilling Bulletin (Elizabeth Dilling newsletter)

03/16/60……………………………..Massillon OH Evening Independent, p13

03/18/60……………………………..Beckley WV Post Herald, p4

03/26/60……………………………..Terre Haute IN Star, p6

04/19/60……………………………..Beckley WV Raleigh Register, p4

7/25-26/60…………………………..Chicago IL Daily News

[Note: The GOP National Convention had convened in Chicago at the time Jack Mabley’s two July 1960 articles appeared. Obviously, these GOP politicians plus media from around the world did not require a “Communist” newspaper article seven months later to recognize the thunderous impact of Robert Welch’s weird statements and especially his venomous attack upon President Dwight Eisenhower. An employee of Fred Schwarz’s Christian Anti-Communism Crusade gave Mabley a copy of Welch’s so-called “private letter”, entitled The Politician]

08/04/60………………………………………..Appleton WI Post-Crescent, p8 and 37

08/06/60…………………………………..……Madison WI State Journal, p3

[Note: News-Globe coverage of local controversies involving Birchers was responsible for correspondence received by the FBI inquiring about the JBS. Also, some of the first FBI memos between top FBI officials concerning the JBS referred to letters received from Texas residents who were concerned about inflammatory comments made by Birchers.]

08/12/60………………………………………….Madison WI Capital Times, p2

08/26/60…………………………………………Madison WI Capital Times, p32

“NAM believes completely in the loyalty and integrity of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and further believes he courageously and forthrightly has guided the foreign and domestic policies of the United States in the direction in which in his judgment the best interests of this country lie. NAM as an organization does not and will not knowingly be associated with any individual or be a party to any organization that questions the loyalty or integrity of President Eisenhower or attempts to degrade the fundamental respect due him and his high office.”

09/30/60…………………………………………The Tidings (Boston MA Catholic publication)

10/60………………………..…………………….The Dilling Bulletin (published by Elizabeth Dilling)

10/24/60……………………………….…………Madison WI Capital Times. p37

11/60…………………………………..………….Women’s Voice (published by Lyrl Clark Van Hyning)

11/15/60…………………………………………The Sunflower (Univ of Wichita KS paper)

11/28/60…………………………………………Stamford CT Advocate column by W.D. Workman

01/11/61…………………………………….……Pampa TX Daily News, p1

01/14/61………………………..………………Terre Haute IN Star, p10

01/14/61…………………………..……………Los Angeles CA Evening Herald and Express

01/22-23/61……………………………………Santa Barbara CA News-Press

2/28/61……………………………….…………Nashville TN Tennessean editorial referring to JBS activities during “past several weeks” and how JBS members were “spreading distrust and fear”

“How would Mr. Kociela feel if he were called a pedophile and then, as a defense, his accuser claimed that, while Kociela does not characterize himself as a pedophile – a term that, along with child molester and the like, has varying definitions – characterizations by opponents will vary. No doubt he would not be happy.”

Unless Mr. Kociela were accused, tried, and convicted (and/or confessed) to such charges, what you describe IS actually called defamation and covered under libel laws.

Mr. Kociela simply drawing his own conclusions in a piece clearly labeled as OPINION front and back is protected speech.

You may not like his opinion and your rebuttal is of course understandable because in your opinion, you disagree with his opinion. But your analogy is not valid. Not by a long-shot.

Ed Kociela loves to say and/or imply that, in his biased and bitter view of the world, everyone he disagrees with are bigots. I have never read a Kociela column that had anything good to say about anyone or anything. It is a shame that people can make money being such a negative kind of person.

Negative meaning that his opinions conflict with your worldview?

Do you think the editor of St. George News doesn’t eat this up? Count the comments? Now if maybe 20% of them click on the sites commercial post? That translates to possible income. The editor may or may not like Ed’s view points, But business is business. Kind of like Fox news channel, Fair and balance. ‘Stay Tune, we got more’. I still think Ed gets somewhat … faced at the keyboard, but still knows what sells when he put out there this his junk opinions. The Editor? good work Ed! Tone it down a bit next article. But their calling, No? Ed. ellipsis.

Democrats are focused on hate and anything they say is justified because President Trump must be destroyed. Attention to truth or fairness in cast aside. It has gotten to a point where Democrats define themselves by one commonality, hate of Trump. Ask them about policy, no response. What bills have Dems sponsored? Their failure to govern cost them the presidency, the House, the Senate, 32 Governorship, the Suoreme Court. If all the Dem negative energy could be channeled toward productive change maybe they could be a force in American politics.

One important additional comment is required regarding the original comment posted by Amadeus Frison:

If you google his name, you will notice numerous examples where Mr. Frison has defended the Birch Society against ANYBODY who dares to criticize the Birch Society. What is particularly significant is a common pattern in ALL of his online replies. Mr. Frison never begins an amicable conversation or debate about JBS history. He never says that the critic is misinformed or has made honest mistakes.

Instead, Mr. Frison always and immediately describes the critic as a liar or a smear artist. Frison always maintains that critics are “ignorant” or “fools” who make “blatantly false accusations”. Frison never even hypothetically entertains the notion that the Birch Society or it leadership are fallible.

Although the Birch Society is incorporated as an “educational” organization, one should recognize that (like the Communist Party) it is not “educational”, it is an indoctrination center. Mr. Frison and most other Birchers believe that they possess an Ultimate Final Truth.

Genuine educational organizations welcome new data — and give it serious consideration. Genuine educational groups welcome new data and candidly admit errors and then revise positions based upon new information coming to their attention. The JBS has never publicly acknowledged that it has made any substantive grave errors in its entire existence — and it is extremely hostile toward anybody (liberal or conservative) who challenges what they prefer to believe. In fact, they characterize ALL criticisms of the JBS, no matter how well documented, as “smear attacks”.

Education is a continuing PROCESS — not a final destination. We alter our perceptions and our conclusions based upon NEW evidence — often not previously known.

The JBS operates in precisely the OPPOSITE manner. It has never altered its perceptions or its conclusions. In fact, it continues to publish the same arguments that it did 58 years ago!

So—bottom-line: Don’t be fooled by people like Amadeus Frison and his defenders here.

ALL political extremists seek targets of opportunity to exploit. They especially thrive upon long-standing and bitter controversies because participants want some sort of definitive resolution where one side or the other is vanquished and rendered impotent. In these matters, extremists claim that there MUST be a zero-sum result, i.e. one side totally loses and other side totally prevails. But in a free society (and especially a representative democracy) that is NOT what we believe.

We believe in the basic decency of our neighbors, which is why we value negotiation, compromise, splitting differences and then working to correct any subsequent problems that develop. We don’t want to vanquish our “enemies”; we want to resolve problems amicably with our neighbors and then move on to the next issue.

The JBS never learned that lesson — and, in fact, it never even agreed with that principle — which is why Robert Welch declared that: “…democracy, of course, in government or organization, as the Greeks and Romans both found out, as I believe every man in this room clearly recognizes — democracy is merely a deceptive phrase, a weapon of demagoguery and a perennial fraud.” And THAT is why Welch chose a totalitarian model as the template for how to structure and run the JBS.

Political extremists often attempt to hide or sanitize their TRUE sentiments and intentions. So they exploit targets of opportunity and attempt to capitalize upon general public unease or hostility about some matter because political extremists want to use those issues as leverage in order to manipulate ordinary, decent, honorable, principled Americans into supporting extremist proposals.

I will give one example:

In his manuscript “The Politician” Robert Welch explicitly states (page 109):

“Now it is perfectly all right for a man to be a Democrat, even an A.D.A. [Americans For Democratic Action] Democrat, if that school of political philosophy expresses his own honest beliefs.”

BUT just 10 pages later, Welch states that the objective of the ADA and a similar Republican group called Republican Advance “was the gradual communization of the United States to make easier its absorption into a world-wide Communist empire ruled from the Kremlin.”

And, then, a few months later, during his 12/58 lecture in Indianapolis as reported in the JBS Blue Book, page 117, Welch declared:

“But the ADA, whether a lot of its members know it or not, is the same as an arm of the Communist Party. Its weight can be thrown, and is thrown, time after time, with never an exception, in support of Communist objectives.”

SO WHICH ROBERT WELCH SHOULD WE BELIEVE?

(1) Is it “perfectly all right” to be an “ADA Democrat”?

(2) Is the ADA a subversive group whose objectives amount to treason and whose agenda “is the same as an arm of the Communist Party” because it seeks to facilitate “the gradual communization of the United States to make easier its absorption into a world-wide Communist empire ruled from the Kremlin.”??

If the JBS mentality was operative within our Justice Department, what would happen to ADA leaders and ADA members or sympathizers?

What would happen to ANY American whom the JBS has previously described as a “Communist”, a “Comsymp” or as “an agent” of the Communist Party?

These are the types of questions which one MUST ask and answer before accepting the premise of Mr. Frison and others here that the JBS “has been proven correct”.

The most recent replies by Revamadeus to my previous messages illustrate flawlessly how Birchers respond to criticism. Every critic is always “a liar” who presents “false smears and innuendo”.

I will use this opportunity to respond to some of what Revamadeus presents — without resort to his ad hominem slurs and insults.

1. For some odd reason, Rev brings up Ronald Reagan (whom, btw, I voted for as Governor of California and then twice for President). Interestingly, the official position of the JBS about Reagan is that he was a “phony conservative”. In fact, the former President of the JBS (John McManus) stated at one point that Reagan was “a lackey” of the Communists. After Robert Welch died, the new leadership of the JBS began savaging Reagan in their magazine (The New American) so vociferously that Mrs. Robert Welch withdrew her support from the JBS — as did many other very prominent JBS members.

2. With respect to the MLK Jr. holiday: Significantly, the JBS has always praised former Cong. Ron Paul of Texas–and in fact, Cong. Paul was a featured speaker at several JBS-sponsored events. Former Cong. Paul mentioned in one of the GOP Presidential debates that Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks were among his heroes!

BY CONTRAST: The JBS believes both of them were subversive Communists! Cong. Paul also voted FOR making MLK’s birthday a national holiday whereas the JBS was so appalled by that proposal that its members testified against it in both Congress and during many state legislative hearings!

3. With respect to social injustice: There is no possibility of creating or maintaining a free society if one is blind to or dismissive of social injustice.

In April 1960, J. Edgar Hoover gave a speech at the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chicago IL. I quote an excerpt from his speech below. and then I present some relevant comments. Hoover’s speech perfectly addresses the ultimate problem with the JBS — when he observed:

“The two greatest problems confronting the law enforcement profession today are presented by those persons who, through indifference or fear, fail to carry out the responsibilities of good citizenship—and by those who complacently tolerate explosive social conditions in their own back yards. Where moral values are concerned, there can be no compromise. Too many apathetic persons are unwilling to take an active part in the clearance of moral slums. Righteous anger is an inevitable ingredient of a truly noble life. Supine indifference always is a sign of moral deterioration.”

The fundamental problem is that Birchers WERE supinely “indifferent” to the responsibilities of good citizenship. They tolerated “explosive social conditions in their own back yards” and they then defended the persons responsible for creating and maintaining those conditions! But do not take my word for it. Consider the comments made by one African American member of the JBS — conservative author George S. Schuyler. In 1961 he wrote:

“The White Citizens Council which has branches or cells everywhere, controls by terror such states as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and to a lesser extent, Virginia…It has defied and disrupted the operation of the laws of the land. It has used threats and vicious economic reprisals…It has become a legal arm of Mississippi’s Government.” [4/22/61 Schuyler column in Pittsburgh PA Courier]

And what, exactly, did the JBS propose as its remedy to such a grave situation?

Instead the JBS suggested that we just let the people, politicians, local communities and government instrumentalities responsible for creating, defending, and implementing the “terror”, “threats”, “intimidation”, “economic reprisals”, etc. – continue “business as usual” IN PERPETUITY – unless and until the local governments should miraculously decide to change their laws, customs and practices — and THAT is what Birchers like Revamadeus describe as “protecting freedom”.

4. With respect to my comments re: Sen. James Eastland, Revamadeus totally misses my point (as usual). The Birch Society presented Eastland as an example of the type of politician whom they admired for his alleged correct interpretation of the principles of our Constitution. In reality, Eastland should have been indicted for conspiracy to obstruct justice because he did everything within his power to thwart prosecution of murderers. How do I know that? Because I have seen the reports made to the FBI by their informant within the most violent Klan in our country’s history (White Knights of the KKK of Mississippi).

That informant was JBS member Rev. Delmar Dennis!

Let’s consider the following comment made by Rev. Delmar Dennis to his FBI case agent:

“The Klan in Mississippi has completely infiltrated every phase of the legal, political, social and economic system in Mississippi. The membership in the Klan ranges from common laborers and criminals, to judges, lawyers, doctors and political leaders. While they may not be active members, they are secret members who use their influence to further Klan efforts and aid Klan activities, for example, it is generally known in Klan circles that supervisors who pick juries use their influence to get Klan members on the jury panel.”

Unfortunately, the Birch Society interpreted the problem in our southern states as entirely an intellectual abstraction instead of understanding or caring about the real-world consequences to living human beings. THAT is the problem with ALL ideologues and fanatics.

In its commendable concern for abstract principles, the JBS totally ignored, de-valued, trivialized, or facilitated the daily injustices and crimes often committed (or condoned) by the very people in southern communities whom had the responsibility for translating abstract principles into reality. These were the folks who made “state’s rights” and the words “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” into a cruel joke.

4. Notice that Revamadeus maligns my character and integrity and honesty but he never once disputes the factual accuracy of any quotation I have provided. Instead, he uses a tactic which is commonly used by Birchers — i.e. they attempt to de-value and dismiss whatever is presented by describing all factual evidence as “cherry-picked JBS attacks”.

Incidentally, my position regarding the JBS position on our civil rights movement is not unique. Most mainstream conservatives made exactly the same points. For example, conservative columnist Frank S. Meyer wrote about the JBS position on our civil rights movement as follows:

“It is true that here (as everywhere it profits them) Communist groups are active, seeking to take advantage of the turmoil and are sometimes successful in penetrating sections of the leadership of the movement. But the movement is not a Communist movement, as the John Birch Society implies with every device of rhetoric, with pictures, with innuendo, and often with straight-forward statement. There is, of course, much in the civil rights movement that conservatives should oppose, but when it is attacked in the Birch manner, on the basis of an obsessed insistence on conspiracy (’it’s all a Communist plot’) sober opposition is discredited and great positive harm done the conservative cause.”

“The false analysis and conspiratorial mania of the John Birch Society has moved beyond diversion and waste of the devotion of its members, to the mobilization of that devotion in ways directly anti-conservative and dangerous to the interest of the United States. It is no longer possible to consider the Society merely as moving toward legitimate objectives in a misguided way. However worthy the original motivations of those who have joined it, it is time for them to realize that the John Birch Society is rapidly losing whatever it had in common with patriotism or conservatism—and to do so before their own minds become warped by adherence to its unrolling psychosis of conspiracy.”

and arguably the most influential conservative intellectual of the 20th century (Russell Kirk) accurately observed that:

“Robert Welch…is remarkably ignorant of the nature of the Communist conspiracy which he denounces; and the sound of his own words has led him to the verge of what Burke called ‘metaphysical madness’. Ever since he founded his society he has done more to injure the cause of responsible conservatism than to act effectively against communism…Many members of the Birch Society, I think,…got into the Society without knowing Mr. Welch’s drift, and might have left some time ago, had they not disliked seeming to desert under fire. Already some of the original abler members have drifted away or become inactive. This leaves the Society in the hands of the fanatic fringe of course…”

I made a mango margarita

As a point of personal privilege, since Revamadeus again impugns my honesty — let’s address his absurd remarks about the California Senate Subcommittee report:

1. The Rev says none of my quotations from the California Senate report are relevant. Then why did the Rev quote from that report?

2. I never “confirmed” what the Rev claims I confirmed. The Subcommittee did not “clear” the JBS of anything. Again, what the Rev neglects to understand is that the California report was not based upon any nation-wide research. It was based primarily upon affidavits received from JBS members who lived in California and a review of some JBS publications.

3. Keep in mind that Robert Welch was so impressed by what he called the fairness of that California Senate Subcommittee report — that he reprinted it with some additional notes where he took exception to a few comments made by the Subcommittee.

4. The Rev disparages me for believing what FBI files reveal. But as I previously pointed out — it was the BIRCH SOCIETY who recommended Hoover’s FBI as an indisputable source of FACTUAL information.

5. One example of the difference between believing a retired candy company executive versus believing our nation’s most significant internal security agency can be seen from a Welch comment in the July 1961 JBS Bulletin.

According to Robert Welch: “…we believe that there are not more than 300,000 to 500,000 Communists in our country (or about 1/4 of 1% of our population) and not more than a million allies, dupes, and sympathizers whom they can count on for any conscious support…” [JBS Bulletin, July 1961, page 14]

Thus, in total, Welch thought there were about 1.3 to 1.5 million Communists, Communist dupes, Communist sympathizers and Communist allies in the United States as of July 1961.

The actual number of Communist Party members in the U.S. as of July 1961 according to the FBI was 5262 — i.e. nothing remotely close to Welch’s perception of 300,000 to 500,000! [See FBI New York field file 100-80638, serial #1882, which is a 6/30/61 FBI Chart of CPUSA Membership, by state, by FBI field divisions and by CPUSA Districts.]

The zenith of CPUSA membership in the U.S. was in 1944 when it had 80,000 members. In addition, J. Edgar Hoover was quoted as stating that the Communist Party in the U.S. had “a half million fellow travelers and sympathizers ready to do the Communist bidding.” (Look magazine, “Why People Become Communists”, August 1, 1950, page 68)

“Today, gentlemen, I can assure you, without the slightest doubt in my own mind that the takeover at the top is, for all practical purposes, virtually complete. Whether you like it or not, or whether you believe it or not, our Federal Government is already, literally in the hands of the Communists.”. [A Confidential Report To Members Of The Council of The John Birch Society – minutes of 1/9/60 meeting held at Union League Club in Chicago IL, page 2; minutes signed by Robert Welch.]

U.S. “50-70% under Communist influence and control” [American Opinion Scoreboard issue, July/August 1963]

“The Communist Party in this country has attempted to infiltrate and subvert every segment of our society, but its continuing efforts have not achieved success of any substance. Too many self-styled experts on communism, without valid credentials and without any access whatsoever to classified factual data regarding the inner workings of the conspiracy, have engaged in rumor-mongering and hurling false and wholly unsubstantiated allegations against persons whose views differ from their own. This is dangerous business. It is divisive and unintelligent, and makes more difficult the task of the professional investigator.” [Hoover statement in February 5, 1962 letter HQ 94-1-369, #1676 to Mrs. W.R. Brown of Bountiful Utah; also published as letter-to-editor in Tri-Cities Daily newspaper of Sheffield, Alabama on Sunday March 31, 1963.]

It should be mentioned that the FBI came to its conclusion about CPUSA membership figures based upon a variety of evidence including: CPUSA membership lists supplied by FBI moles within the Party; CPUSA dues payments data which the FBI acquired from informants and from other sources and statements made in closed, secret meetings of the CPUSA National Executive Committee — which the FBI had under electronic surveillance.

By contrast, Robert Welch based his CPUSA membership figures on what? Nobody knows.

Revamadeus boldly declares that I have presented “false smears and innuendos” and that I “cherry pick facts” to “smear” the JBS.

In order for readers to understand precisely what Revamadeus or other JBS members/supporters believe is factually mistaken — I would like to suggest that they accept one of the two challenges I present below.

So IF Birchers want their comments to be taken seriously, then do you have the courage and the moral fiber to at least specify “YES” or “NO” to each of the questions appearing below OR, alternatively, will you respond to my challenge specified in #1 and #2 below??

Only when we get answers to these two questions will ANYBODY know what type of criticism (and critics) Birchers are prepared to recognize as honorable and principled.

(1) Name two individuals who have been sharply critical of the Birch Society (and you DO NOT agree with their views) but, nevertheless, you are prepared to acknowledge that they are intelligent, decent, thoughtful, principled, and patriotic Americans. Name two!

(2) Give us the name of ANY author during the past 58 years who has written a critical book or a critical book chapter or a critical article about the John Birch Society which you acknowledge to be FAIR and ACCURATE criticism.

OR == respond to these YES OR NO? questions:

1. Is it true that Robert Welch and the JBS have always praised and recommended J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI as our nation’s most knowledgeable, reliable, and authoritative source of factual data about internal security-related matters generally and about the communist movement in the U.S. in particular?

2. Is it true that both J. Edgar Hoover and senior officials of the FBI described Robert Welch and the JBS with highly derogatory descriptive terms such as “right-wing extremist”, “irrational” and “irresponsible” ?

3. Is it true that J. Edgar Hoover testified before the Warren Commission that arguments which are well-known to be JBS arguments were examples of right-wing extremist positions and were not factual?

4. Is it true that J. Edgar Hoover wrote the following about President Dwight D. Eisenhower?

“During his Presidency and afterwards at Gettysburg, I was close with Gen. Eisenhower. He was a great man and a great President.”

5. Is it true that Robert Welch, Inc. (the publisher of the JBS magazine, American Opinion) lost an historic precedent-setting libel lawsuit and paid Elmer Gertz $400,000 for malicious and false defamation of Gertz? [Equivalent to about $2.3 million in 2017 dollars.]

6. Is it true that major figures within the postwar conservative movement in the U.S. have denounced and rejected the JBS during the 1960’s, the 1970’s, the 1980’s, the 1990’s and afterward?

7. Is it true that 4 members of the JBS National Council were well-known prominent segregationists?

8. Is it true that the JBS employed Rev. Ferrell Griswold and Sheriff Jim Clark of Selma AL as speakers during the 1960’s even though they both were also speakers for the KKK? AND is it also true that during the 1960’s, the KKK was listed as a “subversive” organization on the Attorney General’s List?

9. Is it true that Robert Welch wrote a letter in 1961 in which he declared that “in 1900 or 1905, at the time of the first Russian Revolution which was led by Trotsky, or in 1917, or even up to the middle 1920’s, the Communist conspiracy was largely a child or a least a ward of the Zionist conspiracy.” ??

10. Is it true that the JBS also employed Eric Dudley Butler as a speaker — even though Butler was a well-known Australian bigot who had a long history of publishing anti-semitic pamphlets including “The International Jew: The Truth About the Protocols of Zion”. ???

11. Is it true that prominent Bircher, Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker (whom Robert Welch often praised) wrote the following comments?

(1) “I think I can match three good Americans in the KKK for every one in the Americans For Democratic Action or the Anti-Defamation League.” ??

(2) “I’ll bet you will find more good Americans in the Ku Klux Klan than in the Americans For Democratic Action.” ??

Is it also true that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover hand-wrote the following comment on one FBI memo which discussed Walker?

12. Is it true that annual issues of the JBS magazine (American Opinion) published a “Scoreboard” issue in August which was devoted to estimating the percentage of “Communist influence and control” in all countries of the world and the U.S. scores were as follows?

Is it also true that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover wrote in 1962 and 1963 and again in 1964 in reply to inquiries about the status of our internal security (in contrast to the JBS position) that:

“The Communist Party in this country has attempted to infiltrate and subvert every segment of our society, but its continuing efforts have not achieved success of any substance. Too many self-styled experts on communism, without valid credentials and without any access whatsoever to classified factual data regarding the inner workings of the conspiracy, have engaged in rumor-mongering and hurling false and wholly unsubstantiated allegations against persons whose views differ from their own. This is dangerous business. It is divisive and unintelligent, and makes more difficult the task of the professional investigator.” ??

13. Is it true that FBI Director Hoover made the following statement at a November 1964 press conference?

“Personally, I have little respect for the head of the John Birch Society since he linked the names of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the late John Foster Dulles, and former CIA Director Allen Dulles with communism.”

14. AND is it also true that the JBS has NEVER retracted its characterization of President Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles? In other words, TODAY, the JBS still believes that all three were “Communists” or “Communist agents”?

15. Is it true that Russell Kirk, the most important conservative intellectual of the 20th century, (whose books were recommended and sold by the JBS) wrote the following about the JBS?

“Robert Welch…is remarkably ignorant of the nature of the Communist conspiracy which he denounces; and the sound of his own words has led him to the verge of what Burke called ‘metaphysical madness’. Ever since he founded his Society he has done more to injure the cause of responsible conservatism than to act effectively against communism…Many members of the Birch Society, I think,…got into the Society without knowing Mr. Welch’s drift, and might have left some time ago, had they not disliked seeming to desert under fire. Already some of the original abler members have drifted away or become inactive. This leaves the Society in the hands of the fanatic fringe of course…”

16. Is it true that the California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities was the only official investigation ever done into the JBS — and that Subcommittee concluded in its 1963 Report that the JBS was “sustained on a high degree of emotionalism” and the Report predicted that as the Society increased in numbers…

“there is an increasing probability that among the new members will be a fringe of unstable, chauvinist people who are prone to accept as accurate the most irresponsible charges of Communist activity. This is the sort of person who is quick to accuse an innocent liberal of being a Communist, and of forever damning anyone who was trapped into joining a Communist front group. Some of these members have been making accusations that are impossible to sustain, and as a result have found themselves facing legal actions for libel or slander.” ??

Is it also true that in its 1965 Report, the Subcommittee updated its findings about the JBS and it reported that:

“It has, as we predicted, been beset by an influx of emotionally unstable people, some of whom have been prosecuted in the courts for their hoodlum tactics in disrupting meetings and heckling speakers with whom they disagree…We are more critical of the Society now than we were [in the 1963 Report] for the reason that it has, in our opinion, merited such criticism by reason of its activities as exemplified by the irresponsible articles by a member of its National Council, the re-publication of The Politician, the inexcusable actions of its minority of irresponsible members, and dangerous increase of anti-Semitism among a minority of the membership.”

17. Is it true that the late William Norman Grigg, the former Editor of the JBS magazine, The New American, has written articles accusing the current JBS President (John McManus) of making anti-semitic statements?

18. Is it also true that the current CEO of the JBS (Art Thompson) initially AGREED that McManus’s comments were evidence of anti-semitic sentiment which could damage the JBS?

19. Is it true that Mrs. Robert Welch (Marion Probert Welch) withdrew her support from the JBS after her husband died — because she disagreed with the new leadership of the JBS?

20. Is it true that very prominent JBS officials, members, and regular contributors to its magazines (such as Gary Allen, John Rees, and Alan Stang) all withdrew their support from the JBS and they wrote caustic comments about the new JBS leadership—accusing them of lying and being morally defective?

I scrolled down the page to the bottom just to see how long it went. If the moderators are actually reading it all I feel a bit sorry for you guys, lol.

Then again, maybe there’s valuable info in there? lol

Mr. Frison-thank you for taking the time to correct Lying Ed on the JBS. Growing up in California, our family was very involved with JBS, and I know the truth, contrary to Ed and others. Lying Ed is a lost cause. Perhaps his only value is unintended humor, since he can’t be taken seriously.

My original reply to Mr. Frison’s letter was too long to be published as a letter-to-the-editor but it contains very pertinent information to address Mr. Frison’s falsehoods regarding the actual history of the JBS which needs to be considered in order to make fair and accurate judgments about the Society. Consequently, I present that evidence below:

Mr. Frison berates columnist Ed Kociela for his comments about the JBS and Frison claims that Kociela “is either an ignorant fool or a liar with an agenda and no moral scruples” because Kociela allegedly linked the JBS to racism.

According to Mr. Frison: the JBS “has always been opposed to racism” during its “60 year record of publications…going back to its founding in 1958.”

Regrettably, Mr. Frison is not very knowledgeable about actual JBS history.

It is true that some unfair and malicious accusations have been made against the JBS over the years. One of the reasons for the decades-long dispute about the JBS is because the JBS does not permit outside independent researchers and scholars to have access to its records or its membership to make fair and well-documented conclusions about the JBS.

Although the JBS never explicitly endorsed racism nor did it condone or advocate violence against minorities nor did it use hate language such as the n-word — the JBS DID tacitly accommodate or enable prejudice and intolerance, hate and fear — by aligning itself with the worst elements in our southern states. For example: It praised KKK-supported politicians such as Gov. Ross Barnett and U.S. Senator James O. Eastland of MS and Gov. George Wallace of AL and Gov. Lester Maddox of GA.

In addition, the Birch Society circulated arguments which were originally created by white supremacists such as the August 1965 statement by the JBS which they placed in a nationwide advertisement about our civil rights movement entitled “What’s Wrong With Civil Rights?”. According to the JBS:

“For the civil rights movement in the United States with all of its growing agitation and riots and bitterness, and insidious steps toward the appearance of civil war, has not been infiltrated by the Communists, as you now frequently hear. It has been deliberately and almost wholly created by the Communists patiently building up to this present stage for more than thirty years.”

The reason why this becomes VERY difficult to discuss rationally and fairly is because unlike mainstream conservative groups, the Birch Society did allow racists to join the JBS as members, as chapter leaders, and as section leaders or Coordinators and they also hired racists as paid speakers under the auspices of their national Speakers Bureau plus as writers for its publications.

The JBS welcomed into its ranks persons who were prominent life-long segregationists. In fact, at least four members of the JBS National Council were well-known prominent segregationists (T. Coleman Andrews , A.G. Heinsohn Jr., Dr. Thomas Parker, and Tom Anderson).

Racist JBS speakers included Rev. Delmar Dennis. Rev. Dennis was a member of several white supremacist organizations and he organized a whites-only church in his small Mississippi community. He wrote pamphlets which reflected his racist views. Even after Dennis surfaced as an FBI informant and he testified against Klan members, Dennis continued to state that he was a segregationist. Dennis did not oppose KKK or white supremacist beliefs. Instead, Dennis simply did not agree with the criminal activities of the KKK. Nevertheless, the JBS hired Dennis as a paid speaker AND they employed him as a Coordinator.

Other racists hired by the JBS as speakers include: Selma AL Sheriff Jim Clark and Rev. Ferrell Griswold. Griswold was often a featured speaker at KKK meetings. He described the KKK as “a conservative organization” even though the KKK was on the Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations!

FBI investigative files reveal instances where local chapters of the JBS were controlled by Klan members. See, for example, this FBI observation:

“One Klan organization has been closely associated with the John Birch Society. The Pine Bluff, Arkansas chapter of the Birch Society is controlled by members of the Association of Arkansas Klans. This chapter has been led by an active member of the Pine Bluffs klavern of this Klan, and most of the male members of the chapter are Klansmen. The program of the John Birch Society is furthered by these Klansmen through their duplicate membership.” [FBI monograph, “Klan Organizations, Section III, 1958-1964, page 54].

There are numerous references in FBI files about white supremacists who joined the JBS and some even became JBS employees.

There is a mountain of additional verifiable factual evidence to document the Birch Society’s connections to racists and, more importantly, to the arguments created by racists — such as the maliciously false assertion that Martin Luther King Jr. attended “a Communist training school” which is a reference to Highlander Folk School at Monteagle TN.

That argument was first developed by Edwin H. Friend. Mr. Friend was the official photographer for the United Klans of America chapter in Georgia and he was hired by the Georgia Commission on Education (GCE) to “investigate” Highlander Folk School. The GCE was created to ensure that Georgia public schools remain segregated.

Friend declared that his assignment as a Georgia “undercover agent” was “to go to Monteagle, Tennessee to the Highlander Folk School and find out whether that malignancy of the NAACP and Communism was leaking out over Georgia.”

Furthermore, several major officials of the White Citizens Council movement were JBS members such as: Medford Evans, William J. Simmons, and Louis W. Hollis. Medford was a JBS Coordinator for Louisiana and Mississippi. He also was Editor of the Citizens Council magazine. Simmons was Executive Director of Citizens Councils of America.

During World War II, W.J. Simmons was discharged from the Navy as a security risk because of his association with nazi groups in Europe. In 1963, he stated during an interview that black Americans had different morals and were promiscuous by nature and should not be entitled to vote.

Mr. Frison correctly points out that unlike neo-nazis and other overt racist organizations, the JBS did welcome minorities (including African Americans) to become JBS members and as paid speakers for the JBS. Examples include: Julia Brown, Gerald Kirk, Lola Belle Holmes, George Schuyler, Ezola Foster and others.

However, the JBS never attracted any significant number of black Americans because, obviously, the JBS was so hostile toward both civil rights leaders and organizations and their public policy proposals.

To put it as succinctly as possible: The Birch Society as an organization (and many of its most prominent members and officials) defended white privilege. The JBS was totally indifferent to the depredations inflicted upon minorities in our country — which is why, of course, so few minorities joined the JBS — as even Robert Welch acknowledged.

Mr. Frison claims that the JBS has always expelled racists. Unfortunately, that is not entirely accurate. It would be more accurate to state that if racists said or did anything which publicly embarrassed the JBS — then they might be expelled. Otherwise, they were welcome within the Society (as noted above).

In conclusion, it is extremely significant to recognize that senior officials of the FBI’s Domestic Intelligence Division described the JBS in internal FBI memos as “right-wing extremist”, “irrational”, “irresponsible” and composed of “fanatics” and a “lunatic fringe”. Furthermore, the FBI investigations falsified virtually every major predicate of JBS ideology.

During his Warren Commission testimony, former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover eviscerated the arguments of the JBS when he stated that:

“I think the extreme right is just as much a danger to the freedom of this country as the extreme left. There are groups, organizations, and individuals on the extreme right who make these very violent statements, allegations that General Eisenhower was a Communist, disparaging references to the Chief Justice and at the other end of the spectrum you have these leftists who make wild statements charging almost anybody with being a Fascist or belonging to some of these so-called extreme right societies.” “Now, I have felt, and I have said publicly in speeches, that they are just as much a danger, at either end of the spectrum. They don’t deal with facts. Anybody who will allege that General Eisenhower was a Communist agent, has something wrong with him.” [Warren Commission testimony, Volume 5, page 101] https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh5/html/WC_Vol5_0056a.htm

AND in 1964 during a press conference, Hoover declared:

“Personally, I have little respect for the head of the John Birch Society since he linked the names of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the late John Foster Dulles, and former CIA Director Allen Dulles with communism.” [FBI HQ file 62-104401, #2381, 11/20/64]

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