I'm not asking for opinions. I'm asking for facts that you know from first-hand experience or knowledge regarding the John Birch Society.

Tagged.


I disagree with some of their conspiracy stuff, NWO, etc, but their basic tenets are pretty solid.

I knew a member. A true far out wing nut. He couldn't control his mouth and was promptly fired from his job. It was pretty easy to get him kick-started over politics and he didn't know when to stop.



I hope there are better people in the society.

I suspect it inevitably draws the occasional personality like that. However, I have recently met a few people who are members. They indicate that it is an educational platform on the Constitution.

They seem like reasonable people to me. I wanted to get other opinions on the JBS.

FBI FILES ON BIRCH SOCIETY AND ITS ASSERTIONS:
This 197-page report explains why J. Edgar Hoover and senior FBI officials within the Bureau’s Domestic Intelligence Division concluded in FBI memos that the JBS was “extremist”, “irrational” and “irresponsible”
http://sites.google.com/site/ernie124102/jbs-1

CONSERVATIVE CRITICS OF ROBERT WELCH and BIRCH SOCIETY:
Contrary to claims made by the Birch Society about the alleged "left-wing" origins of JBS criticism, the most potent adverse comments about the JBS have always originated from the right-side of the political spectrum. This report presents a representative sample of such comments.  
http://sites.google.com/site/ernie124102/jbs-4

DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY:
This report presents documents which, generally, have never previously been publicly available –– including private correspondence between Robert Welch and numerous individuals and correspondence by JBS National Council members during the formative years of the Birch Society.  This report is a work-in-progress and considerable new material will be added over the next few months.
https://sites.google.com/site/ernie1241/Home

More info:  [email protected]

John Birch was was an American military intel officer and a Baptist missionary in WWII who was shot by armed supporters of the Communist Party of China. Claims are that he was the first casualty of the cold war.



Birch helped the crews of Jimmy Doolittle's, when they crash landed in China after the first bombing raid on Japan, to get to safety.



He also worked with Chennault and the Flying Tigers.



He was a hero.

If their tenets are so compelling, why has the JBS or its surrogates lost libel lawsuits?

Well hello.

And who did you used to be?

I just know they used to be at the local gunshows , The FBI used to watch there table .

"I'm a faithful follower of Brother John Birch
And I belong to the Antioch Baptist Church.
And I ain't even got a garage, you can call home and ask my wife!"

In.

Morris Dees?  

Jbs.org

See for yourself

more

Watch him, folks; he's a thoroughly dangerous man!

fuck morris dees,that dude is a shitbag of the highest order.

Uhhh....

Alrighty then.

Wasn't that the group that was hocking some kind of snake oil in the 80s?

So I went to listen in, with a healthy dose of caution and skepticism.

The event consisted of a speaker who talked only about the Constitution and what it represented. He was biased but seemingly only in favor of what the Constitution represents.

There were one or two moments when the hair on my neck stood up but they were false alarms. I honestly didn't get a sense of crazy from anyone there and somewhat to my shame, I learned how much I didn't know about the Constitution.

Back in the 80's when I was an apprentice, several guys in the Local were JBs.
They seemed to be the guys who stayed at one job only long enough for the IRS to catch up to them and start garnishing their wages for tax evasion.
I didn't realize the JBs were still around, never hear any reference to them.

I've heard part of that story before and it deserves to be remembered. I know nothing about the society and don't trust much that is said, but John Birch deserves to be remembered outside of his namesake.

I googled the above email address last night. Apparently the dude spends some considerable time scouring the interwebs for places to bash JBS.

I have no dog in the race either way, that just seems odd.

nvm

It gets even better when you Google his name.

Google his username.  Apparently he stalks JBS.

JBS has been smeared and belittled ever since it's inception by the MSM and even some so called conservatives. Their principles are aligned with the founding principles, so it stands to reason that the entitlement society of today loathes them. I can find little to nothing that I disagree with them on myself.

n/m

Wtf is going on in this thread with the weird stalker and lack of john birch society dirt?

I know exactly Jack and Shit about the John Birch Society. And so, I'll leave you with this:

"Please accept my resignation. I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member". - Groucho Marx

The Rock and Roll museum had some interesting quotes from the John Birth Society claiming that Rock and Roll was the end of civilization as we know it or some such nonsense.  

I was a member for a while.

They are highly patriotic, pro-USA, anti-UN.

They hate marxists/socialists/communists.

They love liberty and individual responsibility.

The thing that wore me down was the constant conspiracy stuff.  When I would mention someone like Rush Limbaugh or William F. Buckley I'd get, "He's one of them!  He's a member of the CFR!"

I was totally on board, except for the Bilderberger/Rothschild/CFR/Illuminati/New World Order stuff.

I will say they are dedicated patriots.

I know for a fact that the one guy who tried to recruit me in the 80s always had this spittle all over his lips, once he started talking. That said, I did read the literature and found it interesting.

I would side myself with the JBS, and die before I'd ever side with Ernie Lazar.

I note, for the record, that none of you have presented any FACTUAL information to dispute what is contained in my JBS Report.  My Report is based, primarily, upon first-time-released FBI investigative files along with personal papers of JBS members––including JBS National Council members, plus additional sources which the JBS itself has recommended for decades as indisputably knowledgeable, authoritative, and reliable.

So, WHY do you now pretend that these sources are somehow suspect or worthless –– just because they falsify the premises and conclusions disseminated by the JBS?

And how do you explain the fact that the JBS and its surrogates have lost libel lawsuits including the most famous one –– which involved 14 years of litigation, 2 different jury trials, numerous appeals, and review by the U.S. Supreme Court.  In that case, the JBS paid $300,000 in punitive damages for "malice" which in legalese means "reckless disregard for truth".

So––-what is YOUR counter-evidence?  

Making snide, sarcastic, or ad hominem comments about me does not address ANY of the grievous defects in JBS analyses and conclusions which are documented by FACTUAL evidence in my JBS report.  Even Mrs. Robert Welch (Marian Welch) terminated her membership in the JBS because she was disgusted by how the new management of the Society (after her husband died) savaged Ronald Reagan in the pages of the JBS magazine!

So, just ONE person who carefully researches JBS statements is one too many in your scheme of things––––right?

The JBS has spent the past 50+ years attacking and defaming numerous prominent Americans (Democrats and Republicans ––- including fellow conservatievs).  So it is odd that you want us to believe that the JBS has been "smeared and belittled" ––- particularly when you review the number of libel lawsuits which the JBS and its surrogates have lost!

Nobody is asking you "side with" me.  Instead, read my JBS Report.  It is based upon sources which the JBS has effusively praised and recommended for 5 decades as entirely reliable and credible.  So YOUR argument is with the JBS –– not with me!

LOL....First thing I thought of.

Joins website, posts links nobody cares about, attacks people who do google searches.....


Hoo-wee, we got a live one here.

I tend to disregard fanatics of any stripe.

Or poke em with a stick.

Meh....I bet they ain't Dems or will vote for that socialist POS Zero. Good enough for me in these times.

Many years ago I worked for a man who was a JBS member. He was a pretty damn patriotic guy who had done a couple tours in Nam as a FAC. He was a great guy who would go ut of his way to help his freinds and neighbors, a business owner, and a Christian.



He did give me this book to read:  http://www.ldsfreedomnetwork.com/none-dare-call-it-conspiracy.pdf from which I came away believing parts of it and other parts....not so much. It's still an interesting read. I was led to believe that the JBS subscribed to 99.5% of it and lacking ever joining have based my beliefs on what they stand for from what is contained in the book.



From what I can gather, they believe in preserving the Constitution, hate commies and socialists, and love liberty.

Was the JBS ever considered a racist organization? I thought they were aligned with the Klan?

I don't know much about them, but I guy I worked with in the 90's lost his security clearance for being a JBS member.  A few years later he went to prison on tax evasion charges.

lol, I was just thinking about this song today.

 

Does this Ernie cat that just joined for this thread own a black rifle?

The JBS describes ALL comments made concerning racism and the JBS as "smear attacks".  It is true that there have been many unfair and unkind statements made about the JBS –– but you cannot rely upon the JBS or its members to candidly discuss this matter.

Among the reasons why it is very hard for impartial observers to make a fair judgment about the JBS (with respect to racism) and also why it is so easy to wrongly caricature the JBS as a "racist" organization is because of the following factors:

(1)  The Birch Society welcomed segregationists into its ranks as members, as chapter and section leaders, as writers, as speakers, and even as JBS National Council members – for example A.G. Heinsohn Jr., T. Coleman Andrews, and Tom Anderson.

(2) Major officers of the White Citizens Councils movement were also Birchers, such as: Medford Evans, William J. Simmons, and Louis W. Hollis. [Evans was a JBS Coordinator and editor of the Citizens Council movement magazine]

(3) The Birch Society employed racists and segregationists as speakers under the auspices of its American Opinion Speakers Bureau – such as Sheriff Jim Clark of Selma AL and Rev. Ferrell Griswold of AL [Griswold also spoke at KKK events!].

(4) The Birch Society approved of, and promoted, incumbent politicians and candidates for political office who were unapologetic Klan-supported white supremacists – such as Sen. James O. Eastland of MS and Gov. George Wallace of AL and Ross Barnett of MS. [The JBS scored Eastland on its "Conservative Index" as almost perfect –– despite his life-long bigotry.]

(5) Often, the JBS reprinted the speeches made by racists or otherwise endorsed their rants or subscribed to the arguments which they originated which characterized our civil rights movement as a "Communist" enterprise [Example: characterizing Highlander Folk School as a "Communist training school" and then plastering our country with postcards and billboards showing Martin Luther King Jr. "attending a Communist training school".  What the JBS never tells anybody, however, is that the original characterization of HFS as a "Communist training school" was made by the official photographer for the Georgia Ku Klux Klan (Edwin Friend).  Friend was hired by a Georgia state agency composed of racists to make an "undercover investigation" of HFS.  They wanted to discredit HFS because of its pro-integration activities in Georgia.  Friend's "investigation" produced conclusions which were formed long before he actually "investigated" anything and the JBS bought into his bigotry...hook, line, and sinker!]

(6) Numerous prominent Birchers made it quite clear that they welcomed the support of white supremacists OR that they did not think groups like the KKK were a particular problem.

Examples:

Kent Courtney, a prominent JBS leader in Louisiana, was the featured speaker at a 6/5/65 “Conservative Rally” in Natchez MS sponsored by Americans For The Preservation of the White Race, Inc.

William J. Story, a JBS member who was a candidate for Governor of Virginia refused to join the other major party candidates in condemning the KKK.

James H. Sutherland was a JBS chapter and section leader in Missouri who founded the St. Louis chapter of White Citizens Councils. He was also active in Southern States Industrial Council and helped craft their annual Declaration of Policy which opposed school integration.

One very prominent Bircher, Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker, wrote the following comment in 1965 in a viciously racist and anti-semitic newspaper (Conde McGinley's "Common Sense")

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

However, it is also important to point out that the JBS expelled numerous racists from its ranks and, in fact, in one case it disbanded an entire chapter in Mississippi because it had become too Klan-friendly.

Also it also should be kept in mind that the Rev. Delmar Dennis (a JBS member) risked his life by infiltrating the most violent Klan in our country for the FBI (White Knights of the KKK of Mississippi). It was Rev. Dennis's testimony that was largely instrumental in convicting Klan members of various horrendous crimes. After he surfaced as an FBI informant, his wife divorced him, his church (which he founded) asked him to leave, and he could not find employment in Mississippi so he left and became a paid employee of the JBS –– speaking all over the country about the dangers which the Klan represented.

However, it should also be born in mind that Rev. Dennis was a product of his small-town Mississippi values and upbringing, He accepted all of the racist premises  and values which permeated his community and, in fact, even after he left Mississippi, he continued to be a proud segregationist!

Rock-n-Roll was part of the cultural revolution in the 1960s. Start listening to the 'protest songs' of the era and yes, 1968 is when things went to pot for the most part.

It is no secret that the Reds were supporting integrationist efforts when segregation was the mainstream. Much of the civl rights leaders are very hard left to this day.

Ah, the "Good Old Days" argument.  Every generation seems to have some idealized "Golden Age" that is 99% fantasy.