The Rearguard of Freedom: the John Birch Society and the Development
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The Rearguard of Freedom: The John Birch Society and the Development of Modern Conservatism in the United States, 1958-1968 by Bart Verhoeven, MA (English, American Studies), BA (English and Italian Languages) Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Arts July 2015 Abstract This thesis aims to investigate the role of the anti-communist John Birch Society within the greater American conservative field. More specifically, it focuses on the period from the Society's inception in 1958 to the beginning of its relative decline in significance, which can be situated after the first election of Richard M. Nixon as president in 1968. The main focus of the thesis lies on challenging more traditional classifications of the JBS as an extremist outcast divorced from the American political mainstream, and argues that through their innovative organizational methods, national presence, and capacity to link up a variety of domestic and international affairs to an overarching conspiratorial narrative, the Birchers were able to tap into a new and powerful force of largely white suburban conservatives and contribute significantly to the growth and development of the post-war New Right. For this purpose, the research interrogates the established scholarship and draws upon key primary source material, including official publications, internal communications and the private correspondence of founder and chairman Robert Welch as well as other prominent members. Acknowledgments The process of writing a PhD dissertation seems none too dissimilar from a loving marriage. It is a continuous and emotionally taxing struggle that leaves the individual's ego in constant peril, subjugates mind and soul to an incessant interplay between intense passion and grinding routine, and in most cases should not drag on for over four years. At the same time, let me emphasize how the pursuit of this path has given me much gratification and fulfillment. Whilst gazing back upon my trajectory, I feel a sense of accomplishment and relief, though both are clearly dwarfed by an overarching gratitude towards the people who have helped me along the way. They are many. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest appreciation for my parents, Patrik and Karina. Without their love, understanding and support, this project would not have materialized, and I would not have enjoyed the privilege of embarking upon this journey. Merci, Mama en Papa. As for guiding me through the project itself, I owe an enormous debt to my two supervisors - the “marriage counselors” if you will - Professor Peter Ling and Dr. Christopher Phelps. I have greatly profited from their insight, intelligence, expertise and patience. Peter and Christopher, I thank you for helping me through a challenging period in my life, devoting your time and interest to my work and nurturing an essentially human relationship with me for all these years. I am further indebted to my brilliant colleagues within the Department of American and Canadian Studies, School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies, and 49th Parallel, for consistently creating and maintaining a pleasant and stimulating work environment. I am sad to leave you all, but equally grateful for your help, advice and friendship. I would also like to extend my thanks to the CLAS Admin Team, who were always on hand to deal with problems of all magnitudes and treated me with kindness and a healthy sense of humor whenever I would rush into their office stricken by sheer panic or typical confusion. The highlight of the project for me has always been the archival work and it goes without saying I owe a great debt of gratitude to the various institutions that have welcomed me and assisted me with my work. I would like to explicitly thank the people at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at the Cornell University Library, the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Syracuse, the John Hay Library at Brown University, the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University, the Knight Library at the University of Oregon, the Charles E. Young Research Library at the University of California at Los Angeles, and the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley. Naturally, I would not have been able to perform the archival work without the financial support of the European Association of American Studies, as well as the University of Nottingham Arts Graduate Centre and School of CLAS, all of which provided me with generous grants to perform indispensable work in the United States. At this point, I would like to thank Mr. Hillard Welch for agreeing to talk to me on several occasions about the political exploits of his father and the history of the John Birch Society. These sessions have proven to be a most useful reference and I am grateful to Hid for his eagerness and honesty. On a different note, I want to thank all the people outside the realm of American Studies who have been so close to me throughout my stay in Nottingham. Ivan, Paul, Sam and Colin, thank you for taking me into 162 Station Road and for giving me the warmest surrogate family I could have hoped for. Arianna, ti ringrazio per il tuo amore, umorismo ed onestà e non vedo l'ora di rivederti. To the wonderful people of the Postgraduate New Theatre, I am proud to have been part of your history and thank you for unfathomably fun times on and behind the stage. Chilwell Canaries and Reds, please accept my thanks for the well-needed weekly workout, humorous nature of our sportive encounters, and for assisting me through my gradual conversion into the mediocre, yet utterly content defensive midfielder I was always meant to be. Lest I forget, I would like to express my profound gratitude to all the good people at home, be they friends or family, who have not forgotten me in these four years and who have made my farewell to Nottingham infinitely more bearable. Dank u wel, lieve mensen. Also, a special word of thanks to Peter and Margo for delivering me the surprise of a lifetime when choosing me as godfather to the tiny, little gem they are happily expecting. It means the world to me. And finally, my greatest debt probably lies with the John Birch Society itself, as well as with its arch-conservative allies, who have displayed enough fear, ignorance, greed, bigotry and drama throughout the decades to keep me sufficiently angry and motivated to keep reading, thinking and writing. I could not have remotely done this without them. List of Illustrations Fig. 1: Robert Welch Speaking at a Fundraiser 28 Fig. 2: Investigative literature on the JBS 44 Fig. 3: JBS members at chapter meeting 49 Fig. 4: Bircher anti-UN propaganda 74 Fig. 5: John Rousselot and Warren Impeachment sign 82 Fig. 6: Robert Welch on Meet the Press 89 Fig. 7: American Opinion Book Store in Santa Barbara 99 Fig. 8: John F. Kennedy 1963 “mug shot” pamphlet 125 Fig. 9: Bircher anti-Martin Luther King propaganda 127 Fig. 10: George S. Schuyler debating Malcolm X 151 Fig. 11: Critical JBS book on William Buckley 168 Fig. 12: Joe Shell political ad 181 Fig. 13: An Illinois Bircher at work 193 Fig. 14: Robert Welch and John Rousselot 214 Fig. 15: “Support Your Local Police” Collection 232 Fig. 16: George Wallace at JBS banquet 241 Fig. 17: Georgia JBS poster (1967) 245 Contents Introduction i Section 1 1. The Education of an Americanist 1 2. Up From Isolation 42 3. An Americanist Dilemma 104 Section 2 4. A Grand Old Purge 162 5. A Strident Minority 205 Conclusion 260 Bibliography 272 i Introduction “I just don’t have time for anything,” a suburban Texas housewife told reporters from Time Magazine, “I’m fighting Communism three nights a week.” In late 1961, the popular magazine ran a story on swelling numbers of “ultraconservative” citizen activists appearing all over the United States. They convened at least once per week in local “chapters” of up to twenty and sometimes thirty members each, organized film screenings and letter writing campaigns to their political representatives, disseminated vast amounts of literature and constituted a revolutionary form of social protest. They were members of the John Birch Society (JBS). No social movement or political organization left the same mark on the development of modern American conservatism as the “Birchers” did. The tenacity and fanaticism of the Society’s national leadership and members have fascinated observers right from its initial discovery by the greater public at the onset of the 1960s, a decade usually remembered and celebrated for the high tide of Cold War liberalism, milestone achievements for the African American civil rights movement and the advent of the New Left. At the same time, the Sixties witnessed the crystallization of a modern conservative stream of thought and activism that became increasingly adept at challenging a dominant liberalism that had reshaped American politics since the New Deal.1 To understand the dynamics, properties, successes and failures of this emerging conservative force, it is vital to map the nature and accomplishments of an organization as influential as the JBS. The key question to be considered thus lies exactly within this interaction: How did the John Birch Society fit within the burgeoning post-war conservative movement and what influence did it exercise over the latter’s consolidation and rise to 1 “Organizations: The Ultras,” Time, December 8, 1961, 22. ii power? This thesis will investigate that mutual relationship from the Society’s inception in late 1958 to the election of Richard Nixon ten years later, which marked the beginning of its relative decline as a nationally determining factor.