The World of the John Birch Society: Conspiracy, Conservatism, and the Cold War Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

D.J. Mulloy (Author), Kirk Winkler (Narrator), University Press Audiobooks (Publisher)

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Founded in 1958 as a force for conservative political advocacy, the John Birch Society espoused the dangers of enemies - foreign and domestic - including the Soviet Union, organizers of the US civil rights movement, and government officials who were deemed "soft" on communism in both the Republican and Democratic parties.

Sound familiar?

In The World of the John Birch Society, author D. J. Mulloy reveals the tactics of the society in a way they've never been understood before, allowing the listener to make the connections to contemporary American politics, up to and including the Tea Party.

These tactics included organized dissemination of broad-based accusations and innuendo, political brinksmanship within the Republican Party, and frequent doomsday predictions regarding world events. At the heart of the organization was Robert Welch, a charismatic writer and organizer who is revealed to have been the lifeblood of the society's efforts.

The society has seen its influence recede from the high-water mark of 1970s, but the organization still exists today. Throughout The World of the John Birch Society, the listener sees the very tenets and practices in play that make the contemporary Tea Party so effective on a local level. Indeed, without the John Birch Society paving the way, the Tea Party may have encountered a dramatically different political terrain on its path to power.

The book is published by Vanderbilt University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

Praise for the book:

"A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the mind-set of the JBS." (H-Net Reviews in the Humanities & Social Sciences)

"Brilliantly reveals the Society's hard-nosed conservatism while linking it to movements that preceded today's Tea Party." (Publishers Weekly)

"A much-needed return to an examination of the far right." (Timothy Thurber, author of Republicans and Race)

Listening Length

12 hours and 23 minutes
Author

D.J. Mulloy
Narrator

Kirk Winkler
Audible release date

May 6 2020
Language

English
Publisher

University Press Audiobooks
ASIN

B0886BPLB7
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	12 hours and 23 minutes
Author	D.J. Mulloy
Narrator	Kirk Winkler
Audible.ca Release Date	May 06 2020
Publisher	University Press Audiobooks
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B0886BPLB7
Best Sellers Rank	#198,029 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #497 in Elections & Political Process #1,116 in Political Ideologies & Doctrines #2,324 in Conspiracy Theories

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Robert E. Jastrow

They're Baaak!!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 29, 2014

Verified Purchase

This book clearly sets out the paranoia of the John Birch Society and its founder, Robert Welch. The outlandish conspiracy theories posited by the Society as "the truth" which it needed to reveal to the American public included accusations that President Eisenhower, his brother John, and Eleanor Roosevelt were Communist Agents whose activities were directed from the Kremlin. AS the fifties turned into the sixties, these "truths" became even more bizarre. The book describes the various campaigns launched by the Society to push its agenda. It also hints at the Society's impact on the conservative movement then and now. It is here that the book falls down. While the author postulates the passage of the conservative torch to today's Tea Party, it fails to show how and when this happened and the manifestations of Society preachings in today's conservative movement. It is also lacking in explaining what happened to the Society after the 1960's. All in all though, it is an interesting read.

10 people found this helpful

ernie1241

New Info Regarding Robert Welch's Political Beliefs and Values

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 28, 2014

Verified Purchase

In my first review of Dr. Mulloy's excellent history of the JBS, I took issue of Mulloy's claim that the JBS was never explicitly racist in its arguments or positions. Since that first review, I have discovered considerable additional relevant information which should be considered.

1. JBS defenders routinely express outrage when anybody links the JBS to racism or any other form of bigotry. However, those defenders are almost all profoundly ignorant of actual JBS history.

2. Most JBS defenders cite a 1956 article by Robert Welch entitled "A Letter to the South on Segregation" which they claim indicates that Welch "opposed" segregation and predicted its ultimate demise (although without any timetable specified).

3. In his "Letter" Robert Welch claimed that the “easy-going colored man” of the South could be “easily misled by agitators,” and “is now being inflamed into a hatred of his white neighbors which he never felt before.”

Welch also opined that the phrase “civil rights” was a Communist slogan. Welch asserted that racial integration “embarrassed” good black Americans. [Robert Welch: “A Letter to the South on Segregation”, One Man’s Opinion magazine, September 1956, page 4]. Of course, at no point, does Mr. Welch explain how he arrived at his understanding about what the majority of African Americans in the United States believed about their status OR what they believed about the degree or nature of the discrimination and oppression they confronted in their everyday lives.

4. It is important to understand that Robert Welch was born and raised in a small southern rural community (Edenton, Chowan County, North Carolina) -- where segregation was the norm. Welch was a product of the values of that era and his generation with respect to the "proper" place of black Americans.

5. In his "Letter", Welch defended the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Plessy vs Ferguson.

Welch argued that the May 17, 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision on de-segregation was NOT Constitutional because it revised the 10th and 14th Amendments by fiat and made educational policies subject to federal control rather than the intended state control. Furthermore, Welch maintained that the Plessy v Ferguson Supreme Court decision validated "separate but equal schools or any other public facilities for colored people and white people fulfilled the requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment. This was in accordance with legal precedent which had already prevailed since the Amendment had been adopted in 1868."

Then Welch discussed what he considered to be the "Communist sympathies and connections of the 'authorities' on modern psychology to which the Court referred in its decision, and on which its action was theoretically based."

It is important to understand the underlying principles which Mr. Welch was affirming in his article. In effect, Welch was leaving black Americans to the mercy of the states and Welch understood that doing so put African Americans in a position of legal inferiority – which is the import of the 1896 Plessy decision.

In Plessy v. Ferguson (163 U.S. 537), the Supreme Court was asked to consider a Louisiana act which required “separate but equal” accommodations in transportation facilities (a typical Jim Crow law). The Act imposed a penalty for passengers who chose to sit in an area assigned to the other race.

One passenger who had one great-grand-parent who was black, sat in a car reserved for white passengers and he was arrested. The Supreme Court held that the Louisiana Act was a reasonable exercise of the state’s police power because segregation was not discrimination.

Welch’s legal argument reduced African Americans to “the condition of a subject race” (to quote a comment from Justice Harlan’s dissent). In Mississippi, for example, it was a crime to publish a statement advocating or suggesting social equality of the races.

It should also be noted that segregation laws (or other laws which took note of a person’s race or color) during the period which Welch refers to, require statutory or judicial definitions of the term “Negro”. All those definitions are made from the standpoint of the white person who seeks to avoid contact with any person he deems to be a “Negro”. Consequently, in some states, anyone with any trace of Negro blood (no matter how distantly) was classified as a “Negro”. This arbitrary standard is what Welch believed was required by American law.

Furthermore, acceptance of Welch’s argument meant adopting a standard which was intended as the basis for prohibiting marriage of white persons with persons of color (prohibited in 29 states) and which required segregation of the races in interstate passenger traffic and in hospitals, and penal institutions, and in educational institutions—even when those facilities were not “equal”. For example, in 1948-1949, the U.S. Office of Education reported that Mississippi spent an average of $123 per white pupil in grade and high schools whereas they spent only $27 per black pupil. Most other states spent considerably less per black student

6. In 1956, Welch left the GOP to campaign and vote for the Presidential candidacy of T. Coleman Andrews Sr. of Richmond VA. Andrews ran on the States Rights Party ticket. The official motto of that Party was "Segregation Forever!".

Also, in 1956, Robert Welch attended, and was a featured speaker at, the September 14-16, 1956 National Conference of States Rights held in Memphis TN. [G. Edward Griffin: “The Life and Words of Robert Welch—Founder of the John Birch Society”; American Media, 1975, page 254. Note: Mr. Griffin was one of only four people who were authorized to speak officially for the John Birch Society.]

As one historian correctly observed about this Conference:

“Generally, individuals within or closely associated with southern white supremacy organizations provided the nucleus of leadership for the states’ rights campaign.” [Numan V. Bartley, The Rise of Massive Resistance, Louisiana State University Press, 1969, page 165].

The Conference was organized by John U. Barr, a wealthy New Orleans businessman who was a life-long segregationist.

FEDERATION FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

Barr was a co-founder and Chairman of the New Orleans-based Federation For Constitutional Government (FCG), a pro-segregation organization which attracted many of the most racist bigots in the south.
Example of Barr’s beliefs: https://repository.duke.edu/dc/broadsides/bdsla60752

The three-day Conference was attended by 317 delegates from 25 states, representing over a dozen splinter parties – including:

Constitution Parties of Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, Iowa States’ Rights Party of Louisiana
Mississippians for States Rights New Party of New Mexico Independent GOP of Connecticut
Independent Electors of Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Virginia States’ Rights Council of Georgia
Federation For Constitutional Government

According to Barr: “All of the parties are committed to the doctrine of powerful individual states and a weaker federal government. All believe racial segregation is a matter for states to handle. All regard the major parties as socialist carbon copies.” [09/17/56, Kingsport TN Times, page 8, “John Barr Was Planner of States Rights Meet”]

The keynote speaker for this event was Clarence Manion of Indiana. He predicted that “communism will soon take over this country from the inside and without firing a shot” and he condemned both the Democratic and Republican parties for wrecking the U.S. Constitution. He described both parties as “socialistic look-alikes”. [Manion subsequently became a founding member of the John Birch Society and he served on its National Council.]

To give readers an idea about the type of persons at this 1956 Conference whom Robert Welch considered his allies, consider the following persons who were among the delegates and officers attending this Conference:

• Robert C. Chandler of Shreveport LA. Chandler was an attorney who co-founded the States Rights Party of Louisiana in 1956 to oppose racial integration of public schools. He served as Temporary Chairman of this September Conference. He also served as President of the Shreveport White Citizens Council

• Earl Evans Jr. of Canton MS. Evans was the permanent Chairman of this Conference. He was a “bitter opponent” of equalizing white and black schools according to the Hattiesburg MS American, 5/19/54, page 1.

• Joseph Beauharnais of Chicago. He founded the racist White Circle League of America. Beauharnais was listed as a “racial extremist” by the FBI-Chicago office which described him as follows: “…founder and organizer of the White Circle League” and “in 1949 was described as ‘psycho’ in connection with his hatred of the Negro race. Since 1952, Beauharnais has been in several Midwestern cities to speak before conventions of organizations that were and are anti-Negro, anti-Semitic, or both. Beauharnais is an associate of known ‘hate’ subjects and/or ‘hate’ organizations in the Chicago area.” [FBI HQ file 157-1-9, serial #24, 8/21/59]

• Sims Crownover of Tennessee. He was an attorney who represented the segregationist Federation For Constitutional Government (FCG). In May 1956, Crownover fought against a Davidson County TN decision which declared that racial segregation laws in that County were invalid [Kingsport TN Times, 5/8/56, page 1]. Crownover advocated the doctrine of interposition to invalidate the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court de-segregation decision. [See his August 1956 American Bar Association Journal article entitled “The Segregation Cases” pages 727-729].

• Ed Worthington of Memphis. Worthington was a member of the Memphis White Citizens Council

• Mrs. Terry Mulhall of Sioux City IA, representing the Constitution Party of Iowa. The Constitution Party of the 1950’s and 1960’s attracted the most virulent racists and anti- semites in the U.S.

• Edward Reed Fields of Iowa represented the Constitution Party. In 1946, while he was in high school, Fields joined Emory Burke’s new Atlanta-based organization, The Columbians, the first openly neo-nazi organization in postwar America. [The Columbians was listed as a subversive fascist organization by the Attorney General of the United States.] While in high school, Fields also created a short-lived pro-nazi group of his own called the Black Front. In the early 1950’s Fields joined J.B. Stoner’s Christian Anti-Jewish Party (CAJP) and he became its Executive Secretary. The CAJP was created in 1945 by Stoner and Emmett O’Neill Morris in Tennessee. Both Stoner and Morris had been pro-nazi during World War II. In 1955, the Texas Attorney General listed Fields as a leader of the U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. In November 1957 the United White Party was organized. Its principals included Edward Fields, Emory Burke (The Columbians), Matt Koehl, John Kasper (Seaboard White Citizens Council), John G. Crommelin, Millard Grubbs, and many other individuals whom the FBI described as “a group of notorious anti- semites”. [FBI HQ file 105-66233, serial #11; 1/22/58]

Many of the participants in, and endorsers of, this Conference later became members or endorsers of the John Birch Society – including: John U. Barr, Lt. Gen. Edward M. Almond, Lt. Gen. Albert C. Wedemeyer, Vice Admiral C.S. Freeman, Merwin K. Hart, and Clarence Manion.

In 1976, Welch AGAIN voted for a life-long segregationist for President (Tom Anderson, American Party).

Obviously, Welch's small-town rural North Carolina racism explains his voting preferences and his interpretation of American law in a manner which disadvantaged black Americans. THAT is why, even in the 21st century, the JBS still claims that our civil rights movement was Communist-created, Communist-dominated, and "serves only Communist purposes".

18 people found this helpful

John L. Pesda

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

It doesn't add much relevant information to what is already know about the organization.

3 people found this helpful

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