The John Birch Society was “the original Moms for Liberty,” as the headline on a recent episode of “Have You Heard” podcast puts it. Like the contemporary extremist group, it specialized in far-right rhetoric, conspiracy theories and bullying tactics. It appealed to a small but passionate group of true believers.
But there’s one big difference. The Birch Society, in its heyday of the late 1950s and ‘60s, was almost universally considered a fringe group. The news media marginalized it. Popular entertainers mocked it. Republicans, even many conservative Republicans, kept their distance.
Today, by contrast, Republican officeholders and candidates trip over themselves to appeal to Moms for Liberty and similar groups, like Indiana-based Purple for Parents. Indiana legislators fell in line with their agenda of attacking so-called critical race theory, diversity education, and LGBTQ+ youth. Lawmakers banned state funding for Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute based on disproven right-wing claims.
Republican presidential candidates are lining up to bend the knee at the Moms for Liberty national conference. Donald Trump will give a keynote address, and Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy are scheduled to speak.
When the Hamilton County, Indiana, chapter featured a quote from Adolf Hitler at the top of the front page of its newsletter last week, it caused a bit of a stir in the news media. Rex Huppke of USA Today wrote a brilliant and biting column. But from what I can tell, Indiana Republican state officials and party leaders have been silent. (Carmel GOP mayoral candidate Sue Finkam did call out the quote, saying it “damaged our city’s reputation on a national and local stage.”).
The Birch Society was extreme, but no more so than the groups that have taken over the GOP. It wanted to roll back the welfare state, impeach Justice Earl Warren and restore prayer in schools. That’s fairly tame compared to some of the stuff that today’s radical right is pushing.
Historian Matthew Dallek relates the group’s rise, fall and ultimate success in his book “Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right.” It’s a compelling story, one that sheds light on our current political moment and the highly charged state of education politics.
The Birch Society was born in 1958 in Indianapolis, at a meeting of 18 wealthy and very conservative white men. They were “God’s angry men,” bitter about the New Deal, upset with the size of government, hostile to taxes and regulation and disappointed with the Republican president, Dwight Eisenhower. Three were former leaders of the National Association of Manufacturers.
Robert Welch, the candy tycoon who called the meeting and led the group, was dedicated and energetic if a bit unhinged. He was famous for his claim that Eisenhower was a “conscious, dedicated agent of the communist conspiracy.” Not many Americans thought that about the World War II hero.
The John Birch Society’s penchant for seeing communists under every bed – or at least in every federal department – limited its appeal, Dallek writes. It probably peaked with the 1964 GOP presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater, but even he was skeptical of the group. Goldwater, who caught flak for his claim that “extremism in defense of liberty is no vice,” lost in a landslide to Lyndon Johnson.
But if the Birch Society gradually faded from the scene, it gave birth to other far-right groups that built greater influence: Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition. Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority. The Tea Party movement that arose in populist/racist reaction to Barack Obama’s presidency. Abetted by the growth of right-wing media, each iteration gained strength and influence within the Republican Party.
Donald Trump, then, is the apotheosis. He jumped into the arena with racist claims about Obama’s birth certificate. He roused anti-immigrant fervor with claims that “rapists” were flooding over the border from Mexico. And he seems all but certain to be the 2024 Republican nominee for president.
“The fact that Birchers failed to enact most of their agenda … didn’t mean they lost the larger war,” Dallek writes in “Birchers.” “In defeat, they planted seeds that later bore fruit. Their successors picked up on their ideas and campaigned for their causes and over decades gained more and more traction. In the long run, Birchers won by losing.”
For a synopsis of Dallek’s book, listen to his interview on “Have You Heard,” hosted by journalist Jennifer Berkshire and education historian Jack Schneider. Better yet, read the book. It’s a fascinating story that tells a lot about where we are and how we got here.
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