The right side of the 1960sP: The origins of the John Birch society in the pacific northwest

Oregon Historical Quarterly

Volumn 105, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 260-283

  Toy Jr , Eckard V ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 60950650322     PISSN: 00304727     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (108)

1. Robert Alan Goldberg, Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America (New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, 2001), 39.
2. See William L. Dwyer, The Goldmark Case: An American Libel Trial (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 198), 52-8, 103-4. The JBS was initially charged as a co-conspirator in the Goldmark libel trial, together with Albert F. Canwell and Ashley Holden, but the judge eventually dismissed charges against the Birch Society and its coordinator.
3. Eckard V. Toy, Jr. ,"Ideology and Conflict in American Ultraconservatism, 1945-1960" (Ph. D. diss. , University of Oregon, 1965)
4. Lisa McGirr, Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right (Princeton, N. J. : Princeton University Press, 2001), 54-110.
5. See, for example, Todd Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage (New York: Bantam, 1987)
6. and William J. Rorabaugh, Berkeley at War: The 1960s (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990). While celebrating their own emergence, conservative intellectuals studiously criticized their right-wing brethren.
7. See George H. Nash, The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America since 1945 (New York: Basic Books, 1976), 292-3
8. Ronald Lora, Conservative Minds in America (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1971), 257-8
9. William A. Rusher, The Rise of the Right (New York: William Morrow, 1984), 59-63, 117-26
10. and Jerome L. Himmelstein, To the Right: The Transformation of American Conservatism (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1990), 66-7
11. Scholarly assessments of the Birch Society are in Daniel Bell, ed. , The Radical Right (Garden City, N. Y. : Doubleday: 1963)
12. Richard Hofstadter, The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays (New York: Knopf, 1965), 3-5
13. d ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978)
14. and David H. Bennett, The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History (Chapel Hill, N. C. : University of North Carolina Press, 1988), 315-23.
15. See Rusher, Rise of the Right, 57.
16. Goldberg, Enemies Within, 37-65.
17. See William B. Hixson, Jr. , Search for the American Right Wing: An Analysis of the Social Science Record, 1955-1987 (Princeton, N. J. : Princeton University Press, 1992), 102.
18. Robert Welch to James W. Clise, October 1, 1959, James W. Clise Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Knight Library, University of Oregon, Eugene (hereafter Clise Papers).
19. and William F. Buckley, Jr. ,"The Uproar," National Review, April 23, 1961, 241-3.
20. Despite his public criticism of Welch, Buckley confided privately to T. Coleman Andrews "that he's one of the finest men we'll ever meet. " Buckley to Andrews, June 7, 1961
21. William R. Kent to Andrews, November 21, 1960, T. Coleman Andrews Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Knight Library, University of Oregon, Eugene (hereafter Andrews Papers).
22. Quoted in Bennett, Party of Fear, 25-6.
23. In 1776, Adam Weishaupt, a professor of law in Bavaria, formed a secret Masonic order that opposed the Jesuits and promoted ideas of the Enlightenment. Their opponents accused them of fomenting the French Revolution and spreading its influence internationally, See Seymour Martin Lipset and Earl Raab, The Politics of Unreason: Right-Wing Extremism in America, 1790-1977 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), 35.
24. John Birch Society Bulletin, October 31, 1959, 2
25. Oregonian, March 31, 1961
26. "Welch. . . said that Tennessee, Texas, and Southern California are the best Birch Society areas. " See James Graham Cook, The Segregationists (New York: Appleton-Century Crofts, 1962), 264.
27. See also Scott G. McNall, Career of a Radical Rightist: A Study in Failure (Port Washington, N. Y. : Kennikat Press 1975).
28. Carlos A. Schwantes, The Pacific Northwest: An Interpretive History (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989), 357-63.
29. See Paul Kleppner, "Politics without Parties: The Western States, 1900-1984," in The Twentieth-Century West: Historical Interpretations, ed. Gerald D. Nash and Richard W. Etulain (Albuquerque, N. M. : University of New Mexico Press, 1989), 295-338.
30. Ashley E. Holden to James W. Clise, July 14, 1958
31. Clise to Frank E. Holman, September 2, 1958
32. William Allen to Clise, October 21, 1958
33. copy of letter from David Pollock to the Rev. Lester Kinsolving, November 12, 1958, Clise Papers.
34. Walter J. DeLong to Clise, March 27, 1959
35. Reno Odlin to Clise, March 30, 1959, Clise Papers.
36. The Canwell Committee of 1948-1949 was named for its chairman, State Representative Albert F. Canwell, a Spokane Republican.
37. The National Economic Program affiliated with Harding College in Searcy, Arkansas, produced Communism on the Map
38. See Jane Sanders, Cold War on the Campus: Academic Freedom at the University of Washington, 1946-64 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1979), 21-46
39. Melvin Rader, False Witness (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1969)
40. Dwyer, Goldmark Case, 24-7
41. Stanley W. Dwinnell to Clise, January 4, 1961, Clise Papers.
42. Jack Mabley of the Chicago Daily News was generally acknowledged as the first journalist to report about the JBS in a column on July 26, 1960. See J. Allen Broyles, The John Birch Society: Anatomy of a Protest (Boston: Beacon Press, 1964), 8.
43. Merwin K. Hart to J. Howard Pew, February 21, 1958, Merwin K. Hart Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Knight Library, University of Oregon, Eugene.
44. Robert Welch, May God Forgive Us (Chicago: Regnery, 1952)
45. and The Life of John Birch (Chicago: Regnery, 1954).
46. See Eckard V. Toy, Jr. , "American Opinion," in The Conservative Press in Twentieth-Century America, ed. Ronald Lora and William Longton (Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1999).
47. If approached with caution, the role of conspiracy theories in American history can be examined in Hofstadter, Paranoid Style, and David Brion Davis, ed. , The Fear of Conspiracy: Images of Un-American Subversion from the Revolution to the Present (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1971).
48. One source of Welch's conspiracy theories in European history is Nesta Webster, Secret Societies and Subversive Movements (n. p. , 1924), published in a more recent edition by the Christian Book Club of America and sold in American Opinion bookstores.
49. Broyles, John Birch Society, 31.
50. "The Politician" was sometimes called the "black book" because of its cover. Welch shared the first unpublished version with about thirty friends in 1954, distributed a longer version to nearly sixty friends in 1956, and completed a third version in June 1958. After a firestorm of criticism from outside and within the Birch Society, he deleted or modified some of the most extreme statements and published The Politician (Belmont, Mass. : Belmont Publishing, 1964).
51. Welch, The Politician, 267.
52. The Bricker Amendment, named for Republican Senator John Bricker of Ohio, was never adopted. See Duane Tananbaum, The Bricker Amendment Controversy: A Test of Eisenhower's Political Leadership (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988)
53. Holman had supported Al Canwell during his unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in the early 1950s. See Frank E. Holman to Clise, September 6, 1952, Clise Papers.
54. Robert Welch to T. Coleman Andrews, September 29, 1958, Andrews Papers
55. Frank E. Holman to Robert Welch, August 22, 1958, Frank E. Holman Papers, Manuscripts and Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle (hereafter Holman Papers).
56. Although he accepted a position on the board of directors of the Birch Society, Andrews soon admitted: "Confidentially, some of us who heard Bob at Indianapolis were not completely sold. " Andrews to George S. Montgomery, Jr. , March 16, 1959, Andrews Papers.
57. Welch to Clise, August 13, 1959, Clise Papers
58. Oregon Journal, March 30, 1961
59. Oregonian, March 31, 1961. Swigert is listed as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board on the title page of American Opinion, 1958-1964; see also seating chart for meeting of Directors, Andrews Papers.
60. Neil R. McMillan, The Citizens' Councils: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-1964 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970) 199-202.
61. See also Norman Cohn, Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World-Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (New York: Harper and Row, 1967).
62. Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, Silent Brotherhood: Inside America's Racist Underground (New York: Free Press, 1989), 21.
63. Robert Welch, The Blue Book of the John Birch Society (Belmont, Mass. : 1959), 158-9. This publication went through twenty-one printings by the spring of 1985.
64. John Birch Society Bulletin, October 31, 1950, 12; July 1, 1960, 4
65. and Robert Welch, The John Birch Society (Belmont, Mass: n. d. ), 3.
66. See Himmelstein, To the Right, 225 n. 25
67. "Application for Membership in the John Birch Society," Clise Papers.
68. B. E. Hutchinson to Clise, February 9, 1959, Clise Papers. Hutchinson had served with Welch as a director of the National Association of Manufacturers.
69. Clise to Mark Granite, October 21, 1958, Clise Papers.
70. Charles Clise was in real estate and investment, and James Clise manufactured and marketed building materials; they had similar political perspectives.
71. See Eckard V. Toy, Jr. ,"Spiritual Mobilization: The Failure of an Ultraconservative Ideal in the 1950s," Pacific Northwest Quarterly 61 (April 1970): 77-86
72. and Toy,"The Oxford Group and the Strike of the Seattle Longshoremen in 1934," Pacific Northwest Quarterly 69 (October 1978): 174-84.
73. Clise to R. Mort Frayn, November 10, 1952, Clise Papers.
74. Clise to Joseph R. McCarthy and Harry P. Cain, August 29, 1951, Frederick E. Baker Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Knight Library, University of Oregon, Eugene
75. Clise to J. Edgar Hoover, July 2, 1954
76. Clise to Lee Moran, March 22, 1955, Clise Papers.
77. Hutchinson to William C. Mullendore, September 30, 1959, Mullendore Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Knight Library, University of Oregon, Eugene.
78. Clise to Hutchinson, February 19, 1959, Clise Papers.
79. Robbins also subscribed to American Opinion. Harry M. Robbins to Clise, October 7, 1958
80. February 24, 1959, Clise Papers.
81. Welch to Clise, February 25, 1959, Clise Papers.
82. Welch to Clise, August 13, 1959, Clise Papers.
83. Holman to Welch, September 3, 16, 1959, Holman Papers
84. Clise to Welch, October 2, 1959
85. Stuart G. Thompson to Clise, October 9, 1959
86. Welch to Clise, October 12, 1959, Clise Papers.
87. George Washington Robnett to Clise, September 24, 1959, Clise Papers. See also Mark Sherwin, The Extremists (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1963), 75.
88. Welch to Clise, June 9, 1959, Clise Papers. Nearly one-third of the officers and board members of the Committee against Summit Entanglements were also directors of the John Birch Society.
89. "Notes of Meeting at Olympic Hotel," September 25, 1959, Clise Papers.
90. 1959 file; Clise to Welch, October 2, 1959, Clise Papers.
91. Clise to Hughston M. McBain, October 6, 1959, Clise Papers.
92. "Notes on Robert Welch," September 25, 26, 1959, Clise Papers
93. Clise to Welch, September 26, October 2, 16, 1959
94. Holman to Clise, September 30, 1959
95. Welch to Clise, October 1, 1959
96. Clise to McBain, October 6, 1959. Clise Papers.
97. James A. Aho, The Politics of Righteousness: Idaho Christian Patriotism (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1990), 114-17.
98. McGirr, Suburban Warriors, 70-5.
99. Clise to P. C. Beezley, November 4, 1959, Clise Papers.
100. Gladys G. Giffin to Clise, February 11, 1960, Clise Papers. Clise used a pseudonym in these campaigns, signing his name as James Williams of Mercer Island in a letter to the editor of the Seattle Times, January 16, 1960 (in Clise Papers).
101. John Birch Society Bultetin, November 30, 1959, 2
102. Clise to Glenn A. Green, January 29, 1960, Clise Papers.
103. Lee J. Adamson to Clise, August 18, 1960, Clise Papers.
104. See "Fourth Quarter Report," SPX Research Associates, February 1, 1960, Clise Papers. In Hutton's terminology, SPX stood for Soviet Principle Ten, the theory of subversion.
105. Flynn and Gerhardt, Silent Brotherhood, 20-2
106. and Elinor Langer, A Hundred Little Hitlers: The Death of a Black Man, The Trial of a White Racist, and the Rise of the Neo-Nazi Movement in America (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2003), 115-16.
107. Oregonian, February 10, 1992; author's collection.
108. Mrs. William Lee Bailey to Clise, September 14, 1960, Clise Papers.