A couple of years ago the Times Examiner published my series of three articles that examined the life of Christian missionary to China, U.S. Army Captain, Rev. John Birch. This young but intrepid man was only 27 years old when he was murdered by the Chinese communists in China, soon after the end of WW11, during the intense three-way war for control of that huge nation between the Chinese Nationalist real government, the Chinese communist insurrectionists, and the invading military from Imperial Japan, a war that was ultimately won in 1949 by the Chinese communist butchers, courtesy of a great deal of help from their communist-sympathizing fellow travelers in the U.S. government, especially in the U.S. Dept. of State. Birch’s life and adventures in China from 1940 to 1945 would provide ample material for a block buster adventure movie, if we had any real movie-makers left who have not capitulated to being controlled by the dirty money provided to the Hollyweird studios by the Chinese communist party, the very descendants of those who MURDERED Rev./Captain John Birch in August of 1945.
But this article is not about the man, John Birch. Rather it’s going to focus on our nation’s premier pro-constitution, pro-American, anti-“deep state” educational group known as The John Birch Society, to which my wife and I have belonged for over 58 years. Captain Birch passed into eternity long before there was a “John Birch Society”, and our Founder, Robert Welch, never knew the young Birch, but only learned of his dedication to serving “God & Country” long after Birch’s death. Welch did know Captain Birch’s parents well, however, and they became Life Members of the Society that they gave Mr. Welch permission to name after their son.
Last time I referred to a great article in the March 8, 2021 issue of the New American Magazine, by C. Mitchell Shaw, titled The Great Awakening, and I quoted freely from that article, and from which I’ll also be quoting somewhat freely for this article. Back in the halcyon days of the early 1960’s, especially the intense campaign by Sen. Barry Goldwater as he ran for POTUS in 1963 and 1964 (during which we worked for Goldwater’s campaign), the John Birch Society had come “into its own”, and was already the target of an intense campaign of disinformation against it, as the denizens of deceit in the main stream media and in the already collectivist-dominated federal government decided that they could no longer ignore the rapidly expanding JBS and its nationwide effort at educating all Americans as to the dangers posed to their liberties by the “insiders” of the Council on Foreign Relations and other sinister anti-constitution sympathizing organizations, and then encouraging them to take CONCERTED action to thwart or delay the attacks against our constitution and our culture. The attacks against JBS, beginning as early as 1960, were merciless and untruthful. But truth was long ago a victim in this war between light and darkness, between constitutional freedom and collectivist slavery.
Interestingly, even the Russian dictator, Nikita Khrushchev, got in on the act during those early days and declared that the JBS must be a great “ally of communism”, because it focused its efforts on opening the eyes of Americans regarding the dangers to their freedoms being perpetrated by their own government (that as a “good communist” Khrushchev pretended to dislike). Apparently old Nikita thought that any American organization that “attacked” the American government (i.e. the “insiders” who controlled it) must be on the side of the commies in Moscow, and those in New York City. How wrong he was. So let me tell you the stories of two John Birch Society families, one about us, personally, and one about a couple featured in that New American Magazine article I mentioned above.
My late mother-in-law was a devoted historian and a semi-professional genealogist. When I started dating her daughter, back in late 1952, she began to “educate” me about history and about her other two passions: Classical music (her father had been a classical concert pianist in the early 1900’s) AND about conservative politicians, particularly conservative political groups. About 1961, a couple of years after I had married her daughter, she started telling us about a group called The John Birch Society, which a friend of theirs, a real life “Bircher”, had begun to ‘intrigue’ her about. For whatever reason, my in-laws never joined the JBS, but we did.
In the spring of 1963 my wife and I joined one of the Cleveland, Ohio JBS chapters (where we lived at the time). It had about ten to twelve members and its leader was a busy mother and wife. My in-laws let us know that they were very pleased that we had become “Birchers”. We immediately began to read and try to absorb the many JBS books and pamphlets that were already available. There were a few educational filmstrips with tapes that our chapter leader played and from which we learned. No sophisticated DVD’s or other great audio/visual teaching aids, no computers, no cells phones (smart or otherwise). Just person-to-person educating with the basics: books, pamphlets, reel-to-reel tapes, and filmstrips, and occasionally that really up-to-date teaching aid, a 16-mm. movie and a real projector (that required a big screen). We were in educational ‘high cotton’.
During those years from 1961 to summer of 1964 (when we moved to South Carolina), we went to hear several American Opinion speakers in Northeast Ohio, even before we joined JBS. We met Robert Welch, himself, during that time when he came to Ohio to speak. During our Birch days in Cleveland, we both worked hard for Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign, and continued doing that during the summer and fall of 1964 after we moved to South Carolina. The company I worked for, headquartered in Cleveland, decided to build a new factory in Lancaster, S.C., and asked us to relocate there, which we did in the summer of 1964. The Cleveland portion of that company was, unfortunately, filled by a motley assortment of “moderates” and “liberals”, all of whom despised Barry Goldwater and did their best to convince me to vote for their candidate, then-president Lyndon Johnson, which, of course, I assured them I would never do.
My harassment by my fellow industrial engineers began in earnest in early 1964, when Goldwater’s popularity was increasing. I was often on the receiving end of their mostly good-natured jibes and gripes because I let them know that I was a constitutional conservative before I was a Goldwater supporter. Mostly it was friendly political banter, but sometimes it wasn’t. My fellow engineers who were the “bad dudes” were Democrat “mouth breathers” who adored LBJ, and insisted that I do likewise. The closer we got to the November presidential election, the stronger their harassment became, particularly when I started “educating” them on Lyndon Johnson’s sordid personal and political history. I was too timid in those days to admit my JBS membership since Birchers, Goldwater supporters, and Republicans in general were all persona-non-grata in much of Cleveland, but a couple of my fellow engineers seemed interested in my opinions (my ‘American Opinions’), and would at least listen to my thoughts on our nation’s problems.
We lived for six years in Lancaster, S.C., during which I started a small JBS Chapter and became its leader. We could never get more than 5 or 6 members, but we did start one of the old “LET FREEDOM RING” telephone answering machine phenomenons, and we kept it going for at least two years (with a new conservative/JBS message every week). It almost never stopped ringing, so at least we were doing our best to educate our fellow citizens. One of our other JBS couples kept it going after we moved to Greenville. During this time I met and became friendly with the editor of The Lancaster News (after I had written an anti-Vietnam War <Win it quickly, then get us out> article for his paper). He offered me my own column (for no pay), so from about 1966 to 1970 I posted a new article every two to three weeks, mostly of Christian/Conservative/JBS content. During that time we incurred the wrath of a few local prominent business people, probably all Democrats, and particularly when I wrote against The United Nations (especially when I wrote anti-UNICEF articles). I loved it when they got all upset with my writing. I loved to agitate liberals in any way I could. I still do!
A few Birchers in our chapter, along with my wife and I, started the Lancaster Christian Academy for the school year 1967-68. It was a lot of work and took a lot of our limited resources. My wife taught there for the first year, at no pay. It was still surviving when we left Lancaster in 1970, but I understand from talking with our JBS Coordinator that it is going very strong today, under a different name, and it has sponsored several JBS meetings recently. In Greenville, S.C., about 1971, I became leader of a new JBS chapter. It usually had from 10 to 12 members, including several students from Bob Jones University (which was somewhat friendly to the JBS in those days). We always had a packed living room for our monthly chapter meetings.
From about 1972 to 1975 we started and ran a T.R.A.I.N. Committee (To Restore American Independence Now), which was an adjunct committee to the JBS GET US OUT OF THE U.N. continuous effort. We had several large meetings in Greenville. Toward the end of my tenure, the Greenville News called me and told me they wanted to do a feature article about the T.R.A.I.N.. Committee. They took several pictures, and a few days later we got a somewhat negative half-page spread about T.R.A.I.N., complete with pictures of our meeting and of me. Of course, the writer took pot-shots at me, announcing that T.R.A.I.N. was a “John Birch Society front group”, and I was prominently identified as being not only the Chairman of the T.R.A.I.N. Committee, but was also a JBS chapter leader. Two weeks later I was fired from my job as an industrial engineer for a textile products company in Greenville, no reason given. But I’ve learned that if my LORD closes one door, He will always open another, and He did. I went on to other and better positions as Chief Industrial Engineer and as a Plant Manager for several large apparel companies. It was during these years that we joined the ‘home chapter’ of JBS and continued trying to educate our fellow Americans.
Lots of patriots and members of JBS have been attacked and harassed over the years. Some much worse than I. It’s a small price to pay in our mutual struggles against the evils of collectivist tyranny that have plagued the world for centuries. That article in the March 8, 2021 issue of the New American magazine I mentioned earlier recounted the story of another concerned patriot couple who discovered that the John Birch Society was exactly what they had been searching for. This is their story, as told by Mitchell Shaw:
“Two…newly awakened patriots are Peter and Mary Ann Biffel, who live in northern Virginia. Conservative Christians who homeschooled seven children, the Biffels—who asked that we use their real names because the are ‘proud to be members of The John Birch Society’—told the New American that they have long known something was wrong, but were never really activists until July, 2020. At the peak of the lockdowns, mask mandates, and other government overreach surrounding COVID—and while watching leftist violence engulf America’s cities—they realized they had to act. As they searched for answers, their journey led them to join The John Birch Society because they saw that America needs saving and the JBS offered them a real plan for doing that.
“When asked why they chose to join the JBS instead of focusing their efforts within the Republican Party or some other conservative organization, Mary Ann said, ‘First of all, the Republican Party is one and the same’ with the Democratic Party. You can find conservatives, but most of them are neo-conservatives.’ As for other groups, Mary Ann said, ‘It is hard to find like-minded people who actually know what’s going on and are working against the problem’. Peter said the ‘reading materials and the videos’ produced by the JBS are both educational and ‘encouraging’. Furthermore, he said the monthly chapter meetings and the structure of the JBS ‘provide a real solution’ to the problems facing America. Peter added, ‘I want to see the solution playing out and I want to be part of the solution’.”
“EDUCATION IS OUR TOTAL STRATEGY, AND TRUTH IS OUR ONLY WEAPON”.
Those words above, from the Founder of The John Birch Society, Robert Welch, still ring clear as the perpetual focus of JBS. They sort of echo the famous words of Daniel Webster, who wrote: “There is nothing so powerful as truth, and often nothing so strange.” How correct he was. But therein lies the problem of our time, which is discovering just what IS the truth! Often, “truth” stares at one, face to face, but is not recognized for what it is—truth! And therein, also, lies the solution to the problems that plague our nation—getting our fellow Americans to recognize the truth, understand what the ramifications of discovering the truth might be, and then boldly and courageously taking action. Failure to take some kind of ACTION to preserve our eroding freedoms will only assure that we are the most knowledgeable people in the Marxist “Re-Education” camps that the collectivist devils envision for those of us who refuse to capitulate to their evil. How useless, and stupid, would that be?
And that’s where all current JBS members come in, and that’s where prospective JBS members must be identified and encouraged. As Mitchell Shaw wrote: “An organization giving patriots a fighting chance is the JBS. It has been successfully warding off globalist advances for decades. In that time, it has accomplished much. Consider just the past 10 years. The JBS has played a leading role by bogging down ‘Deep State’ initiatives to rewrite our Constitution, nationalize our local police, build a North American Union, and establish a UN-led one-world government.
“The longstanding “Get US Out of the U.N. campaign has educated Americans about the dangerous origins and agenda of the U.N. Likewise, the JBS campaign to “Support Your Local Police” (by keeping them independent of federal control)—which dates back to the 1960’s—has helped tremendously as a counter to the insiders’ War on Police.
“Founded in 1958, The John Birch Society is a unique organization. Never before had an organization been formed to provide a sustained resistance to the tyrannical conspiring of globalists—now known as the ‘Deep State’—to implement a New World Order, by providing national leadership to direct and assist the local actions of dedicated patriots. And in the nearly 63 years that have passed since its founding, no other such organizations have been formed.”
I’d like to close this article with some immortal words that dedicated Scottish Patriots wrote down long ago, in the year 1320 A.D. They and their country had been the target of many aggressive attacks by the forces of England, as that nation tried to conquer the unconquerable will of the people of Scotland. They wrote what is today considered to be the “Declaration of Independence of Scotland”, and it’s called THE DECLARATION OF ARBROATH (named after Arbroath Abbey in Scotland, where it was first written). The pertinent words from this long document, that burned themselves into my memory when I first read them many decades ago, are these, and I hope they burn themselves into YOUR memory as well:
“IT IS IN TRUTH NOT FOR GLORY, NOR FOR RICHES, NOR HONORS THAT WE ARE FIGHTING, BUT FOR FREEDOM—FOR THAT ALONE—WHICH NO HONEST MAN GIVES UP BUT WITH LIFE ITSELF.”
The Scottish people never were defeated—not by the Romans nor by the forces of England, despite apparent overwhelming odds against them. Next time we’ll delve further into how you can become a truth warrior with fellow patriots, and more importantly, WHY you should.