By: History.com Editors

1958

John Birch Society founded

History.com Editors

Published: March 04, 2010

Last Updated: January 24, 2025

In Indianapolis, retired candy manufacturer Robert H.W. Welch, Jr., establishes the John Birch Society, a right-wing organization dedicated to fighting what it perceives to be the extensive infiltration of communism into American society.

Sound Smart: McCarthyism

Joseph McCarthy and his role in stoking fears of communism and its sympathizers during the 1950s.

Welch named the society in honor of John Birch, considered by many to be the first American casualty in the struggle against communism. In 1945, Birch, a Baptist missionary and U.S. Army intelligence specialist, was killed by Chinese communists in the northern province of Anhwei.

The John Birch Society, initially founded with only 11 members, had by the early 1960s grown to a membership of nearly 100,000 Americans and received annual private contributions of several million dollars. The society revived the spirit of McCarthyism, claiming in unsubstantiated accusations that a vast communist conspiracy existed within the U.S. government. Among others, the organization implicated President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. However, after the debacle of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s public hearings in the early 1950s, America became more wary of radical anti-communism, and few of the society’s sensational charges were taken seriously by mainstream American society. The John Birch Society remains active today, and its members seek “to expose a semi-secret international cabal whose members sit in the highest places of influence and power worldwide.”

Timeline

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1835

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1854

“The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson is published

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1917

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On the morning of December 9, 1917, after Turkish troops move out of the region after only a single day s fighting, officials of the Holy City of Jerusalem offer the keys to the city to encroaching British troops. The British, led by General Edmund Allenby, who had arrived from the Western Front the previous […]

1934

New York Giants beat Chicago Bears in “Sneakers Game”

On December 9, 1934, the New York Giants win the NFL championship by beating the Chicago Bears, 30-13, in the famous “Sneakers Game.” With the temperature at 9 degrees and the Polo Grounds field a sheet of ice, the Giants open the second half wearing basketball shoes and score 27 points in the final quarter […]

1971

Paris peace talks break down

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1979

Smallpox is officially declared eradicated

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1983

“Scarface,” starring Al Pacino, opens in theaters

The actor Al Pacino stars as a Cuban refugee who becomes a Miami crime boss in Scarface, which opens in theaters on December 9, 1983. In Scarface, Pacino played Tony Montana, who arrives in Florida from Cuba in 1980 and eventually becomes wealthy from his involvement in the booming cocaine business. Things fall apart when […]

1987

Intifada begins on Gaza Strip

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1990

Lech Walesa elected president of Poland

In Poland, Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity trade union, wins a landslide election victory, becoming the first directly elected Polish leader. Walesa, born in 1943, was an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk when he was fired for union agitation in 1976. When protests broke out in the Gdansk shipyard over an increase […]

1992

U.S. Marines storm Mogadishu, Somalia

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A Somali (2nd R), who disagrees with the

1992

Separation of Charles and Diana announced

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2016

World Anti-Doping Agency accuses Russia of widespread cheating at Olympics

On December 9, 2016, the World Anti-Doping Agency details a vast “institutional conspiracy” involving Russian officials and more than 1,000 athletes in systematic doping at major athletic competitions, including the Olympics. A second WADA report says the conspiracy involves the Russian Sports Ministry, national anti-doping agency and the FSB intelligence service and that the cheating and cover-ups […]

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Citation Information

Article title
John Birch Society founded
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 28, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
January 24, 2025
Original Published Date
March 04, 2010

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