1958: John Birch Society founded. Organized by Robert F. Welch on December 9, 1958, the John Birch Society was an ultra-conservative politcal force in the era after Sen. Joseph McCarthy disgraced the American right by leading an anti-communist crusade that turned into a witch hunt.

The JBS was based in McCarthy’s hometown, Appleton, Wisconsin, and perhaps its most famous member was Roy Cohn, McCarthy’s evil, closeted gay sidekick, whose death from AIDS is fictionalized in the play, “Angels in America.”

JBS reached its zenith during Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign in 1964, and Goldwater’s resounding defeat was the start of the decline of its influence. The fall of communism pushed it to the brink of obscurity.

Ironically, the policies of Republicans in Washington, especially the Bushes, have re-energized the Birchers:

When Robert F. Welch died in 1985, the Birch Society had shrunk to less than 50,000 members. There then ensued an internal struggle over who would grab the reins of the organization. The victors even alienated Welch’s widow who denounced the new leadership from her retirement home in Weston, MA. Magazine subscriptions, often a close parallel to membership, fell from 50,000 to 30,000 to 15,000.

The collapse of communism in Europe and the end of the Cold War might have signaled the end of the Birch Society, but the UN role in the Gulf War and President Bush’s call for a New World Order unwittingly echoed Birch claims about the goals of the internationalist One World Government conspiracy. As growing right-wing populism sparked new levels of cynicism regarding politicians, and economic and social fears sparked rightist backlash movements, the Birch Society positioned itself as the group that for decades had its fingers on the pulse of the conspiracy behind the country’s decline. Between 1988 and 1995 the Birch Society at least doubled, and perhaps tripled its membership to over 55,000.

Who was John Birch? The society’s namesake, John Birch, was “a United States military intelligence officer and Baptist missionary in World War II who was killed in 1945 by armed supporters of the Communist Party of China, and whom the JBS describes as ‘the first American victim of the Cold War.’ His parents joined the society as life members,” according to Wiki.