#2 Go 1 ro- ON THE RIGHT: so" Ga for ice nt- Birchers Protest a ( all cou the 1 a Against Criticism od- And ery By WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. wri S. NE WEEK AGO I wrote a column expressing a dis- It ets, O a b I J. may I felt sure was shared by the majority of the real dix members of the John Birch Society at some of the ally ies positions being subtly advanced by the leadership of I of the JBS in its magazine, American Opinion, even And up while the society is spending tons of dough to appease Obv 'or at average public opinion persuade the leader- and the mer American that my on :07 ship is non-kooky. of ] The response has been discourag- as those who (like myself) have a n 09. so that steadfastly ing to between opinions the of position Robert adhered to off, the air in Welch and those of his votaries there out I's ly a disbelieve, great gulf: latter his enormi- calm- is that the or ignore at nes at scrape on ties, the remaining grounds you of need the extremism society simply loyal to Bea that low off the barnacles BUCKLEY and have left a trim seagoing hull 77, bent on an upwind anti-Communist, anti-socialist course. - I am troubled by the initial response to that column, and have decided to extend my inquiry into the nature of the support of the John Birch Society in an effort to answer several questions. I One: Is there in fact substantial disagreement between the membership at large and the leadership of the JBS? Two: Do the members of the JBS make A any attempt to understand what it is that the leader- N. - ship of the JBS believes; or do they simply ignore the bab e zanier findings of the leadership, taking shelter in the of d e argument that the society is anti-Communist and tior ) that therefore all anti-Communists should support it? bea is * * hav e the h Mr. Robert Welch, the founder of the John Birch len i- Society has often expressed his pride in the character " and gentility of his members. I say it sincerely, that chil I do not doubt that he is to a considerable extent cor- all, mo rect. But I also doubt, to judge from the response to es oug r- date, that he could easily explain away the manners our or of some of the more vociferous members of his society. if Mr. William Patten of St. Louis, Mo., for instance, ve x suspects my motives. "So, The Establishment has fin- bac S. ally gotten to you! The word is Comply-or else! Or te else what? Your magazine will not be distributed by is r- 'accepted' distributors! Cancel My Subscription" ed (CMS, for short). Mrs. Lenore McDonald of Los Angeles: "What Robert Welch wrote in The Politician 3. (imputing pro-communism to Dwight Eisenhower) is I mild." - Mrs. W. D. Porter of Lexington: "Did you just have to do it? Couldn't you have left it to the Over- streets, Gus Hall, and perhaps Chet Huntley? CMS." A Mr. William Gehrke of Denver, Colo.: "The same old Pon smear method employed by the liberals is used, namely, condemn the man and what he stands for in E but don't dare try to refute his facts. (I.e., that the to t United States is 60-80 per cent dominated by Com- unp 2 munists, that being the conclusion of the article I sam quoted.) CMS." Gr or Mrs. George Caldwell, of San Crescento, Calif.: Ga Id "Since I have just so much hate in me I must parcel bar d it out rather sparingly, and as I understand you I am in S ne now to love Russia and hate the John Birch Society. in ay Mrs. Ruth S. Matthews of New York: "One more thing Rec nd before you open your big mouth again, ask Congress V it to give a hearing to Col. Golieswki." (Who will prove lin that Ike is a Communist?) Mrs. Monica Doeing of era e. Santa Barbara, Calif.: "Do you mean that you don't in think that the kidnaping of General Walker was a gar part of the Communist conspiracy? If so, you better Por ut at fav get your head out of the sand." 10- inf * * * ree the Mr. and Mrs. John Dalziel of Brooklyn: "When Re ey you attack Robert Welch you attack every member cus he in the society." Mr. Arthur Barksdale of San Mateo, Fre d- Calif.: "I have always believed you to be a true con- of ell, servative. However, since you seem categorically to hir far accept most of the left-wing programs, I'm beginning to ney to doubt your sincerity." cal lly, Mr. James Oviatt of Los Angeles and Beverly ght Hills: "I am just wondering what Zionist Jew wrote ins this article? Could it have been Lippmann, Goldberg, of an- or even Abe-Johnson's attorney? I have known of or- Bob Welch for over 15 years; I think he told the me ept truth about Eisenhower." pol Miss Patricia Huster, of Baltimore, Md.: "I believe ne to I heard that there was some $95,000 involved in your un are. last smear of the John Birch Society. How much did I you get paid this time? And by the way, whose side qui Hill, wit are you on, anyway? CMS." Mr. Lee Adamson of Bell- ipt ingham, Wash., writes: "I have heard a rumor that not John Kenneth Galbraith is a majority stockholder in cof wh National Review." ally And Mr. J. T. Timothy, of Willimantic, Conn. de ing (06226), sums it up in a single word, in large red Ch to blu Name crayon: "Judas!" re's ha To Be Continued Distributed by the Washington Star Syndicate Un