Driving into work this morning wasn’t particularly a pleasant experience, given the fact that the Fox Valley surrounding Appleton, Wisconsin is in the midst of having more than a foot of snow dumped on top of it. Though I had four wheel drive, I could at least say that I was thankful it wasn’t 50 years ago.

It was on this day in 1958 that The John Birch Society was founded in Indianapolis by Robert Welch. The previous two days of weather were reminiscent of what was to be 50 years later. Freezing temperatures had accompanied a front that brought with it snow and ice, making travel downright difficult for those 11 businessmen Mr. Welch had invited. However, they arrived to take in Mr. Welch’s two day presentation … a “marathon monologue” as he once described.

The first day of presentations, Mr. Welch described what he saw as America’s ills, and the second day he presented his solution to those ills, which was to found The John Birch Society. 

JBS considers Mr. Welch a visionary. He had a way of seeing the big picture and relating it to others to help understand its ramifications.

Mr. Welch also perfected what nowadays is considered social networking. He designed and required JBS Chapter meetings to be held in the living rooms of volunteer leaders, in which directives from Headquarters could be discussed and implemented. Relationships were created with local opinion molders while Field Staff crisscrossed the country organizing volunteer leaders, enabling a national network of grassroots organization to be felt wherever pressure was needed.

Today those relationships continue to be built with new tools as well as with tried-and-true methods.

Most know that JBS was founded as an anti-communist organization, but few understand that JBS was founded to also equally oppose totalitarianism in all forms. This is why JBS is as relevant today as it was when it first began, JBS President John McManus recently said during an interview on a National Public Radio show.

The JBS motto of “less government, more responsibility and -- with God’s help -- a better world” provides a destination that the organization is traveling toward and the appropriate road map is the U.S. Constitution. This explains why the JBS educational message of freedom is popular not only in the U.S., but in foreign countries as well.

During its first year, JBS chapters sprang up in 40 states. Today all 50 states have chapters, and throughout its 50 years, members have joined from several foreign countries, many living under former totalitarian regimes.

JBS continues to lead the grassroots movement to preserve and restore the Republic. New tools are constantly added at its website on JBS.org and an updated stream of continuous news flows from TheNewAmerican.com.

There’s no better time to help support the organization than on its 50th birthday. Click the donate button and for a limited time receive a free DVD that looks at the surge that JBS is now experiencing.

And for those who are not yet registered as members of JBS.org, now is a great time to do so. Get connected today with like-minded individuals and help preserve American freedom for yourself, your family and for upcoming generations.

A year before he passed away, Mr. Welch was offered a tribute at the 25th Anniversary of the JBS in Indianapolis. It was memorialized in the member publication, the Bulletin, and reprinted here: 

On behalf of every Bircher and tens of thousands of grateful friends and admirers of the Society and its accomplishments, the following message was delivered to our Founder:

"Thank you, Robert Welch, for giving to us that which you have, and most importantly thank you for making it possible for us to fight this battle effectively — and, to win it!"
 
In a very emotional and fitting finale, Wm. J. Grede introduced our Founder as a man who had accomplished the impossible and a man whom he was so very proud to call his friend. Robert Welch briefly addressed the audience, closing his remarks with a message of gratitude:
 
“Thank you for all that you have done and will be doing in this epic undertaking. And, God be with you till we meet again.”
 
The applause was sustained and resounding as this great throng of Birchers rose to show their gratitude and respect. We wish every Bircher could have been in Indianapolis for this momentous and inspiring occasion. It was not simply a celebration of the past, but a determined and resolute beginning of the future. And we are indebted to all those marvelous men and women who, through toil and labor and sacrifice over these many years, have made this beginning possible.
 
And so — let us now get on with the job!

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archtoplee said:

Robert Welch and His Vision for Winning. Mr. Welch founded an organization that he once described as an, ( I'm paraphrasing) "organic body of men and women moving as one" to confront the enemies of freedom and to defeat them. After their defeat the JBS would go on to "build a better world," leading always by good example. Robert Welch was not into wasting his time, nor in asking other to waste theirs on dead end projects by debating the enemies of freedom. The organization named after Christian missionary and US army Capitain John Morrison Birch,was to move and act as one body instead of scattered and totally disconnected groups working in a thousand different directions. Robert Welch's idea of the John Birch Society as a force for good in the world has befuddled the communists and their Insider bosses and that is exactly the reason why the Birch Society and Mr Welch recieved all the attacks, first by the coummunists and then later by the mainstream media, almost from the very beginning. In a way the enemies of the American Republic and the Society of patriotic Americans that Mr. Welch organized to save it, receive the highest compliment that a fomidable foe can render. They put all of their effort into attacking the very people and organization that can do the best job at destroying them! If the Society was as ineffective at fighting totalitarians and their totalitarian programs and agenda for controlling the planet, then they would not have wasted their precious resources and time on us! Their goals for world conquest have been slowed and moved off their timetable not because people grabbed their guns and dehydrated food, but because the JBS took the fight right to the people that Mr. Welch called the "Insiders." While the National Rifle Association was late in recognizing that "gun control" people were at the United Nations, Mr. Welch was busy organizing the JBS to Get the US out of the UN! While people left the JBS to form their own one-issue organizations to champion a baby's right to be born, Mr Welch recognized that the United Nations was going to decide who was to live or die! Mr. Welch knew that it was vital to call people's attention to the fact that the UN represented the framework for a one world government and its leaders weren't at all bothered that a Republican "Conservative" was elected to the White House. The president and his cabinet would still follow a policy of support for the UN and whether,openly supporting abortion or silently standing by,(as "W" has done for 8 years!), the unborn child was still not going to be defended and regarded as a non-human being. The appointment of "conservative" Supreme Court judges by "conservative" presidents didn't frighten the totalitarians since they were counting on Supreme Court Judges whether, "Liberal" or "conservative," to think less and less about a strict interpretation of the US Constitution and more and more about how to conform the "flexible" Constitution to that of the UN Charter. Even with the eventuality that genuine "conservatives" would be appointed to the Supreme Court the "Insiders" could count on their "ace in the hole" - the UN- which is the emerging world government. Mr. Welch was going to deny the "Insiders" that "ace in the hole" by putting the might of the American people behind a get US out of the UN campaign! These are a few reasons that the JBS is the organization to join to WIN. If patriots were to set aside their egos for five years and all come together under the JBS we could have this war won and over with in that amount of time. As Art Thompson says, it would be over so fast "that it would make your head swim," and the majority of sleepy eyed Americans wouldn't even know there had even been a war going on!

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December 09, 2008
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realtorgal said:

50th Anniversary celebration I was at the pre- 50th anniversary celebration of The John Birch Society that took place over the course of 3 days. I was so happy to see our organization thriving. I met lots of wonderful members who had been involved since the early days of the JBS. It is indeed a testament to this fine organization when you meet people who were running chapters and were section leaders since the sixties! The coordinators and the writers for The New American magazine who have stuck it out all these years proves that patriotism has no expiration date. The younger ones coming up fast and and getting excited about this whole miraculous creation called freedom. The young have the energy and the more mature members have the experience and the wisdom which makes the JBS a force for truth that is an unbeatable combination. There were lots of expert speakers and they were all just a store house of knowledge and imparted a great love for their country. I liked them all.

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December 13, 2008 | url
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Peter Steele said:

RE: JBS Represents Faith, Family, Truth and Wisdom My small family's exposure to the John Birch Society protected it and separated it from those who were cruel and amoral. Through its Biblically oriented quest for the truth, the Society gave my late father, late mother, and me wisdom when follies were about damaging this great country of ours. My family were pro-life feeling that Roe Vs Wade was a bad judicial mistake made in 1973 and Nixon should have stopped it. Goldwater our friend never forgave Nixon and considered him very dishonest - he felt that Vietnam was one of the cruelest thing to happen to our God oriented nation of ours as he's in Heaven as my father and mother are there now. Robert Welch came to the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington on Hudson to see his friend Leonard E. Read in 1954 as FEE came to see my late National Association of Manufacturers Award winning business/Navy father. So my family's history had been intertwined with the JBS as Dad was 1964-1989 and I am 1994-Present. I felt that Korea, Vietnam and Iraq are UN mistakes costing us precious money which we don't have as I told those who were with me in Vietnam in 1968-1969. I want the kind of peace that God and Jesus wants and I'm sending Holy Bibles internationally and to our troops. BGen Peter F. Steele, USMC [Ret] for the late RADM Peter Steele, USN and Captain John Morrison Birch, USA. R.I.P. General George S. Patton, Jr., Gen Douglas McArthur, and Representative Larry Patton McDonald. R.I.P. Lynn Patton Steele my aunt a Soule Mayflower and DAR.

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December 18, 2008
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