John Birch Society

The John Birch Society had been founded in 1958 by Robert Welch, a retired prosperous candy manufacturer. He named his new organization after a Baptist missionary who had been killed by the Chinese Communists in 1945.

Starting out with only 11 members, the John Birch Society grew during the tense years of the Cold War. By the early 1960s, the Society claimed membership at close to 100,000 nationwide. The primary purpose of the organization in this period was to expose and root out what members perceived to be the pervasive and dangerous influences of communism in all aspects of American life. Welch had labeled President Dwight D. Eisenhower a “dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.” Other officials who had come under attack included Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren and CIA director Allen Dulles.

A Santa Barbara branch of the society had formed early in 1960. Groups met in private homes for discussion and study. Within a year, the society had opened the American Opinion Book Store at 132 East Canon Perdido Street where society and supporting literature was made available to the public. Exact membership numbers were never made public; at its height S.B. society membership probably numbered a few hundred.