Edwin Walker

[Greg Parker]

You guys are doing a good job and generally asking the right questions, but just to correct some information:

The DRE HQ was in Miami - not NO. Those who went to the meeting in Dallas were from Miami, not NO. Bringuier did not have his office at 544 Camp St - that was Sergio Arcana Smith of the Cuban Revolutionary Council (CRC).

Greg, you're absolutely right about the DRE being headquartered in Miami. I said it was New Orleans. It was that other

Cuban Exile group of militant extremists, the CRC, that had its offices above Guy Bannister's office.

Still, Carlos Bringuier belonged to the DRE, and he also had his business offices in New Orleans, and he interacted with Lee Harvey Oswald several times -- in a staged fist-fight on Canal Street, over a fake FPCC affiliation, and also on the radio, in a loosely scripted debate to make Oswald look more convincing as an FPCC officer, and finally on television, where both Carlos and Lee would try out their best acting skills for their 15 minutes of fame.

Far from being enemies, IMHO, they were good buddies in New Orleans.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Paul, are you sure the DRE had offices in NO? My impression has been that Bringuier conducted DRE business from his clothing store,

But that's not terribly important - unless he did have a separate office and it was located say in the same building as ONI.

What does seem rather important now is that the Walker connection to Bringuier is a bit more of a stretch.

This is an important thread, with some damn fine info being put out there by you and others. Let's keep it to what can be reasonably extracted from the data. To be honest, as important as NO is to the scheme of things, I personally wouldn't like to try and launch a fusillade at the official story from that well-muddied patch of turf.

[Paul Trejo]

Paul

Do you have a link to the German reporters story about

Walkers private life ?.

I believe you mentioned him doing some extra legwork to obtain

A fuller story , and was it published?.

Thanks again.

Ian

Yes, Ian, I did some extra legwork on this topic for a term paper last semester, with Professor H.W. Brands, the Cold War guru. We might publish the paper in its current form, but that's undecided at present.

The question you raise is probably about the Overseas Weekly reporter, Siegfried Naujocks. His name comes up in the Senate Subcommittee hearings on Military Indoctrination (April, 1962) as a villain in General Walker's self-defense.

The full story was brought out in the 660 page investigation package (including a 68 page summary, which I obtained from NARA) written by Lt. General Frederic J. Brown and published on 22 May 1961. This was published a little over a month after Walker was dismissed from his command over the 24th Infantry Division in Augsburg, Germany.

General Brown did a thorough investigation, including an interview of Siegfried Naujocks. Naujocks admitted compiling a dossier on General Walker because Walker openly disapproved of the Overseas Weekly, and especially its many pin-up girl photographs. For the Overseas Weekly staff, General Walker was the new guy in Germany, and should have been more friendly to those who had been there for many years before him.

As they say in journalism, he who lives in a glass house should not throw stones. So, the Overseas Weekly staff went forth in late 1959 to see what sort of house General Walker lived in. The first thing they noticed was that he was not married, and that he did not associate with the other officers in his Division. He was new in Germany, but he still sought out different company than the married officers under his command.

Naujocks also discovered that Walker spent more time than normal in the Army hospital. Naujocks suspected that Walker was being screened for a brain tumor, but didn't get enough evidence. When he snuck into the General's office to find more information, he was arrested and General Walker sued the Overseas Weekly in a German court -- and won.

General Walker then demanded that Naujocks never be allowed to set foot on the 24th Division compound again. On December 29, 1960, the Army got involved with its own hearings under Colonel Roy Steele, who asked the Overseas Weekly management to honor Walker's demand. Naujock's manager, John Dornborg, openly refused the demand, and told the Army that if Walker wants to play rough, he hasn't seen anything yet.

This came out in the Senate Subcommittee Hearings in April 1962, as Walker recollected the reply: "Dornborg said it came to a choice to get rid of Naujocks or get rid of Walker, and he chose to keep Naujocks."

General Brown's report gave the impression that this was a petty squabble between immature people, and that he was disappointed in both sides. He seemed disappointed in General Walker for failing to get along with another Army unit that had been well-respected over the years. However, from a legal perspective, it came down to the actual laws that were broken. The Overseas Weekly, on April 16, 1961, had charged that Walker was brainwashing his Troops with John Birch Society materials (which teach that all US Presidents since FDR were secret Communists). The other major charge was that General Walker had abused his position by instructing his Troops to vote using the Conservative Voting Index designed by Kent and Phoebe Courtney and published through Human Events magazine.

The first charge was dropped, as it was merely a political opinion. The second charge, however, stuck, as it really happened and it was a violation of the Hatch Act. That was really the end of it -- the Army agreed to drop General Walker from his command. Oddly, the Army never showed Walker the 660 page investigation (or the 68 page summary), they just transferred him to Hawaii.

Walker was stunned. But he had already once threatened to resign from the Army in 1959 during Eisenhower's term, because although he had racially integrated Little Rock High School on orders, he protested the act at the time, and he became a member of the John Birch Society (which made its #1 goal to IMPEACH EARL WARREN, specifically for his decision to integrate all public schools according to his Brown v. Board of Education ruling). Eisenhower refused the resignation and gave Walker his Augsburg command.

As a new JBS member, General Walker believed that Eisenhower was a secret Communist -- so he tried to resign. After JFK dismissed Walker from his command over the 24th Infantry Division in Augsburg, General Walker really did resign on November 1, 1961. He gave up his pension to resign.

(BTW, Walker could have easily retired and collected his pension, so his act of resignation still makes no sense to me. Walker had already served 30 years in the Army, and retirement offered him more than $10,000 annually in 1961, which amounts to more than $100,000 annually in today's dollars. His family wasn't rich. A special explanation is needed for that hasty action, IMHO.)

In my current opinion, Walker tried to resign from the Army (and later did resign) on the urging and advice of segregationist Reverend Billy James Hargis and H.L. Hunt, who wanted a US General to be President -- a US General who would stand by the racial segregation of Universities and schools. H.L. Hunt had the money to more than make up for Walker's lost pension, and indeed H.L. Hunt funded Walker's race for Governor of Texas in 1962.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited June 21, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

....When he was asked point blank about it in Los Angeles by a news reporter in early 1963, he said that if people want to racially integrate, that should be a free choice, but he was totally against the US Government using Federal Troops for force people to integrate. That's not actually a strident KKK or Neo-Nazi position, but closer to a conservative populist position.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Paul, didn't the U.S. Government use federal troops to enforce a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court? (I found your last sentence in your post particularly offensive, if my understanding of your defense of the objection to using troops under those circumstances, is correct.)

Tom, you're quite right that when General Walker served under President Eisenhower in 1957 to racially integrate Little Rock High in Arkansas, he knew he was responding to a Supreme Court order. The trouble is, General Walker obeyed orders because it was his military duty, but in his heart he was totally opposed to integrating Little Rock. He protested several times before obeying the order.

Remember that when Walker promoted the riots at Ole Miss on 26 September 1962, he broadcast the following over the radio:

"It is time to move - we have talked, listened and been pushed around far too much by the Antichrist Supreme Court. Rise - to a stand beside Governor Ross Barnett at Jackson, Mississippi. Now is the time to be heard! Ten thousand strong from every State in the Union! Rally to the cause of Freedom! The Battle Cry of the Republic! Barnett, Yes! Castro, No! Bring your flag, your tent, and your skillet. It's time. Now or never! The time is if and when the President of the United States commits or uses any Troops, Federal or State, in Mississippi. The last time - in such a situation - I was on the wrong side. That was in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 and 1958. This time I am out of uniform and I am on the right side. I will be there."

Here is a URL of the actual broadcast script: http://www.pet880.co...Broadcast_1.JPG

Just to clarify, Tom, I don't agree with General Walker's ideology or methods. But I want to clarify that his approach was not overtly KKK or neo-Nazi, because in that case the racism would have been dripping from his writings and speeches. It wasn't. The KKK speakers of that period used the "N" word continually. General Walker didn't. The neo-Nazis would have added words about the inferiority of the colored races and the superiority of the white race. General Walker didn't.

The net effect is that Walker supported racism - I don't deny that. I deplore that. However, Walker's personal views were circumspect. He never joined the KKK. He never joined the ANP. My point was a matter of nuance more than of substance.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited June 21, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

Paul, are you sure the DRE had offices in NO? My impression has been that Bringuier conducted DRE business from his clothing store,

But that's not terribly important - unless he did have a separate office and it was located say in the same building as ONI.

What does seem rather important now is that the Walker connection to Bringuier is a bit more of a stretch.

This is an important thread, with some damn fine info being put out there by you and others. Let's keep it to what can be reasonably extracted from the data. To be honest, as important as NO is to the scheme of things, I personally wouldn't like to try and launch a fusillade at the official story from that well-muddied patch of turf.

Greg, I apologize if I was unclear. DRE had no offices in New Orleans to my knowledge. Carlos Bringuier, one of the leaders of the DRE, ran a clothing business in New Orleans, as you already noted.

I think we can place Carlos Bringuier at Guy Bannister's office in photographs, however. There was a large Cuban contingent at Lake Pontchartrain, which was Bannister's domain.

Further, I don't see much of a stretch to link General Edwin Walker with Carlos Bringuier. Let's look at the relevant Warren Commission testimony:

- - - - - - - - - - begin testimony - - - - - - - - -

MR. LIEBELER: Isn't it a fact that there were some meetings here in Dallas sponsored by an organization known as DRE, which is a revolutionary group that is opposed to Fidel Castro? Do you remember that?

....

GENERAL WALKER: Well, there is a student directorate group, which I remember they call themselves, and that is they way they identified themselves. I attended a meeting sometime and listened to some speakers.

MR. LIEBELER: They came from Miami?

GENERAL WALKER: I believe they came from Miami.

MR. LIEBELER: And you contributed $5 to the organization that night?

GENERAL WALKER: I believe I did.

MR. LIEBELER: Did you see Lee Harvey Oswald at that meeting?

GENERAL WALKER: No; I did not.

- - - - - - - - -end testimony - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Insofar as the DRE was making presentations in Dallas in 1963, and Walker attended (at least one of) those meetings, it is not too much of a stretch to connect Walker with one of the most outspoken officers of the DRE, Carlos Bringuier.

In my opinion, the headquarters of the JFK plot was Dallas. New Orleans was a subordinate location. Miami was a subordinate location. Los Angeles was a subordinate location. Mexico was a subordinate location. The DRE traveled to Dallas for connections and funding. (Thus, even the CIA failed to provide the DRE with all the resources they required.)

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited June 21, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

I'd just like to add that ex-General Edwin A. Walker was widely known in Dallas to be an aggresive activist against anything he perceived to be Communist. Because Walker was a member of the John Birch Society (JBS), and because the JBS defined FDR, Truman, Eisenhower and JFK as Communists, Walker felt called upon to oppose them as a loyal American.

The JBS openly said that these four Presidents were traitors. This is the logical reason that General Walker tried to resign from the Army under Eisenhower, and successfully resigned from the Army under JFK. As a loyal American he didn't want to serve under a traitor. (This was Walker's thinking as a member of the JBS.)

When JFK won the Presidency, General Walker would give the White House one more chance -- he would aggressively use his post as General in Augsburg, Germany, to promote the JBS among his thousands of troops and their familes. This was unprecedented -- a US General was indoctrinating his troops that they were fighting Communism, but Communism was winning and had long taken over the White House!

On the witness stand before a Senate Subcommittee, Walker had to answer charges that he told his troops and their families at a local PTA meeting that Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt were "definitely pink." Later, he stood by this statement as a simple "fact" (c.f. Kent and Phoebe Courtney, The Case of General Edwin Walker, 1962)

If the USA had actually been a dictatorship, then General Walker himself would have been tried for treason. If the USA had actuallfy been a dictatorship, then the entire JBS would have had their property confiscated and been arrested for treason. These were not patriotic things to say -- and yet the JBS and General Walker presented them as the most patriotic things to say.

We should also bear in mind that ex-General Edwin A. Walker was widely known in Dallas to have worked with the JBS as the leading force behind: (1) the attack on Adlai Stevenson on 24 October 1964; (2) the circulation of the "WANTED FOR TREASON: JFK" handbill; and (3) the publication of the black-bordered ad (WELCOME MR. KENNEDY, WHY ARE YOU A COMMUNIST?) in the Dallas Morning News on the day of the JFK assassination.

These three events were all closely connected with the JFK assassination -- not just because they all happened in Dallas, but because they all emerged from the spirit of the John Birch Society, which had convinced its members that JFK was indeed a traitor, and all loyal Americans know that traitors deserve to be shot. (The connections are well-documented; c.f. Chris Cravens' dissertation, Edwin A. Walker and the Right Wing in Dallas, Texas, SW TSU, 1993.)

General Walker did not apologize for the attack on Adlai Stevenson, and some say he flew his home flag upside down for two weeks after the event to protest the fact that Police Chief Jesse Curry and Mayor Earl Cabell did apologize to Adlai Stevenson.

For the JBS, the United Nations (which Adlai was promoting) was a Communist Trojan Horse, and had a death grip on the White House. General Walker openly said about the attack on Ambassador Stevenson, "Adlai got what was coming to him."

Although these three events were well-known in Dallas to be the work of ex-General Edwin Walker (and Lee Harvey Oswald also knew about the Adlai plot, and spoke about it with both Michael Paine and Marina), and although all three events were mentioned in various testimonies of the Warren Report, the direct connection of ex-General Walker with these events was never admitted by the Warren Report. Yet the connection of these three events with the JFK assassination was material.

Here is where we must read between the lines. The right-wing was being protected by the Warren Report. The best evidence of this was the fabrication that Lee Harvey Oswald belonged to the left-wing. Yet all the evidence of Oswald's associations show that he favored the right-wing, and had no personal left-wing associations at all. Not one. His FPCC chapter in New Orleans had a membership of exactly two -- himself and his alias, Alek Hidell.

IMHO, if the connection between Walker and Oswald had finally been established by the Warren Report, the solution to the JFK conspiracy would have been resolved in 1964.

IMHO, Walker continually gave clues -- for the rest of his life -- that he was closely associated with Lee Harvey Oswald, and that if their paths had been altered only slightly, JFK would have been spared.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited June 24, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[Thomas Graves]

I'd just like to add that ex-General Edwin A. Walker was widely known in Dallas to be an aggresive activist against anything he perceived to be Communist. Because Walker was a member of the John Birch Society (JBS), and because the JBS defined FDR, Truman, Eisenhower and JFK as Communists, Walker felt called upon to oppose them as a loyal American.

The JBS openly said that these four Presidents were traitors. This is the logical reason that General Walker tried to resign from the Army under Eisenhower, and successfully resigned from the Army under JFK. As a loyal American he didn't want to serve under a traitor. (This was Walker's thinking as a member of the JBS.)

When JFK won the Presidency, General Walker would give the White House one more chance -- he would aggressively use his post as General in Augsburg, Germany, to promote the JBS among his thousands of troops and their familes. This was unprecedented -- a US General was indoctrinating his troops that they were fighting Communism, but Communism was winning and had long taken over the White House!

On the witness stand before a Senate Subcommittee, Walker had to answer charges that he told his troops and their families at a local PTA meeting that Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt were "definitely pink." Later, he stood by this statement as a simple "fact" (c.f. Kent and Phoebe Courtney, The Case of General Edwin Walker, 1962)

If the USA had actually been a dictatorship, then General Walker himself would have been tried for treason. If the USA had actuallfy been a dictatorship, then the entire JBS would have had their property confiscated and been arrested for treason. These were not patriotic things to say -- and yet the JBS and General Walker presented them as the most patriotic things to say.

We should also bear in mind that ex-General Edwin A. Walker was widely known in Dallas to have worked with the JBS as the leading force behind: (1) the attack on Adlai Stevenson on 24 October 1964; (2) the circulation of the "WANTED FOR TREASON: JFK" handbill; and (3) the publication of the black-bordered ad (WELCOME MR. KENNEDY, WHY ARE YOU A COMMUNIST?) in the Dallas Morning News on the day of the JFK assassination.

These three events were all closely connected with the JFK assassination -- not just because they all happened in Dallas, but because they all emerged from the spirit of the John Birch Society, which had convinced its members that JFK was indeed a traitor, and all loyal Americans know that traitors deserve to be shot. (The connections are well-documented; c.f. Chris Cravens' dissertation, Edwin A. Walker and the Right Wing in Dallas, Texas, SW TSU, 1993.)

General Walker did not apologize for the attack on Adlai Stevenson, and some say he flew his home flag upside down for two weeks after the event to protest the fact that Police Chief Jesse Curry and Mayor Earl Cabell did apologize to Adlai Stevenson.

For the JBS, the United Nations (which Adlai was promoting) was a Communist Trojan Horse, and had a death grip on the White House. General Walker openly said about the attack on Ambassador Stevenson, "Adlai got what was coming to him."

Although these three events were well-known in Dallas to be the work of ex-General Edwin Walker (and Lee Harvey Oswald also knew about the Adlai plot, and spoke about it with both Michael Paine and Marina), and although all three events were mentioned in various testimonies of the Warren Report, the direct connection of ex-General Walker with these events was never admitted by the Warren Report. Yet the connection of these three events with the JFK assassination was material.

Here is where we must read between the lines. The right-wing was being protected by the Warren Report. The best evidence of this was the fabrication that Lee Harvey Oswald belonged to the left-wing. Yet all the evidence of Oswald's associations show that he favored the right-wing, and had no personal left-wing associations at all. Not one. His FPCC chapter in New Orleans had a membership of exactly two -- himself and his alias, Alek Hidell.

IMHO, if the connection between Walker and Oswald had finally been established by the Warren Report, the solution to the JFK conspiracy would have been resolved in 1964.

IMHO, Walker continually gave clues -- for the rest of his life -- that he was closely associated with Lee Harvey Oswald, and that if their paths had been altered only slightly, JFK would have been spared.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Paul,

Just one little nit-picky question. Did the JBS say that Truman, Eisenhower , et al were "Communists" or did it say that they were "Communist Dupes"?

Thanks,

--Tommy

Edited June 24, 2012 by Thomas Graves

[Paul Trejo]

Paul,

Just one little nit-picky question. Did the JBS say that Truman, Eisenhower , et al were "Communists" or did it say that they were "Communist Dupes"?

Thanks,

--Tommy

It's a fair question, Tommy, and I have a good answer for you.

Let's take the case of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, first. There is a well-known JBS researcher who goes by the name of "Ernie" and he has exhaustive research on the FBI investigations into the JBS.

There are many editions of Robert Welch's first book, The Politician, but the edition that was printed in the late 1950's is the one that the FBI has on file, in which page 267 openly and directly calls President Dwight D. Eisenhower a "dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy." In this book, Robert Welch (founder of the JBS) directly charges Eisenhower with "Treason."

As for President Harry Truman, Robert Welch says that, "Truman was used by the Communists with his knowledge and acquiescence as the price he consciously paid for their making him president."

Ernie has showed me a thing or two about the JBS (whatever else we might still debate) so I gladly refer readers to his web site and particularly to the middle of this URL, where PDF copies of the actual pages from The Politican (ca. 1957) can be read: https://sites.google...nie124102/jbs-1

I trust this answers your question, Tommy.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited June 25, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[Thomas Graves]

Paul,

Just one little nit-picky question. Did the JBS say that Truman, Eisenhower , et al were "Communists" or did it say that they were "Communist Dupes"?

Thanks,

--Tommy

It's a fair question, Tommy, and I have a good answer for you.

Let's take the case of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, first. There is a well-known JBS researcher who goes by the name of "Ernie" and he has exhaustive research on the FBI investigations into the JBS.

There are many editions of Robert Welch's first book, The Politician, but the edition that was printed in the late 1950's is the one that the FBI has on file, in which page 267 openly and directly calls President Dwight D. Eisenhower a "dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy." In this book, Robert Welch (founder of the JBS) directly charges Eisenhower with "Treason."

As for President Harry Truman, Robert Welch says that, "Truman was used by the Communists with his knowledge and acquiescence as the price he consciously paid for their making him president."

Ernie has showed me a thing or two about the JBS (whatever else we might still debate) so I gladly refer readers to his web site and particularly to the middle of this URL, where PDF copies of the actual pages from The Politican (ca. 1957) can be read: https://sites.google...nie124102/jbs-1

I trust this answers your question, Tommy.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Paul,

Okie dokie (sp?).. Thanks!

--Tommy

[Paul Trejo]

Paul,

Just one little nit-picky question. Did the JBS say that Truman, Eisenhower , et al were "Communists" or did it say that they were "Communist Dupes"?

Thanks,

--Tommy

It's a fair question, Tommy, and I have a good answer for you.

Let's take the case of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, first. There is a well-known JBS researcher who goes by the name of "Ernie" and he has exhaustive research on the FBI investigations into the JBS.

There are many editions of Robert Welch's first book, The Politician, but the edition that was printed in the late 1950's is the one that the FBI has on file, in which page 267 openly and directly calls President Dwight D. Eisenhower a "dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy." In this book, Robert Welch (founder of the JBS) directly charges Eisenhower with "Treason."

As for President Harry Truman, Robert Welch says that, "Truman was used by the Communists with his knowledge and acquiescence as the price he consciously paid for their making him president."

Ernie has showed me a thing or two about the JBS (whatever else we might still debate) so I gladly refer readers to his web site and particularly to the middle of this URL, where PDF copies of the actual pages from The Politican (ca. 1957) can be read: https://sites.google...nie124102/jbs-1

I trust this answers your question, Tommy.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Paul,

Okie dokie (sp?).. Thanks!

--Tommy

I would add that the official FBI policy established by J. Edgar Hoover is that no FBI agent is allowed to be a member of the John Birch Society, because of the unpatriotic JBS position on US Presidents.

--Paul

Edited June 25, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[John Dolva]

''Welch refused to divulge the size of the society’s membership, though he suggested it was as high as 100,000 and could reach a million. His method of organization caused general alarm. The society comprised a series of cells, no more than twenty people per cell. It was said that its members were directed to run in secret for local offices and to harass school boards and librarians on the matter of the Communist nature of the textbooks and other materials they used.''

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/goldwater-the-john-birch-society-and-me/

[Paul Trejo]

''Welch refused to divulge the size of the society’s membership, though he suggested it was as high as 100,000 and could reach a million. His method of organization caused general alarm. The society comprised a series of cells, no more than twenty people per cell. It was said that its members were directed to run in secret for local offices and to harass school boards and librarians on the matter of the Communist nature of the textbooks and other materials they used.''

http://www.commentar...society-and-me/

Well, that's right, John. It was not only J. Edgar Hoover who rejected the JBS screed, but Wm. F. Buckley also rejected it.

During the Goldwater campaign in 1964, Wm. F. Buckley wrote in his, National Review, a 5,000-word attack on Robert Welch's JBS:

"How can the John Birch Society be an effective political instrument while it is led by a man whose views on current affairs are, at so many critical points...so far removed from common sense? ...The underlying problem is whether conservatives can continue to acquiesce quietly in a rendition of the causes of the decline of the Republic and the entire Western world which is false...and...crucially different in practical emphasis from their own..."

I believe Wm. F. Buckley tried to impute onto the JBS an authentic conservative position that they never truly had at any time -- least of all in 1964. Republican Presidential candidate, Senator Barry Goldwater, agreed with Buckley in this paradoxical attack on Robert Welch and defense of the JBS. Goldwater's response was:

"Mr. Welch is only one man, and I do not believe his views, far removed from reality and common sense as they are, represent the feelings of most members of the John Birch Society...Because of this, I believe the best thing Mr. Welch could do to serve the cause of anti-Communism in the United States would be to resign."

It was a weird proposal - somehow the reader was to imagine that the JBS believed something different than its wacky founder, Robert Welch, after only five years. Goldwater's agreement with Buckley amounted to a false premise -- that thousands of JBS members were different from the founder, i.e. that these thousands of JBS rightists actually displayed common sense!!

Yet the basic premise of the JBS ideology was very plain, namely, that FDR supported the Russian Joseph Stalin against the German Nazi Anticommunists, and therefore FDR was a Communist, pure and simple.

If anybody needed proof, the JBS reminded everybody that FDR established the income tax, social security, and programs like food stamps and Medicare -- and that all these are Socialist (read Communist) measures. By failing to roll-back these Socialist (Communist) measures, Truman, Eisenhower and JFK proved that they, too, were Communist traitors.

1. Truman added to this treason (said the JBS) by cooperating with the U.N. and firing Douglas MacArthur to make Korea a no-win war, and by increasing the programs of his predecessor.

2. Eisenhower added to this treason (said the JBS) by supporting Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren in advocating racial integration in public schools, and by increasing the programs of his predecessor.

3. JFK added to his treason (said the JBS) by allowing Cuba to turn Communist before our very eyes, and by increasing the programs of his predecessor.

This is has been - and remains - the standard JBS teaching. (It still survives in some Tea Party literature to this very day.) Clearly Buckley and Goldwater were hoping to hijack the JBS by flattering them and hoping they would redefine their "conservatism" according to the "old school" of WW2.

No -- the JBS was not up for grabs. The JBS preferred the conservatism of Robert Welch, namely, Anticommunism at any price -- even if it meant supporting the German, Nazi ideology. (After all -- surely the Germans were merely being good, solid Christians in WW2, they imagined.) IMHO Robert Welch made perfect sense to the JBS hordes.

These were the fundamental ideas of Robert Welch, and also the fundamental ideas of the huge JBS membership. Goldwater simply made no sense by demanding that Welch resign in order to save the JBS.

Finally, John, you're completely correct to note that the JBS acts on a strictly local basis -- with cells of 20 or so, they work on their local PTA groups, their local Libraries, and even their local Churches, to promote their fascist brand of Anticommunism. It has become a habit in the USA. It is still going strong as we compose this thread.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited June 26, 2012 by Paul Trejo

[John Dolva]

Yet Thurmond (and FBI snich R. Reagan) were supposters of YAF and Thurmond part of the Senate committee (along with War Profiteer Bush) that looked in to the muzzling of the Military (Walker). I see cross pollination and as it is clear through other documents re the Reagan Ruckus) playing an opportunistic two sides is MO for the Right. Drive the Agenda.

[Ian Kingsbury]

Walker as the real patsy is also a possibility?.

If the tiers of power were prepared for leakage/discovery at any

Point !.

A "loose cannon" literally! . Then the leak about his sexual

Proclivities , resignation , his ill feelings and outpourings

Lone lonely nut?.

[Richard Hocking]

... Goldwater's response was:

"Mr. Welch is only one man, and I do not believe his views, far removed from reality and common sense as they are, represent the feelings of most members of the John Birch Society...Because of this, I believe the best thing Mr. Welch could do to serve the cause of anti-Communism in the United States would be to resign."

It was a weird proposal - somehow the reader was to imagine that the JBS believed something different than its wacky founder, Robert Welch, after only five years. Goldwater's agreement with Buckley amounted to a false premise -- that thousands of JBS members were different from the founder, i.e. that these thousands of JBS rightists actually displayed common sense!!

...

My take: This is pure political candidate animal-speak from Goldwater. To get the mainstream moderate conservative and democratic vote he needs to distance himself from the Extreme Right. At the same time, he does not want to lose hundreds of thousands of votes from the JBS membership and supporters. The solution is to demonize Welch, and then throw some crumbs to the JBS membership by assuring them he knows they are not as wacky as the founder of the movement.

[Ian Kingsbury]

I find it difficult to believe that Walkers supporters did not know of his

Sexual preferences ,at least those "close" to him. This would have

Given rise to a built in failure in the future had anybody got a whiff of it.

And of course the obvious blackmail/pressure from those in the know!.

I also believe his resignation could have been urged by this being exposed

By the reporter but possibly not by that paper as I believe the owner

Was a prominent nazi Atlee Phillips type disinfo guru!.