--- title: Cold War History: Who Was John Birch? description: His death on Aug. 25, 1945, was commemorated by an anti-communist Cold War movement canonical: https://time.com/3990549/john-birch-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-25T15:00:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:00.660Z article:section: History og:title: Cold War History: Who Was John Birch? og:description: His death on Aug. 25, 1945, was commemorated by the anti-communist group og:url: https://time.com/3990549/john-birch-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f2d311b3b135ab1/69885e7a524fc0bde8df3f3f/birch.jpeg?branch=production&width=529&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 529 og:image:height: 298 og:image:alt: John Birch Society Exhibit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cold War History: Who Was John Birch? twitter:description: His death on Aug. 25, 1945, was commemorated by the anti-communist group twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f2d311b3b135ab1/69885e7a524fc0bde8df3f3f/birch.jpeg?branch=production&width=529&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The 'Zealot' Who Gave the John Birch Society Its Name > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: TIME Remembers: The Day The Berlin Wall Fell [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Remembers: The Day The Berlin Wall Fell](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jV5CSSDl.m3u8) (2:02)  _Published 2014-11-07. Take a look back in time to the fall of the Berlin Wall with two reporters who were working when it happened_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 25, 2015 3:00 PM UTC  New England Rally for God, Family & Country by the John Birch Society Exhibit held at the Statler Hilton Hotel on Park Square, Boston, 1972. New England Rally for God, Family & Country by the John Birch Society Exhibit held at the Statler Hilton Hotel on Park Square, Boston, 1972. Spencer Grant—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 25, 2015 3:00 PM UTC It was one of the last deaths of World War II, but its legacy had a lasting effect on our politics. Seventy years ago Tuesday—on Aug. 25, 1945— a 26-year-old Army Air Force captain named John Birch was killed by communists in China at the twilight of World War II, after Japan announced its surrender. Some 13 years later, the John Birch Society–named for the young soldier–was [founded](http://time.com/3623761/john-birch/) to expose what they saw as rampant communism within the United States. The secretive group wasted little time fanning the flames of anti-communist sentiment, with TIME reporting in 1961 on their [theories](http://time.com/vault/issue/1961-03-10/page/21/) about leftist agents in high-ranking government positions—[including](http://time.com/vault/issue/1961-04-21/page/22/), they posited, Dwight Eisenhower. That report was read into the Congressional record [a few weeks later](http://time.com/vault/issue/1961-04-07/page/15/) and inspired [debate](http://time.com/vault/issue/1961-04-07/page/18/) on the Senate floor. The group’s namesake was apt. As TIME reported, Birch was a champion crusader: --- > “” --- After school, Birch followed his parents’ lead in becoming a missionary. He was serving in China when World War II arrived. In 1942, after meeting survivors of the U.S. air raid on Tokyo, Birch decided to enlist and was assigned to work behind enemy lines in China. **_Read more from 1961, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Who Was John Birch?](http://time.com/vault/issue/1961-04-14/page/29/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3990549/john-birch-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3990549/john-birch-history/"},"headline":"The 'Zealot' Who Gave the John Birch Society Its Name","datePublished":"2015-08-25T15:00:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:00.660Z","description":"His death on Aug. 25, 1945, was commemorated by the anti-communist group","url":"https://time.com/3990549/john-birch-history/","keywords":["conflict","Cold War","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f2d311b3b135ab1/69885e7a524fc0bde8df3f3f/birch.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f2d311b3b135ab1/69885e7a524fc0bde8df3f3f/birch.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Birch Society Exhibit","caption":"John Birch Society Exhibit","creditText":"Spencer Grant—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/conflict/","name":"conflict"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3990549/john-birch-history/","name":"The 'Zealot' Who Gave the John Birch Society Its Name"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Remembers: The Day The Berlin Wall Fell","description":"Take a look back in time to the fall of the Berlin Wall with two reporters who were working when it happened","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jV5CSSDl/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-11-07T20:07:06.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jV5CSSDl.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3990549/john-birch-history/","duration":"PT2M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3990549/john-birch-history/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```