Organizations: The Harmless Ones

The crank-conservative John Birch Society last week suffered an insult calculated to bring tears to the eyes of any hard-working world changer: it was shrugged off as being too harmless to be worth investigating. Reporting to Democratic Governor Edmund G. (“Pat”) Brown, California’s Assistant Attorney General Howard Jewel said that he saw no need to investigate the Birchers: “The cadre of the John Birch Society seems to be formed of wealthy businessmen, retired military officers and little old ladies in tennis shoes.”

Almost as if trying to prove the point, the Birch Society’s founder, Boston candymaker Robert H. W. Welch, appeared in Tulsa to proclaim a new project. The John Birch Society, he announced, will sponsor an essay contest for college students. Prizes will total $2,300—and will go to collegiate contestants who most eloquently discuss “grounds for the impeachment” of U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren.