Talk:John Birch Society

From dKosopedia

The first sentence of the JBS article is false.

The JBS was not founded in California in 1958. It was founded in Indianapolis in December 1958. Its first chapters were formed in February 1959 in the Boston MA area.

Another preposterous falsehood is this comment in the article:

"By March of 1961, the Birchers had an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 members..."

No serious source has ever made such an absurd estimate.

In September 1960, the JBS had 324 chapters and 5300 members. In the December 1960 JBS Bulletin, Robert Welch declared that "we have been doubling in size approximately once every 4 months." Using Welch's formula, the JBS would have had approximately 10,600 members by January 1961 and perhaps 21,200 members by May 1961.

According to financial reports submitted by the JBS to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the total income of the JBS in all of 1961 was $595,000. At that time, the annual cost for membership was $24 for men and $12 for women. For sake of discussion, let's assume that the JBS was composed of 50% men and 50% women -- and then use an average of $18 dues per member.

If ALL of the $595,000 JBS annual income in 1961 consisted exclusively of dues (which, obviously, is not the case), there would be a maximum of 33,055 members at an average $18 each by the end of 1961.

[FBI FILES ON JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY: http://ernie1241.googlepages.com/jbs-1]