"THE COMMUNISTS WAS IN THE AIR & ON THE GROUND"

BOB DYLAN WALKS OUT ON ED SULLIVAN

New York City (JFK+50) On May 12, 1961, singer Bob Dylan* "walked out" on the set of the Ed Sullivan variety television show here in New York.

Mr. Dylan was informed that his song, "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues," could not be performed on the show.

 The lyrics include these lines...

"I was feeling kinda a little down, blue

I didn't know what I was going to do.

The communists was-a-comin' around,

They was in the air, They was on the ground." 

When he was given the word that this song could not be performed on the Ed Sullivan Show, Bob Dylan said...

"If I can't play my song, I'd rather not appear on the show."

The song in question is a satirical comment on the John Birch Society.** 

 

*Robert (Bob) Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1941 & became one of the greatest songwriters of all time.  His "Blowin In The Wind" (1963) & "The Times They Are A Changin"  (1964) were anthems of the Civil Rights & Anti-War movements.  In 2016, BD was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

**John Birch Society was founded by Robert W. Welch, Jr. in 1958.  It was named in honor of Captain John Birch, US Army Air Corps, the 1st casualty of the Cold War.  JBS is a political advocacy group opposed to communism & supportive of limited government.  It has been described as supporting extreme anti-government doctrines. 

 

 

 

Bob Dylan Performs

"Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues"

1963

You Tube Video

 

"LESS GOVERNMENT, MORE RESPONSIBILITY & A BETTER WORLD"

JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY FOUNDED

Indianapolis, Indiana (JFK+50) On December 9, 1958, the John Birch Society was founded by Robert W. Welch, Jr.* and a group of twelve here in Indianapolis.  The headquarters of the JBS was later located in Belmont, Massachusetts.

The stated purpose of the society was to 'promote less government, more responsibility, and a better world.'  Mr. Welch writes in 'The Blue Book of The John Birch Society,' published in 1961...

"Our enemy is the Communists, and we do not intend to lose sight of that fact for a minute.  We are fighting the Communists---nobody else."

The Society was named after John M. Birch, a Baptist missionary.  Mr. Birch, who served in the US Air Force and as an intelligence officer in China, was shot and killed by Communists in 1945.  John Birch is considered to be the first casualty of the Cold War.

*Robert W. Welch, Jr. (1899-1985) was born in Chowan County, NC & attended the University of North Carolina, United States Naval Academy & Harvard Law School.  RWW founded Oxford Candy Company (1925) & then joined his brother at James O. Welch Company which made 'Sugar Daddies".

Robert Welch 

       

"WORLD HISTORY IS ON THE SIDE OF LIBERTY"

JFK SAYS PATRIOTISM SHOULD BE REFLECTED ON CREATION OF CONFIDENCE 

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) On November 18, 1961, President John F. Kennedy spoke out against right-wing extremists such as those represented by the John Birch Society* and the Minutemen**.

Speaking at the Hollywood Palladium***, the President said...

"Now we are face to face once again with a period of heightened peril. The risks are great and under the strains...the discordant voices of extremism are heard.  There have always been those fringes of our society who have sought to escape their own responsibility by finding a simple solution, an appealing slogan, or a convenient scapegoat.

Let our patriotism be reflected on the creation of confidence rather than the crusades of suspicion and remember that, however serious the outlook, the one great irreversible trend in world history is on the side of liberty."

*John Birch Society was founded on Dec 9, 1958 by Robert W. Welch, Jr.  It opposed all communist or socialist principles.  In early 1961, the JBS had more than 60,000 members.

**Minutemen believed communists were in the process of taking over America in the early 1960s.  Led by Robert Bolivar DePugh, they physically armed themselves for battle.

***Hollywood Palladium, located on Sunset Boulevard was built in 1940 on the site of the original Paramount Studio Lot.  In 1961, it was the home of the Lawrence Welk Television Show.

Hollywood Palladium

Hollywood, California

Photo by George Louis (1947)

WE ARE FIGHTING THE COMMUNISTS, NOBODY ELSE

BIRCHERS CLAIM TO PROMOTE LESS GOVERNMENT & MORE RESPONSIBILITY

Indianapolis, Indiana (JFK+50) 59 years ago, December 9, 1958, the John Birch Society* was founded by Robert Welch and a group of twelve here in Indianapolis.  Headquarters of the JBS was later located in Belmont, Massachusetts.

The stated purpose of the society was to 'promote less government, more responsibility, and a better world.'  Mr. Welch writes in 'The Blue Book of The John Birch Society,' published in 1961,...

"Our enemy is the Communists, and we do not intend to lose sight of that fact for a minute.  We are fighting the Communists---nobody else."

The Society was named after John M. Birch, a Baptist missionary.  Mr. Birch, who served in the US Air Force in WWII and as an intelligence officer in China, was shot and killed by Communists in 1945.  John Birch is considered to be the first casualty of the Cold War.

*Today the John Birch Society is headquartered in Grand Chute, Wisconsin and has local chapters in each of the 50 states.  The organization, which publishes The New American, has been described as right wing, ultraconservative.

Robert Welch 

       

LET OUR PATRIOTISM BE REFLECTED ON THE CREATION OF CONFIDENCE

PRESIDENT KENNEDY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST EXTREMISTS

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) Fifty-six years ago this evening, November 18, 1961, President John F. Kennedy spoke out against right-wing extremists such as those represented by the John Birch Society* and the Minutemen**.

Speaking at the Hollywood Palladium***, the President said...

"Now we are face to face once again with a period of heightened peril. The risks are great and under the strains...the discordant voices of extremism are heard.

There have always been those fringes of our society who have sought to escape their own responsibility by finding a simple solution, an appealing slogan, or a convenient scapegoat.

They call for a 'man on horseback' because they do not trust the people. They equate the Democratic Party with the welfare state, the welfare state with socialism and socialism with communism."****

"Let our patriotism be reflected on the creation of confidence rather than the crusades of suspicion and remember that, however serious the outlook, the one great irreversible trend in world history is on the side of liberty."

*The John Birch Society was founded on Dec 9, 1958 by Robert W. Welch, Jr.  It opposed all communist or socialist principles.  In early 1961, the JBS had more than 60,000 members.

**The Minutemen believed communists were in the process of taking over America in the early 1960s.  Led by Robert Bolivar DePugh, they physically armed themselves for battle.

***Hollywood Palladium, located on Sunset Boulevard was built in 1940 on the site of the original Paramount Studio Lot.  In 1961, it was the home of the Lawrence Welk Television Show.


****Edward M. Dealey, publisher of the Dallas Morning News, had previously attacked JFK at a White House luncheon for 'riding Caroline's tricycle' instead of being 'a man on horseback.'

Hollywood Palladium

Hollywood, California

Photo by George Louis (1947)

AT OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1915

GENERAL WALKER NARROWLY ESCAPES ASSASSIN'S BULLET

Dallas, Texas (JFK+50) Fifty-three years ago this evening, April 10, 1963, retired United States Army General Edwin Walker* narrowly escaped death when a sniper fired a rifle shot through a window at his home here in Dallas.

The bullet struck the wall just above Walker's head as he sat working at his desk.  The incident took place at 9 p.m. local time.  The General was grazed in the arm by fragments of the bullet. 

An eyewitness, a 14 year neighbor boy, told police he saw two men drive out of a church parking lot adjacent to Walker's home just after the shooting.** General Walker, an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Texas in 1962, had been dismissed from the army for passing out ultra right-wing John Birch Society literature to his troops.

The shooter remained unknown until the Warren Commission, while investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, determined that Lee Harvey Oswald had fired the shot that missed the General.

The Commission based their conclusion on a letter Oswald left for his wife, Marina, on photographs found in Oswald's personal possession, and the testimony of firearms experts.

The House Select Committee on Assassinations determined using Neutron Actuation Analysis that the bullet fired at General Walker was 'probably a Manlicher-Carcano bullet.'  FBI ballistics expert Robert A Frazier, however, was "unable to reach a conclusion" as to whether the bullet was fired from the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Depository.


*General Edwin A."Ted" Walker (1909-1993) was born in Center Point, Texas.  He graduated from West Point in 1931 and served in both WWII and the Korean War.  EAW opposed integration of Little Rock High School and attempted to resign from the army, but President Eisenhower reassigned him to Germany.  Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara relieved him of command in 1961.  

**According to Robert Groden, it was Marina Oswald who told authorities after her husband's arrest for the murder of JFK that he had tried to kill Walker.  Groden also states that Walker said the bullet retrieved from his wall did not match CE399, the bullet alleged to have passed through both JFK and Texas Governor John Connally.   Groden concludes...

 "It is highly unlikely that Lee (Oswald) was the assailant in the Walker shooting. Indeed, as targets, President Kennedy and General Walker were at opposite ends of the political spectrum."


SOURCES

 "The Search for Lee Harvey Oswald," by Robert J. Groden, Penguin Books, New York, 1995.

"The Walker Assassination Attempt," www.mcadams.posc.mu.edu/

General Edwin A. Walker

   

                       

                          

WHO WAS JOHN BIRCH?

JOHN BIRCH KILLED IN CHINA 70 YEARS AGO 

Xi'an Shaanxi, China (JFK+50) Seventy years ago today, August 25, 1945, John Birch*, an American missionary before World War II and a captain in the United States Army during the war, was shot and bayoneted to death here in Communist China.

Captain Birch was leading a group of Americans, Chinese Nationalists and Koreans to a prison where Allied personnel were incarcerated when they were stopped by the Communist Chinese military.  Birch was ordered by a Chinese officer to surrender his pistol but he refused and became involved in a verbal dispute which resulted in  his being shot and bayoneted multiple times.

His death, at the age of 27, came just ten days after the end of World War II. According to the John Birch Society website...

"John Birch was a simple, but highly intelligent man, who worked hard to serve God, spread God's word, and fought for the freedom to do so."

The John Birch Society was founded by a former candy manufacturer and Republican party official named Robert Welch** in 1958.  According to the JBS website, the organization "is dedicated to restore and preserve freedom under the U.S. Constitution...united by a strong belief in personal freedom and limited government."

The Southern Poverty Law Center does not believe the Society is quite so noble. Don Terry writes...

"The John Birch Society publishes the (Communist) Manifesto and sells it for six bucks a pop at gatherings of its conspiracy theory-loving, U.N.-hating, federal government-despising, Ron Paul-supporting, environmentalist-bashing, Glenn Beck-watching true believers...."

According to the SPLC, the John Birch Society continues its crusade against communists and "insiders" who are, in the Society's view, "bent on handing the country over to the socialists at the U.N."

The Society may have had as many as 100,000 members in its hey-day during the 1960s, "but few know for sure how many Birchers exist today."

*John Morrison Birch (1918-1945) was born in India and raised in New Jersey and Georgia in the Fundamentalist Baptist faith.  His parents were missionaries.  He graduated from Georgia Baptist (Mercer) University with highest honors in 1939.  JMB completed missionary training in Fort Worth, TX and was sent to China where he joined the USAF in 1943 and became a member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). 

**Robert W. Welch, Jr. (1899-1985) was born in North Carolina and graduated from UNC, USNA and Harvard Law School.  He founded Oxford Candy Company in NYC & later joined his brother, James O. Welch, in making "Sugar Daddies."  RWJ retired in 1956.

SOURCES

"Bringing Back Birch," by Don Terry, Southern Poverty Law Center, March 1, 2013, www.splcenter.org/

"John Birch," The John Birch Society, www.jbs.org/ 

John Birch

JFK VERSUS EXTREMISTS

JFK SAYS EXTREMISTS EQUATE DEMOCRATS WITH COMMUNISTS

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) Fifty-three years ago this evening, November 18, 1961, President John F. Kennedy spoke out against right-wing extremists such as those represented by the John Birch Society* and the Minutemen**.

Speaking at the Hollywood Palladium***, the President said...

"Now we are face to face once again with a period of heightened peril. The risks are great and under the strains...the discordant voices of extremism are heard.

There have always been those fringes of our society who have sought to escape their own responsibility by finding a simple solution, an appealing slogan, or a convenient scapegoat.

They call for a 'man on horseback' because they do not trust the people. They equate the Democratic Party with the welfare state, the welfare state with socialism and socialism with communism."****

While JFK was speaking, a crowd of 3000 pickets were outside the Palladium holding up signs which read...

UNMUZZLE THE MILILTARY! and DISARMAMENT IS SUICIDE!

Hollywood Palladium

Hollywood, California

Photo by George Louis (1947)

The President concluded his remarks with these words...

"Let our patriotism be reflected on the creation of confidence rather than the crusades of suspicion and remember that, however serious the outlook, the one great irreversible trend in world history is on the side of liberty."

*The John Birch Society was founded on Dec 9, 1958 by Robert W. Welch, Jr.  It opposed all communist or socialist principles.  In early 1961, the JBS had more than 60,000 members.

**The Minutemen believed communists were in the process of taking over America in the early 1960s.  Led by Robert Bolivar DePugh, they physically armed themselves for battle.

***Hollywood Palladium, located on Sunset Boulevard was built in 1940 on the site of the original Paramount Studio Lot.  In 1961, it was the home of the Lawrence Welk Television Show.

****Edward M. Dealey, publisher of the Dallas Morning News, had previously attacked JFK at a White House luncheon for 'riding Caroline's tricycle' instead of being 'a man on horseback.'

ATTEMPT ON LIFE OF GENERAL EDWIN WALKER

LEE HARVEY OSWALD FIRED A SHOT AT ARMY GENERAL 51 YEARS AGO 

Dallas, Texas (JFK+50) Retired United States Army General Edwin Walker* narrowly escaped death fifty one years ago, April 10, 1963, when a sniper fired a rifle shot through a window at his home here in Dallas.

The bullet struck the wall just above Walker's head as he sat working at his desk.  The incident took place at 9 p.m. Central time.

General Walker was grazed in the arm by fragments of the bullet. 

          General Edwin A. Walker
   
An eyewitness, a 14 year neighbor boy, told police he saw two men drive out of a church parking lot adjacent to Walker's home just after the shooting.**

General Walker, an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Texas in 1962, had been dismissed from the army for passing out ultra right-wing John Birch literature to his troops.

The shooter remained unknown until the Warren Commission, while investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, determined that Lee Harvey Oswald had fired the shot that missed the General.

The Commission based their conclusion on a letter Oswald left for his wife, Marina, on photographs found in Oswald's personal possession, and the testimony of firearms experts.

*General Edwin A."Ted" Walker (1909-1993) was born in Center Point, Texas.  He graduated from West Point in 1931 and served in both WWII and the Korean War.

He opposed integration of Little Rock High School and attempted to resign from the army, but President Eisenhower reassigned him to Germany.

JFK's Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara relieved him of command in 1961.  

General Walker died of lung cancer at his home in Dallas, Texas.

**According to Robert Groden, it was Marina Oswald who told authorities after her husband's arrest for the murder of JFK that he had tried to kill Walker.  

Groden also states that Walker said the bullet retrieved from his wall did not match CE399, the bullet alleged to have passed through both JFK and Texas Governor John Connally.

Groden concludes...

 "It is highly unlikely that Lee (Oswald) was the assailant in the Walker shooting. 

 Indeed, as targets, President Kennedy and General Walker were at opposite ends of the political spectrum."

SOURCE:  "The Search for Lee Harvey Oswald," by Robert J. Groden, Penguin Books, New York, 1995.

                       

                          

JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY

On December 9, 1958, the John Birch Society was founded by manufacturer Robert Welch.

The John Birch Society,an ultra-conservative, anti-Communist organization, was named after an American intelligence officer who was killed by Communists in China in 1945.

                  Robert Welch 

Welch would go on to charge that FDR, Harry S Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and JFK all actively aided the Communist conspiracy. 


The John Birch Society also opposed the Civil Rights Movement, US aid to foreign countries, and the United Nations.

In April 1961, Major General Edwin Walker, commander of the U.S. 24th Infantry in Europe & stationed in West Germany, was accused of indoctrinating his troops with right-wing literature from the John Birch Society.  


JFK relieved him of his position.  


Walker came back home to become a leading figure in the "fight against the liberal establishment."  His home was in Dallas, Texas where Walker made an unsuccessful run for Governor. 


John Connally, who was later wounded in the assassination of JFK, was elected.

        Major General Edwin Walker

On April 10, 1963, at 9 p.m., a shot was fired into Walker's home in Dallas. 


Walker, who was sitting at his desk on the first floor working on income tax records, was hit in the arm by "slivers" from bullet, wood or glass.  


Although the shooting remained unsolved at the time of the JFK assassination, the Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had attempted to shoot Walker.  


They claimed that bullet fragments from the Walker & JFK shootings match the bullets fired from the Oswald "Manlicher-Carcano" rifle.*

               Edwin Walker's Home 

*If Oswald was the one who shot at Walker, we are left to wonder why he would first try to kill an individual from the right-wing, opposed to civil rights and the UN, and then a few months later would be charged with assassinating a President who some consider of the left-wing who supported civil rights and the UN.