Actually, the concern that Mayors had in Philly, New York City, and
elsewhere where the "Birchers as Police" controversy was most heated
-- was focused upon how JBS police might be affected by the JBS
position on the civil rights movement and civil rights leaders/
activists.
Mayor Tate's comment ("this is the way the Nazi Party began") is so
absurd (but understandable given the temper of the times) that it
doesn't even require much comment. Demagogues in our country tend to
equate anything right-of-center with "fascism" or "Hitler" or
"nazism". Last year, the Des Moines Register tried to link the JBS
with the KKK and the American Nazi Party in an editorial --- which
certainly amused the Jewish members of the JBS (including David
Eisenberg who is on the JBS National Council and other Jews who have
been among the Birch Society's most prolific writers and endorsers
including a Rabbi whose name escapes me at the moment.)
Despite all of the fevered rhetoric, however, there never was any
evidence that JBS policemen didn't perform their job properly. Even
Bill Buckley Jr. whose "National Review" articles on the JBS were the
most potent anti-JBS articles ever written -- defended the JBS on the
police issue. The most serious situation occurred in Santa Ana
California where a group of Bircher police attempted to undermine the
authority of the Police Chief.
I've never seen anything to establish that any member of the Secret
Service was sympathetic to JBS views. In fact, because of the
background checks done on Secret Service (and FBI), it is very
unlikely that such people would ever be employed.
----
On May 18, 5:11=EF=BF=BDam, Gil Jesus <gjjm...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> CJ, also the Birchers were very strong in California in the 60's. They
> were the ones who put Ronald Reagan in the governor's mansion. In
> addition, the 1960's saw a growing number of Birchers among the ranks
> of law enforement officers.
>
> "...the JohnBirchSocietyhas enlisted, according to publicity chief
> ( U.S. Rep. John ) Rousellot, a 'growing number of police and
> personnel in sheriff's departments throughout the country.' Such
> recruitment has been pressed vigorously; in many cities its success,
> and the possibilities of police-Birchalliances, have become matters
> of deep concern." ( 1 )
>
> "Commenting on police member****p in the JohnBirchSociety, Mayor
> James H.J. Tate of Philadelphia remarked:
>
> 'This is the way the Nazi party began'" ( 2 )
>
> Would such a recruitment in Bircher member****p and philosophy among
> those charged with protecting a President who they saw as an enemy
> affect the level of protection they afforded him ?
>
> Well, what do YOU think ?
>
> From:
>
> 1. The Radical Right; Re****t on the JohnBirchSocietyand Its Allies
> by Benjamin R. Epstein and Arnold Forster, Random House 1966,1967. pg.
> 177
>
> 2. ibid pg. 184
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