ACLU Opposes Legislative Investigation of Right-Wing John Birch Society
The John Birch Society was arguably the leading right-wing, anti-Communist organizations of the late 1950s and 1960s. Many liberals wanted the government to investigate the organization for, among other things, fomenting hate.
The ACLU opposed the investigation of any group because of its unpopular views. In a letter to California Governor Pat Brown, a liberal Democrat, the ACLU wrote: “ … any minority has the right to conduct its business in private fashion.”
See December 9, 1958, for the founding of the John Birch Society, and August 25, 1945, for the death of John Birch. Founders of the organization regarded Birch as the first American to die in the Cold War.
Learn more: J. Alan Broyles, The John Birch Society: Anatomy of a Protest (1964)
Read about the organization: Benjamin R. Epstein and Arnold Forster, Report on the John Birch Society, 1966 (1966)
Take a look at the John Birch Society today: http://www.jbs.org/