A conspiratorial life : Robert Welch, the John Birch Society, and the revolution of American conservatism / Edward H. Miller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miller, Edward H. (Edward Herbert), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Welch, Robert, 1899-1985.

Welch, Robert.

John Birch Society--Biography.

John Birch Society.

Right-wing extremists--United States--Biography.

Right-wing extremists.

Conservatism--United States--History--20th century.

Conservatism.

United States--Politics and government--1945-1989.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies

Physical Description:

1 online resource (481 pages)

Place of Publication:

Chicago, Illinois : University of Chicago Press, [2021]

Summary:

The first full-scale biography of Robert Welch, who founded the John Birch Society and planted some of modern conservatism’s most insidious seeds. Though you may not know his name, Robert Welch (1899-1985)—founder of the John Birch Society—is easily one of the most significant architects of our current political moment. In A Conspiratorial Life, the first full-scale biography of Welch, Edward H. Miller delves deep into the life of an overlooked figure whose ideas nevertheless reshaped the American right. A child prodigy who entered college at age 12, Welch became an unlikely candy magnate, founding the company that created Sugar Daddies, Junior Mints, and other famed confections. In 1958, he funneled his wealth into establishing the organization that would define his legacy and change the face of American politics: the John Birch Society. Though the group’s paranoiac right-wing nativism was dismissed by conservative thinkers like William F. Buckley, its ideas gradually moved from the far-right fringe into the mainstream. By exploring the development of Welch’s political worldview, A Conspiratorial Life shows how the John Birch Society’s rabid libertarianism—and its highly effective grassroots networking—became a profound, yet often ignored or derided influence on the modern Republican Party. Miller convincingly connects the accusatory conservatism of the midcentury John Birch Society to the inflammatory rhetoric of the Tea Party, the Trump administration, Q, and more. As this book makes clear, whether or not you know his name or what he accomplished, it’s hard to deny that we’re living in Robert Welch’s America.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Introduction

1. Chowan County, North Carolina, 1700-1899

2. Stockton, 1899-1910

3. Elizabeth City, Raleigh, Annapolis, 1910-1919

4. The Candyman, 1919-1927

5. Professional Breakdown and the Great Depression, 1928-1940

6. America First, 1940-1945

7. Postwar Dreams and Delusions, 1946-1950

8. The Candidate, 1950

9. May God Forgive Us, 1951-1952

10. There's Just Something about Ike, 1952

11. A Republican Looks at His President, 1953-1954

12. The Saga of John Birch, 1954

13. Adventures in the Far East, 1954-1955

14. Arrivals and Departures, 1955-1958

15. The Indy Eleven, 1957-1959

16. Revelations, 1959-1960

17. Goldwater in '60, 1960

18. Staccato Jabs, 1961-1962

19. Succession? 1961-1962

20. "Where Were You in '62?," 1962

21. Revolution in the Streets and the Paranoid Style in Belmont, 1963

22. Two Novembers, 1963-1964

23. Nadir, 1965-1966

24. Avenging the Insiders, 1966-1968

25. The Fifty-Foot Cabin Cruiser, 1969-1975

26. Bunker, 1970-1978

27. Making Morning in America..., 1970-1985

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

Figures.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-226-44905-X

OCLC:

1285170077