The Right Has Been Weird for a Long Time

With Professor Matt Dallek

In the first of our series of interviews with historians about the 2024 election, I spoke with Professor Matt Dallek, author of Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right. Professor Dallek examines how the John Birch Society (JBS), a far-right group active in the 1960s, came to shape Republican politics today.

Professor Dallek and I also discussed weirdness—specifically, Democrats’ new talking point that their Republican opponents are “weird.” Back in the day, people across the political spectrum said the same thing about the JBS, and the group’s bizarre history adds some context to the memes about J.D. Vance. To highlight more parallels, I gave Professor Dallek a quiz called, “Who said it: a member of the JBS in the 1960s or J.D. Vance in the last 18 months?”

Lastly, I asked Professor Dallek for one policy reform he’d love to see.

Professor Dallek is a historian at George Washington University. He’s a frequent national commentator and his articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Atlantic, and numerous other publications. A condensed transcript of our conversation, edited for clarity, is below. You can also listen to the audio:

I threw Professor Dallek a few curveballs in the quiz

Ben: To start, can you give us some background on the John Birch Society?

MD: The JBS was a grassroots far-right movement that began in late 1958 and was active through the early and mid-60s. By the 70s, it had petered out, though it still exists. They believed in a massive communist conspiracy within the U.S., estimating that 50-70% of America's institutions were controlled by communists.

From this worldview flowed a number of actions and issues. Birchers embraced conspiracy theories, anti-interventionism, explicit racism, and apocalyptic, anti-establishment rhetoric.

Ben: Pizzagate-type vibes.

MD: Exactly. Conspiracy theories like birtherism were core to the Birchers. They were deeply skeptical of the UN, America's alliances, and NATO. They were also early activists on cultural issues like sex education, pornography, and morality, helping to set the table for today's culture wars.

Ben: All of the weird quotes and memes about J.D. Vance reminded me of the weirdness of the JBS. Like, of course Republicans today are weird—look who spawned them!

Can you talk about Robert Welch, founder of the JBS, and the weird parallels you've seen?