For the first time since his semisecret John Birch Society became an open issue. Founder Robert Welch last week went on public display to tell California audiences about his far-right organization that labels even Dwight Eisenhower "a conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy."
Welch, pink-faced and natty at 61, was booked into Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium by the Freedom Club of the First Congregational Church. At $1 each, all 6,658 seats were sold out ten days in advance. Ninety minutes before speech time, crowds of young, well-dressed Birchites began lining up at...