Who was John Birch? Was he the founder of The John Birch Society? No, the JBS was founded by Robert Welch, who, with the permission of Birch’s parents, named his new anti-communist organization after their son. That was in 1958, 13 years after Birch was murdered by Chinese communists on August 25, 1945.
At the time of his murder, John Birch was a 27-year-old U.S. Army captain on a peaceful mission in mainland China. He was in uniform. The war with Japan had ended 10 days earlier. And the Chinese communists and the United States were allies—or so we were led to believe. But none of this mattered to the communists, who shot Birch in the leg and then brutally bayoneted him to death.