In 1984, he revealed that he was a member of the far-right John Birch Society.
The John Birch Society, an anti-communist group founded in 1958, was opposed to US involvement from the society's beginning.
John F. Kennedy | Pope John Paul II | Elton John | John | John Lennon | John Wayne | Society of Jesus | Royal Society | John McCain | John Kerry | John Cage | National Geographic Society | Olivia Newton-John | John Williams | John Peel | John Adams | John Steinbeck | John Travolta | John Milton | John Zorn | John Marshall | John Howard | John Singer Sargent | John Ruskin | American Cancer Society | John Updike | John Maynard Keynes | John Coltrane | John Cleese | St. John's |
Following the collapse of his own confectionery company, the Oxford Candy Company, during the United States Great Depression James O. Welch's brother, Robert W. Welch, Jr., co-founder of the John Birch Society, joined the James O. Welch Company.
In the 1972 Presidential election Richard Nixon won the county with then John Birch Society member John G. Schmitz reportedly receiving 27.51% of the county's vote.
Robert Waring Stoddard (c. 1906 – 1984) was President of Wyman-Gordon, a major industrial enterprise, and one of the founders of the anti-communist John Birch Society.
Robert Waring Stoddard (1906–1984), American businessman and one of the founders of the anti-communist John Birch Society
Cleon Skousen (1913–2006), American writer associated with the John Birch Society