Birch, John M (1918–1945)

US Baptist missionary, who worked in China during World War II supplying information to the US armed forces. At the end of the war he was killed by Chinese communists; the US extreme right-wing John Birch Society, founded in 1958, is named after him.

Founded by Robert Welch, the John Birch Society's members believed that a huge internal communist conspiracy was set to take over the US government. They accused Eisenhower, Truman, and Dulles of being members of this conspiracy. They continue to oppose US involvement in the United Nations (UN) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as detrimental to the country and unconstitutional. The society took the name of John Birch as an example of their opinions on the perils of communism and interventionist politics.