# "Wrapped in the Flag: A Personal History of America's Radical Right," Claire Conner **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 19, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208 "2014-01-19T16:42:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/1 "2014-01-19T16:42:14Z")
I just finished [this book](http://www.amazon.com/Wrapped-Flag-Personal-History-Americas/dp/080707750X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390146655&sr=8-1&keywords=wrapped+in+the+flag). Highly recommended. It’s a really fascinating and at times heartbreaking account of Claire Conner’s life growing up as the daughter of two founding leaders of the [John Birch Society](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society). They believe every crazy thing [Robert Welch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Welch_Jr.) says as proven fact. These are zealots who are absolutely convinced every president since Hoover was a Communist and the Reds are going to take over openly **any day now,** for more than thirty years. The Civil Rights movement is a Communist plot. (And, yes, fluoridation too.) The Vietnam War, under both Johnson and Nixon, is only a fake anti-Communist war and really serves the Communist agenda somehow. They devote their entire lives to the cause. Indeed, they devote so much time – and money – that Claire is expected to finance her own college education, though her father is a seemingly prosperous businessman. This passage should show clearly just how deep the evil-convinced-it’s-good-fighting-evil of the JBS runs: > [@](#): > > That evening I was about to congratulate myself on a trouble-free visit when Mother brought up the Oklahoma City Bombing. “It’s a tragedy,” she said. > > “I totally agree,” I offered. It is hard to believe an American, an Army vet–" > > Mother interrupted me in mid-sentence. “He had his reasons.” > > “What are you talking about? What reasons?” > > Mother put down her cup and looked right at me. “Waco,” she said. > > “Waco? The Branch Davidians two years ago?” > > “Yes,” Mother said. “The government killed los of innocent women and children in that attack.” > > “So, McVeigh blows up a building in Oklahoma City and kills babies in the day-care center. Are you crazy?” > > “I’m not crazy at all. Timothy McVeigh was defending the rest of us from the government,” Mother said. > > “Nineteen babies died,” I reminded her. > > “That happens in war,” she said. > > I stared at my mother. Her chin was set; her eyes, steely; her lips, stretched thin. She was determined, fierce, and unmovable. I realized that no amount of arguing would change her mind. She’d decided that the federal government was the enemy and terrorists like Timothy McVeigh were the good guys. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/2 "2014-01-19T16:59:11Z")
True, but if Timothy McVeigh can find apologists as diverse as the John Birch Society and Gore Vidal, maybe Waco was an act of war, not police work. ---
**Author:** ![Los\_Anconfused](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aca169/32.png) [@Los\_Anconfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Los_Anconfused)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/3 "2014-01-19T18:10:27Z")
Was there any theory advanced in the book that you agreed with or at least found plausible? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/4 "2014-01-19T20:23:04Z")
> [@Los\_Anconfused](#): > > Was there any theory advanced in the book that you agreed with or at least found plausible? Of Welch or the JBS? Not a one. Of course, the author’s not actually making any case for them, she just reports what the Birchers said. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/5 "2014-01-20T16:17:45Z")
BTW, though we hardly hear anything about it any more, the JBS [still exists](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society#After_Welch). > [@](#): > > **After Welch** > > By the time of Welch’s death in 1985, the society’s membership and influence had dramatically declined. The society continues to press for an end to United States membership in the United Nations. As evidence of the effectiveness of JBS efforts, the society points to the Utah State Legislature’s failed resolution calling for United States withdrawal, as well as the actions of several other states where the Society’s membership has been active. Since its founding, the society has repeatedly opposed United States military intervention overseas, although it is strongly supportive of the American military. It has issued calls to “Bring Our Troops Home” in every conflict since its founding, including Vietnam. The society also has a national speakers’ committee called American Opinion Speakers Bureau (AOSB) and an anti-tax committee called TRIM (Tax Reform IMmediately).[58] > > The second head of the Society was Congressman Larry McDonald from Georgia, who was killed on September 1, 1983, when the Soviets shot down KAL 007.\* > > **2009–present** > > The Society has been active in supporting the auditing of, and aims to eventually dismantle, the Federal Reserve System.[59] The JBS believes that the United States Constitution gave only Congress the ability to coin money, and did not intend for it to delegate this power, or to transform it into a fiat currency not backed by gold or silver. > > The JBS was a co-sponsor of the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference, ending its decades-long exile from the mainstream conservative movement.[60][61] > > According to the The New American a record number of americans have given up u.s. citizenship in 2012 “amid IRS Abuse" and " Facing an increasingly out-of-control federal government in Washington, D.C" . It cites Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), passed in 2010, as one of the key [62] \*The JBS theory, BTW, was that KAL 007 was not destroyed but forced down, and McDonald taken prisoner. They beat that drum for years. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/6 "2014-01-20T16:20:52Z")
> [@Los\_Anconfused](#): > > Was there any theory advanced in the book that you agreed with or at least found plausible? I suppose I would agree with their **position** on foreign military interventions by the U.S.; but their **theory** is that such are always part of a plot to internationalize the American military and draw us further into the orbit of UN/NWO control, which is preposterous. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/7 "2014-01-20T17:06:13Z")
They used to have a show on my local public access cable channel. Some of the things they showed had to be seen to be believed (that they existed, not that people actually believe some of this stuff). The creepiest thing I saw was the summer camps for children! I don’t think they do that any more. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/8 "2014-01-20T17:26:38Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > They used to have a show on my local public access cable channel. Some of the things they showed had to be seen to be believed (that they existed, not that people actually believe some of this stuff). The creepiest thing I saw was the summer camps for children! I don’t think they do that any more. Conner mentions those camps in the book, too. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/9 "2014-01-20T19:23:13Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Conner mentions those camps in the book, too. Yeah, I’m sure the kids were really excited about going to them. I read a book a while back by a physician who advocated alternative cancer therapies (can’t recall its title right now) and he mentioned in passing that for some years, he was an on-call physician for these camps when they were in his area. It sounds like they rented a Scout campground for a period of time and had them there. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/10 "2014-01-21T17:51:18Z")
I subscribed to THE NEW AMERICAN at the time of the Oklahoma City bombing. There was no sentiment in it expressed but total condemnation, and no attempt to defend or deflect guilt away from Tim McVeigh, although there was, of course, lots of suspicion that the plot went beyond McVeigh to possibly involve, not Communists, but perhaps Muslim or European neo-Nazis. Whatever this woman experienced in her family showing sympathy to McVeigh & the OK City bombing was not representative of the John Birch Society. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/11 "2014-01-29T23:39:13Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > I subscribed to THE NEW AMERICAN at the time of the Oklahoma City bombing. There was no sentiment in it expressed but total condemnation, and no attempt to defend or deflect guilt away from Tim McVeigh, although there was, of course, lots of suspicion that the plot went beyond McVeigh to possibly involve, not Communists, but perhaps Muslim or European neo-Nazis. > > Whatever this woman experienced in her family showing sympathy to McVeigh & the OK City bombing was not representative of the John Birch Society. Not even any false-flag-operation theories? At the time I was attending monthly parties given by a local Libertarian, and sometimes militia-types showed up. One I met was absolutely convinced the FBI blew up the courthouse to provide a pretext for cracking down on dissidents. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wrapped-in-the-flag-a-personal-history-of-americas-radical-right-claire-conner/679208/12 "2014-01-30T00:20:46Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Not even any false-flag-operation theories? > > At the time I was attending monthly parties given by a local Libertarian, and sometimes militia-types showed up. One I met was absolutely convinced the FBI blew up the courthouse to provide a pretext for cracking down on dissidents. Nope, “false flag” accusations have flourished mainly since 9/11, and I have not kept track of JBS thought regarding that. I don’t know if Gary North is a Bircher but he certainly travels in the same circles & he raises the occasional question about certain aspects of it but I’ve never seen him make outright accusations. At the time of the OK Bombing, The New American was also warning about some militia movements. Robert Welch considered many groups that combined their anti-Communist/Big Gov’t, pro-Free Market views with anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Masonry, racism, paramilitarism to be “Neutralizers” in the fight against Collectivism.