A small group of Americans organized the John Birch Society in 1958 to fight what they considered to be the growing influence of communism in the American government.

Thought too radical by many the society went as far as to accuse President Dwight Eisenhower of being an agent of the “communist conspiracy” Its growth in the 1950s and 1960s paralleled that of the political right in America generally This new political right became a vocal critic of the Democratic Party, as well as of the liberal consensus that had dominated American policy since the New Deal. The society continues to agitate for economic and moral issues.