In the late 1960s Welch insisted that the Johnson administration 's fight against communism in Vietnam was part of a communist plot aimed at taking over the United States . Welch demanded that the United States get out of Vietnam , thus aligning the Society with the left . The society opposed water fluoridation , which it called " mass medicine " . The JBS was moderately active in the 1960s with numerous chapters , but rarely engaged in coalition building with other conservatives . It was rejected by most conservatives because of Welch 's conspiracy theories . The philosopher Ayn Rand said in a 1964 '' Playboy '' interview , " I consider the Birch Society futile , because they are not for capitalism but merely against communism ... I gather they believe that the disastrous state of today 's world is caused by a communist conspiracy . This is childishly naïve and superficial . No country can be destroyed by a mere conspiracy , it can be destroyed only by ideas . " Former Eisenhower cabinet member Ezra Taft Benson — a leading Mormon — spoke in favor of the John Birch Society , but in January 1963 the LDS church issued a statement distancing itself from the Society . Antisemitic , racist , anti-Mormon , anti-Masonic groups criticized the organization 's acceptance of Jews , non-whites , Masons , and Mormons as members . These opponents accused Welch of harboring feminist , ecumenical , and evolutionary ideas . Welch rejected these accusations by his detractors : " All we are interested in here is opposing the advance of the Communists , and eventually destroying the whole Communist conspiracy , so that Jews and Christians alike , and Mohammedans and Buddhists , can again have a decent world in which to live . " In 1964 Welch favored Barry Goldwater for the Republican presidential nomination , but the membership split , with two-thirds supporting Goldwater and one-third supporting Richard Nixon , who did not run . A number of Birch members and their allies were Goldwater supporters in 1964 and some were delegates at the 1964 Republican National Convention
1964 Republican National Convention
1964 Republican National Convention
John Birch Society