Professor Steven Ross (USC-History) and Professor Matthew Dallek (George Washington University-History) will be in dialogue on the topic of how the radical right and Antisemitism: How bigotry had energiezed the far right from John Birch Socity to MAGA.

During its heyday in the 1960s, the John Birch Society vigorously denied charges that it promoted
antisemitism and white supremacism. Birchers said they accepted members from all faiths and backgrounds and, they argued, their critics were smearing them as part of a communist plot to silence the one truly American anti-communist organization.
Yet some of the nation’s most notorious antisemites had ties to the Society, including Holocaust
denier Willis Carto and James Oviatt, world famous LA haberdasher. The Birchers also provided ideological inspiration to a variety of successors, including presidential candidates, members of congress, and white supremacists. Wrapping their cause in the mantle of “Americanism,” Birchers helped forge a sprawling movement, enabling today’s far right to make a stunning comeback.