Person

Matthew Dallek

Bylines

A Mid-Century Playbook for Saving Progressive American Education

Fifty years ago, parents united to get the far-right John Birch Society out of their schools.

by Matthew Dallek via Zócalo Public Square on September 19, 2023
The Fringe Group That Broke the GOP’s Brain — And Helped It Win Elections

The John Birch Society pushed a darker, more conspiratorial politics in the ’50s and ’60s — and looms large over today’s GOP.

by Matthew Dallek, Ian Ward via Vox on March 19, 2023
How Far-Right Movements Die

The decline of the John Birch Society offers possible strategies for containing the MAGA movement.

by Matthew Dallek via The Atlantic on March 16, 2023
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The Bannon Style of American Politics

It's not as new as it seems.

by Matthew Dallek via Made by History on October 24, 2017

Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right

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John Birch Society banner over table with books

How the John Birch Society Won the Long Game

The American right doesn’t need the John Birch Society these days, but that is because it’s adopted the Birchers’ extremism wholesale.

by Nathan J. Robinson via The Nation on June 8, 2023

Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right

‘Birchers,’ a Well-Told, Familiar Entry in the ‘How We Got to Trump’ Genre

In his history of the John Birch Society, Matthew Dallek says Republicans allowed the extreme fringe to “eventually cannibalize the entire party.”

by Sam Adler-Bell via Washington Post on March 22, 2023

William F. Buckley Jr. at a press conference.

An Implausible Mr. Buckley

A new PBS documentary whitewashes the conservative founder of National Review.

by Rick Perlstein via The American Prospect on April 17, 2024

Midterm Elections: 1966 Midterms Signal a Realignment, Shaping Today’s Parties

Southern voters, once loyal to the Democratic Party, elected Republican candidates in 1966 as the two parties began to sort themselves into partisan camps.

via Retro Report on September 12, 2022

Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater at the 1964 Republican National Convention

How the GOP Surrendered to Extremism

Sixty years ago, many GOP leaders resisted radicals in their ranks. Now they’re not even trying.

by Ronald Brownstein via The Atlantic on February 4, 2021

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