delegate votes to the next president of the united states -- applause]d ♪ >> this memorial day weekend on american history tv on c-span3 -- today at 6 p.m. eastern on the civil war -- not believe itd either. by the time he captured atlanta, his dots had fully matured. still the confederates would not give up. so, rather than continue the futile war against people, he

would now wage war against property. society president on william tecumseh sherman, arguing his march to the sea campaign was hard war rather than total war and his targets were carefully selected to diminish southern resolve. on american artifacts, take a tour with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. have thecconnell: i good fortune to actually be here on august 28, 1963 when martin luther king made the "i have a dream" speech. now i confess i could not hear a word. i was at this end of the mall. and he was at the lincoln memorial looking down on thousands and thousands of people. but you knew you were in the presence of something really significant. >> then on "the presidency," fo aides to tos -- former

johnson and next and talk about the vietnam war. >> lbj anguished over that were every single day and that is not an exaggeration. the calls to and from the theation room to see if carrier pilots had returned. they explore the president's foreign policies during the conflict. "reel.m. eastern on america," our five-volume series on the church committee to investigate the fbi, cia, and nsa. chest but we are here to review the major findings of our full

investigation of fbi domestic programsnce, including aimed at domestic targets. fbi surveillance of law-abiding citizens and groups, political abuses of fbi intelligence, and several specific cases of intelligence operations. >> for the complete american history tv weekend schedule, go to c-span.org. tv,ext on american history author and wilfrid laurier university professor darren mulloy talks about the john birch society, a conservative advocacy group organized in the late 1930's. -- latent -- late 1950's. c-span tv interviewed mulloy in organization of american historians in providence, rhode island. this is about 10 minutes. >> what is the john birch society? prof. mulloy: the john birch

society is a conservative political organization formed in 1958 in indianapolis, and has its headquarters in massachusetts. it was very prominent in the 1960's in particular. >> what was the purpose behind the john birch society? prof. mulloy: they were an anti-communist organization. they opposed and feared that communism would subvert the united states. more broadly, they opposed collectivism of all times, so they were opposed to many manifestations of the welfare state. they opposed what they saw as excessive governmental interference in the economy. they opposed the civil rights movement. in terms of foreign policy, they wanted the united states to take a more active role in trying to win the cold war, to defeat

communism in cuba, vietnam, those cons of places. >> who was john birch? prof. mulloy: he was an american missionary and a soldier who was killed at the end of the second world war in china. the president of the john birch society discovered his story and identified birch as the first victim of this world war. >> does the party still exist? prof. mulloy: it does. it is much smaller now than it was in the late 1950's and early 1960's, but it revived itself as part of the tea party movement. it actually moved in 1989 to appleton, wisconsin, the hometown and final resting place of joe mccarthy, who so many in the birch society revered, continuing the work of joe mccarthy in some respect. so, yes, they still exist.

>> tell me about the original members of the john birch society. who did it attract? prof. mulloy: rep. welch personally founded it in 1958. he was a retired candy manufacturer, a former board member of the national association of manufacturers, and he invited people to create this new conservative group. it tended to be businessmen, ex-military officers, intellectuals. for example, lawrence bunker, the former aide to douglas macarthur. and most well-known is fred coke -- fred koch. the founder is one of the richest men in canada, and the father of charles and david koch. the ordinary members were basically ordinary conservative

americans, as well-educated as anybody else. relatively young, 44 was the median age. they were people concerned about what a later generation would say -- getting the government off the backs of the american people. that was one of the animating concerns of ordinary birch men. >> how would you describe the society's platform? prof. mulloy: more broadly, they wanted to turn back the advance of the new deal. they wanted to reduce the influence of the government in american life. they had conspiratorial beliefs though. they believed most famously that dwight eisenhower was dedicated to a communist conspiracy. they were proactive.

one of the appeals for people who joined the john birch society, they ask you to do something. when you got their newsletter, you would be asked to write a letter, sign a petition. it was activism in doing something, rather than just complaining about things. that was a big part of their appeal. >> did that conspiracy theory about eisenhower gain traction? prof. mulloy: not really. it cost them and in norma's enormous amount of difficulty. welsh would later disavow the theory, but it was a thing that liberals, other republicans, conservatives, and the media jumped upon. you can't be serious about this, right? you are really claiming that eisenhower is a communist agent? it was the thing that

discredited than the most while they were trying to gain traction. >> did their efforts have any influence politically? prof. mulloy: sure. the birch society is in recent times forgotten, but they were a significant part of the 1960's political landscape. they generated questions in the house, questions in the senate, presidential statements. i would say they played a much more significant role in the development of conservatism during the period then they usually get credit for. the tendency is to dismiss them as a lunatic fringe, but it helped them up bridge 1950's conservatism to that of the 1970's and 1980's. they trained to a generation of conservative activists. they showed them how to pursue their causes, to get into politics, and it was important

for those reasons. >> did you have a sense at their height, how large their society was? prof. mulloy: yeah. from estimates are about 100,000 1965, 1966, total members. but i think more broadly, they had millions of members who were sympathetic, and many people had similar beliefs to them, even though they did not join the society. despite the relatively small size, i think they had a big impact on american culture. >> how did the establishment republican party responded to the society? prof. mulloy: it varied. some republicans and some democrats were members. barry goldwater knew many members personally and never repudiated them, but criticized the leadership or conspiratorial beliefs. other conservatives, for example, bill buckley, one of the leading conservatives, came

to see them as a liability to conservatism as a whole, detracting and splitting up the conservative movement. particularly after the goldwater defeat, the republican establishment determined they needed to get rid of the birchers. they were too much of a liability. 1965, they held a press conference and gerald ford was the public leader at the time. they said that the john birch society is not a part of the republican party anymore. they were kind of excommunicated. they kind of declined afterward. >> did ronald reagan have any particular views of the -- prof. mulloy: reagan is interesting, because he like goldwater knew many birchers personally. but he learned a lesson from barry goldwater, and also richard nixon, who tried to fight the berkshires -- the

birchers, who suffered in 1962. ronald reagan handled the accusations against him, so he distanced himself from the society. he basically said, i stand by my views, they stand by theirs. he was very skillful in distancing himself from the society. >> did the john birch society change the republican party in any way? prof. mulloy: i think it helped them shift it to the right. it took a while for goldwater and the birchers to have that influence, but it moved it in a more conservative direction. it paved the way for reagan's eventual victory, the activism, energy, enthusiasm, and dedication to the cause. i think it really helped that side considerably to become a major part of the republican party. >> last question for you, can you tell me a little bit about

the resources you used in your research? i understand there is a secret nature about them? prof. mulloy: yeah. temperatures are a secretive organization. it does not allow independent researchers access to their archive. it is ironic because you can go to moscow and look at kgb archives, but you can't look at the john birch society's. i was interested at the public arguments. i looked at press reports, congressional records, and there is one archive called the wilcox collection of contemporary political movements and i spent some time there. they have a lot of john birch material and american opinions that were published. i was able to get information on those sources and archives. it wasn't too difficult in the end. >> darren mulloy, thank you very much. prof. mulloy: thank you. i am a history buff. i do enjoy seeing the fabric of our country and how they work .nd how they are made

chest but the american presidency, and american artifacts. >> i had no idea. american history tv, it gives you that perspective. >> i'm a c-span fan. >> in addition to the graduation classes all over this god's peace, light, you and love. but that's not the case. .e don't live in a fairytale but i guess the 1% does. >> this memorial day, watch commencement speeches in their offering encouragement to the graduating classes of 2016 -- including larry ellison

-- >> you can count on yourself. what makes you special? what distinguishes you from others? in business we collect your unique value proposition. figuring out yours is key. >> politicians -- senator jeff sessions, senator arba boxer, and governor mike pence. governor pence: to be strong and to be courageous and to stand for the you are and what you believe and the way you have changed here and will carry into the balance of your life. >> and white house officials. white house vice president joe biden, president barack obama at rutgers university. president obama: is it any wonder i am optimistic?

throughout our history a new generation of americans and has reached up and bent the arc of history in the direction of more freedom and more opportunity and as well as your own. second to work. >> commencement speeches at noon eastern on c-span. >> each week, american history tv's "american artifacts" explores the history of the united states through objects. next, we speak to the house of representatives historian and house curator about the history of african americans who served in congress and see a selection of artifacts from the collection. mr. wasniewski: the story is not one everybody is familiar with. we had 22 african-americans served between 1870 and 1901. 20 in the house, two in the