the papers of william noland that uc berkeley always are meyer at the hoover institution. the 14th air force archives in montgomery, alabama, maxwell air force base, that was really an exciting trip, and exciting find because buried in those materials is a 2425 page interview, oral history interview with john birch that was conducted about five months before his death arrange this interview because birch was the 1st of these field intelligence officers, matt doolittle, let a colorful life, and so there are wonderful details in that interview. the -- another source was extremely helpful, newspaper called the fundamentalist which was published by the bible baptist institute in fort worth. i went down there. and vickie bryant, the curator of that archive was extremely helpful in showing me different sources. birch had written letters not only to his parents, but also to the fundamental or the independent baptist back in texas command they publish these letters. detailed accounts of how he traveled from ponto across japanese lines or how he encountered doolittle. so it was rea

this leads us to senator william noland, a prominent senator from california. he was senate majority leader for a time during the 1950s. after the outbreak of the korean war in 1950, june 1950, that fall he stands up on the floorover the senate, and he delivers -- floor of the senate, and he delivers a speech that breathes fresh life into the story of john birch which really was a footnote of this history. it would have been long forgotten had it not been for noland. noland -- and here i quote -- told the simple story of a lone american officer who was willing to sacrifice his life so that this nation might find out whether these communists were friends or enemies. the incident, claimed noland, was one of the least known and most significant indications of communist intentions in china. the senator went on in his speech to ask rhetorically if members of congress had had this information in august or september of 1945 at the end of the war against japan, is there any person here who feels they would have tolerated the subsequent activity of the state department

chose not a member of the birch society, nor to the best of my knowledge was william noland who talked about birch. holbert wedemeyer was on an advisory council for robert welch, but he came to believe that welch had misused or misrepresented the facts about the death of birch and investigation of birch. wedemeyer felt it was no conspiracy, there was a cover-up. so wedemeyer wrote a very testy letter to welch saying i don't want anything more to do with the birch society. i am resigning my position as an advisor. >> we have been talking about birch in a political context or what about a religious context? is he an important figure for them? >> there was a biography of birch britain in the early 1980s by a conservative christian couple. they did have some new material. no footnotes, no documentation, but they did go into some more detail about birch. however, they made virtually no connection between john birch and the john birch society. so i think they were christians, in fact there are conservative christians who do feel that birch is an important person as a missionary to china, is

noland. fox 29 weather authority has been tracking this system for days now. let's get straight to chief meteorologist scott williams scott williams. >> hi lucy and iain. yes, we're dealing with remnant tropical moisture from bonnie that really has had the shore community socked in with the clouds along with the showers and look at what's happening on ultimate doppler. we'll zoom in a little closer and you can see places like ship bottom, atlantic city, sea isle city, avalon, wildwood, cape may down to rehoboth still dealing with the clouds and showers but the rain is start to go dissipate somewhat over the next couple of hours. a dry break for most but take a look far north and west a line of showers and thunderstorms moving into the pocono mountains if they hold together they'll move into sections of lehigh along with berks county non non-severe and will diminish as we move toward 9:00 o'clock north and west so that activity should fall apart before it arrives toward the philadelphia area. so for tonight, we're looking at mostly cloudy skies. it turns muggy. by tomorrow, that humidity will start to drop and also t

noland. >> i'm iain page. looks like the weather will get worse before it gets better. let's get right over to fox 29's chief meteorologist scott williams. >> hi there iain and lucy. unfortunately, we're looking at more clouds and even heavy rain headed this way come tomorrow. look at ultimate doppler right now with the satellite. we're socked in with the clouds. most of the heavy rain off to the west. but don't be deceased because we are still looking at some areas of drizzle and mist but as i expand the view, take a look at this kind of pinwheel swirl moving through sections of west virginia, along with virginia and the carolinas. that's the area of low pressure that's going to head back in our direction tomorrow. take a look at the water vapor imagery this really tells the story take look at this big dip in the jet stream. that's the trough of low pressure that's been keeping us really just socked in with the cloud cover, cooler than average temperatures. the high today only 57 degrees. we should be topping out in the low 70s. so friday we're looking at that area of low pressure moving back toward our area. it could even linger into

noland. fox 29 weather authority has been tracking this system for days now. let's get straight to chief meteorologist scott williamsy and iain. yes, we're dealing with remnant tropical moisture from bonnie that really has had the shore community socked in with the clouds along with the showers and look at what's happening on ultimate doppler. we'll zoom in a little closer and you can see places like ship bottom, atlantic city, sea isle city, avalon, wildwood, cape may down to rehoboth still dealing with the clouds and showers but the rain is start to go dissipate somewhat over the next couple of hours. a dry break for most but take a look far north and west a line of showers and thunderstorms

noland. >> i'm iain page. how much rain is out there on the horizon. let's get over to chief meteorologist scott williamsi there. we are looking at unsettled stretch so a couple of inches not out of the question before all is said and done. the good news, right now if you're stepping outdoors, look at ultimate doppler we're dry, we're quiet in the lehigh valley also the philadelphia air parts of south jersey and delaware but just off to our south, take a look at this. south of washington, d.c., already a severe thunderstorm warning has popped up and we have severe thunderstorm watches to our south and west. our severe weather threat will be low but we can't rule out a thunderstorm or two as all of this moisture continues to head in our direction especially overnight tonight and the first part of the day tomorrow. 64 degrees that's our high temperature for today. but take look to the north. hartford in the low 50s and looking at 80s in charlottesville, virginia, that's where the dynamics are the strongest for that severe weather. so here's the bottom line. we'll call it mostly cloudy. showers really arriv

noland. >> i'm iain page. looks like the weather will get worse before it gets better. let's get right over to fox 29's chief meteorologist scott williamse iain and lucy. unfortunately, we're looking at more clouds and even heavy rain headed this way come tomorrow. lo