When Welch declared Ike to be a Conscious agent of the Communist Conspiracy for a start.
Rather goes to far, but he was definitely obtuse.
That goes to far.
The JBS was a fascinating organization.
They made some wild charges, no doubt about that—but they did amazing research on topics nobody else would touch.
When I was in college I would sneak in some of their original research in my papers—and of course the profs have never read any of their stuff so had no clue where it was coming from—and it worked well.
Example—they were responsible for the “flouridation is a Commie plot” silliness—but when you dug deeper they had a book discussing how Alcoa had used their corporate power to push their flouride waste products on municipalities and bribed dental authorities as well.
This was covered nowhere else but most folks now understand that flouride’s benefits were overstated and the risks were understated.
I did get a chance to meet some of their senior folks—they were brilliant and had to be super-tough to take all the heat they were getting.
Bottom line—I respected them a thousand times more than my professors that towed the “party line” or were afraid to risk offending powerful people.