welch wrote in a widely circulated statement,
the politician, "could
eisenhower really be simply a smart politician, entirely without principles and hungry for glory, who is only the tool of the communists? The answer is yes." he went on. "with regard to ... Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason."[sup]
[45][/sup]
the controversial paragraph was removed before final publication of
the politician.[sup]
[46][/sup]
the sensationalism of welch's charges against eisenhower prompted several conservatives and republicans, most prominently goldwater and the intellectuals of
william f. Buckley's circle, to renounce outright or quietly shun the group. Buckley, an early friend and admirer of welch, regarded his accusations against eisenhower as "paranoid and idiotic libels" and attempted unsuccessfully to purge welch from the birch society.[sup]
[47][/sup] from then on buckley, who was editor of
national review, became the leading intellectual spokesman and organizer of the anti-bircher conservatives.[sup]
[48][/sup] in fact, buckley's biographer
john b. Judis wrote that "buckley was beginning to worry that with the john birch society growing so rapidly, the right-wing upsurge in the country would take an ugly, even
fascist turn rather than leading toward the kind of conservatism
national review had promoted."[sup]
[48][/sup]