Former John Birch Society writer and speaker Alan Stang succumbed to cancer in his home state of Texas on July 19th. Stang was born and raised in New York City. Once a New York City taxicab driver and ballroom dance instructor, he was a graduate of City College of New York and Columbia University. He became a writer/producer for shows featuring television personality Mike Wallace.

Early influenced by the libertarian movement, he found a more appealing ideological friendship and membership with the John Birch Society where he became a close friend of JBS Founder Robert Welch. Best remembered for his many articles in American Opinion magazine, the predecessor of The New American, Stang frequently crisscrossed the nation for the American Opinion Speakers Bureau. His revelations about revolutionaries in New Mexico stopped their plans to take over the state and convert it into a Marxist territory. He also wrote many articles about numerous unconstitutional federal agencies.

The author of more than a dozen books, his most famous are the Western Islands paperbacks It’s Very Simple: The True Story of Civil Rights (1965) and The Actor: The True Story of John Foster Dulles (1968). In 1974, Western Islands published his first novel, The Highest Virtue. 

“Wherever he went, Alan was always a popular speaker,” recalled John Birch Society President John McManus. Branching out into radio in the late 1970s, Alan’s “The Alan Stang Report” brought five minutes of hard-hitting information and commentary to radio stations across the land. “He never pulled his punches," said McManus “and the radio shows made him even more popular when he was on the speech circuit.” Stang later left the organization and its publications to become a free-lance writer and speaker.

Only recently according to son Jay, Stang had the pleasure of getting to know his first two grandchildren. He leaves a widow, Gail, whom he first met at a John Birch Society summer camp.

This article originally appeared at JBS.org and is reprinted here with permission.

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Adriana said:

	... Rest in Peace my fellow Texan. Thank you for all that you have left us.
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July 21, 2009
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Lee Gonzales said:

Valentines Day and Alan Stang Valentine's Day and Alan was in Albuquerque to deliver a speech on Tax reform. The sponsors were TRIM, an adjunct of The John Birch Society. It was a dinner speech full of guests. The lady who was to introduce Alan had spent part of the day getting to know Alan. She and her husband got to his wit quite well before that evening's function. At the dinner speech she got up to introduce Alan by saying "Alan stole my heart." The napkins at the table were shaped like a valentine and Alan handed it to her and said: "here's your heart back." Alan was in town to interview a man for American Opinion mag who had held off the OSHA-crat "safety" inspector along with my friend, (another chapter leader of The JBS),for moral support, and the two had chased off the government man by a simple question:"Where is your search warrant?" Alan delighted us with his account of the man in the canyon and his menangerie of animals he had around his property. One of which Alan referred to as the canyon man's "attack goat." OSHA staid away.

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July 22, 2009
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Lee Gonzales said:

Alan Stang: The Commie plot, the bullet- riddled court house, army tanks, a dead deputy ,a chase through the mountains after renegades, the governor and his wife Years before Alan had traversed the state and exposed through American Opinion magazine the plot referred to in the article above. I don't recall how many times he came to town to make speeches but at one speech that was held in the far east central Avenue Holiday Inn, the place was packed with hundreds of people. I was standing by the door amazed at the numbers coming in to listen to a John Birch speaker. In walked in this 20-ish looking man with his 3 friends. With a pipe sticking out of his mouth wearing a tweed wool jacket like some character out of an early Perry Mason show. He removed his tobbaco pipe and with a smirk said: " I can't buy all this conspiracy going back to 1776." ( That's as close as I can remember were the words that came out of his mouth). It didn't matter since the topic was on the communist plot: the aliansa, the bullet riddled court house, a dead deputy sheriff, a chase through the mountains after the renegades by the army national guard mounted on tanks, the governor and his wife. Earl Stanley Gardner could not have written a more thrilling novel than the events that took place in New Mexico. The man that was about to blow up the the whole stinking commie plot in their stupid faces. That man was a 5 foot 7 inch tall Jewish giant of a man named Alan Stang.

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July 22, 2009
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The John Birch Society??, Lowly rated comment [Show]

Chester Berrlow said:

	... A Great mind, and a Great speaker. Remember him at many speaking engagements over the years. His bright insight will be missed. Sadly, at a time when it will be needed.
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July 23, 2009
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Bill McIlhany said:

	Alan Stang was 77, not 80, when he died. Alan Stang was 77, not 80, when he died.
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July 23, 2009 | url
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Lee Gonzales said:

	No, frankie, it isn't It is the body of patriotic men and women who come from all walks of life , colors, creeds, races and religions who support news magazines (on-line and hard copy) like The New American that provides Americans something that the Main Stream Media does not provide- The Truth.
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July 23, 2009
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Realtorgal said:

	Mr. Santo Your "sir" name means saint, but you are acting like an ass.
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July 23, 2009
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David Hammer said:

	... Mr. Santo-Why not educate yourself about The John Birch Society? Why not think for yourself? That's how I came to be a member 40 Years ago!
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July 25, 2009 | url
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Elaine Smith said:

	... Alan Stang wrote about his daughter who was a delegate to the RNC in 2008 as I was--for Ron Paul. Alan was a BIG man in spite of his stature--his articles were blunt and to the point---he was not afraid to speak his mind and had an incredible, biting, sense of humor. He will be missed by patriots in the Revolution. Is there a way to contact his family and send condolences?
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July 30, 2009
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Ronald F Jaggers said:

	Copperhead I heard Mr. Stang speak on the S.S. System back when I was in high school. I am now 62. He explained the whole thing and he has been proven right, as he was in many cases. I stopped paying 30 years ago and do not regret it.
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August 16, 2009
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