Regrouping in the Cold War : Birch Society to Close West Coast Office

In outward appearance, the John Birch Society’s West Coast office on Mission Street in San Marino is not much different from the chiropractic clinic next door or the legal and financial offices down the street. Except, that is, for a large world map in the window that shows the battle lines in the Cold War.

There are three categories of nations in the Birch view of the communist advance: those under communist control, those still free of communist domination and those in which the communist influence has reached 65% or more, a group that on the map includes Sweden, Spain, Mexico and large chunks of Africa and South America.

Conditions may have changed since the map was drawn in 1984, said Jim Toft, who manages the San Marino office, but the anti-communists’ position has not improved. These days, he complained, “it’s chic to be pro-Soviet. We’re being lulled to sleep by glasnost .”

Strategic Retreat

Indeed, it is the John Birch Society that is in strategic retreat, planning to close its headquarters in Belmont, Mass., and its West Coast office in San Marino this summer and consolidate operations in a new office in Appleton, Wis.

John McManus, national public relations director, said the national and regional staff of 50 will be trimmed to 30. Only three of the eight employees in San Marino will be moving to Wisconsin.

Not many people come by the San Marino office these days, although dealing with the public has never been a vital function. A regional office was established here 25 years ago because office space was available from a member. The office has been moved twice, both times to buildings owned by members.

Most of the work involves serving chapters in 13 Western states, maintaining membership rolls and research files, and filling requests for society publications. A bookstore is maintained in front, Toft said, for the convenience of local members, although the curious occasionally wander in.

Mistaken Impression

Char Gonzalez, a black woman who sits at the receptionist desk, said people are sometimes shocked to see her there because they are under the mistaken impression that the John Birch Society is racist.

“Back in the ‘60s, a lot of articles printed (about the society) in the newspapers were unfavorable,” she said. “I think it was probably a communist sympathizer doing all the printing . . . they must have paid an awful lot of money to have this (bad publicity) in the papers.”

Books and pamphlets defending Sen. Joseph McCarthy are on display in the bookstore that occupies the outer lobby. Visitors can also find everything from McGuffey’s Readers to books on homosexual influences on society. The political books range from the Federalist Papers to “Teddy Bare,” subtitled “The Real Story of Chappaquiddick.”

Toft said a number of society members have expressed interest in maintaining a bookstore after the San Marino office is closed. Otherwise, he said, members would have to travel to the group’s bookstores in Downey or North Hollywood.

Although closure of the office will be a loss to local members, Toft said, it will improve the organization. “It’s the old business axiom of reducing the overhead and putting it into the product,” he said.

Membership Declined

McManus said the Reagan years were tough on the John Birch Society. Although membership increased last year, he said, it declined during most of the Administration of President Reagan, apparently because some people felt that a strong conservative in the White House made the work of the John Birch Society less important. McManus said the society tried to tell its members that Reagan’s “rhetoric would not be matched by his deeds,” but it took a while for people to see that.

McManus said the society does not disclose membership figures, but he said the total is in “the tens of thousands.” He emphasized that the John Birch Society is not cutting its services to members or reducing its staff of about 40 field workers, who organize volunteers and serve chapters across the nation.