The Observer 3

              Undercover Agent Reveals John Society Workings
An undercover agent, who had infiltrated the
John Birch Society on Long Island, and rose to
the position of section leader, told a large FACT
( Farmingdale Action Committee for Truth) audience
Thursday night at a meeting held in the auditorium
of the Mill Lane Jr. High School, the inner workings
of the society. The man, who identified himself to
The Observer, as a former teacher, an agent, and
a free lance writer, who had been a member of the
John Birch Society on Long Island for four years,
has recently attended, as an observer, Farmingdale
Public Library Board of Trustee meetings and Dis­trict
# 22 school board meetings. He said that Farm­ingdale
was the worst hit by the Birchers of any
community on Long Island.
Purcell told the audience of nearly 200 persons
of mixed sympathies that at all levels of the John
Birch Society, it is necessary to obey directives.
" The John Birch Society, is a closely knit,
monolithic structure, which allows no dissent from
its members. One of the directives is to infiltrate
and to take over educational and community in­stitutions".
He said that one of the targets is the
PTA and Birch members are told to become pro­gram
chairmen or secretaries. They are taught
to act as if they don't know each other until they ob­tain
key positions. " Of course once all the officers
of the organization are JBS members, they can stop
pretending. They are instructed to even use ' mean
and dirty* methods to achieve their aims."
The former agent said that an­other
target was Adult Education
classes." If the class seemed to be
made up of liberals,. TBS members
are directed to join the class and
change me nature of dis­cussions,"
" It is also preached mat it is
necessary to get ' conservative*
people elected to school and li­brary
boards, whom John Birch
Society members can influence.
According to Purcell, it is not a
directive for a John Birch Society
member to become elected him­self.
In questioning him after
the meeting, he said that the
election of Carl E. Gorton an
avowed member of the John
Birch Society, as Farmingdale
Public Library Trustee was prob­ably
not planned by them, be­cause
they generally do not like
the publicity attached. He said that
they would rather influence, than
be in the direct limelight. This
brought credence to the rumor
circulating that same night that
Gorton had been * kicked out' of
the John Birch Society, which
fact was confirmed according to a
story on Tuesday in a Long Island
daily ( see separate story). Pur­cell
also told The Observer that
DO YOUR
TEEN- AGERS
UNDERSTAND
YOU?
Today many teenagers feel
that anyone over the age of
30 simply doesn't know. Re­bellion
sometimes seems to
him to be the only way of
life — the only answer.
Irresponsibility and rebel­lion
aren't the only way of
life for the teen- ager.
What is important to him
as a way of life? Isn't it a
deep desire to search for
Truth — for meaning in his
own life?
This is why young people
like the Christian Science
Sunday School. They get a
chance to think for them­selves,
and to dig deep for
ideas they can prove and
use. They find out who they
are and why they are here.
Above all, they discover the
solid basis for freedom in
obedience to God. This
helps them understand you!
Your teen- agers are wel­come
at our Sunday School,
any Sunday morning.
9 3 0 & 11: 15 A. M.
First Church of
Christ Scientist
4550 Merrick Rd., Maspq.
AUTO INSURANCE
Youngsters, Oldsters
Monthly payments, discounts
dividends, auto loans
Telephone Service
MURRAY TUCK, Inc.
388 Fulton St., Farmingdale
249- 1490
— — K > — — — • ' •••• ' '
the society probably did not like
the publicity given Gorton and
hence the society with his tussles
with the Human Rights Commis­sion
Gorton's publicity as being
biased against Puerto Ricans and
Jehovahs Witnesses was not in
JBS interests. Purcell said that
JBS founder, Robert Welch, at
one time had gone to great lengths
to write lengthy dissertations
against anti- Semitism. At other
times the Society has made a big
point about not being anti- Negro.
" It is an image they like to
create", Purcell said.
Another directive of the JBS
is to question school text books
at school board meetings, accord­ing
to Purcell. They are told to
attack schools by stating that the
use of certain textbooks are ' anti-
American'. " An anti- profes­sional
attitude has always been
evident in JBS philosophies. They
are anti- teacher and anti- librar­ian,
especially in the area of se­lecting
books and proposing
curriculum."
Purcell pointed out the dif­ference
between the ' legitimate'
conservative and right- wing ex­tremists.
" Conservatives think
the world is in terrible shape
due to bungling and stupidity.
John Birch Society members have
the same outlook regarding the
state of the world, but they think
the results are almost exclusively-due
to a Communist conspiracy.
JBS members believe that prac­tically
every phase of government
within the United States is either
controlled or infiltrated by the!
communists, including most o r ­ganizations.
Purcell said they
were sincere in this belief. In
the book, ' The Politician', Welch
called former President of the
United States Dwight Eisenhower
a dupe of the communist party.
" This was definitely printed in
the first edition of the book. In
later editions the terminology had
been revised to read that Eisen­hower
was duped by the leftists'
rather than Communists," Pur­cell
said.
Purcell said that Birchers hope
someday to get the ' Liberty'
amendment put through the United
States government. This would do
away with the United Nations,
which Birchers believe is ' Com­munist',
NATO, the space pro­gram,
and the social security
system. About the only Federal
agency they would leave is the
United States Post Office sys­tem."
However some Birchers
have even feared the Zip Code
system, thinking that this is a
way the Communists have divided
up the United States for an easy-takeover".
Later John Birch
members of the audience said
' social security' could be taken
over by private enterprise.
Purcell said that JBS mem­bers
imply that they want the
same things as conservatives r e ­garding
economy. " Actually they
are not interested in economy at
all, but are really interested in
power and control". Purcell said
that he had no quarrel with such
honest conservatives as William
F. Buckley, James Kilpatrick,
Everitt Dirksen and such pub­lications
such as ' HumanEvents'.
" Most Conservative organiza­tions
are quite different from the
JBS. On the New York State level
the Conservative Party is not,
JBS oriented." " However", he
pointed out, " on local levels, as
perhaps in Farmingdale, it is a
different matter and the two may
have become intermingled."
Later he told The Observer that
there are probably about 35 mem­bers
of the JBS in Farmingdale.
Purcell said that when he last
belonged to the Birch society in
1965, it had 2,000 members in
Nassau County. He said he thought
that the Nassau membership had
greatly declined since. Purcell
emphasized that the true con­servative
is interested in fiscal
responsibility, while the Bircher
would squabble over pennies to
look effective, but economy was
not one of their main interests.
" Hence, he said, all Birchers
( Continued on Page 6)
O'DONNELL'S
SCHOOL AID PLAN
WILL SAVE YOU MONEY
THE PROBLEM
1
Approximately 50% of local school costs are paid out of local real
estate taxes.
Our area collects fewer dollars in " Real Estate Base Per Pupil" than
any other area in Nassau. Specifically, 9th Assembly District-$ 19,863;
Manhasset - $ 82,000; Nassau Average - $ 35,616; New York City -
$ 42,000; State- wide average - $ 31,200.
We are situated in a section with very little industry. We have
medium priced homes on smaller- than- average land plots.
Without relief our taxes will skyrocket or our children will receive a second
class education. I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THESE ALTERNATIVES.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE
IN ALBANY
1. Our area must spread its taxable base to accommodate more
commercial and industrial property to relieve school taxes. For
example, the new telephone company building on Sunrise Highway
adds $ 3,000,000 in taxable real estate for Massapequa School
District without adding more children to tax rolls.
2. A fair and equitable solution is for a uniform state- wide real estate
tax with the money returned to each school district on the basis of
pupils enrolled. This would result in an immediate savings of about
$ 2.00 per $ 100.00 of assessed valuation. It would equalize future
costs and not shortchange our children's education. There would be a
fair sharing in each school district of industrial and commercial
property. Bill O'Donnell will fight for this law in Albany.
VOTE FOR WILLIAM G. O'DONNELL
FOR STATE ASSEMBLY LINE 21B
Pd. Political Adv. Citizens for O'Donnell, park Ltne, M M M P « 4 U « P « *
Farmingdale OBSERVER - Thursday, October 24, 1968