When, in 1965, SDS established a regional office in San Francisco, it was hoped this would signal a shift. Localism and regionalism would be subdued; the national organization would emerge triumphant. The reverse occurred. SDS's clumsy attempts to absorb the Bay Area into a national structure with national policies, procedures and perspectives actually reinforced regionalist biases. This was highlighted by the sudden conversion of the two SDS officials who established the regional office. Arriving in the Bay Area, they were struck by provincialism, isolation and what they saw as ‘backward’ politics. Very soon, however, they switched their cannons to SDS's national office. They had become Bay Area radicals. This was not a unique experience, particularly at that time. Just as in 1960 publicity about the Bay Area attracted many aspiring radicals to the region, so, too, publicity about FSM pulled increasing numbers of students and others to Berkeley. Most became quickly enmeshed in the style, character and culture of Berkeley radicalism. Initially outsiders, they soon began reflecting a radicalism that was permeated with local or regional sensibilities. The power of regionalism can be immense, even at times when (and in movements where) you might least expect to find it.

SDS and the Regional Question

A radical movement or organization that seeks profound and wide-ranging social change in a country as large and variegated as the United States must have a twin focus: the local or regional and the national.