Q216 Summary

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.

To read the Tape Transcript, click here. Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1, Pt. 2).
To return to the Tape Index, click here.

FBI Catalogue: Jones Speaking

FBI preliminary tape identification note: Labeled in part “11/1/78 News”

Date cues on tape:     November 1, 1978 (note on tape box verified by tape contents)

People named:

Bible verses cited:      None

Summary:

Jim Jones reads the news to the Jonestown community. The stories include:

In addition to the international flavor to the news and the issues which are covered, the rhetoric in the newscast demonstrates that Jones is using a Soviet wire service. The item about “political democracy” in Austria, for example, focuses on the ideological struggles facing the chairman of the Communist Party and their impact on “international development [and] the growth of the forces of democracy and socialism.” The notation that the Soviet Union surrendered its dominance over Austria after World War II rather than risk nuclear war is perhaps simplistic and one-sided, but its emphasis is definitely Jones’.

The Temple leader makes other editorial asides as well, such as corporations’ universal  disregard for working conditions their employees (“Typical, typical, typical”), although most have been repeated enough that they are familiar to the Jonestown population.

Jones also uses news items to draw favorable parallels to aspects of Jonestown which have been criticized by outsiders. After reporting on a meeting of scientific and social experts who concluded that “structure” in community has more benefits than individuals living only for themselves have, he adds, “And we tend to agree with that. We have found our structure has eliminated drugs, the use of anything harmful, and has given complete elimination of crime and total peace in our social units. And we certainly agree with that.” Perhaps more mindful of another allegation made against Jonestown, he points out that in North Korea, “children eat rice as a staple food, and how healthy they look, and how vigorously happy, enthusiasm on all their faces… Nothing would warm the heart more than the joy that was in the faces of the Korean people.”

As with other newscasts from the last months of Jonestown, Jones seems to have trouble reading the words before him, but his difficulty here seems more profound. His speech is slow and slurred, he pauses for lengthy periods of time before pronouncing a single word – and even then, sometimes mispronouncing it, or slowly sounding it out as though it were in a foreign language – and for most of the tape, there is little emphasis of a sentence’s key word or thought. There are numerous false starts, there is much repetition of different sentences as though he doesn’t recognize he has just read it, and the effort to perform this simple task periodically makes him pant. The result is, many of the news items – and his purpose in reading them – is unintelligible.

He recognizes his difficulty on several occasions, or perhaps someone points it out to him. “They said you’d have to bear with me, because I’ve had very little sleep and I cannot hardly read some of my own notes,” he says early in the newscast. At other times, though, he seems to offer alternate explanations for his own lethargy. “I hope I’m reading slow enough for you to comprehend,” he says midway through the tape. Towards the end, he blames the problem on the equipment: “If you are having trouble listening to this P.A., please let us know, we’ve have a lot of trouble with it, and it goes on slow speed and high speed, and distorts the voice, so be sure that you mention it to us.”

The broadcast ends when he is called away to speak with someone.

FBI Summary:

Date of transcription: 6/11/79

In connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into the assassination of U.S. Congressman LEO J. RYAN at Port Kaituma, Guyana, South America, on November 18, 1978, a tape recording was obtained. This tape recording was located in Jonestown, Guyana, South America, and was turned over to U.S. Officials in Guyana and subsequently transported to the United States.

On May 28, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B70-2. This tape was found to contain the following:

A speech by JIM JONES concerning current news events.

Differences with FBI Summary:

Other than the distinction that this is a newscast rather than a “speech,” the summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.

Tape originally posted March 2008