Q238 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).
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FBI Catalogue            Jones Speaking

FBI preliminary tape identification note: Labeled in part “7/3/78”

Date cues on tape:            Contents of tape consistent with note

People named:

Public figures/National and international names:
Part 1:
Jimmy Carter, U.S. President
Walter Mondale, Vice President
Benjamin Franklin,  U.S. founding father
Thomas Jefferson, former U.S. president
John Adams, former U.S. president
George Washington, former U.S. president
Rep. Jack Cunningham (R-Washington)

 

Lord David Owen, British Foreign Minister
Giovanni Leone, former president of Italy
Zarkoni, first name unknown, candidate for Italian prime ministerHarold Piper, Baltimore Sun correspondent in USSR (by reference)
Craig R. Whitney, New York Times correspondent in USSR (by reference)
Zviad K. Gamsakhurdia, Soviet dissident (by reference)

Emmanuel Erskine, leader of UN peace-keeping force in Lebanon
Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt
Samora Machel, president of Mozambique (by reference)
Robert Mugabe, leader of Zimbabwean Patriotic Front in Rhodesia
Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia
Ahmad bin Hussein al-Ghashmi, former prime minister of North Yemen (by reference)
Salim Rubayyi Ali, former leader of South Yemen (by reference)
Ali Nasir Muhammad, leader of South Yemen (by reference)

Bansi Lal, Indian Defense Minister (by reference)
Indira Gandhi, Indian politician

Forbes Burhnam, Guyana Prime Minister
Desmond Hoyte, Guyana Economic Minister
Eric Clarke, Guyana lawyer
Sir Lionel Luckhoo, Guyana lawyer
Vincent Hinds, Guyana economist
Joseph Tyndall, acting CARICOM secretary-general (by reference)

John H. Bunzel, president of San Jose State University

Part 2:
Jimmy Carter, U.S. President (by reference)
Andrew Young, U.S. Ambassador to United Nations

Johannes Vorster, prime minister of Republic of South Africa
Steven Biko, South African political prisoner
Donald Woods, South African writer, author of book on Steven Biko
Chief Bouthewaze [phonetic], South African Zulu
Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia
Jonas Savimbi, Angolan political leader

 

Temple adversaries; members of Concerned Relatives:
Kathy Hunter, reporter for Ukiah Daily Journal
Debbie Layton Blakey
Jim Cobb
Tim Stoen

 

Jonestown residents:
Janaro family
Lisa Layton
John Victor Stoen

 

Bible verses cited:             None

Summary:

In the course of reading the news for July 2, 1978, Jim Jones uses a news item about a Guyanese economics minister to remark upon the fortunes of the Jonestown community and the status of the conspiracy against them. The economics minister – Desmond Hoyte – had once opposed them, but now seems to be sympathetic to their cause, as do the other powerful figures in Georgetown, including world-renowned lawyer Lionel Luckhoo. “That would mean we have no forceful opposition of any kind in the country,” Jones says.

The shift is even more amazing, he continues, “in view of the horrible lies that the conspiracy is bombarding on everyone here in the mails.” The conspiracy can’t even seem to find traction anymore in the US anymore. The press, which once carried the lies of Debbie Layton Blakey, seems to be backing away from covering her. Perhaps that arose when her mother Lisa Layton accused Debbie of stealing money. Or perhaps it came from Debbie’s changing stories about Jonestown, and the contradictions have dampened press enthusiasm for her. Or perhaps it’s the racism that she and other conspirators have utilized.

But this is basically a news tape, with two separate parts. The first, lengthier section is like many others from this period of Jonestown’s history. Jones seems to be taking the stories from Soviet and Eastern bloc news sources, in that Communist China – an ideological adversary to the Soviet Union rivaling the west – comes under as much criticism as the United States and her allies. The U.S. is described only as fascist, racist, and beholden to the interests of monopoly capitalism. Jones’ own commentary is evident only once in the early part of the tape, when he asserts that the troubles in the Middle East are “endangering nuclear war.”

As is also the case with many of these tapes, Jones reads a lengthy article after the news bulletins. The day’s piece, of unknown origin, is a history, analysis and critique – from a Marxist viewpoint – of “the bourgeoisie concept of equal rights.”

Other items in the news include:

• The Carter administration presents a Middle East peace plan to Israel, but Egypt is dubious;
• Beirut is shelled;
• The Rhodesian government and Zimbabwean liberation forces trade accusations of atrocities;
• US reporters are charged with civil slander in the USSR;
• China is challenged to accept ethnic population returning from Vietnam;
• The Arab League cuts contact with South Yemen;
• Italian elections yield uncertain results;
• A Caribbean economic group predicts real success for the area;
• US servicemen lead anti-Semitic riots in West Germany.

 

The section ends with Jones’ usual pleas to keep the community clean and to work hard. This last words are of love for his people.

The second, shorter section of the tape could be from the same day, but the recording is quite different. Still, with only general stories presented – a review of a book by a white South African journalist who warns that his government faces collapse, and Africa’s embrace of Cuba and communist forces over the West – there is no real context for the last ten minutes of the tape.

FBI Summary:

Date of transcription: 6/27/79

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 29, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B70-25. This tape was found to contain the following:

JIM JONES reading news and announcements, and editorializing.

Differences with FBI Summary:

The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.

Tape originally posted June 2012