Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.
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FBI Catalogue: Unidentified Individuals Speaking
FBI preliminary tape identification note: One Tracs 90/10-20-75 Albert Kahn
Date cues on tape: 20 October 1975 (notation on tape box confirmed in context)
People named:
Public figures/National and international names:
W.E.B. DuBois, writer and philosopher
Paul Robeson, actor and singer
Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company
U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy
United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez
Republic of China President Chiang Kai-shek
assassinated Premier of the Republic of Congo, Patrice Lumumba
Albert E. Kahn (speaks)
Bible verses cited: None
Summary:
(Note: This tape was one of the 53 tapes initially withheld from public disclosure.)
This tape consists of two telephone conversations. The first, on side one, is the last minute of a conversation and is too short to establish a context or even the purpose of the call. The second, on side two, is also recorded after the conversation begins. It lasts longer, but neither the purpose of the call, the time period in which it was made, nor the identity of the Temple member recording the call, is clear. A note on Albert Kahn, the non-Temple member at the other end of the line, appears here.
Kahn speaks of the elements in American society — like those in Nazi Germany — who are professional killers working for corporations or who work for the CIA on behalf of the American governments to overthrow foreign leaders. People like Jim Jones, who "achieve … prominence and have a mass following" become potential targets for these elements, Kahn says, and need to be protected. It is just a part of reality in today’s world, he adds.
Unfortunately, he continues, Jones and others like him are "careless of themselves." Comparing Jones to United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez, Kahn says they think of others — making sure other people’s needs are met — but don’t take care of themselves. For that reason, and because Jones is so valuable, the people around him need to look after their leader.
Kahn speaks of the threats to America, mainly from the political right, which come from vigilante gangs that are led — or at least inspired — with minimal leadership. The group which threatened his own family several years before, he says, didn’t have much organization, nor did it require it. It just needed enough leadership to fire up a number of people and focus them in a desired direction. "[T]hey were not an organized hate group, but there were enough of them who were ignorant who could be mobilized by … a leader of the [John] Birch Society.… He got this group together.… They have plenty of people around who are so uninformed and so ready to hate because they themselves are poor and suffering."
Kahn speaks several times of the value that Jim Jones has to the country and of the need to guard him. Towards the end of the conversation, he compliments the unknown Temple member for his work and his loyalty to Jones, and says Jones is lucky to have him. The member replies, "Well, I don’t know, I know that it would be a very, very dismal life without him. I know that."
FBI Summary:
Date of transcription: 3/5/79
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 March 2, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B47 #65. This tape was found to contain the following:
Side A – Blank, except for one minute end of telephone call between two unknown males.
Side B – Telephone call between unknown male regarding JONES needing protection and how needed he is by society.
Differences with FBI Summary:
The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.
Tape originally posted September 2003