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 Miscellaneous
FBI preliminary tape identification note: “Dunbar TV Show” 3×5 card attached
Date cues on tape: 1973, during broadcast of Watergate hearings
People named:
Roxanne White
Jean (likely Jean Brown)Public figures/National and international names:
Edgar Cayce, psychic
Jean Dixon, psychic
Mary Baker Eddy, evangelist
Uri Geller, psychic
Rev. Kathryn Kuhlman, evangelist
Oral Roberts, evangelist
Lester KinsolvingUnknown:
Carol Nash, biologist
Jeffrey Resnick
Ike (person at station?)
Bible verses cited:
“The church does its part in taking care of the necessities of its people, as the Scripture acknowledges, take care of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:10, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”)
“I think they distort the Scripture in Mark, about handling of snakes.” (Mark 16:18, “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”)
Summary:
The tape is a TV talk show interview with Jim Jones, conducted by a host Jim Dunbar. It duplicates the show recorded on the second half of tape Q 696, and the summary below duplicates that of Q 696. However, this recording was made at a different location, with resulting slight variations in the text, most of them in the form of comprehensible speech as callers, host and guest speak over one another. Both tapes were made off the air, rather than in the studio.
The host reminds the listeners that he had already interviewed Lester Kinsolving, a newspaper columnist for the San Francisco Examiner and the nemesis of the Temple, and – as Dunbar put it – Kinsolving “said some awful things about the Reverend James Jones.” Whether Jones’ invitation to the show was already planned, or whether it came in response to an outpouring of mail demanding equal time, is unclear; however, the mail had come. Adding to the mail volume was the fact that Jones’ first scheduled appearance was pre-empted by a Watergate hearing, something that Dunbar points out was beyond the station’s control.
Dunbar asks about a recent fire at the San Francisco Temple. Jones says the preliminary finding of the fire department was that of arson. He adds that he had had a premonition of disaster – not of arson per se, but of something – and had held over the people in the church in Redwood Valley, thereby saving their lives. Dunbar is curious about Jones’ premonitions and other miracles, and while he professes to be skeptical, he does say he is impressed by Jones’ track record.
Several callers to the show express opinions and ask questions about Jones’ faith healings. While some are as skeptical as the host, others – who are members of the Temple – talk about the healings they themselves have received. The topic comes up several times, and towards the end of the program, Jones emphasizes that the healings are no substitute for professional medical care, that he goes to a doctor himself and encourages everyone to do the same.
A number of callers seem to be acting as plants for Jones to make his points, so when one calls with an easy (but unintelligible) question, the host jumps in and says he thinks the caller already knows the answer. Dunbar then remarks that the lines coming into the studio are jammed “from people who are, I think, confirmed in their belief.” He asks them to step aside and “get … some folks who want to ask some honest questions.”
Even so, most questions Jones takes from the callers and from Dunbar himself are ones he’s answered before, including ones of the size of the church membership, its services, and its politics. On the last point, he says he opposes totalitarianism in all forms, whether it be fascism or communism. He adds the church believes in the “Jeffersonian dream, of the government that governs least, governs best… [W]e’re concerned about the basic freedoms… not partisan politics. We’re concerned very much about the role of the free press recently, and of civil rights in general.”
When one caller asks him about his position on abortion, Jones says he is concerned with “with any form of human murder. I mean, when we start on the fetus, I’m wondering where we will go next.” In the same answer, though, he says “a woman’s body is certainly is a part of her.” He concludes his answer that “I have not championed any view either one way or the other.”
FBI Summary:
Date of transcription: 3/13/79
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 6, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B62 #1. This tape was found to contain the following:
On Side A of this tape is a recording of a radio talk show, known as “AM San Francisco,” which features JIM JONES of People’s Temple as the main guest.
Side B of this tape has no discernible sound on it.
This tape was reviewed, and nothing was contained thereon which was considered to be of evidentiary nature or beneficial to the investigation of Congressman RYAN.
Differences with FBI Summary:
The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.
Tape originally posted May 2013