Q732 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           Unidentified Individuals Speaking

FBI preliminary tape identification note:“News of the Day April 8”

Date cues on tape:    April 8, 1978 (Specific reference to April 8)

People named:

Public figures/National and international names:
Kurt Waldheim, U.N. Secretary General
Hugh Foot, Lord Caradon, chief British delegate to United Nations Security Council

U.S. President Jimmy Carter
Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
General George S. Brown, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

Rep. Ron Dellums (D-CA)
Rep. Charles Diggs (D-MI)
James Hunt, Governor of North Carolina

Mao Tse-Tung, leader of People’s Republic of China
Karl Marx, German economist, father of communism
Vladimir Lenin, father of Russian Revolution
Adolf Hitler

Jiang Qing, wife of Mao Tse-Tung, part of Gang of Four [by reference]
Zhang Chunqiao, part of Gang of Four [by reference]
Yao Wenyuan, part of Gang of Four [by reference]
Wang Hongwen, part of Gang of Four [by reference]

Orlando Letelier, assassinated Chilean ambassador to US
Ronni Moffitt, assassinated aide to Letelier
Augusto Pinochet, President of Chile
General Manuel Contreras, head of DINA, Chilean secret police
Michael Townley, U.S. expatriate in DINA
Armando Fernandez Larios, Chilean army major, DINA official
Eugene Propper, Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C.

Anastasio Somoza, Nicaraguan president
General Omar Torrijos, Panamanian leader [by reference]

Menachem Begin, Israeli Prime Minister
Ferdinand Marcos,  president of Philippines
Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., Filipino senator, leader of Marcos opposition [by reference]

George Grayson, foreign policy expert on Mexico
Milton Friedman, economist
Lieutenant William Calley, leader of American troops at My Lai massacre
Attila the Hun

Ethel Rosenberg, executed for espionage in 1953
Julius Rosenberg, executed for espionage in 1953
Michael Meeropol, son of Rosenbergs [by reference]
Robert Meeropol, son of Rosenbergs [by reference]
Paul Robeson, American black actor, musician, activist

Charles Garry, Temple attorney
Cesar Chavez, farm workers organizer

May Greckoff [phonetic], woman died in fire in Bay Area
Carol Jugg [phonetic], daughter of May Greckoff
Janet Sloan, woman killed in shipyard accident
Bob Avicon [phonetic], party chairman of the Guardian
Redames Santiago [phonetic], head of family which died in Philadelphia fire
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Penrose, Philadelphia

Jonestown residents, full name unknown:
Donny (possibly Don Scheid) (speaks)
Wesley (possibly Wesley Breidenbach) (speaks)

Jonestown residents:
Agnes Jones [by reference]
Jim Jones, Jr. [by reference]
Lew Jones [by reference]
Lynetta Jones
Marceline Jones
Stephan Jones [by reference]
Tim Jones [by reference]
Bob Kice

Bible verses cited:      None

 

Summary:

(Note: This tape was transcribed by Richmond Arquette. The editors gratefully acknowledge his invaluable assistance.)

Jim Jones reads the news. He reads slowly, in part because he is tired – so tired, he says in the second segment of reading, that he fell asleep as he read, then awakened to find himself still holding the microphone – and in part because he is simultaneously listening to the radio behind him. The pauses between phrases and sentences are often long enough that the NBC broadcast in the background can be understood, as well as how Jones repeats (or sometimes re-interprets) what he hears.

As with other newscasts, Jones adds editorial comments, sometimes in his description of the people he is reporting on (“Israeli fascist Premier Menachem Begin”; “dreaded dictator, who was put in power by our merciless CIA, Augusto Pinochet”) and sometimes after completing the reading of a news item. On two occasions, for example, after reporting on the “fraudulent” election in the Philippines, and on the Nicaraguan dictator Somoza hiring U.S. mercenary pilots, Jones adds,  “there is no security in capitalism.”

The centerpiece of the first half of his broadcast is a long article on the “basic causes of economic depression under capitalism.” The second segment includes a passionate tribute to his mother, who had died a few months earlier. “Faithful mother, beloved friend of all of you, who gave hours of her time when she was so ill back in the States and here, with your counseling matters, your tax problems,” he says of Lynetta Jones.  “[Without her] you would then never have had this place that has given purpose to your life.”

Other items include:

• The neutron bomb and cluster bombs;
• Israeli occupation of Lebanon, and opposition from the country’s Communist party;
• The “fraudulent” election of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines;
• High unemployment in the U.S., especially among youth and in urban centers;
• The Letelier assassination;
• Ethiopian plans for peace in the Horn of Africa;
• Mexican plans to join OPEC;
• Nicaraguan use of US mercenaries to attack populace;
• The Panama Canal treaty;
• Endorsement of California Proposition 13 by Milton Friedman;
• Lt. William Calley becoming mayor of Georgia town;
• FBI suppresses evidence of Rosenberg innocence;
• Conspiracies to kill black and Indian leaders;
• Nazis marching in St. Louis and Skokie, Illinois;
• Chinese Communists splitting over Gang of 4

At least part of the newscast was taped over a previous recording of a number of young men either teasing or trying to retrieve something from Mr. Muggs, the Temple’s chimpanzee. There is no context for the tape, although, since there are sounds of small electric saws and other construction tools in the background, it is likely in Jonestown. However, the Jonestown location would mean that the young men doing the teasing may not be Wesley Breidenbach and Don Scheid, since they were older than the voices on the tape sound.

FBI Summary:

Date of transcription: 3/21/79

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 5, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B62 #49. This tape was found to contain the following:

Side A contains a male speaker, appears to be in Guyana, South America, reporting, paraphrasing and adding text to news events. Appears to be a People’s Temple newscaster. Radio or TV can be heard in the background.

Side B contains a continuation of the same on side A. The same male in a news reporting status.

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:

Other than the fact that the “male speaker” is Jim Jones – a voice which the FBI should have recognized after reviewing scores of tapes with his voice – the summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.

Tape originally posted December 2009