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 Jones Speaking
FBI preliminary tape identification note: (none)
Date cues on tape: None
People named: None
Bible verses cited: None
Summary:
This short tape recorded in Jonestown has no contextual references, and Jones’ messages to the crowd before him are familiar, even if the intensity of his delivery is not often this high. He reminds his followers that they paid taxes on every purchase they made in the States, taxes that went “for napalm to drop on our babies.” He damns the American system and its citizenry – including the relatives of people in Jonestown – who don’t care about the atrocities the U.S. commits. He says he would “rather die young” than have to sell out to that system. Finally, he tells them of the sacrifices he makes for them every day; in this instance, he has turned down “an offer of seven and a half million dollars, babies, to sell you all down the goddamn river.”
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 June 25, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B110-55. This tape was found to contain the following:
JIM JONES exhorting the members to give up any desires to return to the United States.
Differences with FBI Summary:
The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.
Tape originally posted May 2013