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[Letterhead of attorney Dennis Roberts, San Francisco]
Rev. Jim Jones
People’s Temple
1859 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA
July 28, 1977
Dear Rev. Jones,
I have been following with great interest the vituperative and defamatory attacks against you and the People’s Temple which have appeared in New West magazine and, more recently, reprinted in the Mendicino Grapevine. I recently saw the July 21 editorial in the Sun Reporter.
I initially met you in my capacity as attorney for Dennis Banks. At the time of our first meeting his wife, Ka-Mook was incarcerated in Kansas under a $20,000 bail. The defense fund was virtually non-existent and the possibility of Ka-Mook obtaining bail was slim indeed. Then you and the Temple stepped forward and out of the goodness of your heart produced virtually the entire bail for Ka-Mook. This put her in the position of being free to help prepare our defense. Today, we got the wonderful news that the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco held that the government’s case against her must be dismissed. If you did not provide the bail, she would have had to sit in jail for about two years until she was ultimately vindicated, and instead of being free to be with her family and small babies. If I knew nothing else about you, this would be sufficient for me to sing your praises to every available ear. However, after our initial meeting I was so impressed with your “good works” that I started to do my own “investigation”. Everyone spoke in the most glowing terms of you, the Temple, and the work that you have performed. You have constantly articulated the position of the underdog and provided the support necessary to stand up to overwhelming governmental attack. In so many cases you and the Temple made the crucial difference in the ability to withstand these attacks.
I am not a Christian and for many years have felt strongly about the hypocrisy of so many who called themselves ”Christians”. It is only upon coming in contact with the People’s Temple that I was able to start to reappraise this opinion and realize that there were people who did take their professed religion seriously and who, in fact, did live up to
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what I would like to believe being a Christian means.
If there is any way that I can assist you in helping to expose the falsity of the vile attacks against you, please do not hesitate to call on me. It would be but small repayment for the debt that the people of this area owe you.
Sincerely,
/s/ Dennis Roberts
Dennis Roberts
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[Letterhead of ACLU, San Francisco]
September 15, 1977
Charles R. Garry
Garry, Dreyfus, McTernan, Brotsky, Herndon & Pesonen, Inc,
1256 Market Street at Civic Center
San Francisco, California 94102
Dear Mr. Garry:
As I am sure you know, dealing with People’s Temple is sometimes like trying to nail jello to the wall. Nevertheless, the present difficulties of the church make me very uneasy and if you think there are free exercise questions involved here and that the ACLU might be of help, I would be interested in discussing the matter with you or the person you designate.
Sincerely yours.
/s/ David Fishlow
David M. Fishlow