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[Letterhead of National Newspaper Publishers Association]
13 April 1977
The Hon. Cheddi Jagan, M. P.
People’s Progressive Party
41 Robb Street
Lacytown, Georgetown
Guyana, South America
Dear Cheddi:
I was in Washington several weeks ago, and while I did not have an opportunity to see Cheddi, Jr., I talked to him by telephone. He tells me that all goes well and he hopes to do a post doctoral fellowship in dentistry at the Martin Luther King Medical Center, Los Angeles, California. I have spoken to the Dean of Admissions at that institution and he awaits the credentials from our boy. Moreover, we are hoping to get his cousin placed in one of the professional schools in either medicine or dentistry, when he makes the final application and sends a copy of the same to me.
Recently, I was appointed member of the Board of Overseers of the new medical school at Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia. This is the first black medical school organized in this century; my work with the development committee and the curriculum committee is exciting, as we try to more adequately relate the academic phase of medicine to the delivery systems involved in the rushing changes that are going to take place in the medical and paramedical professions during the next forty or fifty years in this country. The medical college at Morehouse is a two-year institution, but we hope by its fifth year for it to become a four-year medical college. The junior and senior year students have opportunities to continue their training at Emory Medical College, Atlanta, the Medical College of the University of Georgia, Savannah, Georgia, Howard, and Meharry. Rumor has it that a new medical college, predominantly for racial minority students, will be organized at the Martin Luther King Medical Center in Los Angeles within the next several years.
We are expecting a delegation from the World Peace Council in San Francisco this weekend. The State Department called me last week about the Soviet representative. I hope that Romesh and other members of the delegation have been granted visas by the State Department; their arrival in New York is expected this afternoon. We anticipate a’ large meeting in the Peoples Temple, a church pastored by Rev. Jim Jones, who is now at the Peoples Temple agricultural mission in Guyana.
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Jim Jones is a remarkable man with three large churches in California: San Francisco, Los Angeles and Redwood Valley. His ministry is national. He is one of the few religious leaders who recognize that socialism is the only answer to the many vexing problems which haunt the people living in the industrialized West. Rev. Jones has come under attack because of his dedication to the people’s struggle for peace and justice as well as his efforts to build a society free of racism, poverty and war. The agricultural project which he is developing in Guyana has given him an opportunity to develop an understanding of the grave problems facing the democratic peoples’ struggle against neo-colonialism and multi-national corporations in Latin and South America.
I have been urging him and his wife to attend the International Congress of Peace Workers, Warsaw, Poland, May 6-11; they have never visited any of the socialist countries of Europe. I would certainly appreciate it if you would discuss the Warsaw Congress and urge his attendance. Jim Jones and his congregations must be made an important part of our efforts to strengthen and enlarge the organized efforts of peace workers in the United States. Jones recognizes the importance of the press in the liberal and progressive struggle; he publishes the People’s Forum, a bi-weekly with 600,000 circulation.
It will be impossible for me to attend the Warsaw meeting. The announced World Conference Against Apartheid, Racism and Colonialism in Southern Africa, Lisbon, Portugal, June 16-19. is an important meeting which occurs during the 37th Annual Convention of the National Newspaper Publishers Association – Black Press of America. If Rev. and Mrs. Jones cannot attend the Warsaw Congress, please, urge him to make strenuous efforts to participate in the June 16-19 World Congress Against Racism, Apartheid and Colonialism in Portugal.
Give my regards to the wife. When will you be visiting San Francisco?
Devotedly yours,
/s/ Carlton
CARLTON B. GOODLETT, Ph.D., M.D.
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[Letterhead of National Newspaper Publishers Association]
13 April 1977
The Honorable L.F.S. Burnham
Prime Minister, Republic of Guyana
6 Brickdam Stabroek
Georgetown, Guyana, S.A.
Dear Mr. Burnham:
I am writing to you to convey my impressions of my good friend and colleague, Jim Jones. I have known Jim for several years and have worked with him closely in the movement for liberation and self-determination of all peoples., He has received the Citizen of Merit Award from the Sun-Reporter, one of the newspapers which I publish. Jim is a highly sensitive man, one who is completely dedicated to the cause of social justice. I have seen him under fire from reactionary elements, and he has never wavered in his commitment. He is undoubtedly one of the most articulate and effective leaders in the struggle in the United States today.
At the same time, he is a humble man who does not seek to “bask in the limelight;” on the-contrary, Jim has made a sincere effort to achieve accord among organizations on the Left in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the hope that unity will strengthen the defense against oppression, while submerging his own position in the process. I have been to meetings he has held on a number of occasions, and have heard him speak most supportively of Guyana and the ideal of a truly co-operative society that your nation is trying to achieve. I can assure you of Jim’s sincerity and integrity.
Very truly yours,
/s/ Carlton Goodlett
CARLTON B. GOODLETT, Ph.D., M.D.
cc: Fred Wills, Foreign Minister
Guyana House Annex
95 Carmichael Street
Georgetown, Guyana, S.A.