Q238 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            Jones Speaking

FBI preliminary tape identification note: Labeled in part “7/3/78”

Date cues on tape:            Contents of tape consistent with note

People named:

Bible verses cited:             None

Summary:

In the course of reading the news for July 2, 1978, Jim Jones uses a news item about a Guyanese economics minister to remark upon the fortunes of the Jonestown community and the status of the conspiracy against them. The economics minister – Desmond Hoyte – had once opposed them, but now seems to be sympathetic to their cause, as do the other powerful figures in Georgetown, including world-renowned lawyer Lionel Luckhoo. “That would mean we have no forceful opposition of any kind in the country,” Jones says.

The shift is even more amazing, he continues, “in view of the horrible lies that the conspiracy is bombarding on everyone here in the mails.” The conspiracy can’t even seem to find traction anymore in the US anymore. The press, which once carried the lies of Debbie Layton Blakey, seems to be backing away from covering her. Perhaps that arose when her mother Lisa Layton accused Debbie of stealing money. Or perhaps it came from Debbie’s changing stories about Jonestown, and the contradictions have dampened press enthusiasm for her. Or perhaps it’s the racism that she and other conspirators have utilized.

But this is basically a news tape, with two separate parts. The first, lengthier section is like many others from this period of Jonestown’s history. Jones seems to be taking the stories from Soviet and Eastern bloc news sources, in that Communist China – an ideological adversary to the Soviet Union rivaling the west – comes under as much criticism as the United States and her allies. The U.S. is described only as fascist, racist, and beholden to the interests of monopoly capitalism. Jones’ own commentary is evident only once in the early part of the tape, when he asserts that the troubles in the Middle East are “endangering nuclear war.”

As is also the case with many of these tapes, Jones reads a lengthy article after the news bulletins. The day’s piece, of unknown origin, is a history, analysis and critique – from a Marxist viewpoint – of “the bourgeoisie concept of equal rights.”

Other items in the news include:

The section ends with Jones’ usual pleas to keep the community clean and to work hard. This last words are of love for his people.

The second, shorter section of the tape could be from the same day, but the recording is quite different. Still, with only general stories presented – a review of a book by a white South African journalist who warns that his government faces collapse, and Africa’s embrace of Cuba and communist forces over the West – there is no real context for the last ten minutes of the tape.

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 May 29, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B70-25. This tape was found to contain the following:

JIM JONES reading news and announcements, and editorializing.

Differences with FBI Summary:

The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.

Tape originally posted June 2012