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: One Tracs 60/ News
Date cues on tape: Three news items from last week of March 1978
People named:
Jimmy Carter, U.S. president
Sen. Edward Brooke (R-Mass.)
Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho)
Rep. Charles Diggs (D-Michigan)
Andrew Young, U.S. ambassador to UN
Otto Kerner, former governor of Illinois
William Webster, FBI director
Charles Bates, head of FBI in San Francisco
Clemens Mutuurunge Kapuuo, Western-installed leader of Namibia [by reference]
Kwame Nkrumah, former president of Ghana
Edward M. Davis, former LA police chief, gubernatorial candidate
Huey P. Newton, leader of Black Panther Party
Charles Garry, Temple attorney
William E. B. Du Bois, black liberationist
David Graham Du Bois, adopted son of W.E.B. Du Bois [by reference]
Betty Dederich, deceased wife of Charles
William Dederich, son of Charles and Betty
Bible verses cited: None
Summary:
(This tape was transcribed by Kristian Klippenstein. The editors gratefully acknowledge his invaluable assistance.)
Jim Jones reads the news for a day in late March 1978.
There are several segments of moderate length, including his reporting – and commenting – on a speech given by an FBI official in San Francisco who attacked lenient judges and the Black Panther Party. Jones also read portions of an interview with Panther leader Huey Newton, and a long piece on the troubles of Synanon, a drug rehabilitation program. He spends the most time giving a geography lesson on Africa, emphasizing where various countries appear on the map and what their governments are.
The only news affecting Jonestown itself is his report of a discussion on the possibility of building a cannery in the community.
Other news items include:
• African leaders meet to discuss the future of Rhodesia
• Japan defends its trade policy with Union of South Africa
• A black US Senator declines to defend an embattled black congressman
• A judge in New York is dismissed from the bench over rulings favoring blacks
• San Francisco TV stations air racist Tarzan movies
• The racist admissions practices of California universities are upheld
Jones’ tone is fairly subdued throughout, and his rhetoric about the imperialism of the US, the blind loyalty of its allies, and the advances of the Soviet Union is muted.
There is only one reference to death, a passing reference in the context of the interview with Huey Newton who – coincidentally, in this case – coined the term “revolutionary suicide.” Jones declares that Newton could be suffering from “the typical paranoia and schizophrenia that obsesses people who are afraid of dying, when death should be a privilege if it’s revolutionary death, a revolutionary suicide.”
FBI Summary:
Date of transcription: 3/29/79
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 19, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B62#83. This tape was found to contain the following:
News announcements made by JONES to his constituents in Jonestown. Includes comments on a speech made by SAC CHARLES BATES in the Bay Area Tarzan movies and a suit brought against Synannon [Synanon].
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:
The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.
Tape originally posted June 2019.