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 “Thur 27 July”
Date cues on tape: Tape contents consistent with identification note
People named:
Jimmy Carter, U.S. President
Cyrus Vance, Secretary of State
Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia
Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, prime minister of Portugal
Elias Sarkis, President of Lebanon [by reference]
Robert Mugabe, leader of Zimbabwean Patriotic Front in Rhodesia
Joshua Nkomo, leader of Zimbabwean Patriotic Front in Rhodesia
Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia
Idi Amin, dictator of Uganda
Agostinho Neto, President of Angola
Mobutu Sese Seko, president of Zaire
Patrice Lumumba, assassinated Prime Minister of Zaire
Moise Tshombe, Prime Minister of Zaire
Forbes Burhham, Prime Minister of Guyana [by reference]
Ptolemy Reid, Deputy Prime Minister of Guyana
Vibert Mingo, Guyana Minister of Home Affairs
Lionel Luckhoo, Guyana attorney
Commander Lee, Guyana National Service
Humphrey Bogart, American actor
Shelley Winters, American actor
Louise Joy Brown, first test tube baby [by reference]
John and Doris Del Zio, parents of test tube baby [by reference]
Raymond Vande Wiele, doctor who protested cloning [by reference]
Tim Stoen
Jim Cobb
Debbie Layton Blakey
Liz Forman
Mike Cartmell
Ricky (almost certainly Corey)
Jakari Wilson
Bible verses cited: None
Summary:
Jim Jones reads the news for July 27, 1978.
For much of the taping session, he reads the news quite slowly. Rather than being impaired by fatigue or other reasons, it is more likely that he is reading the information as it comes in over the wire, especially since he has several false starts on sentences and – for the most part – it has fewer editorial interjections, including of his usual rhetoric flourishes in describing different nations in the news or their motivations.
It is not completely free of such content, however. The US is still imperialist on several occasions, her European allies are still her lackeys – especially Germany, which is the inheritor of Hitler’s Third Reich – and Rhodesia’s white minority government is still fascist and racist. His single reference to nuclear war – concluding an item about struggling peace efforts in the Middle East with the observation that, “It is hopeful that this will not be the end of a bargaining process in the troubled Near East that could lead to nuclear war anytime” – is likely his own.
The news from the outside world that affects Jonestown the most is the item that Guyana is not likely to require their community to accept local students into their school system.
Jones spends the most time on an announcement of news from within Jonestown: the boy who had been lost in the jungle had returned, safe and unhurt from his ordeal. The community had sent out several search parties – including one which itself became momentarily lost – and the leadership was on the verge of calling in outside help. But according to Jones, the boy had heard the sound of his voice and had followed it back to Jonestown. Jones’ protection had also saved him from the poisonous plants and animals in the bush. “Moreover, a big tiger or panther brushed by him, … [but] Just thinking on Father and being quiet, the panther amazingly did not respond to his scent.”
There’s a larger lesson here, though, which is the reminder of his own protection. Despite the dangers of the jungle surrounding them, they’ve had no snake bites and no big cats coming into the community. “That shows a power of socialism in my mind that needs to be respected, and we need to show more gratitude.”
Other news items include:
- Egypt expels Israeli diplomats ahead of proposed talks;
- Gabon expels citizens from neighboring Benin, which was planning a coup d’état;
- Iraq expels British diplomats in retaliation for charges of terrorism made against it;
- Lebanon in turmoil, expels US citizens;
- Zimbabwean guerillas say peace settlement deal needs participation of British;
- Longtime enemies Angola and Zaire seek peace;
- The UN Security Council votes for independence for Namibia;
- Turkey asks the US to lift its arms ban;
- Non-aligned nations question the participation of Cuba at its conference;
- The US dollar declines again;
- Britain announces the first test tube baby;
- A court suit seeks to block atmospheric testing of French atomic bomb;
- A Guyana attorney uncovers many inefficiencies in the public services sector.
The reading ends with a geography lesson on the country of Zambia.
FBI Summary:
Date of transcription: 6/26/79
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 6, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B100-37. This tape was found to contain the following:
A recording of JIM JONES lecturing on current events.
Differences with FBI Summary:
The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.