Airtel
Date: 3/27/79
To: SAC, San Francisco
From: Director, FBI
RYMUR
Enclosed for San Francisco is the original letter and envelope addressed to the Director from Clare P. Bouquet which is self-explanatory.
San Francisco is requested to promptly interview Ms. Bouquet for any information she may have relative to captioned matter.
For information of San Francisco, Ms. Bouquet is not the individual referred to in paragraph 2 of the enclosure wherein the FBI is described as looking into only one complaint against the People’s Temple before the Jonestown incident.
Advise FBIHQ of the results of your contact with Ms. Bouquet.
[Page 2]
18 Tollridge Court
San Mateo, California 94402
March 20, 1979
Mr. William Webster
Director, FBI
FBI Building
Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC
AN OPEN LETTER:
I was extremely shocked to read, in the San Francisco Examiner (March 8, 1979), an article by Tom Eastham, concerning your recent remarks before the George Washington Law Association. Someone – either you or Mr. Eastham, does not have the facts straight.
I quote, “The FBI looked into only one complaint against the Peoples Temple before the Jonestown murder-suicides, director William Webster has revealed.” My name is mentioned as being the one person you “probably meant”. The article goes on to say, “Agents interviewing the woman found she had no actual evidence – only ‘very good woman’s intuition’ – which was not enough to open an investigation.”
First of all, I would like to clarify the fact that NO FBI agents interviewed me when I asked for help. Also, your alleged statements appear to be slanted to make the listener believe that no one, other than myself, registered complaints against the People’s Temple prior to the Jonestown massacre. The fact is that I personally know of at least two other people, members of the Concerned Relatives, who did complain directly to the FBI, some time ago. If their pleas were not given any attention – why?
I have in my possession copies of two sworn affidavits, both from ex-members of the People’s Temple, which spell out the abuses at Jonestown, including the mass suicide threats. Not only was all this information given wide newspaper coverage, last June, but also these affidavits, I believe, were sent to the State Department, in Washington DC. With the lives of so many Americans threatened, was there no communication between the State Department and the FBI? What assistance was offered, by any government agency, to Leo Ryan when he courageously attempted to free the people at Jonestown?
There are a multitude of unanswered questions arising from the tragedy of Jonestown. Those of us who lost our loved ones deserve and demand to know the entire truth about all that went before November 19 [18], 1978. The public at large is also entitled to honest answers about the involvement, or lack of it, of local and federal government agencies and officials.
[page 3 of serial, page 2 of letter]
Open Letter to Mr. William Webster
A slow-growing cancer like Jonestown does not suddenly erupt, but is marked with symptoms over a long period of time.
Sincerely,
[signed] Clare P. Bouquet
Clare P. Bouquet
CPB:vc
Cc: Tom Eastham, San Francisco Examiner
George R. Berdes, US House of Representatives
Autumn Mead Ryan
Joe Holsinger
[Page 4 – photocopy of envelope of Bouquet letter]