[Editor’s notes: The letters on this page derive from several sources, principally FBI Section 126 • EE-1 • Letters to Dad (K-M); FBI Section 130 • EE-2 • Letters to Jim Jones; and FBI Sections 121-123 • BB-31 – BB-32 • Tim Stoen, D Touchette.
[Insofar as possible, these letters have been arranged in alphabetical order of the writer’s last name. Unless otherwise noted, the letters retain their original spelling and grammar.
[Peoples Temple member often used old reports and documents as scratch paper, using the reverse side of these pages for their letters. We have labeled and transcribed those scratch pages which include information about Jonestown.]
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Undated Thank You to Jim Jones from Zuretti Langston
EE-2-k-15
Dad there is no words to express the love, you give to all of us. I can say thank you again and again, and that’s still not enough. But I’ll say it again. Thank you Dad for saving Marianita [Langston] life again.
Zuretti Langston
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Request to Jim Jones from Daisy Lee, September 1978
EE-2-k-20a – 20b
Sept. 27, 1978
To Jim –
I, Daisy Lee, would like to be a barefoot doctor. Over a month now I’ve been working as Dr. [Larry] Schact’s assistant every Sunday. I must admit he is indeed a good teacher with patience to explain things to me. He has taught me a lot. Also a night when there is no mandatory of meeting or entertainment, I do treatment at the nurse’s office, plus I attend weekly nursing classes on Wednesday at 8:00 PM. I have quit teaching school and am now working in the apartment 1 in the morning & at work in stuffed animal project in the afternoon.
I have talked to Bob [Stroud] on the radio. I [am] grateful to you that he is doing better each day. I want you to know that in one of his letters he wrote me, he stated that “I will never forget this miracle!” & “Never will I be able to pay him back – I’m grateful!”
Also I’ve been in Jonestown a yr now on Sept 11th. I’ve seen more beauty, cooperation, caring, sharing, happiness & etc. than I thought before I came here. To say the least my health is 100% better here. I have been given opportunities to experience in the medical field – teaching dept – making dolls – procuring – going down the river – learning different languages – eating different kinds of food & etc. This may not sound meaningful but it sure means something to me because if it weren’t for you, never will I be given such an opportunity to experience in so many fields. All I want to thank you for everything. I am very happy here. If I were still back in the states, I would never be as happy & satisfied with my life now (meaning now I have a duty with my life to build up a communist society as we do now & hopefully in the near future we will be able to help others). I know US is getting worst each day from what you’re telling us but also [there is] nothing there. Yesterday I received a letter [from] my best friend back in the states: she tells me she couldn’t get a job part time & a summer job. She just goes to movies & shopping & spends time at her sister’s house, babysitting & go to college. She stated that her summer could have been better if you had a job. No doubt her life is empty. My life was just like hers before I knew you. I have so much to be grateful for to be here.
Thank you Jim
PS Sorry for the writing.
Please excuse me for not saying anything to you at times when I walk by because I see you’re quite busy I don’t want to disturb you.
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Letter of Concern to Jim Jones from Daisy Lee, October 1978
EE-2-k-18a – 18b
Oct. 1, 1978
To Jim:
As you already know that I work with the doctor every Sunday. Today Larry [Schacht] was frustrated. He stated that he did not want to see any patients today he was tired of people mainly medical people are seeking him for medical advice. He said he wish he could leave medicine for a month and go do some physical work. I don’t know if what I said to him is right. I told him that he is talking himself down – that he is a good doctor & has helped many people. I told him to look at the positive side. Then he agreed with me – smiled.
I also told [him] he is the only doctor here. And no one knows it better than he does. Then he talked down on himself that almost anyone can do this work. I said no he is a very good doctor, considering also he didn’t go through internship. And he has done a lot of good work.
I would like to say that I am very fortunate to be here as well as all of us. Because working with the doctor I see that the people from Port Kaituma who come for medical treatment have all kinds of problems such as vitamin deficiency, worms in the stool & etc. Today a couple & one man came to get treatment for gonorrhea. I & we should be more grateful that I don’t have these problems. Also every baby born there and all our children are in good health & none of our babies is born deformed. We also should be grateful to that. I must admit that I should be more grateful. I guess I have too much given to me here. An old saying you will not realize what good you have until it’s gone. Working on Sundays treating people from outside opens my eyes to see the goodness we have here. Especially all the very best extensive instruments you brought for the medical dept to detect every disease. I get into tears every time I look in the office & see all the equipment you provided us & I can see your love for us. Thank you.
Thank you Jim,
Daisy [Lee]
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Note by Lue Ester Lewis on Jim Jones’ Pain, May 1978
EE-2-k-8a
May 27, 1978
Dear Dad,
I feel that your most pains come from people that you love, who work against your stand [on] freedom. People that could be helpful and refuse after seeing your examples. I realize now that pain never stops, I thank you for strength and love.
You are my source of life. I’ve never had a Father like you. I do care and appreciate all blessings.
Thank you Dad
Lue Ester [Lewis]
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Undated Notes to Jim Jones from Carolyn Looman on Tim Stoen
EE-2-k-1
To: Jim
From: Carolyn Looman
Re: TOS [Timothy Stoen] – Agent
Just a thought about Tim’s CIA connections: He reminds me of the Louis Tackwood story in Glass House Tapes, how Tackwood apparently (my memory isn’t fresh) lived two entirely separate lives, in a kind of successful schizophrenia, in which he kept life intact and may have lived each one with a kind of sincerity. I remember getting the same impression of the man who was Dennis Banks’ security chief at the same time he was working for the FBI. He risked his life in daring efforts to save the Indians, etc.
An awesome phenomenon.
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EE-2-k-2a – 2d
To: Jim
From: Carolyn Looman
Sunday
I still don’t recall any thoughts at all related to the words “conscious or unconscious treason,” & it bothers me that I don’t. I hope Tim or I will remember what I said, so I can deal with it straight on.
I’m writing now because my response on the floor last night was inadequate, so I was focusing on the treason quote, which threw me off, and I’d repressed the misgivings I felt after last Tues. meeting, so I didn’t assemble my thoughts quickly enough to give a full explanation of the conversation with Tim. I did say I was disturbed & that was wrong and it was wrong not to write to you as he said.
My concern encompassed more than the issue of the news & did reflect some lingering naïveté about Phil Tracy. I didn’t say I thought Tracy was friendly, but that I’d been told by my brother that Tracy’s original story was not inflammatory and that our intense response had helped bring out the story that was eventually written. Thus I wondered if Tracy had started out as an agent or a dupe. I have a half-baked theory that people who end up doing evil don’t necessarily start out with that intention & I’ve long been curious about the process by which evil comes about. I naïvely see evil in the abstract more than I do in individuals, & I hadn’t fully come to terms with myself.
The rest of my response on the floor was inadequate partly because I didn’t want to express some of my thoughts in front of others, partly because of a defensive reflex that shows I’m still not taking full responsibility for myself.
I do have uneasy feelings about your approach to the coming visitors. I’m reluctant to express them because I know from experience that I’ll later see how I’m totally off base, or at best my sense of timing is off. Either way, I hate to divert your attention with my thoughts. I’m also chicken shit about saying things I think you might consider treasonous – a complicated fear I’m still trying to unravel in my mind.
But I owe you an explanation of it, my thoughts as I spoke to Tim.
It seems that [Don] Freed or anyone like him will see through attempts to cover or misrepresent certain aspects of Jonestown life, e.g. the number of people living in cottages, the use of the PA system, the terms “Dad” & “Comrade”, the use of the fist, the position of the nuclear family, & the individual’s control of money. I’m convinced that caution with Freed et al. is absolutely necessary, but I think he would be more critical of the “cover-up” than he would be of any of the realities. It also seems there is little if anything he could say that would do any more harm than the traitors have already made of it. (It’s a relative risk)
Finally I think that the truth about you & Jonestown will hold up, & some people will appreciate it, so long as they can understand it, & if it takes the rest of the world forever to recognize its goodness, then so much the worse for them. I can’t really calculate how callous that viewpoint is. I know that incaution can mean the lives of our comrades in the US or renewed threats to our existence here & inestimable grief for you and harm to your well-being. But I think some people will understand you better, respect you more, or leave you alone even if they disagree with you so long as they can see your honesty & not feel they are being deceived, manipulated, duped or insulted. If they see honesty they are also more likely to question or disagree openly & directly, so some misconceptions could be straightened out instead of festering in locked closets. Again, it’s a relative risk, but I think the risk is greater if an intellectual, egotistical person feels he’s being fed lies.
I know you taken all this into consideration, I just don’t understand your conclusions. I don’t think I’m owed any explanation, & I know I’ll understand more in due time. I wish I had a good radar system to protect danger approaching in people. I don’t, and you do. I am sorry to take up your time.
Carolyn
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Memo to Jim Jones from Carolyn Looman on USSR, September 1978
EE-2-k-19a
To: Jim
From: Carolyn Looman
Re: USSR
Date: September 13 [1978]
It’s my observation that black members of our community are very reserved on the subject of going to the USSR. Remembering the reactions during white nights of the past, when they expressed concern about the absence of blacks in the USSR, I’ve made comments about the Russian films and the possibility of going there, to see how our black people would react. With only one or two exceptions on the teaching staff, all have been totally non-committal even about the films. I suspect that there is a deep concern about going into another white culture. During the white nights, the USSR was always the least popular alternative among the other major places considered for refuge, despite its obvious ability to give us better protection.
For myself, I grow more and more keen about the possibility of our going there. Though my initial reaction was to cling to Guyana unless our children’s survival became a near impossibility here, I now think it would be far better for you (and us) to know our people were in a relatively safe spot. Then you would have freedom to do many other things with somewhat less anxiety, I would hope. The Soviet environment and its resources would be conducive to the pursuit of greater accomplishments and, with the training we get from you, our young people could become effective in world humanitarian service/revolutionary struggle/socialist living on a scale that would be much harder to achieve from a Guyana base. At least, this is my perspective, and my feelings are strong enough that I wanted to express them.
Whether the USSR is viewed as an advantageous alternative, a possible alternative, or a sheer necessity, I think a good deal of propagandizing would be advisable to penetrate the reservations so many of our people seem to feel. Perhaps an emphasis on how much the Russians would appreciate our black presence and culture would help; also it’s notable that they have respected the Africans so much that they have never occupied African soil or dominated African politics in any way. Also, Pushkin, the most loved of Russian poets, was descended from an African. Probably, too, simultaneous emphasis on the richness of African culture/history/accomplishments should be continued, so there is never an implication that the African heritage is in any way meager, and it would go with us wherever we might go. Finally, continuing reinforcement regarding the advanced level of the socialist consciousness may alleviate the insecurity that attaches to the race issue.
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Thank You Note to Jim Jones from Helen Love, June 1978
EE-2-k-7a – 7b
Sat June 3 – 78
Have been wanting to write you a long time, but I know you know all things. I wrote telling you of trying to make a quilt, to make money for the cause, as you asked us. Thank you for trying to take the test you gave us. I’m trying, please help me, the eyes bother me, a lot of falling set me back a couple of days from the news, when I cracked a rib & had to go to the health stat. I help on rice, so I will be looking at the quilt crochet so long. Thanks for everything you’ve done for me, I couldn’t be in a better place. Only someone steals everything I’m using, no matter my back is turned, my soap from over my head, a good watch I had to repair, and only a piece of plastic to use in case of rain, they took that, a little manicure scissors to cut my work with, & I got so angry I said if I caught them I’d cut them with my knife, so I thought they were just waiting for me to move in to start stealing from me, and to think I would never take anything from anyone.
Thank you to please forgive me for being so angry, for as you know I never cut anyone before when I was so angry I could not think. I want so much to be kind like you, but I’m so far from it. I have no security for they won’t give me one. I used to be with Jeffrey down by your house & when they came here, Alma [Thomas] put her in over me but I thank you for you know why, though I was never late. I thank you for everything Dear, and I love you so much.
Your Helen Love
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Self-Evaluation by Christine Lucientes, July 1978
EE-2-k-9a
July 10, 1978
To: JJ
Fr: CRL [Christine Lucientes]
Re: Requested evaluation
I am not sure what specifically you wanted. I assume it is a self-evaluation. However I am reluctant to express what I feel you will not like hearing, because when I had done it in the past, it has angered you tremendously, i.e. when I expressed that I did not believe that we killed a man and he was eaten. You expressed that indicated a reserve for treason. I feel like I am in a double bind – I need to express where I am at, but I am reluctant to anger you. So I will proceed gingerly…
Faults:
(A) I, like Dick, have always maintained a place of sanction in my thoughts. Whenever I have been most pressured and distraught by what I interpreted as perpetual violations of normal limits of privacy – i.e. crowding – noise – etc. I consoled myself that there is a part of me that no one can touch. I feel that it is a defense against insanity and can see how it could be a reserve for treason, but I don’t know how to dispense with this reserve without becoming a babbling maniac. I don’t really know if it is possible to dispense with this reserve. At this point in time I’m not at a bad spot – it is cyclical and will pass but I am feeling pressured and I get hostile when I am pressured. I am more flexible when I am not pressured and I am more humble. I feel I am capable of being very honest when I don’t have something over my head that can be used against me. I do not feel free because I know if what I say hits you at a bad time, I risk public exposure for my two worst crimes. 1. Sex 2. Money. I would be more honest if I didn’t feel I had something to protect.
(B) Betrayal. I have no desire to be in a position to betray. I don’t want to be outside the borders of Jonestown and I don’t ever expect to. When I came in from G/town [Georgetown] I viewed myself as coming in to fulfill a life sentence. I resolved to myself that I would refuse to go to G/town for any reason whatsoever. I don’t feel that I will betray. As hostile as I have gotten, as skeptical as I am – I know you are getting nothing from this. I am convinced of that
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EE-2-k-9b
and I feel that anyone who betrays feels that you are getting something out of leading. I can say that I have disagreements with you that I view some things differently than you but no way can I be convinced that you are getting anything but overall pain and that has convinced me when I have had my questions about policies.
(C) Family. They offer nothing that attracts me. José, in fact, wrote me that all his life he has wanted to be in the position that he is in now – free to do what he wants, go where he wants, work where, when and how he wants … and he can’t get started – he is doing nothing. He said that he never thought it would be like that. I know that boredom – totally doing your own thing and how oppressively boring and unfulfilling that is. I never want to go back to that. After 10 years of divorce, I still am too sentimental about my family. I have feelings and pain about them but I don’t want to go down to their level. I wish that they would come up to the level of Socialism. I don’t believe it would be possible unless it came thru “the barrel of a gun.” Unless they were trapped here – I hate to admit it but I wish they were forced to be here and they would have to change. But there are several billion people of them who deserve that opportunity. So – I admit feelings for the Lucientes’ but no desire to join them.
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Undated Letter to Jim Jones from Christine Lucientes
EE-2-k-11
To: JJ
Fr: CRL [Christine Lucientes]
A PROBLEM
Let me begin with a simple clarification; this note is not intended to provoke a response of reassurance in any form. In fact, I would be eternally grateful if I’m ignored from here on out go to the trouble I foresee. Anyone who approaches me in the near future will be immediately suspect. This note is inspired out of an admission of ambivalence, guilt, confusion and concern.
As you may know, I am not really close to many people. In the past I used to talk to Ron Talley and I have been friends with Patricia [Cartmell] out of necessity, the need to escape and habit. Please keep in mind that as alienated as I am I get nothing on the reporting PJ, believe me. It is very hard to do.
I feel that PJ is quite negative about J/T structure, I am too and I am inclined to share her views and see them as benign. However I felt responsible for two reasons. 1) she is out in the community. 2) more than anything – I interpreted that she deliberately attempted to be divisive and alienate me from you by telling me things that people had said about me. It didn’t make me hostile to them, tho she doesn’t realize it, it may be hostile to her. She has always asked me if I have heard anything negative about her – present or past and I would not shake her confidence by saying such things and I never have. She also told me that Guyanese will never trust us and we will never be accepted and we are not liked. (I can see this, tho in the total picture of the situation ou conversation the comment took on more negative connotations).
After she talked to me in a negative way about JT she begged me not to tell – she said that she would kill herself if I did. I assured her that I would not. The worst thing that I told her wasn’t after Debbie [Blakey] left you told me that Lew [Jones] and I are responsible for Debbie’s treason because we had stolen. I told PJ that I was not the one that had told her. I also told her that I was very upset when you thought I had told DB that it was a prison camp here.
I know what you think of me and I’d just as soon be dead than not. I hope this doesn’t hit the floor. I know people don’t like me and I don’t think I can live without some image. Manipulative? I think it is true anyway.
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Undated Letter to Jim Jones from Christine Lucientes
EE-2-k-12
Mary Lou [Clancey], Mike Prokes, or whomever
Please relay info to Jim that I had no intentions of demanding to talk to him. I really didn’t. I was upset because all I have is my image and it is totally gone. I committed myself to not talking to PJ or Ron anymore and all of a sudden I felt overwhelmed because I have an unusual need to express myself. I didn’t feel I could cope with my feelings without giving them some vent. After I went to the radio room and expressed this – it was all over. I was ready to go to bed. KL [Karen Layton] insisted that I go to SCU [Special Care Unit] to “sleep it off.” I resisted because I felt I would be made into a drugged zombie. I was promised it would be for one night. When I got up for a shower, I wanted to sit on the front porch which agitated the nurse who assisted I was to be on bed rest. I went by the radio room & told Mike who told me to go to KL’s house and talk to her. I was not trying to escape at all and I do not intend to. I am sorry 2 security are on me because I am doing nothing.
Mary Lou – could you bring my toothbrush & brush?
CRL [Christine Lucientes]