January 15, 1979
\nMEMORANDUM<\/u>
\nTO: CA – Miss Watson
\nFROM: PA – Hodding Carter III<\/p>\n
Press Comment on the Department’s Role in Jonestown<\/u><\/p>\n
Summary<\/u><\/p>\n
The mass suicides and murders in Jonestown constituted the most widely known news story of 1978, according to a recent Gallup poll. Ninety-eight percent of those interviewed said they had heard or read about the events. According to Gallup, the awareness of Jonestown matched public awareness of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.<\/p>\n
Despite the widespread publicity, there were relatively few editorials or columns that commented specifically on the\u00a0Department’s<\/u>\u00a0role in Jonestown and on its responsibility toward U.S. citizens abroad.<\/p>\n
Of the 65 newspapers PA regularly monitors, we received editorials from 20 newspapers and three columns over the past two months that discussed two aspects of the Department’s role: (1) the Department’s responsiveness to complaints about the situation in Jonestown and its responsibility for the welfare of Americans abroad; and (2) the responsibility taken for removing the bodies from Jonestown and who should bear the cost.<\/p>\n
Twelve<\/u>\u00a0comments either were critical of how Department officers handled the adverse reports about the People’s Temple or at least raised questions about the Department’s performance.\u00a0\u00a0Eight <\/u>comments took the position that the Department had done all it legally could do.<\/p>\n
All\u00a0six<\/u>\u00a0editorials that commented on the cleanup operation favored the action that was taken. But four of these comments also suggested that the Government seek to recover the costs of returning the bodies.<\/p>\n
End Summary<\/u><\/p>\n
Positions of Individual Newspapers<\/u><\/p>\n
Responsiveness Prior to Deaths<\/u><\/p>\n
The following columnists and papers took the position that the Department should have done more and should review it procedures and policies:<\/p>\n
James Reston, William Randolph Hearst, Jr., Des Moines\u00a0Register<\/u>, New York\u00a0Post<\/u>, Long Island\u00a0Newsday<\/u>, Tulsa\u00a0Tribune<\/u>, Boston\u00a0Christian Science Monitor<\/u>, Rochester\u00a0Times-Union<\/u>, Salt Lake City\u00a0Tribune<\/u>, Baltimore\u00a0News American<\/u>, Washington\u00a0Post<\/u>, and San Francisco\u00a0Chronicle<\/u>.<\/p>\n
Sentiments typical of this group were expressed by:<\/p>\n
James Reston, New York\u00a0Times<\/u>, December 3:
\n“There are some questions for the executive branch of the Government-why was it not more vigilant in looking after the well-being of its citizens?…But it would still be dicey to draw general conclusions from so many ambiguous human considerations.”<\/p>\n
William Randolph Hearst, Jr., Baltimore\u00a0News-American<\/u>, December 10:
\n“In other words, if the State Department isn’t responsible for protecting the lives of Americans abroad, who is? I submit that the questions raised by Mrs. Ryan and Miss Speier should be taken seriously, and answered respectfully. The State Department should be made to answer for its ‘incompetence’.”<\/p>\n
Washington\u00a0Post<\/u>, November 28:
\n“There must also be a thorough investigation of what exactly happened in Jonestown…We must see if a State Department policy may be formulated at least to cover a similar contingency in the future.”<\/p>\n
San Francisco\u00a0Chronicle<\/u>, December 4:
\n“We are not persuaded that the State Department was at fault, but the public is entitled to hear the facts brought out and judged.”<\/p>\n
Baltimore\u00a0News-American<\/u>\u00a0(Hearst), November 22:
\n“…we question whether it (State) had done even an adequate job of assessing the true picture of the conditions in Jonestown. This is why we support…an inquiry into the State Department role.”<\/p>\n
Salt Lake City\u00a0Tribune<\/u>, November 5:
\n“…it (State) doesn’t try hard enough in aiding Americans in trouble abroad.”<\/p>\n
The following columnists and papers took the position that the Department did all it legally could do without violating First Amendment rights or infringing on the sovereignty of Guyana:<\/p>\n
John P. Roche, Philadelphia\u00a0Bulletin<\/u>, San Diego\u00a0Union<\/u>, Cincinnati\u00a0Enquirer<\/u>, Los Angeles\u00a0Times<\/u>,\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/u>, and Oklahoma City\u00a0Journal<\/u>.<\/p>\n
Sentiments typical of this group were expressed by:<\/p>\n
John P. Roche, Washington\u00a0Star<\/u>, December 11:
\n“…hard as it is for me to defend the State Department, the message on Jonestown is ‘lay off’: Everything that could legally be done was done.”<\/p>\n
Wall Street Journal<\/u>, December 8:
\n“But this time the critics are accusing the department of negligence for not having seen something that in fact none of us could have imagined. If State had behaved differently, you can be sure there would have been howls about the U.S. Government’s harassment of the religiously peculiar.”<\/p>\n
Los Angeles\u00a0Times<\/u>, November 28:
\n“What is lacking in this clamor (that the U.S. Government should have intervened) is any reasonable suggestion as to the government legal basis for intervention into affairs essentially beyond its control and proper authority.”<\/p>\n
Oklahoma City\u00a0Journal<\/u>, November 29:
\n“Some critics blame the State Department and FBI for not having investigated the Jonestown colony adequately and warning of its murderous potential. But another scenario could be written whereby too-zealous scrutiny of such a situation, particularly in a location outside U.S. jurisdiction, could be construed as harassment of nonconformists.”<\/p>\n
Responsibility for Removing Bodies<\/u><\/p>\n
The following papers took the position that the Department made the right decision on the disposition of the victims’ remains:<\/p>\n
Phoenix\u00a0Republic<\/u>, Des Moines\u00a0Register<\/u>, New Orleans\u00a0Times-Picayune<\/u>, Baltimore\u00a0News American<\/u>, Chicago\u00a0Sun Times<\/u>, and Milwaukee\u00a0Journal<\/u>.<\/p>\n
A sentiment typical of this group was expressed by:<\/p>\n
Milwaukee Journal, November 29:
\n“Overall, the government seems to have done the necessary and decent thing.”<\/p>\n
The sentiment that the airlift costs should be recovered from the People’s Temple was expressed by the New Orleans\u00a0Times-Picayune<\/u>, Phoenix\u00a0Republic<\/u>, Baltimore\u00a0News American<\/u>, and Chicago\u00a0Sun Times<\/u>.<\/p>\n
On December 2, the\u00a0Sun Times<\/u>\u00a0expressed a sentiment typical of this group:<\/p>\n
“It seems only decent…that U.S. dead–especially in so grisly and sad a case–are returned to U.S. soil to rest. But certainly the government should try to recover the airlift costs.<\/p>\n
Of the 65 papers that PA regularly monitors, 29 frequently comment on foreign affairs. Among this group, editorials on the Department’s role were\u00a0not<\/u>\u00a0published by the following 16:<\/p>\n
Baltimore\u00a0Sun<\/u>, Boston\u00a0Globe<\/u>, Little Rock\u00a0Arkansas Gazette<\/u>, Louisville\u00a0Courier-Journal<\/u>, St. Louis\u00a0Globe-Democrat<\/u>\u00a0and\u00a0Post-Dispatch<\/u>\u00a0(both on strike since November 20), Atlanta\u00a0Journal<\/u>, Dallas\u00a0News<\/u>, Dallas\u00a0Times-Herald<\/u>, Houston\u00a0Post<\/u>, Chicago\u00a0Tribune<\/u>, Minneapolis\u00a0Tribune<\/u>, Oklahoma City\u00a0Oklahoman<\/u>, Portland\u00a0Oregonian, and the Seattle<\/u>\u00a0Times.<\/u><\/p>\n
Drafted: \u00a0PA\/M:WFBaynard\/BRoshco:reb
\nx23165 1\/11\/79<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
January 15, 1979 MEMORANDUM TO: CA – Miss Watson FROM: PA – Hodding Carter III Press Comment on the Department’s Role in Jonestown Summary The mass suicides and murders in Jonestown constituted the most widely known news story of 1978, according to a recent Gallup poll. Ninety-eight percent of those interviewed said they had heard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":109693,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-109695","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109696,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109695\/revisions\/109696"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}