{"id":113319,"date":"2022-01-30T17:14:48","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T01:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=113319"},"modified":"2022-02-01T15:39:28","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T23:39:28","slug":"q780-summary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=113319","title":{"rendered":"Q780 Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To read the Tape Transcript,\u00a0click here<\/a>. Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1<\/a>,\u00a0Pt. 2<\/a>).
\nTo return to the Tape Index, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>FBI Catalogue<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Miscellaneous<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>FBI preliminary tape identification note: <\/strong>One ConcerTape C-120\/ \u201cNews of the Day, April 4, 1978\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Date cues on tape:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Contents of tape consistent with identification note<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>People named:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Public figures\/National and international names:<\/em>
\nJimmy Carter, President of US
\nGerald Ford, former U.S. President
\nJohn Kennedy, former U.S. President
\nAndrew Young, U.S. Ambassador to United Nations
\nHenry Kissinger, Secretary of State under Nixon and Ford
\nSen. George McGovern (D-SD)
\nSen. John Stennis (D-MS)
\nSen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC)
\nRep. Charles Diggs (D-MI)
\nRep. Miller, unknown Congressman allegedly arrested for homosexual acts
\nOtto Kerner, former Ohio governor, head of Kerner Commission
\n[first name unknown] Brown, black general forced to retire<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adolf Hitler, German F\u00fchrer
\nKarl Marx, German economist, father of communism
\nMargaret Thatcher, leader of Conservative Party in Great Britain
\nGiulio Andreotti, Italian Prime Minister
\nAldo Moro, former Italian Prime Minister
\nIan Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia
\nWilliam Tolbert, president of Liberia
\nJohannes Vorster, prime minister of Republic of South Africa
\nKriangsak Chamanan, Thai Prime Minister
\nFerdinand Marcos, president of Philippines
\nPark Chung Hee, President of South Korea
\nTongsun Park, Korean businessman involved in scandal
\nCarlos Andres Perez, president of Venezuela
\nWalter Rodney, political activist in Guyana<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Martin Luther King, Jr., slain civil rights activist
\nCoretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King
\nHarry T. and Hariette Moore, slain civil rights activists
\nReverend George Lee, slain civil rights activist
\nMedgar Evers, slain civil rights activist
\nWilliam Moore, slain civil rights activist<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Temple members not in Jonestown:<\/em>
\nGuy Young<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jonestown residents:<\/em>
\nRheaviana Beam
\nChuck Beikman
\nPatty Cartmell
\nRobert Louis Christian
\nIsaac Edwards
\nTommy Johnson
\nJoan Pursley
\nRose Shelton
\nBobby Stroud<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bible verses cited: <\/strong> None<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jim Jones reads the news for April 4, 1978. The news includes several extended commentaries as well as exhortations for the people of Jonestown to produce, to keep their community clean and well-kept in anticipation of visitors at any moment, and to remember the gifts that they have received from their Father. It concludes with a remember of how strong their commitment must be to their Cause, even unto death.<\/p>\n

Some of the commentary stems from the fact that it is the tenth anniversary of the Martin Luther King assassination, and Jones quotes from a Guyanese paper to reinforce his own views, that \u201cwe did not agree that peace, pacifism and non-violence could bring\u201d about an end to political assassinations of black leaders, much less a guarantee of rights for blacks and other minorities.<\/p>\n

Jones also provides the extensive commentary from The Guyana Chronicle<\/em>\u2019s Sunday edition of two days earlier that rips apart a special report in Time<\/em> Magazine on the failure and imminent collapse of socialism. \u201cThe mounting popularity and influence of socialism throughout the world is provoking imperialist propaganda machinery to intensely attack against the system,\u201d Jones says. \u201cIt is worth noting, because it unwittingly exposes the confusion and concern of imperialism in the face of the world socialist revolutionary process that is destined to liberate all of the oppressed of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commentary is typical of Jones\u2019 rhetoric throughout the tape, and in fact, in most of the news briefings throughout 1978. The US is irretrievably capitalist and imperialist, its allies and puppet states are fascist (a word he uses 19 times) and racist (six times), and all are standing in history\u2019s path. On the other hand, the USSR is the vanguard of liberation, and the other liberation movements around the world will ultimately prevail.<\/p>\n

It is not known whether this rhetoric comes from the news copy that Jones reads, or if the editorialization is his own. On the other hand, the several references to the inevitability of nuclear war, the discussion of the neutron bomb, developed by the US to kill people but leave property intact, and the specter of concentration camps and forced ghettoization for minorities in the US, are undoubtedly from Jones himself.<\/p>\n

So too perhaps is his double standard in differentiating between acts of terror and acts of liberation. The Red Brigade in Italy has kidnapped former Prime Minister Aldo Moro and are holding him \u201cfor mere release of political prisoners.\u201d To demonstrate that they\u2019re serious in their demands, they have cut off Moro\u2019s ear and sent it to the government (they would later kill their hostage). In response, \u201cthe national police have put up this common group of criminals, common thugs, fascists, and Mafia into killing socialist and communists in jail, members of the Red Brigade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 messages to his own community were, in the main, familiar \u2013 the instructions to produce more and to keep the community clean became almost rote \u2013 and survivors report that these demands usually washed over them like white noise. So too is Jones\u2019 statement of defiance near the tape\u2019s end, when he speaks of how all their successes will draw all oppressed people to Jonestown, and how they will all stand together, not allowing anyone to come in and take away a single member of the community. Less certain is how they perceived Jones\u2019 exhortation to stay true to their cause, even to death. His final message of that day include a preview of two themes they would hear on November 18: the responsibility to save their children, and their need to send a message to the world.<\/p>\n

For no man shall take our life. We will lay it down only when we get prepared for the cause of revolution or to bring a message redounding for justice on the behalf of oppressed peoples. We are fortunate people to have something to live for, to be able to protect our children, to even be able to protect them in revolutionary suicide, if the worse came to worse.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Among the remaining news items covered in the tape:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Guyana\u2019s ruling political party is losing members, even as it drifts to the left;<\/li>\n
  • A member of an anti-Nazi group in England is injured by a bomb;<\/li>\n
  • 16 white supremacy groups have sprung up in the US in recent months;<\/li>\n
  • The US volunteer army is mostly black, and the Pentagon worries they may not want to fight;<\/li>\n
  • A coalition of tribal chiefs in Namibia resist the puppet government;<\/li>\n
  • Rhodesian troops are torturing schoolchildren;<\/li>\n
  • UN peace-keeping forces take no action against Israeli troops who kill Swedish soldiers;<\/li>\n
  • A Korean businessman speaks of bribing scores of congresspeople;<\/li>\n
  • The CIA is still engaged in drug-trafficking, and dumping them onto America\u2019s youth;<\/li>\n
  • President Carter\u2019s poll numbers fall, even as he launches a tour of four nations around the world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    FBI Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Date of transcription: 3\/22\/79<\/p>\n

    In connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

    On March 20, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B62 #97. This tape was found to contain the following:<\/p>\n

    An oral summary of the news made by an unidentified male.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    Differences with FBI Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The FBI summary of this tape was made in March 1979, early in the process of reviewing what it had collected from Jonestown. Had the review occurred even a month later, it is likely the agent listening to it would have recognized the voice reading the news as that of Jim Jones. Other than that, the summary is accurate and meets the FBI\u2019s purposes.<\/p>\n

    Tape originally posted\u00a0January 2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you. To read the Tape Transcript,\u00a0click here. Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1,\u00a0Pt. 2). To return to the Tape Index, click here. \u00a0FBI Catalogue\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Miscellaneous \u00a0FBI preliminary tape identification note: One ConcerTape C-120\/ \u201cNews of the Day, April […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":27996,"menu_order":523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-113319","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/113319","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=113319"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/113319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113373,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/113319\/revisions\/113373"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}