{"id":28187,"date":"2013-06-16T00:18:35","date_gmt":"2013-06-16T00:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=28187"},"modified":"2026-01-08T15:34:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T23:34:21","slug":"596a","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=28187","title":{"rendered":"Q596a Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

FBI Catalogue<\/b>: Tapes Not Summarized<\/p>\n

FBI preliminary tape identification note: <\/strong>One Tracs 90\/Service tape April 8<\/p>\n

Date cues on tape:<\/b> March 8, 1978 (Jones announces that Jonestown school has been accredited by Guyana government \u201ctoday\u201d; date according to Raven<\/i>, by Tim Reiterman and John Jacobs, p. 417)<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

People named:<\/b><\/p>\n

People in attendance at Peoples Temple service<\/i>
\nReynolds (elderly female member in States)Public figures\/National and international names:<\/i>
\nJimmy Carter, U.S. President
\nCalifornia Governor Jerry Brown<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vladimir Ilich Lenin, father of Russian Revolution
\nJosef Stalin, former Soviet dictator
\nLeon Trotsky, Communist activist murdered by StalinLambasa\/Labasa, \u201cprime minister of Nigeria\u201d
\nPatrice Lumumba, assassinated Prime Minister of Zaire
\nRobert Mugabe, leader of Zimbabwean Patriotic Front in Rhodesia
\nJoshua Nkomo, leader of Zimbabwean Patriotic Front in Rhodesia
\nZaire Prime Minister Mobutu Sese SekoEldrige Cleaver, Black Panther leader
\nWallace Deen Muhammad, leader of Nation of Islam
\nMadalyn Murray O\u2019Hair, American atheist<\/p>\n

Lynn Compton, judge in California
\nRobert Richardson, judge in Hawaii
\nArchie Simonson, judge in Wisconsin<\/p>\n

Cheddi Jagan, leader of Guyana\u2019s People\u2019s Progressive Party
\nWalter Rodney, Guyana political activist<\/p>\n

Will Battle, San Francisco official
\nAmos Brown, pastor of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco
\nThad Brown, black San Francisco tax collector
\nHerb Caen, San Francisco Chronicle<\/i> columnist
\nYvonne Golden, black educator in San Francisco
\nCarlton Goodlett, San Francisco physician, newspaper publisher
\nRichard Hongisto, Sheriff of San Francisco
\nJohn Maher, co-founder of Delancey Street Foundation<\/a>
\nWilliam Usary, San Francisco city official
\nRodney Williams, candidate for sheriff of San Francisco<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Temple members not on death or survivors\u2019 lists:<\/i>
\nWade Bright
\nRaul Jackson
\nCarol Young Jones
\nDaryl\/Harold Jones
\nJanet Lynds
\nRetha Merrill
\nJerry Ray
\nChristie SmithJonestown residents, full name unknown:<\/i>
\nCarol (numerous in Jonestown)
\nChris (numerous in Jonestown)
\n\u201cComrade Christian\u201d (either Vernetta Carolyn Christian or Robert Louis Christian)
\nDarren (likely Werner, could be Daren Janaro)
\nEllie
\nJanice
\nJoe (numerous in Jonestown)
\nJ. Jones (numerous in Jonestown)
\nJohn \u201cSenior\u201d (either Johnny Moss Brown aka Johnny Jones, or John Victor Stoen)
\nKay (likely Kay Nelson)
\n\u201cProf\u201d (male)
\nRonnie (numerous in Jonestown)Jonestown residents:<\/i>
\nMartin Amos (speaks) <\/b>
\nSharon Amos
\nMarcus Anderson
\nLinda Arterberry
\nEric Baker
\nBen Barrett
\nJack Beam (Speaks)<\/b>
\nErnestine Blair
\nDebby Blakey
\nTom Bogue
\nJuanita Bogue
\nClaudia Bouquet
\nCorlis Boutte
\nMark Boutte
\nPam Bradshaw
\nMichelle Brady
\nWesley Breidenbach
\nDorothy Brewer
\nOdessa Buckley
\nTeri Buford
\nRosie Burgines
\nRondell Carroll
\nMike Carter
\nTerry Carter, aka Terry Carter Jones
\nMary Ann Casanova
\nMary Castillo
\nWilliam Castillo
\nStanley Clayton
\nSandra Yvette Cobb, aka Sandy Jones
\nArvella Cole
\nInez Conedy
\nEdith Cordell
\nHarold Cordell
\nCynthia Davis
\nEdith Delaney
\nE.L. [Eddie Lee] Dennis
\nMiguel De Pina
\nCorrie Duncan
\nJames Edwards (“Reb”)
\nSylvester Fair
\nMarshall Farris
\nTom Fitch
\nConnie Frohm
\nKim Fye
\nMary Garcia
\nClaude Goodspeed
\nVern Gosney
\nWillie Grady
\nMary Griffith
\nPauline Groot
\nSylvia Grubbs
\nPat Grunnett
\nJann Gurvich (speaks)<\/b>
\nRochelle Halkman
\nFrancine Hallman
\nMagnolia Harris
\nEyvonne Hayden
\nAaron Hendricks
\nMarthea Hicks
\nJudy Ijames
\nLee Ingram (speaks) <\/b>
\nGladys Jackson
\nKathy Jackson
\nPaulette Jackson
\nRalph Jackson
\nRosa Jackson
\nShanda James
\nMarvin Janaro
\nEartis Jeffrey
\nClara Johnson
\nDenise Johnson
\nEarl Johnson
\nIrra Johnson
\nRobert Johnson
\nTinetra Johnson
\nLaura Johnston
\nAgnes Jones
\nAva Phenice Jones, aka Ava Cobb, Ava Brown
\nChaeok Warren Jones
\nForrest Ray Jones
\nJohnny Jones, aka Johnny Moss Brown, Jr.
\nLarry Jones
\nLew Jones
\nMarchelle Jacole Jones, by reference
\nMonyelle Maylene Jones, by reference
\nStephan Jones
\nTimothy Borl Jones
\nTimothy Glenn Tupper Jones
\nValerie Yvette Jones
\nMellonie Kemp
\nWanda King
\nElfreida Kendall
\nEdith Kutulas
\nKaren Lendo
\nTish LeRoy
\nDov Lundquist
\nL. V. McKinnis
\nEarl McKnight
\nAlfreda March
\nEarnestine March
\nAndrea Martin
\nHenry Mercer (Speaks)<\/b>
\nChristine Miller
\nDanny Moton
\nLela Murphy
\nJane Mutschmann
\nChris Newell
\nHerbert Newell
\nBea Orsot
\nTom Partak
\nRobert Paul
\nLenora Perkins
\nMaud Perkins
\nGlenda Polite
\nLois Ponts
\nMike Prokes
\nRuthie Quinn
\nDarlene Ramey
\nRobert Rankin (speaks) <\/b>
\nBertha Reese
\nBen Robinson
\nEdith Roller
\nSantiago Rosa
\nAnnie Rozynko
\nDoug Sanders
\nRon Sines
\nBarbara Smith
\nShirley Smith
\nVernon Smith
\nWillie Sneed
\nRichmond Stahl
\nAbraham Staten
\nAdeleine Strider
\nBobby Stroud
\nNat Swaney
\nMaureen Talley
\nArmella Tardy
\nBernice Thomas
\nErnest Thomas
\nAl Touchette
\nLe Flora Townes
\nHarriet Sarah Tropp
\nRichard Tropp (speaks)<\/b>
\nAlleane Tucker
\nRoosevelt Turner
\nPreston Wade
\nInez Wagner
\nDerek Walker
\nCheryl Wilhite
\nKenny Wilhite
\nCharles Williams
\nTheo Williams
\nMary Wotherspoon
\nPeter Wotherspoon
\nVera Young<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

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

(Note<\/strong>: This tape was transcribed by Jeff Brailey. The editors gratefully acknowledge his invaluable assistance.)
\n<\/em>
\nThis tape is of a nighttime meeting in Jonestown, on March 8, 1978 (the date that the Guyana government accredited the Jonestown school, according to Raven<\/i>, by Tim Reiterman and John Jacobs, p. 417). Many of the aspects are typical of such meetings \u2013 people report on the news they\u2019ve heard through Jones, Jones offers corrections and a pro-Soviet editorial spin, Jones complains about the complaints he hears, and people remind each other how miserable conditions were and are in the US \u2013 but there are singular events as well. Jones is in high spirits for much of the evening, and some of his oratory is reminiscent of that in the Temple\u2019s days in California. So is some of the subject matter. The points he makes about religion are familiar to Temple members \u2013 the only heaven there is to be found is on earth, the only people making money out of religion are the preachers who drive Cadillacs and whose wives host tea parties, the only God they\u2019ll know is the one standing before them \u2013 but it is rare that Jones speaks like this in Jonestown.<\/p>\n

The tape begins with Jones in a reflective mood. He speaks of the benefits of cooperation which he would like to see in Jonestown, the spirit that gives life meaning and makes them happy. Nevertheless, he is pleased with the progress of the farm and the bonds between the people. \u201cIn spite of all the problems we have, it\u2019s utterly fantastic to watch what socialism can do. And if you\u2019d be more cooperative yourself, we\u2019d live in a near perfect society \u2013 yes we would \u2013 a near perfect society.\u201d<\/p>\n

His pride extends to the Jonestown school, which has just been recognized by Guyana\u2019s government as a \u201clegal school.\u201d That is important for a number of reasons, he says: it demonstrates what self-government can do; it represents progress \u2013 and the government\u2019s recognition of that progress \u2013 for their community; and it belies what Jonestown\u2019s critics have said about the place. Most important, by showing their \u201cself-sufficiency,\u201d it allows them to maintain their \u201cisolation\u201d from the area\u2019s existing communities, something which Jones believes is positive, because it allows them to strengthen their internal security and keep their people close by. It was a hard-fought struggle, though, Jones notes. The government wanted the children of Jonestown to attend a school in Port Kaituma, but \u201cI refused to [allow that] and we had a White Night over it. You remember, we had a hell of a White Night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones sees good news in the shifting relationship between Guyana and the U.S. Official American attitudes have changed, allowing it to embrace the opposition political party headed by Cheddi Jagan. And if Jagan ever came to power, he said, the people of Jonestown would have \u201cmuch less difficulty than we now have\u201d with the government.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 optimism extends to the people before him. Several young students from the Jonestown school come forward and ask pointed question about the need for money in a socialist society, about the reasons that an oil-rich nation like Nigeria could have a weak economy, about Josef Stalin\u2019s animosity towards Leon Trotsky during the 1930\u2019s, and even about President Carter\u2019s possible change of heart in proceeding with the neutron bomb. Jones compliments the young ones asking the questions, and tells the teachers to continue to offer challenges to their students, even as their students confront them in class with these questions.<\/p>\n

Some of the questions remind Jones that the community is still too dependent upon U.S.-generated textbooks and reference materials. They need more Soviet books, he says, \u201cso these kids can get some history that\u2019s not filled with the poison pen of capitalism, tryin\u2019 to make everything look that there\u2019s no principles in anybody and everybody is a capitalist at heart, lookin\u2019 after power.\u201d They need to take up the Soviet\u2019s offer to give them films. They need to counter American news sources, which are biased in their slant against socialism.<\/p>\n

The questions also stir Jones to offer some of his own familiar rhetoric. He spend several minutes talking about the difficulties that women in the U.S. face in filing rape charges against their attackers. He returns several times to the strength and peaceful humanitarianism of communist countries around the world, and the valiant efforts of international liberation struggles. And several times, he brings up news items on nuclear weapons, and his prediction of their use \u2013 \u201cI think that you\u2019ll see a nuclear war come out of that situation\u201d \u2013\u00a0is casual and offhand, in keeping with statements in other tapes that nuclear conflagration is inevitable.<\/p>\n

The conditions around the world and even back in San Francisco should show Jonestown residents how lucky they are to be where they are. Some of the people who criticized Jim Jones during his San Francisco years now long for their return, he says, because there\u2019s no one left to defend the city in its slide towards police brutality and official corruption. He doesn\u2019t mind the tensions back there. The more the city, the US and the world has difficulties, the more trouble they\u2019re in. As for him, \u201cI\u2019m glad they\u2019re in trouble. And the more they\u2019re in trouble, the more I can get our people out of there, while they\u2019re fightin\u2019 over other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones eventually shifts the conversation to contrast the \u201cspiritual motherland\u201d of Russia with the \u201cbullshit\u201d spirituality of the Christian religion. Back in San Francisco, he says, \u201cin those days, you\u2019re talkin\u2019 about some heaven nobody ever ever<\/i> saw. But Africa\u2019s real<\/i>! Russia\u2019s real<\/i>! Guyana\u2019s real<\/i>! \u2026 We know it\u2019s real, we\u2019re settin\u2019 in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noting some of the complaints he\u2019s heard about Jonestown, he claims that the people would like him better if he paraded around like some of the other preachers they\u2019ve known, taking their money and living well. He has sacrificed his life for them, he reminds them, but he has also sacrificed his chances to \u201cpocket\u201d the money that came to the church and make himself rich.<\/p>\n

For that reason, he has little patience when people talk about the \u201cknickknacks\u201d they had to leave behind in San Francisco. They traded their knickknacks for protection when they came to Guyana, he says. Speaking about a resident who lamented giving up her grandmother\u2019s clock, he said that he told her, \u201cyou probably woulda given it up by now, because some sonovabitch woulda broke in your house, set it afire, burned your ass alive or mugged you in the street, and you wouldna got to enjoy [it].\u201d Besides, he points out, \u201cYou give [your knickknacks ] up when you die! Or when \u2026 you get burned up, Honey, your grandma\u2019s watch\u2019ll go with<\/i> you\u2026 Ain\u2019t never seen nobody take their grandma\u2019s watch to the graveyard.\u201d A moment later, he mentions another woman by name: \u201cLela Murphy complained about what she gave up back there, and I remember Lela Murphy gettin\u2019 mugged three<\/i> times in San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the promise of safety in Jonestown is not just conjecture on his part, Jones adds. \u201c[Y]ou\u2019da been dead if you\u2019da stayed there\u2026 [E]leven people have had accidents and been killed in the church because they didn\u2019t come here.\u201d He does not identify the eleven.<\/p>\n

But much of his righteous anger is aimed at religion, and the reason is that \u201cit bothers [me] some of you folk out there still got a little religion, \u2026 [that] some of these old religious kooks out there \u2026 still worship Jesus and mumble about the Bible. They won\u2019t go up there and find out where Africa is, but they wonder where heaven is.\u201d<\/p>\n

He returns to the subject late in the conversation, and talks about a time that he pulled a prank on a religious convention, by preaching nonsense and laughing as the \u201cAmens\u201d rolled in, just because he was in high form. \u201cThey didn\u2019t listen to a thing I was sayin\u2019. I was just shoutin\u2019 out anything, I just shout out all kinds of nonsense. And they got us into emotionalism, religion, emotionalism, jumpin\u2019 up and down, you get into this music, you don\u2019t get the seriousness of it and the communist purpose behind it, you get into the same thing<\/i>\u2026 [I]t\u2019s easy<\/i> to get caught up in emotionalism<\/i> and get diverted<\/i> from your goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, a few minutes later, he returns to the subject one more time, in language familiar to those who heard him in San Francisco. Speaking of the slave trade \u2013 and by extension, the slave traders who used the Bible to subjugate them \u2013\u00a0he says, \u201cFifteen million of our people taken from there, and before they got to United States, 12 million of us died in boats! Packed in like mackerel \u2026 <\/i>I\u2019m not talkin\u2019 about no Jesus comin\u2019, I\u2019m<\/i> gonna do Jesus\u2019 work. \u2026 <\/i>[Y]ou\u2019re still standing saying, \u2018Coming soon, Sweet Jesus.\u2019 And he\u2019s left you two thousand years. That\u2019s a long time to be a deserter\u2026 It\u2019s two thousand years since the sonavabich was last seen. And you lookin\u2019 for him. I don\u2019t look for nothin\u2019<\/i> gone two thousand years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tape is one of the few in which Jones talks about the nuts and bolts of conditions in Jonestown. When he talks about the sacrifices he\u2019s made, and the thanks that he doesn\u2019t<\/i> get for his work, he mentions the fried chicken they recently had for dinner, and how much it cost the community to put on that meal. In a later conversation about monetary systems, he tells a woman that she doesn\u2019t need money in Jonestown: \u201cWhen you go to the meal, you get the same meal. You can get as much \u2013 I see your plate\u2019s heapin\u2019 with the meat, the pork, the gravy and the rice tonight. Heapin\u2019 up. Nobody had to pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones is in a feisty mood for much of the tape, which is also rare. He mimics his children \u2013 at one point affecting an Asian accent in talking about his adopted children from Korea \u2013 he laughs at antics which were purely visual and therefore unknown, and he works the crowd as a stand-up comedian might, with a humor that only the people of Jonestown would understand. \u201cWhat next?\u201d he says over the laughter of the crowd. \u201cEverybody behaving yourself? \u2026 How many will speak in tongues to get off the Learning Crew?\u201d Even when he is forced to pass on disciplinary issues, the rage that often clogs his tone is missing almost completely in this tape.<\/p>\n

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

Date of transcription: 3\/9\/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 7, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B47 38.<\/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:<\/b><\/p>\n

There is nothing to compare between the two summaries, since the FBI did not write anything for this, or 64 other tapes which bear the notation \u201cTapes Not Summarized.\u201d These tapes seems to have little on them which the FBI could use for its purposes of investigating crimes arising from the Jonestown tragedy, but then again, that describes many other tapes as well. The difference seems to be that one or two FBI agents catalogued this set of tapes \u2013 as evidenced by the typewriter used in writing the reports \u2013 and that generally, the transcriptions were made early in the process, before someone may have asked for greater detail in the reports.<\/p>\n

Tape originally posted January 2006<\/b><\/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, click here. Listen to MP3 (Side 1, Side 2). To return to the Tape Index, click here. FBI Catalogue: Tapes Not Summarized FBI preliminary tape identification note: One Tracs 90\/Service tape […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":27996,"menu_order":380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28187","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28187","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28187"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133263,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28187\/revisions\/133263"}],"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=28187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}