{"id":28344,"date":"2013-06-16T00:18:57","date_gmt":"2013-06-16T00:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=28344"},"modified":"2016-03-07T00:08:06","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T00:08:06","slug":"998-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=28344","title":{"rendered":"Q998 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 (Pt. 1<\/a>, Pt. 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 Jones Speaking<\/p>\n

FBI preliminary tape identification note: <\/strong>None<\/p>\n

Date cues on tape:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 21 December 1977 (parents of Oliver boys go to Guyana to try to get them out of Jonestown)<\/p>\n

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

Public figures\/National and international names:<\/em>
\nPresident Jimmy Carter
\nAdolf Hitler
\nLenin, father of Russian Revolution, first leader of Soviet Union<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company
\nJohn D. Rockefeller, American capitalist titan<\/p>\n

Forbes Burnham, Guyana Prime Minister (by reference)
\nPtolemy Reid, Guyana Deputy Prime Minister (by reference)
\nFred Wills, Guyana Minister of Foreign Affairs (by reference)
\nVibert Mingo, Guyana Minister of Home Affairs (by reference)<\/p>\n

Edna Beber\/Beeber\/Beaver, sister of Irene Edwards
\nMother of Vera Talley<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Temple adversaries; members of Concerned Relatives:<\/em>
\nWalter \u201cSmitty\u201d Jones
\nDeanna Mertle, aka Jeannie Mills
\nBeverly Oliver (by reference)
\nHoward Oliver (by reference)
\nGrace Stoen
\nTim Stoen<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Roger Holmes, attorney for Olivers (by reference)<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Temple members:<\/em>
\nRita McElvane<\/p>\n

Jonestown residents, full name unknown:<\/em>
\nBirdie (Arnold or Johnson)
\nBeverly (several in Jonestown)
\nSon of Rita MacElvane
\n\u201cBrother Moton\u201d (likely Russell, could be Danny or Glen)<\/p>\n

Jonestown residents:<\/em>
\nMartin Amos
\nPatty Cartmell
\nIrene Edwards
\nMaya Ijames (speaks)<\/strong>
\nRichard Janaro
\nLynetta Jones (by reference)
\nMaria Katsaris
\nLisa Layton
\nBruce Oliver
\nWilliam Oliver
\nTom Partak
\nDonna Ponts (by reference)
\nLois Ponts (speaks)<\/strong>
\nJohn Victor Stoen
\nHelen Swinney
\nVera Talley (speaks)<\/strong>
\nEtta Thompson
\nCharlie Touchette
\nAl Tschetter
\nJanet Tupper (by reference)
\nLarry Howard Tupper (by reference)
\nMary Elizabeth Tupper (by reference)
\nRuth Ann Tupper (by reference)
\nTimothy Tupper (by reference)<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Bible verses cited:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNobody takes my life, but I lay down my life, as somebody said long ago.\u201d (John 10:17-18, \u201cTherefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.\u201d)<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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

(Note:<\/strong> This tape was transcribed by Catherine Abbott. The<\/em> editors gratefully acknowledge her invaluable assistance.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Recorded in December 1977, almost a year before the murder-suicides of November 18, 1978, this tape is saturated with conversations about\u00a0 death. Whether raising it as an alternative to going to Cuba or the Soviet Union, whether talking about their options while under attack or simply not getting the Guyanese government to consider a demand, whether critiquing the futility of suicide without purpose or glorifying revolutionary death, whether expounding upon his own views or asking other people to discuss their own plans for death \u2013 in fact, whether looking for serious answers or speaking of it in a conversational, almost joking manner \u2013 Jim Jones has the subject on his mind that night and never lets it go.<\/p>\n

There is a context for the conversation: the parents of Billy and Bruce Oliver have come to Georgetown with their U.S. attorney in an effort to bring their two sons \u2013 who are in their late teens \u2013 out of Jonestown. The decision, Jones says, is up to the boys, and the boys don\u2019t want to see their parents. Along the way, Jones raises other custody issues \u2013 the efforts to return then-fourteen-year-old Donna Ponts to the States, even though her mother is in Jonestown; and then battle that raged during the community\u2019s final 15 months of existence, that over John Victor Stoen.<\/p>\n

Nothing that he says about the Stoen case is new, however.\u00a0 He had to have sex with Grace Stoen to keep her from betraying the movement, the child was born from the union, she never loved the child, she mistreated him and was cruel, she thrust her child upon Jones so that she could go and take up with another man; Tim Stoen never worked as hard as he said he did for the movement, he defected for reasons of money, he\u2019s a transvestite and wears women\u2019s clothing as he parades around Santa Rosa; John Victor Stoen has only frightening memories of his mother, he talks about socialism all the time, and he\u2019s happy in Jonestown.<\/p>\n

But Tim and Grace don\u2019t care, Jones says. \u201c[Stoen] knows I won\u2019t give him that child. And why he and Grace both push and push and push, they want me to die. Because maybe if I die, and even if John<\/em> dies, they won\u2019t have to remember anymore. That\u2019s how wicked<\/em> people are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Setting the stage early in the tape, though, Jones asks the community at large whether people had planned for their own deaths \u2013 \u201cDon\u2019t you think you should plan about such an important event?\u201d \u2013 and then calls upon people who do not raise their hands to flesh out their views. After two or three women speak (including one who declares her intent to strap a bomb to herself and blow up the enemy along with herself), an eight-year-old girl asks Jones, \u201cWhat does planning your death mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

What follows is a stream of consciousness discourse on Jones\u2019 views on death: his desire to die; the inability of anyone to threaten a man who does not fear death; the role of capitalism and religion in using up people\u2019s lives even as they instill the fear of death; and the need to die for principle rather than wasting the opportunity to make a statement. The monologue is rambling but coherent.<\/p>\n

It is a subject he is familiar with, and that he evidently enjoys talking about. \u201cNothing so liberating as thoughts<\/em> of death,\u201d he says in the second half of the tape. \u201cI don\u2019t know about you, but when I get really liberated when I can think about death, even though I know I ain\u2019t gonna get the privilege to do it, it just liberates<\/em> me!\u201d If there is one thing that seems to frustrate him, it is that he doesn\u2019t believe he will ever realize his goal. \u201cAfter all, you just don\u2019t risk every day dying like I did today,\u201d he says elsewhere. \u201c[Y]ou can say, well, he wants to die, \u2026 but I don\u2019t\u2013 I don\u2019t get to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

As with other conversations on the subject, though, Jones gives mixed messages. Even as he extols \u201csweet death,\u201d he also encourages everyone to prevail in the struggle for survival. In words which he reiterates often throughout Jonestown\u2019s last year \u2013 and which dissenter Christine Miller reminds him of on the last day \u2013 Jones says, \u201cif there\u2019s a chance<\/em> at life, we gotta take<\/em> that chance, to do something<\/em> for communism, not just lay down here and die.\u201d Even when he talks about the possibility of death, he talks about it as a result of fighting for principle, for what they believe, but mostly, as a form of resistance. And if \u201chalf the people gonna die [during that battle]\u2026 half the people still be alive, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the death of the community \u2013 during a principled battle or otherwise \u2013 is not inevitable. Jones lists alternatives for people who are unhappy with Jonestown, even while vowing to hold onto Jonestown itself for anyone who wants to stay. People can go to Cuba or the Soviet Union, they can even return to the \u201cwicked\u201d United States with its McDonald\u2019s hamburgers and TV and Peace Mission and Pentecostalism. \u201cI love \u2018em enough to let \u2018em live the way they wanna live, even though I know it\u2019s a cursed<\/em> way to live, I love \u2018em enough to let \u2018em go. Take<\/em> \u2018em\u2026. You go where in the hell you wanna go. Die<\/em> the way you want to die, \u2018cause I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, as he describes those who return to the states as liars and \u201cshitheads\u201d who will bring down the movement, there is little doubt of his own desire.<\/p>\n

One particular issue with a mixed message is suicide: He talks about his own suicide, if it will save the larger community. (Of course, he would have to take John with him: \u201cI\u2019ll take care of Jim Jones and being that there\u2019s no way I can do anything for John but take care of him myself, if you follow what I\u2019m saying.\u201d) Later, however, during one of his glorifications of death, he says it does not apply to suicide. Even when comparing a selfish suicide to a revolutionary death, he does not use the word \u201csuicide\u201d to describe the second. \u201cWhen you throw your life away for nothing, that\u2019s counter-revolutionary, that\u2019s a suicide that you pay a price for\u2026. When you give your life for a cause, and know that you\u2019ve done all can to live and you have to die and you give it right and think it through well! That\u2019s sweet death.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also raises the subject of reincarnation, as he has on numerous occasions, and reminds his followers that he was once Lenin. He got a nine-year break between the two lives \u2013 he says Lenin died in 1922 (it was actually 1924), and he was born in \u201831 \u2013 and he would prefer a longer time away.<\/p>\n

But however far he may stray, eventually her returns to the core issue of the night. \u201cNow, what was I saying?\u201d he muses halfway through the tape. \u201cTalkin\u2019 about death. You sure you have to piss now, \u2018cause I want you to think about death<\/em>. Dyin\u2019<\/em>! Tongue<\/em> hangin\u2019 out. Chokin\u2019<\/em> \u2026 You\u2019re gonna die someday, honey! You old bitch, you\u2019re gonna die!\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Date of transcription: 6\/27\/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 June 26, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B110-FR 63. This tape was found to contain the following:<\/p>\n

JIM JONES speaks at a People\u2019s rally telling his people what makes life miserable. JONES also tells his people that communists must fight to rid the world of its miseries.<\/p>\n

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

The summary is accurate and meets the FBI\u2019s purposes.<\/p>\n

Tape originally posted March 2010<\/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 (Pt. 1, Pt. 2). To return to the Tape Index, click here. \u00a0FBI Catalogue\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jones Speaking FBI preliminary tape identification note: None Date cues on tape:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":27996,"menu_order":668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28344","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28344","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=28344"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66599,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28344\/revisions\/66599"}],"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=28344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}