What was the Planning Commission? Who was on it? When did it get started? What was its function? What power did it have in the Temple? Over the years, there have been many questions about the Peoples Temple Planning Commission raised by former members, survivors, relatives, researchers, and the media. In an effort to address and clarify the topic, I gathered information from seven other Peoples Temple survivors, added my own perspective, and would now like to present what I learned.<\/p>\n
Jim brought the Peoples Temple church from Indiana in the late 1960\u2019s. Fairly soon after landing in Mendocino County, California, he gathered a small group of members to be kind of a \u201ckitchen cabinet.\u201d Although it wasn\u2019t called the \u201cPlanning Commission,\u201d it was similar. It provided a more personal setting for Jim to interact with the most active \u2013 and at times, the most cantankerous \u2013 members, and gave him a chance to gather his flock in a more intimate setting, and get a good look at everyone. It was a compliment to be included, and demanded a new level of commitment. The group discussed schedules and the logistics of the Temple\u2019s daily work. They resolved conflicts and took care of day-to-day issues. This group was active through the late \u201860\u2019s, and then stopped.<\/p>\n
In the very early 1970\u2019s, Jim gathered another group, but it didn\u2019t necessarily include the same members as the earlier one. The group met in Redwood Valley in the homes of the long-time members, many of whom had come with Jim from Indiana. Their homes were in a rural setting, where the numerous cars parked outside a house until all hours of the night would be less conspicuous. The group included Jack Beam and Archie Ijames, Jim\u2019s Assistant Pastors, all the main record-keepers and money collectors (Eva and Jim Pugh and Helen Swinney), many of the Indiana core group, and a lot of the new members who had joined in California.<\/p>\n
When the Planning Commission (PC) started in Redwood Valley, it consisted of almost all of the Redwood Valley members. As we began our travels to San Francisco and Los Angeles regularly (every Friday in SF, and alternate weekends in SF and LA), more members from those cities were asked to join. Meetings were held many Saturday nights until 3 a.m. or later in the Temples in SF and LA, as well as Wednesday nights in Redwood Valley.<\/p>\n
In terms of numbers of PC members, there were about 37 members in 1973. By the time PT moved to Guyana there were about 100 members. Most of them moved to and died in Guyana. About 20 survived: either they were still living and working in the US; they had already left PT; or like me, they were Guyana but not in Jonestown on November 18, 1978. I will not attempt to name all the PC members, in part because, as far as I know, there is no complete<\/i> list, but we can make some general statement about its membership.<\/p>\n
The Planning Commission included many of the hardest workers in PT, but that was not the qualifying criterion, since a number of people who gave their heart and soul to the Temple were never put on PC. It included many of the professionals \u2013 lawyers, teachers, nurses, care home managers \u2013 as well as many of their spouses and family members. It included all of Jim\u2019s personal secretaries and his staff, whose lives were consumed by his needs. He had no intention of giving them a night off! And it included a lot of the young, eager visionaries who were looking for a way to make the world better, and were delighted to work long hours to bring it to fruition. The Planning Commission was integrated yet disproportionately white, and Jim\u2019s inner group of private secretaries was all white. As with the earlier incarnation of the group, the PC also included people who Jim wanted to keep a closer eye on, those he didn\u2019t trust fully, or felt needed the added \u201cposition\u201d within PT to feel important. PC meetings were not public, and the information was never shared outside of the meeting. To help ensure that, oftentimes couples and family members would all be on it. In the end, though, because Jim was a micromanager, he had the final say about who would be on it and not on it.<\/p>\n
Being on PC was considered a status symbol. People were offended by not being asked to join it, especially if they felt they were hardworking and dedicated members. During its early years, people were really anxious to be given the opportunity to be on PC. Later on, when they saw the exhaustion and bleary-eyed PC members, many decided that they were indeed the lucky ones. Jim was a master of \u201cdivide and conquer\u201d strategies, and played up the division between PC and non-PC members. PC members had a different position in the Temple. The prestige of being on it made some PC members abuse it, and some non-members envy it.<\/p>\n
Marceline and the Jones children would often come through the PC meetings, making it feel even more like a family. The PC experience was unlike anything else in PT. PC generated a camaraderie, a time to slow down with friends, that we never<\/i> had time to do outside. Many of my best friends now were PC members who survived. When a PC meeting was called, there was a certain buzz, and it wasn\u2019t from the coffee! In fact, we didn\u2019t have food there, as I recall; we just took care of business. That is where we saw the hearts of people like Helen and Rheaviana who were so hard-nosed in public.<\/p>\n
Many of PC had jobs outside the Temple to bring in more money, but we had to schedule our work so that we didn\u2019t miss \u2013\u00a0or even come in late \u2013 to PC meetings. From 1970 until I left for Guyana in 1977, for example, I worked full-time in the Mendocino County Welfare Department as an Eligibility Worker. When I joined the Planning Commission in late 1972 or early 1973, I had to ensure that the job which I\u2019d already had for a couple of years didn\u2019t conflict with my new responsibilities.<\/p>\n
The Planning Commission meetings looked something like this: Jim would sit in a chair in the center of a semicircle, and most or all of the PC members would be on the carpet or floor. This was the case in the homes in Redwood Valley, in the back rooms of the Temples in San Francisco and Los Angeles, or on the stage at Ben Franklin High School, in San Francisco where we had some services and some PC meetings. Wherever it was, Jim was strategically sitting above us. When we discussed an area that a certain person or group was \u201cin charge of,\u201d that person or group would stand and address the group. We would have regular reports about files, finances in general terms, people who needed help in some areas, letter-writing, communes, security, and counseling. But the meeting wasn\u2019t just about the nuts and bolts of running PT. We also met to discuss the philosophy behind our plans. We could better understand where we were going because we\u2019d have this caucus.<\/p>\n
Most PC members were the counselors at the different Temples with twice-weekly nights to talk to church members who were having conflicts or problems in some aspect of their lives. I considered counseling PT members about things going on in their lives to be one of the perks for PC members. I really liked these sessions, listening and getting to know other counselors and getting to understand others in the PT community, sharing any insight I might have developed in my life. We PC counselors developed a real friendship and learned a lot from each other. We were counselors at some times and \u201ccounselees\u201d at others! Some of the other survivors hated this counseling and would\u00a0arrange scheduling conflicts so that they didn\u2019t have to do the sessions.<\/p>\n
If\/when a PC member had been caught making a questionable or lousy decision, that person would be called \u201cto the floor\u201d during a PC meeting and had to stand while Jim and others spoke about that. The person would get confronted and reprimanded, and then sit down. Then we\u2019d move on to the next item. Most of the time, this confrontation was verbal. A few times it went further. At least one person was beaten. Another time, in the Los Angeles temple, I was asleep in my chair. Jim told me that if I fell asleep again, he\u2019d shoot me. He had a gun, and pointed it at me. I managed to stay awake another two minutes or so. It must have been brutally obvious to him that threats were not going to work, especially with the bus drivers \u2013 me and others. So then he let all the bus drivers leave and go to sleep. I got to leave. It never occurred to me that he would really shoot. Never, never, never. I\u2019ve since spoken with others who were there that night, nodding off. All of them were threatened, too. None of them were scared\u00a0enough to stay awake or worry about Jim\u2019s words. None felt that Jim would shoot a gun.<\/p>\n
Looking back now, 29 years later, I think Jim had a lot of things he wanted to teach, share, spread and talk over, and he was frustrated that we\u2019d fall asleep. We understood his frustration, even as we fought off our waves of exhaustion, and he eventually understood our need to sleep. If he had been a raving lunatic then, we wouldn\u2019t have been understanding. We knew where he was coming from, so there were no hard feelings. We just couldn\u2019t always do it.<\/p>\n
But also as I look back, I realize I shouldn\u2019t have been so sure about what Jim would or wouldn\u2019t have done. He certainly had minions who would have cleaned up anything he did.<\/p>\n
My sense of Jim was that he was first a committed, dedicated humanitarian and socialist, and second a thespian. I always<\/i> felt that he would dramatize an issue to get our attention and understanding, and I never<\/i> felt fearful. Others did fear him. I was never afraid in PT or in PC. Jim was superb at \u201cdramatic play,\u201d and, most of the time, he was after an affect. Although I wasn\u2019t delighted at being \u201con the floor\u201d for my various mistakes in PC, I appreciated that everyone had his or her time up front, regardless of color or connections. (This did not apply to Jim\u2019s inner circle of secretaries \u2013 I think<\/i> they too were reprimanded or confronted, but it was in a more private setting, not in front of the rest of us \u2013 and, of course, never to Jim himself. We saw the faults of those closest to him, but never his.)<\/p>\n
I loved PC meetings. I loved knowing what was going on, where and when things would happen, and why. And, in these settings \u2013 not so much intimate as close \u2013 I loved talking, hashing things out, and seeing Jim, who had a hilarious sense of humor at times.<\/p>\n
For me, it was safe and interesting, and I really did feel that I was on the inside. In the course of putting together this article, though, I got some different feedback on this issue. Several people said that PC was Jim\u2019s way of really controlling those of us on it \u2013 by keeping us in the spotlight and keeping us exhausted. We each knew that he could know a lot by looking at us, and that scared some of us into behaving better. Others on PC, and in PT, took chances anyway. I have learned that several who were on PC went out for hamburgers, went to movies, and did other \u201cunacceptable\u201d things \u2013 but did it under Jim\u2019s radar. I wasn\u2019t afraid, but I didn\u2019t stray from the party line. I had strayed enough before joining PT. I had no desire to water down the message that we were making a difference, and needed our energy, focus and money to continue to make it happen.<\/p>\n
Jim also used PC for his very first white night. During one meeting, he handed out wine for us to drink. He had set up some PC members ahead of time to fall off their chairs, or somehow to look poisoned. Then, after we had drunk the liquid, he told us we had all been poisoned. People screamed and fell off chairs, and a few ran from the room. That\u2019s when he told us that it was just a drill to see how dedicated we were. I didn\u2019t believe it for a moment, so I didn\u2019t have the sense to be scared of what might come of that charade. I think that I had seen Jim in so many personal settings, and show such wisdom and insight, and humanity, I just never let myself distrust him. Even after that. Looking back \u2013 30 years later \u2013 it is unimaginable.<\/p>\n
In December 1973, Jim took all of the Planning Commission to Guyana. Norman Ijames flew our plane into Guyana. We got to see what Jonestown looked like as a rain forest. It was exquisite. The rain forest was wonderful, the climate heavenly, and the people gracious and lovely. I had never been anywhere like it! After that, people who had building and machinery skills were sent to Guyana, beginning in 1975. The Touchette clan (most of whom were on PC) went, as did others who had the skills we needed.<\/p>\n
I went to Guyana to live in 1977 at the beginning of the big push. While there, I spent the first year mostly in Georgetown. I remember three or four PC meetings in Jonestown when I went in during that year. We would gather in the main pavilion where all the meetings were held, but didn\u2019t use mikes, so it wasn\u2019t heard throughout Jonestown. We had reports from the different committees and got an overview of how the community was growing. The tone of these meetings was different, though, since they focused on the growth of Jonestown. There was a lot going on in Jonestown that never was brought up or discussed in PC or any other public setting, but rather in Jim\u2019s cabin. The overwhelming majority of us were not privy to those conversations and secrets. We were busily building the community.<\/p>\n
In Jonestown, Jim had started having meetings of a different group called the \u201csteering committee\u201d. According to Edith Roller\u2019s journals<\/a>, they really did plan for the future of Jonestown. That was very different than PC, and dealt with numbers, real data, and preparations for the influx of people. And of course, it was Jim and members of this group who set in motion the plans \u2013 the decision to die, the ordering of the means to die, and the storage of the poison in the midst of our community \u2013\u00a0that became all too apparent the final day.<\/p>\n (Laura Johnston Kohl<\/strong>, who had lived in Jonestown but was working in Georgetown on 18 November, died on 19 November 2019 after a long battle with cancer. She was 72. Her writings for this website appear here<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What was the Planning Commission? Who was on it? When did it get started? What was its function? What power did it have in the Temple? Over the years, there have been many questions about the Peoples Temple Planning Commission raised by former members, survivors, relatives, researchers, and the media. In an effort to address […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":33379,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-33200","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33200","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=33200"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93415,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33200\/revisions\/93415"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}