{"id":34333,"date":"2013-08-10T21:27:31","date_gmt":"2013-08-10T21:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=34333"},"modified":"2026-02-26T14:49:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:49:56","slug":"sutherland","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=34333","title":{"rendered":"Was death in Jonestown inevitable? What if Congressman Ryan had stayed home?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/strong>\u201cWhat if?\u201d – Those two words have probably been a part of man\u2019s vocabulary since creation.<\/p>\n

Abraham used them hypothetically when pleading for the Lord to not destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.[1] <\/a>\u00a0And Moses posed them to God when asking the Lord what he should say if people did not buy his burning bush story.[2] <\/a>\u00a0Children drive their parents to distraction with questions such as, \u201cWhat if an elephant fell on our car?\u201d Disappointed sports fans eat their hearts out for decades shadow boxing with those words. And historians use them to ponder the possibilities of alternative history: What if Adolf Hitler had not ordered the irrational invasion of the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941? What if John Lennon never met Paul McCartney? What if the United States\u2019 invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs had been a success? What if John F. Kennedy had opted not to visit Dallas in November 1963? And what if California Congressman Leo Ryan had not insisted on visiting the charismatic minister Jim Jones at his Jonestown compound in Guyana in November 1978?<\/p>\n

Who is Jim Jones?<\/b><\/p>\n

Most are familiar with the names \u201cHitler,\u201d \u201cLennon & McCartney,\u201d and \u201cKennedy\u201d and have at least a rudimentary idea of those individuals\u2019 places in history. For many, though, \u201cJim Jones,\u201d \u201cJonestown,\u201d and \u201cLeo Ryan\u201d may be names that are as obscure as the names of the valleys on the Moon. So, who was Jim Jones? What was Jonestown? Why did Leo Ryan feel the need to go there? And what difference did it make if he did?<\/p>\n

Jim Jones was a twentieth century, Indiana-born, charismatic minister and committed Socialist, who, in 1961, at the age of thirty, became convinced that the Hoosier State was destined to be destroyed in a nuclear war. Reading in\u00a0Esquire<\/i>\u00a0magazine that Ukiah in rural Mendocino County, about 90 miles north of San Francisco, would survive such an attack, Jones relocated his church, Peoples Temple, there in 1965.[3] <\/a><\/p>\n

With an unavoidable personal charisma[4] <\/a>\u00a0and a social gospel rooted firmly in the teachings of Karl Marx, Jones quickly amassed a large and devoted following, which, at its height, numbered more than three thousand members.[5] <\/a>\u00a0These followers would later be described during a May 1979 Congressional hearing as \u201chighly altruistic and idealistically committed to worthy social goals.\u201d[6] <\/a><\/p>\n

Alexander the Great is said to have confessed, \u201cI am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep [but] I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.\u201d Jim Jones knew most people, particularly politicians, feel the same way, and, with his own private army devoted to what Jim Jones termed \u201cApostolic Socialism,\u201d he was a force to be reckoned with in the San Francisco of the 1970s, which appointed him Chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission in 1975.<\/p>\n

But city hall was not the only place where Jones brandished his power; he did so as well at Peoples Temple, where it would become clear by 1977 that not all was well. In that year, several defectors from the congregation overtly proclaimed Jim Jones had become a dictatorial megalomaniac who often abused his congregants (both physically and emotionally), treated them as little more than slaves, and misappropriated their property. That summer, a negative article, which all but demanded that Jones\u2019 activity and behavior be investigated, ran in\u00a0New West\u00a0<\/i>Magazine.[7] <\/a>\u00a0In response to it, Jones fled to the jungles of Guyana, where, with one thousand of his followers, he erected Jonestown, which he insisted would be a Socialist asylum from the outside world. It was not to be.<\/p>\n

In Jonestown, Jones \u2013 obsessed with death, rumored to be abusing prescription drugs, and consumed by declining physical health, paranoia, and thoughts of suicide[8] <\/a>\u00a0\u2013 became a law unto his self, who publicly rebuked his followers for the slightest infraction and administered inconsistent punishments at his whim. As Charles A. Krause puts it, \u201cJones\u2019 paranoia, power and manipulation fed on themselves. His delusions\u2026had nothing to check them when he secluded his mission in the Guyana rain forest.\u201d[9] <\/a><\/p>\n

Having by then made what could arguably be described as a mental break from reality, Jones fluctuated between manic periods in which he was by turn a slothful and self-pitying shut-in[10] <\/a>\u00a0and then \u201cthe paranoid messiah of a terrorized but devoted congregation whose end he predicted nightly at the hands of dark, encircling forces: the CIA, the Ku Klux Klan, racism, fascism, nuclear holocaust.\u201d[11] <\/a><\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 dark prediction became a self-fulfilling prophecy in November 1978, when \u2013 responding to unrelenting allegations from relatives of Peoples Temples members that Jonestown was practically a gulag and Jones\u2019 mistreatment of his flock had only intensified since his escape to the jungle[12] <\/a>\u00a0\u2013 California Congressman Leo Ryan travelled to Guyana on a fact-finding mission to determine just what was going on inside Jonestown.<\/p>\n

What Ryan found in Jonestown, alongside literally countless people who claimed that they had never been happier in their lives, were nearly one thousand overworked and severely undernourished people, many of whom were infected with \u201cJones\u2019 contagious paranoia\u201d[13] <\/a>\u00a0and too fearful to express their honest feelings about Jim Jones and life in Jonestown.<\/p>\n

A small contingent of defectors, though, eventually came forward and begged Congressman Ryan to take them with him when he left Jonestown.[14] <\/a>\u00a0And that was more than Jones\u2019 fragile ego could bear, as the departure of any of his followers was enough to make him believe he had failed completely.[15] <\/a><\/p>\n

Moreover, despite Leo Ryan\u2019s announcement that he intended to file a largely favorable report regarding Jonestown, the return of any former Jonestown members to the United States signaled \u2013 particularly in Jones\u2019 mind \u2013 the very real likelihood of more negative press about Jones. And, as Deborah Layton Blakey would later say of him, \u201c[Jones] felt that as a consequence of having been ridiculed and maligned [by the media], he would be denied a place in history.\u201d[16] <\/a>\u00a0And Jones\u2019 despondency \u2013 aggravated by his declining health (both mental and physical), alleged abuse of prescription drugs, despair over the death of his mother, anger at being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, fear of having a child which he claimed to have fathered forcibly removed from Jonestown, and various other frustrations \u2013 set into motion a reprehensible series of events which culminated in death.[17] <\/a><\/p>\n

Specifically, by days\u2019 end on November 18, 1978, Congressman Leo Ryan, three newsmen, and one Peoples Temple defector lay dead on the tarmac of a Guyanese airstrip where they had been shot by members of Jim Jones\u2019 ever faithful security squad. Nine others including Congressman Ryan\u2019s assistant were wounded. Also dead, inside Jonestown, was the death-obsessed Jim Jones, whose end had come via a possibly self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. More tragic, though, were the more than 900 members of Peoples Temple who \u2013 at Jim Jones\u2019 insistence \u2013 had died in Jonestown as a result of consuming cyanide-laced Flavor Aid.[18] <\/a><\/p>\n

Thus, Jim Jones\u2019 dream of a sovereign utopia was over, along with the lives of more than 900 persons.<\/p>\n

But what if\u2026?<\/b><\/p>\n

So, what if Congressman Leo Ryan had never gone to Jonestown\u00a0or had been turned away at its gate?[19] <\/a>\u00a0Had Ryan not visited Jonestown, would something else have triggered an identical outcome? If Ryan had delayed his visit to Guyana, would ill health have soon killed Jim Jones? Would there have been a revolt against Jim Jones, a \u201cpalace coup\u201d if one will, in which he would have been toppled as Jonestown\u2019s leader? And had the 1978 deaths not occurred would Peoples Temple still exist today?<\/p>\n

What if Ryan had not visited Jonestown, would something else have triggered an outcome identical to the suicides of 1978?<\/b><\/p>\n

This author\u2019s speculative opinion is yes, as long as Jim Jones was alive and in Guyana, for the seclusion of the jungle provided the underpinning for the deaths. As Dr. J. Thomas Ungerleider stated in 1978:<\/p>\n

This wouldn\u2019t have happened if [Jonestown] hadn\u2019t been so isolated\u2026With no feedback from the outside world you can do incredible things with peer pressure. Paranoia becomes a useful tool. It\u2019s a binding force. With it, you\u2019ll engage in peer-pressure activities even more.[20] <\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The reasoning would be echoed in the 1979 Congressional Hearing, when George Berdes offered, \u201c[T]he remoteness of the jungle in which Jonestown was located\u2026fed the very paranoia which Jim Jones played on and used so effectively.\u201d[21] <\/a><\/p>\n

The isolation and remoteness empowered Jones and enabled him to foist elaborate lies on his followers, such as false claims that (non-existent) Guyanese soldiers patrolling the jungles surrounding Jonestown had standing orders to shoot anyone attempting to escape. Jones, particularly since he had confiscated everyone\u2019s passport, also deceived his followers with bogus assertions that Guyana\u2019s government would not allow fleeing Peoples Temple members to leave the country.[22] <\/a>\u00a0Thus, at least in this author\u2019s estimation, there is no question that Peoples Temple\u2019s continued presence in the jungle would have continued to provide the psychological preconditioning required for a mass suicide.<\/p>\n

Granted, nothing mandates that such isolation ends in suicide. And it is entirely possible that, had Congressman Ryan not travelled to Guyana, Jones (and in turn Peoples Temple) would never have gone off the proverbial rails. However, what cannot be overlooked is the reality that one of the other logically necessary ingredients for violence on such a grand scale \u2013 namely a group leader predisposed to such an undertaking \u2013 was readily at hand in Jonestown. In fact, not only was Jones utterly obsessed with death by November 1978[23] <\/a>, one could argue that he was a suicide seeking a reason and place to happen.<\/p>\n

Jim Jones, says Charles Krause, \u201cmade his first mass suicide threat in September 1977, threatening the deaths of all his followers in a mere dispute over a custody case involving one child.\u201d[24] <\/a>\u00a0And, in the fourteen intervening months, between the original threat of suicide and its actual execution, Jones insisted that Jonestown\u2019s members engage in suicide drills at least twice. Moreover, in the months leading up to November 1978, he spoke of suicide with increasing frequency and was often obsessed with his own mortality.[25] <\/a>\u00a0In fact, just days before the Ryan delegation made its trek to Jonestown \u2013 when Jones\u2019 despondency over Congressman Ryan\u2019s impending visit and the fallout he envisioned had reached its apex \u2013 Jones\u2019 wife, Marceline, scolded him with the words, \u201cAre you out of your mind\u2026You want these people [members of Peoples Temple] to stay in Jonestown, and you\u2019re talking about suicide right before this congressman comes in.\u201d[26] <\/a>\u00a0Marceline Jones\u2019 admonition would go unheeded.<\/p>\n

On the last day of his life, Jones vacillated between comments ranging from \u201cI didn\u2019t sweat to come over here and die in no f___in\u2019 jungle\u201d[27] <\/a>\u00a0to \u201cI don\u2019t want to be one of those people in their golden years\u201d and \u201cSometimes I feel like a dying man.\u201d[28] <\/a>\u00a0The most telling statement of any Jones made that day, though, was to a Peoples Temple member who unsuccessfully attempted to remind Jones that, \u201cAs long as there\u2019s life, there\u2019s hope.\u201d[29] <\/a>\u00a0Reacting to such simple and sincere hopefulness, Jones made the audacious claim, \u201cWithout me, life has no meaning.\u201d[30] <\/a><\/p>\n

Jones, who could not fathom a world without himself in it, had been grieving his own demise (both physically and as the leader of Jonestown) for some time. Yet, in his final hours, Jones seemed to not only welcome death, but in fact wished to hasten it. This is apparent on the final Jonestown recording, in which Jones was perhaps more honest than he had ever been in his life, when he begged his followers to join him in death with the admonition, \u201cFor God\u2019s sake, let\u2019s get on with it\u2026Let\u2019s just be done with it. Let\u2019s be done with the agony of it\u2026no sorrow that it\u2019s all over. I\u2019m glad it\u2019s over\u2026No more pain now\u2026I\u2019m tired of it all.\u201d[31] <\/a><\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 ramblings evidence a long festering emotional anguish and suggest the possibility that Ryan\u2019s visit to Jonestown was the anticipated vehicle via which Jones would force his final apocalyptic vision upon his followers, namely, he would surrender to death – which terrified him – but he would not die alone. Ryan\u2019s visit may have been what Jones had long been seeking: an event large enough to justify his fantasy of becoming a martyr via what he believed would be an act of revolutionary suicide. In this regard, Jones\u2019 son, Stephan, would insist in 1992, that, at the time of the 1978 suicides, \u201cJonestown was a powder keg ready to explode at any time.\u201d[32] <\/a><\/p>\n

Accordingly, it is this author\u2019s opinion that, regardless of whether Ryan had visited Guyana or not, via one means or another, Jones would have eventually encountered or created an incident justifying – at least in his own mind – a mass death. Of course, given a set of circumstances different than those that actually occurred (i.e., one that would have made it more difficult for Jones to convince his followers that officials were coming to torture them), the extent to which such would have succeeded remains debatable.<\/p>\n

In any event, and as previously stated, it is this author\u2019s opinion that, so long as Peoples Temple was sequestered in the jungles of Guyana, and as long as Jim Jones was at its helm, the threat of suicide and death would have been constants in Jonestown.<\/p>\n

What is certain is that the mass deaths would not have happened at Jonestown had Jim Jones\u2019 own death occurred prior to November 1978. And this leads us to our next question.<\/p>\n

What if Ryan had delayed his visit to Guyana, would Jim Jones have soon been dead anyway because of ill health?<\/b><\/p>\n

This question is debatable, but it is entirely possible that Jim Jones was in the process of dying at the time of Ryan\u2019s visit. And, if so, this might help explain the eagerness with which he pressed for death. The autopsy on Jim Jones was performed post-embalming and the report proper does not reflect any evidence of abnormality within Jones\u2019 body that would have been fatal in and of itself.[33]<\/a>\u00a0That is not to say, however, that, at the time of his death, Jones was not dying.<\/p>\n

In the days before Ryan\u2019s visit to Jonestown, Jones notified his inner circle that he had become too sick to chair directors\u2019 meetings, and Marceline Jones had recently informed her sister that Jones was \u201cvery sick.\u201d The manner in which this news was relayed led Marceline Jones\u2019 sister to presume her sister was telling her Jones was dying. And, by the time Ryan arrived in Jonestown, Jones was wearing a gauze mask, required assistance walking, his body was swollen by edema, with his hands \u201calmost twice their normal size\u201d, and he was \u201ccomplaining that he had not urinated in four days.\u201d[34]<\/a> Jones\u2019 attorney, Mark Lane, would attribute at least this latter condition to Jones\u2019 prostate problems.[35]<\/a>\u00a0There was definitely something physically wrong with Jim Jones, something that, particularly if he was receiving medical attention solely from the infirmary at Jonestown, may very well have been on its way to proving fatal. But what was its cause?<\/p>\n

Had Jim Jones contracted a disease in the Guyanese jungles that was quietly killing him? Or was his ill health the result of chronic behaviors that were finally catching up with him and taking their toll on him? Specifically, Jonestown\u2019s infirmary, it has been reported, was well-stocked in the way of pharmaceuticals. In her final months, Marceline Jones would tell her family that Jim Jones\u2019 drug usage was either causing or aggravating paranoia. An example of Jones\u2019 dependence on drugs manifested itself at the time of Ryan\u2019s visit, when Jones was overheard requesting that Marceline Jones provide him with \u201ca pill,\u201d which she refused him. And near toxic doses of prescription barbiturates were found in Jones\u2019 system at the time of his autopsy.[36]<\/a><\/p>\n

Certainly, the extent of Jones\u2019 drug usage may have become exaggerated in the thirty-four years since his death, and it may have just been Jones\u2019 bad luck that Ryan arrived in Jonestown during a week in which Jones was sick. There is simply not enough documentary evidence to make an informed decision regarding the true state of Jim Jones\u2019 health since medical records concerning his health and\/or drug usage were not maintained during his final months in Guyana. However, where one finds smoke, one oftentimes finds fire. So, common sense dictates that the possibility that Jim Jones was dying in November 1978 cannot be discounted.<\/p>\n

What if there had been a revolt brewing against Jim Jones at Jonestown?<\/b><\/p>\n

Based upon the discussions which are known to have occurred at Jonestown regarding ousting Jones, a coup attempt against him was not likely imminent.<\/p>\n

Of this time in the group\u2019s history, defector Terri Buford would remark, \u201cJonestown would have been a nice place to be without [Jim] Jones.\u201d[37]<\/a>\u00a0But such succinctness, although true, diminishes the reality that, by November 1978, like a malevolent caricature of Kurtz in Joseph Conrad\u2019s The Heart of Darkness, Jim Jones was displaying signs of paranoia, behaving increasingly irrationally, and unable to function in his role as the leader of Jonestown.[38]<\/a><\/p>\n

This truth was not lost on the members of Jonestown, particularly those closest to him. During one exceptionally heated conversation during this period for instance, Marceline Jones would exclaim to her husband, \u201cI\u2019ve been keeping this place together [recently], not you.\u201d[39]<\/a>\u00a0And many dreamed of and spoke often of a Jonestown without Jim Jones at its helm. This included Jim Jones\u2019 wife, Marceline, and at least two of Jones\u2019 sons, Stephan and Tim.[40]<\/a>\u00a0Tim Jones, in fact, would, in the group\u2019s final months, declare more than once that his father deserved to be murdered because of recent behaviors his son deemed diabolical.[41]<\/a>\u00a0Yet, seemingly no one, particularly the two people who would have been indispensable in making such a cause a reality \u2013 Marceline and Stephan Jones \u2013 were prepared to take the steps necessary to grab power away from Jones.[42]<\/a><\/p>\n

Stephan Jones, according to Tim Reiterman, viewed himself as the natural successor to Jim Jones insofar as a leadership position at Jonestown went.[43]<\/a>\u00a0But Stephan had no intention of forcing the issue because he was convinced such an uprising was doomed to fail.[44]<\/a>\u00a0For one thing, there were Jones\u2019 security officers, and allegedly armed guards, within Jonestown whose services Jones would have enlisted had he felt threatened.[45]<\/a>\u00a0As well, the teenage Stephan knew that, even if Jim Jones was physically removed from power at Jonestown, he would still have to contend with his father\u2019s inner circle – sycophants who backed Jim Jones completely because doing so afforded them power and benefits – which would have been a bigger hurdle to overcome.[46]<\/a><\/p>\n

Then there were the members of Jonestown. Jim Jones\u2019 attorney, Mark Lane told journalist Charles Krause on the day before the murder of Congressman Ryan, \u201cI believe that 90 percent of the people there will fight to the death to remain.\u201d[47]<\/a>\u00a0That may very well have been true, but one must also remember that the group\u2019s members were underfed, malnourished, too weak to engage in revolt, and fearful of being tortured by Jim Jones\u2019 minions.[48]<\/a>\u00a0In essence, Jones had found a way to hold nearly one thousand people hostage.<\/p>\n

Finally, Marceline, Stephan and Tim Jones all suffered from what would prove to be, for lack of a better term, a fatal optimism. Case in point, during the last year of her life, whenever Marceline Jones would leave Jonestown, she would implore Stephan, \u201cDon\u2019t kill him [Jim Jones]. Something will work out.\u2019\u201d[49]<\/a><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, nothing worked out. Instead, those who wished to see Jim Jones removed from power convinced themselves that waiting for him to die naturally or become incapacitated (as they worked to \u201ccontain his madness\u201d) was the simplest and most acceptable solution to the problem.[50]<\/a>\u00a0By so doing, they arrived at a solution that was no solution, and which ultimately proved Edmund Burke\u2019s adage that, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”<\/p>\n

What if the 1978 suicides had not occurred, would Jonestown still exist today?<\/b><\/p>\n

Provided Jim Jones was removed from the equation, yes, Peoples Temple might very well be around in 2012, although most likely in greatly diminished numbers.<\/p>\n

One certainty is that the group would have been required to close up shop in Guyana or, at minimum, relocate large numbers of its group to the United States. There would have been multiple justifications for this shift. If nothing else, the economics and logistics of accomplishing simple things in Jonestown, like feeding members, were proving increasingly difficult. And, had the group not ceased to exist, shuttling members back to the States, where they could acquire jobs that would deliver wages that could go towards the upkeep of Peoples Temple, would have been mandated sooner or later. This would have been particularly true given the advanced age and declining health of many of the group\u2019s older members whose Social Security checks underwrote a good deal of Peoples Temple\u2019s day-to-day operations. Another valid reason for relocating to the United States would have been that with Jones no longer a factor, there would have been no need for the group \u2013 which had fled to Guyana in the first place because of Jones\u2019 fear of the press and the law \u2013 to remain in Jonestown like a band of fugitives.<\/p>\n

Of course, once the group was back in California, with Jones out of the way, it would have been necessary for the group to distance itself from Jones, focus on the name \u201cPeoples Temple\u201d or possibly change its name entirely. In turn, that would have, at least for a time, created additional problems. Numbers would have dropped following the loss of Jones, as they always do when charismatic figures are no longer part of the movement or entity with which they have become identified[51]<\/a>. In this regard, one must not forget that there is more than one photograph of a Peoples Temple member posing with signs reading, \u201cI believe in Jim Jones.\u201d Granted, to a degree, much of that was part of Jones\u2019 elaborate and effective publicity machine. Still, although the percentage is unknown, there were definitely members of Peoples Temple who wholeheartedly embraced that sentiment.<\/p>\n

Finally, the reason justifying the belief that Peoples Temple would still exist in 2012 is found in the language of the 1979 Congressional Hearing on the 1978 deaths in Guyana, where surviving Peoples Temple members were described as a collective of people who were \u201chighly altruistic and idealistically committed to worthy social goals [and it was necessary] to distinguish\u2026between what Jim Jones was and did, and what they believe People\u2019s [Peoples] Temple stood for.\u201d[52]<\/a>\u00a0In this regard, it was also noted in 1979 that the remaining Peoples Temple members \u201cstill ap\u00adpear to embrace the principles and objectives which they believe People\u2019s Temple sought to achieve.\u201d[53]<\/a>\u00a0But so damaged was the reputation of the group by the time that this hearing occurred that any real chance of reconstituting a Peoples Temple that could live up to the group\u2019s original promise (at least under that name) was just one of the many things that died in Jonestown in November 1978. Yet, had the suicides of 1978 not occurred, it is by no means a stretch to suggest that Peoples Temple would still be around in 2012, although most likely in significantly smaller numbers.<\/p>\n

Not \u201cwhat if\u201d but \u201cwhy\u201d: Closing thoughts<\/b><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the events of November 1978 are the reality with which we are left to contend, specifically, Congressman Ryan and nearly a thousand others did die in the heat of the Guyanese jungle because of Jim Jones\u2019 misguided and paranoid vision.<\/p>\n

So, what purpose is served by pondering for thousands of words what might have happened had Congressman Ryan not visited Jonestown, had he not been killed, and had Jim Jones not reacted to Ryan\u2019s murder by living out his own death wish while commanding the murders\/suicides of almost one thousand people? Ultimately, there is none because what happened thirty-four years ago cannot be undone.<\/p>\n

However, untimely and premature death always leave the deceased\u2019s survivors, and in this case, scholars too, to wrestle with the hypotheticals of the situation, to try and make sense of the senseless, and to find logic where there is none. In the end, it is all that is left. And those who remain explore the avenues left to them as a means of honoring those they have lost.<\/p>\n

This is particularly true of Jonestown since one-quarter of those who died there were children. Particularly, given that most children not only do not think in terms of suicide but are incapable of committing such an act, their deaths \u2013 if not others \u2013 must be adjudged murders. And it is by examining the events that occurred at Jonestown that we honor those who needlessly died there and work to ensure that they are never repeated.<\/p>\n

(Shawn Sutherland is a graduate of Abilene Christian University who lives and works in the Dallas, Texas area. He is a regular contributor to\u00a0<\/i>the jonestown report. His previous articles include<\/i>\u00a0\u201cMy Name Is David E.V. Smith, and I’m a Violent Revolutionary\u201d<\/i><\/a>\u00a0and<\/i>\u00a0Prophetic Charisma\u00a0by Len Oakes \u2013 A Brief Overview<\/i><\/a>. He may be reached at\u00a0<\/i>shawn_sutherland_1964@hotmail.com<\/i>.)<\/a><\/p>\n

\nNotes<\/b><\/p>\n
[1]<\/a>\u00a0Genesis 18:16-33.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0Exodus 4:1.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u00a0Krause, Charles A.\u00a0Guyana Massacre: The Eyewitness Account<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1978, p. 29.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0For more information on Jim Jones as a charismatic prophet, see this author\u2019s article Prophetic Charisma<\/em> by Len Oakes \u2013 A Brief Overview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, Tim with John Jacobs.\u00a0Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People.<\/i> Dutton, 1982, p. 156.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a>\u00a0House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing<\/a>, p. 54.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0Storr, Anthony.\u00a0Feet of Clay: Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus,\u00a0<\/i>Free Press Paperbacks, p. 7 and Kilduff, Marshall and Phil Tracy. \u201cInside Peoples Temple,\u201d<\/a> New West, August 1, 1977.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a>\u00a0Krause, pp. 115-116, 399, and 493-494; and Reiterman, pp. 321, 426-427, 438, 454, 467-468,471, 474-475, 493, 497, 499, and 513.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a>\u00a0Krause, p. 115.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 440.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a>\u00a0Krause, p. 25.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, pp. 393-394 and p. 464.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 321.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, pp. 503 and 539.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 463.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a>\u00a0Krause, p. 115.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, pp. 379, 395 and 399.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a>\u00a0Regarding the total death count, at minimum, the more than 300 children who died at Jonestown must be classified as homicides. Moreover, since Peoples Temple members can be heard on the so-called \u201cJonestown Death Tape\u201d pleading with the resolute Jim Jones to recognize that suicide was not the only acceptable response to the death of Congressman Ryan, et al., one can only speculate as to the number of adults at Jonestown who were forcibly administered a dose of cyanide-laced Flavor Aid against their will. See Q042 FBI Transcription<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a>\u00a0The members of Ryan\u2019s entourage, including Congressional aide Jackie Speier, as well as the journalists travelling with Ryan, anticipated that they would be refused entry into Jonestown. In fact, Ryan\u2019s request for access was granted only after Jones\u2019 attorney informed Jones that Ryan, in his capacity as a representative of the United States\u2019 government, was likely to visit Jonestown \u201cwith or without permission\u201d (Krause, p. 36; Reiterman, pp. 476, 484-485; and Congresswoman remembers day of horror<\/a>).<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a>\u00a0Krause, p. 115.<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing<\/a>, p. 41.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 451.<\/p>\n

[23]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 499 and Krause, pp. 115-116.<\/p>\n

[24]<\/a>\u00a0Krause, p. 115.<\/p>\n

[25]<\/a>\u00a0Q042 FBI Transcription<\/a>; and Reiterman, p. 475.<\/p>\n

[26]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 475.<\/p>\n

[27]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 469.<\/p>\n

[28]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, pp. 469, 493, 497 and 515.<\/p>\n

[29]<\/a>\u00a0Q042 FBI Transcription<\/a><\/p>\n

[30]<\/a>\u00a0Q042 FBI Transcription<\/a>. In this regard, Tim Reiterman has observed that Jim Jones \u201chad no intention of permitting his movement to survive him\u201d (Reiterman, p. 456).<\/p>\n

[31]<\/a>\u00a0Q042 FBI Transcription<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[32]<\/a>\u00a0In Search of Truth and Understanding about Jonestown<\/a>, by John V Moore.<\/p>\n

[33]<\/a>\u00a0Autopsy of Jim Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[34]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, pp. 426-427, 438, 467-468 and 471.<\/p>\n

[35]<\/a>\u00a0Lane, p. 275.<\/p>\n

[36]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, pp. 449-450, 467 and 513; What was Jim Jones’ mental and physical condition in November 1978?<\/a>; and Autopsy of Jim Jones<\/a>. Mark Lane has written, \u201cHe [Jim Jones] was sustained by a morphine substitute, injectable Valium, various barbiturates, and codeine\u201d (Lane, p. 87).<\/p>\n

[37]<\/a>\u00a0Lane, p. 87.<\/p>\n

[38]<\/a>\u00a0Krause, p. 115; Reiterman, pp. 321, 427, 474-475 and 499.<\/p>\n

[39]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 475. Brackets inserted by Reiterman and Jacobs.<\/p>\n

[40]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, pp. 456 and 523.<\/p>\n

[41]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 454.<\/p>\n

[42]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 403.<\/p>\n

[43]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 456.<\/p>\n

[44]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 403.<\/p>\n

[45]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 455.<\/p>\n

[46]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, pp. 450-451 and 456.<\/p>\n

[47]<\/a>\u00a0Krause, p. 37 and Lane, p. 126.<\/p>\n

[48]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, pp. 393-394, 450-451 and 503; and Deborah Blakey Affidavit from Lane, p. 436.<\/p>\n

[49]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, p. 456.<\/p>\n

[50]<\/a>\u00a0Reiterman, pp. 403, 450-451, 456 and 522.<\/p>\n

[51]<\/a>\u00a0There are numerous examples of this pattern outside of religious movements, such as the entertainment industry and the political spectrum, with countless film and television franchises, musical groups, stage shows, and political movements having suffered diminished audiences and interest following the loss of a magnetic central figure.<\/p>\n

[52]<\/a> House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing<\/a>,\u00a0p. 54.<\/p>\n

[53]<\/a> House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing<\/a>, pp. 21 and 54.\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat if?\u201d – Those two words have probably been a part of man\u2019s vocabulary since creation. Abraham used them hypothetically when pleading for the Lord to not destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.[1] \u00a0And Moses posed them to God when asking the Lord what he should say if people did not buy his burning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":34356,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-34333","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34333","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=34333"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134119,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34333\/revisions\/134119"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}