{"id":66029,"date":"2016-02-11T22:55:32","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T22:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=66029"},"modified":"2020-05-02T10:21:50","modified_gmt":"2020-05-02T17:21:50","slug":"q255-summary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=66029","title":{"rendered":"Q255 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

FBI Catalogue<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jones Speaking<\/p>\n

FBI preliminary tape identification note: <\/strong>Labeled in part “9\/3\/74 [78] News”<\/p>\n

Date cues on tape:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 News items consistent with date in 1978\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Public figures\/National and international names:<\/em><\/p>\n

Jimmy Carter, U.S. President
\nRichard Nixon, former U.S. President
\nGerald Ford, former U.S. President
\nJohn F. Kennedy, former U.S. President
\nDwight Eisenhower, former U.S. President
\nTeddy Roosevelt, former U.S. President<\/p>\n

Sen. John Stennis (D-Miss)
\nAndrew Young, U.S. Ambassador to United Nations
\nHarold Brown, U.S. Secretary of Defense
\nFoy Kohler, former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union<\/p>\n

Sen. Edward Brooke (R-Mass)
\nElaine Noble, Democratic challenger to Brooke
\nPaul Guzzi, Democratic challenger to Brooke
\nPaul Tsongas, Democratic challenger to Brooke
\nKathleen Sullivan Alioto, Democratic challenger to Brooke<\/p>\n

John Mitchell, Attorney General under Nixon
\nH.R. Haldeman, Nixon White House Chief of Staff
\nEdgar Hoover, head of FBI<\/p>\n

Ronald Reagan, California governor
\nFrank Rizzo, mayor of Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Pope John Paul
\nMarshall Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia<\/p>\n

Menachem Begin, Israeli Prime Minister
\nAnwar Sadat, President of Egypt
\nKing Hussein of Jordan
\nReza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran<\/p>\n

Fidel Castro, leader of Cuba (by reference)
\nAnastasio Somoza, President of Nicaragua
\nGeneral Romeo Lucas Garcia, President of Guatemala
\nDr. Ptolemy Reid, Guyana Deputy Prime Minister
\nFred Wills, former Guyana Minister of Foreign Affairs<\/p>\n

Augusto Pinochet, military ruler of Chile
\nOrlando Letelier, assassinated Chilean ambassador to US
\nRonni Moffit, assassinated aide to Orlando Letelier
\nMichael Moffit, husband of Ronni, injured in attack
\nIgnacio Novo Sampoli, accused assassin of Orlando Letelier
\nMichael V. Townley, accused assassin of Orlando Letelier<\/p>\n

Ro Jai Hyam (phonetic), Korean Defense Minister
\nPark Chung-hee, President of Korea
\nHua Kuo-feng, Chairman of Chinese Communist Party<\/p>\n

Adolf Hitler, German Fuhrer
\nVladimir Lenin, father of Russian Revolution
\nThomas Edison, American inventor<\/p>\n

Anatoly Shcharansky, Soviet dissident
\nAlexander Ginzburg, Soviet dissident
\nRoberto Mander, Italian political prisoner
\nGeorgios Papanikolaou, creator of pap smear<\/p>\n

James Dean, American actor
\nEvel Knievel, American daredevil
\nCharles Lindbergh, American aviator
\nSpiderman<\/p>\n

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, civil rights leader
\nLyndon Larouche, head of U.S. Labor Party
\nRalph Nader, consumer advocate
\nHuey Newton, leader of Black Panther Party
\nRandolph Hearst, newspaper publisher
\nRupert Murdoch, newspaper publisher
\nRev. Sun Myung Moon, religious leader, newspaper publisher
\nMorris Golden, trade unionist
\nWonsock [phonetic], war chief of the Chumash tribe<\/p>\n

Charles Garry, Temple attorney
\nCarlton Goodlett, San Francisco publisher and physician
\nWalter Thain, American doctor who supported Temple<\/p><\/div>\n

Temple adversaries; members of Concerned Relatives:<\/em><\/p>\n

Mary Richter (phonetic)<\/div>\n

Temple members not in Jonestown:<\/em><\/p>\n

Vee Hollins<\/div>\n

Jonestown residents, full name unknown:<\/em><\/p>\n

Flo [likely Florence Heath, could be Florence Sanders or Florine Dyson]
\nJohnny [likely Johnny Moss Brown]
\nReed<\/div>\n

Jonestown residents:<\/em><\/p>\n

Jack Beam
\nJames Edwards
\nDon Fitch
\nMarceline Jones
\nStephan Jones
\nTeresa King
\nCarolyn Looman
\nJim McElvane
\nKay Nelson
\nLaurence Schacht
\nAl Touchette
\nCharlie Touchette
\nNeal Shaun Welcome Touchette
\nRichard Tropp<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>
\nBible verses cited:<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 None\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Jim Jones reads the news for September 3, 1978.<\/p>\n

As with many of the news tapes from this period in Jonestown\u2019s history, Jones includes his own commentary periodically, ranging from politically-charged adjectives to sarcastic asides, from fatalistic observations to short object lessons for the people of his community. Although it is difficult to tell in other tapes whether the inclusion of some of this commentary is from the news sources themselves \u2013 which tend to be pro-Soviet Union \u2013 or from Jones, this tape illuminates Jones\u2019 more active role. There are several slight pauses before he reads the words \u201cUnited States\u201d or \u201cUS,\u201d then resumes with the descriptor \u201cfascist\u201d and\/or \u201cimperialist\u201d accompanying the county\u2019s name. In one article \u2013 written by an American ambassador \u2013 Jones reads \u201cU.S.\u201d, pauses, and then re-reads it as \u201cWestern U.S. imperialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also at least six references to imminent or inevitable nuclear holocaust which underlay much of Jones\u2019 worldview, and almost all seem to be supplied by Jones himself.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • The very first news item, about the Israeli government approach to the upcoming Camp David talks, quotes the prime minister as saying that the talks represent the last chance for peace, and if they fail, the country \u201cwill use and employ every weapon that we have in our arsenal \u2026 with such devices as atomic bombs and neutron bombs.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
    • Early in the broadcast, Jones says that Moscow chastised Yugoslav leader Marshall Tito for giving certain concessions to China, including \u201cencouragement in her nuclear genocide approach to life.\u201d A few moments later, Jones reads that a spokesman for the British government said China \u201cis trying to provoke World War III.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        \n
      • At the end of an item about people collecting job applications in the South Bronx, Jones praises working class solidarity \u201cthough it\u2019s too late for USA, according to all scientists, to avoid nuclear war.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Jones also shows his tendency to exaggerate or expand upon a story about social and economic conditions in the U.S., and the new version always reinforces his underlying message that these conditions have deteriorated to the point that their home country is unlivable, that there is no reason to return. As he concludes one item, \u201cThat\u2019s racism in the place you miss, some of you.\u201d The assertions include:<\/p>\n

          \n
        • \u201c[G]angs already rule the ghettoes of every city in United States.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
            \n
          • A Supreme Court decision on affirmative action is \u201ca prelude\u2026 to a fascist takeover and building apartheid system in USA, where blacks, Asians and Indians will be placed in concentration camps and will do the bidding of the government or the military.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
              \n
            • Philadelphia cops acting on the mayor\u2019s orders had raided headquarters of two black groups \u2013 the Panthers and CORE \u2013 and \u201ccame in, strafing these two headquarters and killing some of the children therein.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                \n
              • The racism is Boston \u201ccome to such a degree that there have been 37 young black children mutilated, girls\u2019 breasts mutilated and the boys were castrated.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                In most of these examples, Jones offers credibility for his own words by citing a source, usually a radio network like the BBC, Radio Moscow, or Radio Canada.<\/p>\n

                There are few items unrelated to the news. Jones does alert the community that government officials could drop in at any time, and urges everyone to keep the place picked up, to plant flowers and edible plants wherever there is an open space, and \u2013 in anticipation of some of the visitors being from the Soviet Union \u2013 to practice their Russian and to know the definition of \u201cavant garde,\u201d which Jones himself uses to describe the USSR.<\/p>\n

                There are several references to death, including the observation noted below by the FBI that \u201cNobody is capable of being a socialist until they are not afraid of death. It\u2019s just a quiet rest\u2026 It\u2019s good for people to not be afraid to die for what they believe.\u201d (The selected quote, however, deletes Jones\u2019 other point from the middle of the quote that suicide is counter-productive: \u201cWe cannot take our lives because as certain as I am talking to you, you just have to come back and face it all over again.\u201d) Nevertheless, Jones points out the courage of those who would rather die than compromise, including the chief of a Native American tribe in California which has been pushed to the sea who says, \u201cWe can\u2019t go any further, he says. This is it. There\u2019s nowhere to go. We might as well commit suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

                Among news items not already mentioned:<\/p>\n

                  \n
                • Israel supports Christian \u201cfanatics\u201d fighting in Lebanon;<\/li>\n
                • Israel is in social crisis, with strikes and gangs in the street;<\/li>\n
                • Arab nations wonder about U.S,. agenda behind Camp David;<\/li>\n
                • The new pope is installed;<\/li>\n
                • Nationwide general strike in Nicaragua continues;<\/li>\n
                • Croatian separatists seize Yugoslav embassy in Australia;<\/li>\n
                • The FBI tried to find and groom right wing black man to replace Martin Luther King;<\/li>\n
                • More suspects arrested in Letelier assassination;<\/li>\n
                • Watergate figures to be released from prison early;<\/li>\n
                • The U.S. Labor Party charges the US with undermining the Guyana government;<\/li>\n
                • Three New York daily newspapers shut down by strike;<\/li>\n
                • Lesbian runs in Democratic primary in Massachusetts;<\/li>\n
                • U.S. opposes the Law of the Sea Conference;<\/li>\n
                • Steelworkers idled in Ohio;<\/li>\n
                • Radiation and carcinogens show up in New York waterways;<\/li>\n
                • House passes tax cut bill, as well as large defense appropriations bill;<\/li>\n
                • Ronald Reagan considers White House bid;<\/li>\n
                • Leftist activist Morris Golden dies;<\/li>\n
                • Martial law declared in Iran; Shah vows to crush rebellion;<\/li>\n
                • Guatemalan military government fires on crowd of demonstrators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                  There are also a couple of longer pieces, such as an article about the amount \u201cfilth\u201d \u2013 insect parts, rodent manure \u2013 which the FDA allows in the foods Americans eat; and a piece on America\u2019s need to understand the meaning of \u201cco-existence\u201d from the Soviet perspective.<\/p>\n

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

                  Date of transcription: 6\/12\/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 May 30, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B93-1. This tape was found to contain the following:<\/p>\n

                  News, commentary, and announcements by JIM JONES. During the commentary, JONES states, “Nobody is capable of being a socialist until they are not afraid” of death \u2013 it\u2019s just a quiet rest. It\u2019s good for people to not be afraid to die for what they believe.”<\/p>\n

                  News items included topics such as:<\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. Israel<\/li>\n
                  2. Lebanon<\/li>\n
                  3. Pope JOHN PAUL<\/li>\n
                  4. FBI files re Dr. MARTIN L. KING<\/li>\n
                  5. JOHN MITCHELL<\/li>\n
                  6. DETENTE<\/li>\n
                  7. RONALD REAGAN<\/li>\n
                  8. Korea<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    The back of the tape also contains some news and commentary by JIM JONES.<\/p>\n

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

                    The summary is accurate and meets the FBI\u2019s purposes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/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, click here. Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1, Pt. 2). To return to the Tape Index, click here. FBI Catalogue\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jones Speaking FBI preliminary tape identification note: Labeled in part “9\/3\/74 [78] […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":27996,"menu_order":118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-66029","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66029","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66029"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97712,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66029\/revisions\/97712"}],"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=66029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}