{"id":66048,"date":"2016-02-11T23:27:14","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T23:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=66048"},"modified":"2016-02-14T00:32:35","modified_gmt":"2016-02-14T00:32:35","slug":"q396-summary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=66048","title":{"rendered":"Q396 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\/6\/76 Rally”<\/p>\n

Date cues on tape:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 October 6, 1978 (L.C. Norris died \u201cthis afternoon\u201d)<\/p>\n

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

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

Jimmy Carter, U.S. President
\nJohn F. Kennedy, assassinated U.S. President<\/p>\n

Adolf Hitler, German Fuhrer
\nJomo Kenyatta, president of Kenya
\nForbes Burnham, Prime Minister of Guyana
\nFeodor Timofeyev, Consular of Soviet Union embassy in Guyana (by reference)<\/p>\n

Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged assassin of Pres. John F. Kennedy
\nMarina Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald\u2019s wife (by reference)<\/p>\n

Don Freed, author and screenwriter
\nCarlton Goodlett, San Francisco physician, newspaper publisher<\/p>\n

Susan Marshall, childhood friend of Jim Jones<\/p><\/div>\n

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

Grace Stoen<\/div>\n

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

Christine (speaks) (numerous)
\nPatty (likely Cartmell, could be Parks)
\nStanley (several in Jonestown)
\nTerry (likely Carter, could be Buford)<\/div>\n

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

Martin Amos (speaks)
\nSharon Amos (by reference)
\nJack Beam (speaks)
\nElondwaynion Darnes, aka Ollie B. Darnes II
\nFlorine Dyson
\nAmanda Fair (speaks)
\nRhonda Forston (speaks)
\nTom Grubbs (speaks)
\nCarl Hall
\nAaron Hendricks
\nDon Jackson (speaks)
\nJohnny Moss Brown Jones
\nLynetta Jones (by reference)
\nMarceline Jones
\nStephan Jones (speaks)
\nEmma Jurado
\nMaria Katsaris
\nCarolyn Layton
\nChris Lund, also known as Chris Rozynko
\nDov Lundquist (speaks)
\nEileen McCann (speaks)
\nPlickards (L.C.) Norris
\nKen Norton
\nEva Pugh
\nDoug Sanders
\nLarry Schacht (by reference)
\nAnthony Simon (speaks)
\nJose Simon (by reference)
\nJoyce Touchette
\nMike Touchette
\nKaren Tow
\nRichard Tropp
\nSarah Tropp
\nBarbara Walker (speaks)
\nPeter Wotherspoon<\/div>\n

Bible verses cited:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u201cYou better know your Redeemer liveth, (ministerial voice) and is standing a latter day upon this earth.\u201d (Job 19:25, \u201cFor I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.\u201d)<\/ol>\n

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

    Jonestown resident Plickards (L.C.) Norris has died of natural causes, and Jim Jones talks about the man\u2019s life, both in making an announcement from the radio room where he made his news tapes, and as part of the Peoples Rally later that night.<\/p>\n

    Norris had died of cancer, but the death allows Jones to offer familiar messages to everyone in the community. As Jones notes several times on the tape, Norris had called out in his agony to God and Jesus, asking for their assistance. He didn\u2019t get it, and he couldn\u2019t have expected to, \u201cbecause it has sad ramifications.\u201d If you don\u2019t believe \u201cone thousand percent\u201d in Jones and socialism, \u201cthere\u2019s nothing I can do for you, but feel sorrow in my heart.\u201d With this in mind, he urges everyone in Jonestown to destroy their Bibles and religious literature, keeping only his writings, his sayings and his tapes.<\/p>\n

    The fact that Norris had apparently arrived in Jonestown much more recently than the rest of the community \u2013 and that he was already ill when he arrived \u2013 allows Jones to blast the American medical establishment and, by extension, America itself. \u201c[The] pancreatic cancer \u2026 should\u2019ve been found by any<\/em> sensible doctor in the United States, but they did not give enough concern. No way did they show any concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Jones\u2019 voice sounds fatigued or drugged on the first part of the tape, but by the time of the Peoples Rally that evening, he is more alert and coherent.<\/p>\n

    The meeting seems to be more of an administrative one to discuss issues of community concerns and discipline, rather than one of Jones lecturing on political matters or issuing directives. Due to several factors \u00ad\u2013 the tape opens with the meeting already in progress; much of the input into the conversation from members of the crowd is inaudible; and the quality of the tape and\/or the recording is below average \u2013 the context of much of the evening is difficult to ascertain.<\/p>\n

    There are several behavioral problems which resolve themselves fairly quickly. Two young boys have been consistently disruptive in school. In addition, one of them endangers others by playing with fishhooks on the playground, plus \u2013 as the school principal Tom Grubbs says \u2013 the boy needs to learn \u201cthat property does not change hands when there\u2019s not someone guarding it.\u201d Both are put on Public Services \u2013 Jonestown\u2019s disciplinary work crew \u2013 for several days.<\/p>\n

    A second problem is also addressed and handled at the end of the tape. Barbara Walker has repeatedly pestered Stephan Jones \u2013 Jim Jones notes she tried to kill his son \u2013 and after several other previous means to discourage the unwanted attention, she has been drugged into compliance. There have been problems with the drugs \u2013 Walker\u2019s overall health seems to have been affected \u2013 and perhaps, as Jones says, the problem has been a \u201chormonal deficiency\u201d all along. Stephan himself doesn\u2019t oppose releasing her from the medical supervision she\u2019s been under \u2013 \u201cShe doesn\u2019t worry me, and you can see her coming a mile away\u201d \u2013 and Walker responds that she doesn\u2019t want to even say hello to him anymore.<\/p>\n

    The recurring issue throughout the tape stems from a note dropped in the suggestion box by a young Jonestown resident named Christine. The note raised several issues, and Jones has called her forward as he parses each one. She apparently has offered her view, for example, that the community meetings are used as a way to control the population. Jones says she is misinterpreting him. He doesn\u2019t like the meetings, he says, especially at the end of a long day when everyone is tired, including himself. But the meetings are necessary, he says, reminding her how things tend to fall apart or go lax when there are long periods between them. Addressing her principal concern, though, he replies, \u201cI do not believe meetings control. Meetings do the exact reverse. They cause hostility.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Christine has also written that Jones has lost some credibility in the community. Reviewing what is likely a summary of the letter, Jones reads that Christine believes everyone has been tricked, that they keep hearing the same plans over and over without any progress on them, that there will never be any changes in Jonestown.<\/p>\n

    \u201cMy credibility? My credibility\u2019s good,\u201d Jones replies. \u201cI\u2019m one of the most direct people in the world.\u201d Beyond the denial, he turns the issue back onto her. \u201cNow I told you some very deep things about people and lives and organizations, and you should\u2019ve been complimented<\/em> by that\u2026 You\u2019re throwing away an excuse for being the kind of a communist you know you can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

    There is one point Christine has raised that Jones embraces. The Russian classes are teaching them nothing, she has said, and certainly not preparing them for a move to the Soviet Union. Jones replies that they should learn phrases \u201cthat everybody has to use, like going to the toilet, or, I want bread, I want my breakfast, or I want to see the doctor.\u201d He also suggests using a blackboard to put up a sentence or two each day that everyone can learn.<\/p>\n

    The discussion of the Russian language class allows Jones to segue into talking about plans to emigrate to the Soviet Union. He is emphatic about his intent. Maybe some people in Jonestown want to stay there, and perhaps they should maintain both the existing facility in Guyana and the new one in Russia \u2013 if nothing else, to keep a fallback position in case things don\u2019t go well in their new home \u2013 and in any event, they should make sure Jonestown is kept in pristine condition in order to maintain good order with the Guyanese government. \u201cBut I am leaving,\u201d he concludes to the most sustained applause of the night.<\/p>\n

    The proposed facilities in the Soviet Union seems to improve as the night progresses. The Russians will build them \u201c400 houses, a gymnasium, a theater, and an indoor swimming pool.\u201d They don\u2019t have to pay their new hosts anything for it; on the contrary, once they get there, \u201cwe may even get wages<\/em> in the Soviet Union, based on our labor.\u201d They have other \u201cincentives\u201d too, like candy and books and trips to Moscow and \u2013 most immediately \u2013 \u201cfried chicken laying on the plate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    There are a number of reasons they are attractive to the Soviets, things the people of Jonestown can do for the Russians. \u201cThey\u2019ve never had a commune,\u201d Jones says. \u201cWe\u2019re the first<\/em> commune. They like to see it work<\/em> this way.\u201d Secondly, they\u2019ve had a history of African men coming to the Soviet Union, marrying white Russian women, and leaving; \u201c[t]hey want Africans to see, that if you will<\/em> be communists, you can live in the Soviet Union.\u201d Finally, the Soviets believe the American religious community will be able to work with the Pentecostals there; \u201cwe will sing<\/em> and we can shout<\/em>, and I can heal the sick and I can get those Pentecostals and get \u2018em in there and communize them. They don\u2019t give a damn if I\u2019m God Almighty to get it done. They don\u2019t care<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

    So committed are the Soviets that, should anyone endangers the community, they would respond. If anybody moves against them, Jones reports the Soviets as saying, \u201cif we couldn\u2019t get to you, we would demand, we\u2019d bring so much hell that they would let<\/em> us get to you, because we would make an international incident over any attempt to hurt Jonestown.\u201d This was undoubtedly the type of comment that Christine Miller was referring to on the day of the mass deaths, when she asked about getting help from the Soviets. (It should be noted that the Christine on this tape is likely not Christine Miller; the woman here sounds younger, and is more likely to be Christine Talley or Christine Lucientes.)<\/p>\n

    Jones lets the hyperbole extend to his descriptions of what life is like in the Soviet Union. Although they are not being dropped off in Siberia\u2013 \u201cthat\u2019s not the agricultural<\/em> area,\u201d he says, and the Soviets want them \u201cto build an agricultural<\/em> base\u201d \u2013 he adds that the reports of cold there are exaggerated, that \u201cyou don\u2019t have the humidity with it. It\u2019s a dry<\/em> cold.\u201d Moreover, \u201cbecause the Soviet Union is communist and supports communist laws, and the people live basic socialist principles,\u201d everything is different from both America and Guyana. \u201cThey got cities, for instance, whole cities that don\u2019t smoke cigarettes, whole cities where there\u2019s no alcohol. They don\u2019t have any drugs. They don\u2019t have any sexual perversion to children.\u201d<\/p>\n

    If he inadvertently reinforces Christine\u2019s point about credibility, at least in regard to the Russians, he also reveals himself in more honest ways elsewhere. He wants to show guests how well-informed the people of Jonestown are, for example, and he is not above a little trickery to do it. Lamenting that only three or four people raise their hands when he asks a questions on current events, \u201cthe next time anybody comes, you raise your hand like you all know\u2026 I know what I\u2019m doin\u2019. I won\u2019t have you picked on unless I know you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

    He also admits to lying for strategic purposes. He\u2019s ready for truth serum that night, he says, and he defends the charge of lack of credibility by saying no one does as little lying as he does, but then adds, \u201cI lie continuously, to help this cause, when I deal with outsiders.\u201d<\/p>\n

    In talking about how they will relate to the Pentecostals, he says later, several people in Jonestown can speak in tongues, because \u201cthere ain\u2019t no such thing as any tongue. It\u2019s just\u201d and then he goes into a sham glossolalia. \u201cIt don\u2019t make any difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Finally, in talking about the death of Plickards Norris, he said that the man\u2019s belief in God extended to referring to Jones as a reverend. \u201cHe even called me reverend. You got to know who I am<\/em>, if you want things out of me. And I\u2019m sure not a reverend.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

    Date of transcription: 6\/18\/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 5, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B100-4. This tape was found to contain the following:<\/p>\n

    Reverend JIM JONES reports that L.C. NORRIS had passed on due to being over-weight and due to maintaining his belief in Jesus. Then there was held criticism of various members on their faults and shortcomings.<\/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\/6\/76 Rally” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":27996,"menu_order":218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-66048","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66048","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=66048"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66141,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66048\/revisions\/66141"}],"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=66048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}