{"id":66840,"date":"2016-05-02T11:41:30","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T18:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=66840"},"modified":"2016-05-03T13:44:38","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T20:44:38","slug":"q616-summary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=66840","title":{"rendered":"Q616 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>. To read the Edited Transcript, click here<\/a>.
Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1<\/a>, Pt. 2<\/a>). To return to the Tape Index, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FBI Catalogue<\/strong>\tIdentified Individuals Speaking<\/p>\n

FBI preliminary tape identification note:<\/strong> One Scotch C-90\/ “Stephen Jones 14 August 1978”<\/p>\n

Date cues on tape:<\/strong>\tThe contents of the tape are consistent with the identification note<\/p>\n

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

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

Johnny Spain, member of Black Panther Party
\nVictor Jara, Chilean singer<\/div>\n

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

Suzanne Jones Cartmell (by reference)<\/div>\n

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

Johnny (probably Johnny Moss Brown Jones, could be Johnny Cobb) <\/div>\n

 
\nJonestown residents:<\/em><\/p>\n

Shirley Ann Edwards [by reference]
\nDavid George
\nRonnie James
\nJim Jones Jr.
\nLew Jones
\nMarceline Jones [by reference]
\nStephan Jones (speaks)<\/strong>
\nRichmond Stahl
\nTim Swinney<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

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

(Editor\u2019s note: Because of the many verbal fillers and false starts in the original transcript, a version of this tape edited for clarity appears here<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

In this wide-ranging conversation taped as part of a Temple project to assemble a biography of its leader Jim Jones, Stephan Jones \u2013 Jim and Marceline\u2019s only biological son \u2013 reflects on his own development as boy and teenager. He talks about growing up in the Jones family, about his family\u2019s exposure to real poverty in Brazil, about being a young elementary school pupil from a family that was so different from kids around him, about an assassination attempt on his father in Redwood Valley, about the early years in Jonestown, and about the inspiration and lessons his father gave him in his development in a leadership role in the community. More than anything else, though, the theme of the interview is one of a son\u2019s respect, love and loyalty to his father, and of wanting to be by his side through his tribulations, even at the moment of his father\u2019s death (although the contextual note beginning four paragraphs below should also be given serious, and perhaps overriding, consideration over what immediately follows).<\/p>\n

The expressions of Stephan\u2019s respect, love and affection permeate the conversation, and the son says more than once how he views his father as a role model and example to be emulated. His father was an \u201cidentification point\u201d for him in the turmoil of his own life, and he hopes the young men of Jonestown similarly see himself as their identification point.<\/p>\n

The love has its accompanying jealousy. He was on security \u2013 and thereby apart from his father \u2013 during the crisis known as the Six Day Siege, and not only lamented that he wasn\u2019t joining Jim Jones in his final fight, but was upset that his brothers were the ones to have that privilege.<\/p>\n

He admits that he has been hostile through much of his life, and resented the people who vied for his father\u2019s attention or who benefited from his gifts without enduring what the family had endured. \u201cI felt that they had rode in on Dad\u2019s love and his compassion\u2026 We\u2019d had to suffer with Dad, so it was like, we\u2019d paid for the love we got, and I always felt like they just got it, and I resented it.\u201d It took the Six Day Siege to remove that hostility: \u201cI felt like they were now experiencing, what I\u2019d experienced in my 19 years, and I felt now that maybe they\u2019d be more appreciative of what they had, and I felt they deserved it more now.\u201d For that reason, he says, he considers the crisis to have been \u201ca hell of a blessing, because it brought me back to reality, it brought me closer to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

An alternative analysis of the tape comes from Stephan Jones. In several emails from April 2016 \u2013 when this tape was transcribed \u2013 Stephan notes that his interview, and the larger biographical project for which it was supposed to be a part, was as much of a performance piece as were some of his father\u2019s posturings, whether the latter be sermons before the Temple congregation, meetings of the Jonestown community, or converations with government officials in Guyana. He knew his father would hear the tape, and he also knew his father\u2019s state of mind as the summer of 1978 drew to a close. <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone said only what they thought Dad would want to hear when they found themselves speaking into a microphone, especially when questions are being asked by Dad or his representatives,\u201d Stephan writes. \u201cOf course, some of us had our confrontational exceptions in meetings, but those who did knew to pick their fights and, although they often failed to stand their ground and speak their minds when they should have, an \u2018interview\u2019 like this would not have been a time to do so. In fact, it would be an opportunity to deflect scrutiny. <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, there’s no doubt some truth laced throughout the words. For example, I remember painting Dad’s shaming tactics in a good light and talking about his constant, domineering, overshadowing presence as if it was engaged parenting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to live with what we and our lives had become,\u201d he continues, \u201cas we crafted our pleasing stories, a part of us wanted them to be true and, in some cases were our greatest deceiver. And to effectively pull off this inward and outward deception, at least a bit of what we said had to be true.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Date of transcription: 3\/8\/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 March 6, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B47-60. This tape was found to contain the following:<\/p>\n

A Caucasian male, possibly JIM JONES\u2019 son, talking about his years growing up around his father. The male is being interviewed by an unknown female and the tape also contained music.<\/p>\n

This tape was reviewed, and nothing was contained thereon which was considered to be of evidentiary nature or beneficial to the investigation of Congressman RYAN.<\/p>\n

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

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

\u00a0Tape originally posted May 2016<\/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. To read the Edited Transcript, click here. Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1, Pt. 2). To return to the Tape Index, click here. FBI Catalogue Identified Individuals Speaking FBI preliminary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":27996,"menu_order":402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-66840","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66840","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=66840"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66884,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66840\/revisions\/66884"}],"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=66840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}