{"id":68843,"date":"2017-03-15T14:16:46","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T21:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=68843"},"modified":"2019-11-26T10:34:48","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T18:34:48","slug":"q977-summary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=68843","title":{"rendered":"Q977 Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To read the Tape Transcript, click here<\/a>. Listen to MP3 (Pt. 1<\/a>,\u00a0Pt. 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>None<\/p>\n

Date cues on tape:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mid-September 1977 (reference to September 12, 1977 death of South African activist Stephen Biko)<\/p>\n

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

Public figures\/National and international names:<\/em>
\nJimmy Carter, U.S. President [by reference]
\nWarren Burger, Chief Justice of Supreme Court
\nAndrew Young, U.S. Ambassador to U.N.
\nJoseph McCarthy, former U.S. Senator [by reference]
\nJoseph Alioto, former mayor of San Francisco
\nThomas Noguchi, Los Angeles coroner [by reference]<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Patrick Henry, American revolutionary
\nKarl Marx, German economist, father of communism
\nVladimir Lenin, leader of Russian RevolutionReza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran
\nKhalid bin Abdulaziz al Saud, king of Saudi Arabia [by reference]<\/p>\n

Richard Hammerschlag, Univ. of Calif. researcher
\nU. J. Jensen, promoter of cliometrics theory
\nRichard Earhard [phonetic], unknown academic, supporter of Shah
\nAllan Bakke, plaintiff in Bakke case [by reference]
\nLenny Bruce, 60\u2019s comedian\/social commentator<\/p>\n

Lou Gurvich, father of Jonestown resident Jann Gurvich<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jonestown residents, full name unknown:<\/em>
\nBea [several Bea\u2019s and Beatrice\u2019s in Jonestown]
\nSister Bell [three women with last name of Bell or Belle]
\nBilly [many in Jonestown]
\nCarter [likely either Tim or Mike Carter]
\nDanny [several in Jonestown]
\nDorothy [many in Jonestown]
\nSister Grimm [most likely Sue, could be Tina]
\nHelen [several in Jonestown]
\nLois [most likely Ponts, could be Breidenbach]
\nRaymond [likely Raymond McKnight, could be Raymond Fitch]
\nTommy [several Tom\/ Thomas in Jonestown]<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jonestown residents:<\/em>
\nMarshall Farris
\nAmondo Griffith
\nDavid Betts \u201cPop\u201d Jackson
\nDorothy \u201cDee Dee\u201d Macon
\nHenry Mercer
\nLaurence Schacht, Jonestown doctor<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n

(This tape was transcribed by Georgiana Mamlakah<\/em>. The<\/em> editors gratefully acknowledge her invaluable assistance.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Jim Jones leads a meeting of the Jonestown community in mid-September 1977. The gathering takes place within only a few months after the mass migration to Guyana has taken place \u2013 the majority of Jonestown\u2019s population arrived<\/a> in July and August of that year \u2013 but already there have been disappointments and complaints from the membership about the Promised Land, and the reactions to those complaints from the group\u2019s leader already seem dismissive and condescending.<\/p>\n

It is a community forum, and Jones invites the people gathered before him to offer any questions, suggestions or even criticisms of the way things are going. \u201cAny criticism?\u201d he says at one point. \u201cAs long as you do it publicly, we have no objections to it whatsoever.\u201d The tape does not pick up what the people themselves say \u2013 the recording is like overhearing one end of a telephone conversation \u2013 but it does reveal Jones\u2019 responses. The general complaints \u2013 the food they\u2019re eating, the lack of amenities, the desire to return to the US \u2013 will only increase as time goes on, and the responses would become increasingly angry and even threatening. There are a few instances here of Jones flaring up, but at this juncture, he spends more time reminding people of how bad things had been in the States, and of how much worse things are getting. \u201cIt\u2019s a nightmare back there, you oughta be glad you\u2019re settin\u2019 here tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The main complaint Jones himself has is about the complaints themselves, and on more than one occasion, he mocks those who raise the issues, oftentimes by imitating the voices of the seniors who have come up to him. Whether it\u2019s food (\u201cThis rice, there\u2019s bugs in here\u201d) or toilet facilities (\u201cI just can\u2019t stand the smell of shit, Father, I just can\u2019t stand it\u201d) or socialism (\u201cI don\u2019t know why they talking about Lenin all the time, when we got Jesus that we can teach about\u201d), he sets up a straw man and then knocks it down.<\/p>\n

Throughout the evening \u2013 whether in response to a complaint or a commentary upon the news from the States \u2013 he reminds them of how well off they are. \u201cIf we can hold out,<\/em> you\u2019ll see why you\u2019re here. [If] You can hold out, you\u2019ll certainly be thanking and kissing the dirt. \u2026 I think we\u2019ve given enough reasons why<\/em> you should be grateful you\u2019re here.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a bit of unfinished business for Jones, carrying over from the Temple\u2019s departure from San Francisco. The continuing negative publicity rankles him \u2013 \u201cI\u2019ve been gone now nearly four goddamn months. Those sons of bitches still writing about me\u201d \u2013 but he ties it in to his larger message that the United States is morally and economically bankrupt. \u201cThat\u2019s a poverty-stricken people that have to write about Jim Jones four months after he\u2019s gone. Why in the fuck is he haunting them so? It\u2019s sure not because they\u2019re concerned about black<\/em> people, \u2018cause he\u2019s freed so many black people, and given them so much justice and homes, opportunities, and life. So they\u2019re not concerned about the poor. We know<\/em> that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones is also upset with the residuals of Christianity within some of his followers. Early in the tape, he castigates people for \u201cwhispering the Bible verses across to somebody else, telling how you once knew the Lord. \u2026 You never knew the Lord.\u201d Later he attacks the religion itself: \u201cThe name of Jesus has brought more pain and more harm and more heartache and more wars than any<\/em> good that\u2019s ever come out of it. \u2026 More wars, more wars have been fought, more race prejudice been taught, more bigotry has been instilled in the name of Jesus than anything you could think of.\u201d The world would be better off if Jesus had never come along, he adds. \u201cI said I would wish Mary had been \u2026 kicked in the abdomen with a donkey, so Jesus would have been born dead.\u201d He then provides one of his own residuals from the States: \u201cIn fact the only good that ever come out of the name of Jesus is what I brought out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey call us programized because we reject all that nonsense,\u201d he remarks with disdain.<\/p>\n

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

Date of transcription: 7\/6\/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 23, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B110-42. This tape was found to contain the following:<\/p>\n

JIM JONES conducting a people\u2019s rally with criticism of the membership.<\/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

\u00a0<\/strong>Tape originally posted\u00a0March 2017.<\/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,\u00a0Pt. 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: None Date cues on tape:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mid-September […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":27996,"menu_order":650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-68843","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/68843","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=68843"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/68843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93544,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/68843\/revisions\/93544"}],"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=68843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}