{"id":95023,"date":"2020-02-11T17:51:46","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T01:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=95023"},"modified":"2025-07-02T17:37:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T00:37:29","slug":"jan-13-78-%e2%80%a2-georgetown-state-%e2%80%a2-0180","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=95023","title":{"rendered":"Jan 13, 78 \u2022 Georgetown-State \u2022 0180"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note<\/strong>: The State Department FOIA release of 1981 withheld the name of a relative of a Peoples Temple member from this cable. It is denoted below in red type.<\/p>\n

[The text for this document was released in 2014 by Wikileaks<\/a>. It is also available through the Internet Archive<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

UNCLASSIFIED
\nPAGE 01
\nGEORGE 00180 132026Z
\nACTION SCS-06
\nINFO OCT-01 ARA-14 ISO-00 SSO-00 \/021 W
\n——————010033 132029Z \/44<\/p>\n

P 131422Z JAN 78
\nFM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
\nTO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6024
\nUNCLAS GEORGETOWN 0180
\nDEPT FOR SCS AND ARA\/CAR – TUMMINIA
\nE.O. 11652: N\/A
\nTAGS: CASC: (JOHNSON, BERDA)
\nSUBJECT: W\/W: BERDA JOHNSON
\nREF: (A) 77 STATE 219323<\/a> (B) 77 GEORGETOWN 2265<\/a><\/p>\n

TO: MRS. FRANCES P. BAXTER<\/span>
\n5830 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE<\/span>
\nCULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 90230<\/span>
\nTELEPHONE NO. 213-776-6158<\/span><\/p>\n

1. OUR CONSUL HAD PERSONAL PRIVATE CONTACT WITH YOUR MOTHER<\/span>, MRS. BERDA JOHNSON ON JAN. 11, 1978 AT THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE AGRICULTURAL MISSION. HE IDENTIFIED HER THROUGH HER PASSPORT. YOUR MOTHER<\/span> APPEARED TO BE HEALTHY AND CONTENT. THE CONSUL GAVE HER YOUR LETTER AND HER MONTHLY SOCIAL SECURITY CHECK. MRS. JOHNSON TOLD THE CONSUL THAT SHE WAS ENJOYING HER STAY. WHEN QUESTIONED ABOUT THE DISPOSITION OF HER SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS YOUR MOTHER<\/span> ANSWERED THAT SHE RECEIVES HER MONTHLY CHECKS AND ARRANGES TO HAVE THEM CASHED AT THE NEARBY COMMUNITY OF PORT KAITUMA. SHE IS THEN GIVEN THE CASH WHICH SHE IN TURN THEN GIVES AN UNSPECIFIED AMOUNT TO THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE AS A DONATION. SHE VERY EMPHATICALLY DENIED THAT SHE IS PRESSURED TO GIVE HER ENTIRE PENSION TO THE CHURCH. MRS. JOHNSON INDICATED THAT SHE IS UNCERTAIN<\/p>\n

UNCLASSIFIED
\nUNCLASSIFIED
\nPAGE 02 GEORGE 00180 132026Z<\/p>\n

WHEN SHE WILL RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES. SHE SAID THAT YOU ARE WELCOME TO VISIT HER ANYTIME YOU WISH. I HOPE THE ABOVE INFORMATION CLARIFIES YOUR MOTHER’S<\/span>\u00a0PRESENT THOUGHTS AND DESIRES. PLEASE ACCEPT MY BEST WISHES.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN EMBASSY
\nGEORGETOWN, GUYANA<\/p>\n

2. PRIVACY ACT AUTHORIZATION GIVEN ORALLY BY MRS. JOHNSON FOR THE DEPARTMENT TO PASS INFORMATION TO HER DAUGHTER<\/span>.<\/p>\n

BURKE [U.S. Ambassador John Burke]<\/p>\n

NOTE BY OC\/T: NOT PASSED ABOVE ADDRESSEE.<\/p>\n

UNCLASSIFIED
\nNNN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note: The State Department FOIA release of 1981 withheld the name of a relative of a Peoples Temple member from this cable. It is denoted below in red type. [The text for this document was released in 2014 by Wikileaks. It is also available through the Internet Archive.] UNCLASSIFIED PAGE 01 GEORGE 00180 132026Z […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":94984,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-95023","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95023","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=95023"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131053,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95023\/revisions\/131053"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/94984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}