{"id":96479,"date":"2020-03-17T14:37:38","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T21:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=96479"},"modified":"2026-04-16T18:55:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:55:56","slug":"dec-1-78-%e2%80%a2-0202-%e2%80%a2-state-georgetown-%e2%80%a2-303865","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=96479","title":{"rendered":"Dec 1, 78 \u2022 0202 \u2022 State-Georgetown \u2022 303865"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note<\/strong>: This document was released both as a State Department cable<\/a><\/u> as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 676<\/a><\/u> of the FBI\u2019s RYMUR release. <\/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
\nSTATE 303865
\nORIGIN ARA-15
\nINFO OCT-01 EUR-12 ISO-00 SCS-06 DODE-00 CA-01 CIAE-00
\nINR-10 NSAE-00 SS-15 NSCE-00 SSO-00 ICAE-00
\nINRE-00 H-02 L-03 PA-02 TRSE-00 MCT-02 SY-05
\nUSSS-00 AID-05 \/079 R
\nDRAFTED BY ARA:GBROWN:PGA
\nAPPROVED BY ARA:SGIBSON
\nS\/S-O:JTHYDEN
\n——————038176 010430Z \/14<\/p>\n

O 010202Z DEC 78
\nFM SECSTATE WASHDC
\nTO AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY PANAMA IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY CARACAS IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY LONDON IMMEDIATE
\nAMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO IMMEDIATE
\nFBI WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0047
\nJUSTICE IMMEDIATE
\nCINCSOUTHCOM QUARRY HTS CZ IMMEDIATE
\nCINCMAC SCOTT AFB ILL IMMEDIATE
\nUS REDCOM\/RCJ2 MACDILL AFB FLA IMMEDIATE
\nUSCINCRED FT MCPHERSON GA IMMEDIATE
\nCRD 82ND AIRBORNE CORPS FT BRAGG NC IMMEDIATE
\nUSCINCEUR VAIHINGEN GE IMMEDIATE ATTN J-2
\nUNCLAS STATE 303865
\nE.O. 11652: N\/A
\nTAGS: CASC, GY
\nSUBJECT: PRESS BRIEFING<\/p>\n

THERE WERE NO QUESTIONS ON GUYANA AT THE DEPARTMENT’S <\/p>\n

UNCLASSIFIED
\nUNCLASSIFIED
\nPAGE 02 STATE 303865<\/p>\n

NOON PRESS BRIEFING, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30.<\/p>\n

AT THE PRESIDENT’S PRESS CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 30, ONLY ONE QUESTION ON GUYANA WAS ASKED. FOLLOWING IS TEXT:<\/p>\n

Q: DOES THE NATURE OF THAT CULT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT AMERICA AND SECONDLY WHAT CAN THE GOVERNMENT DO TO AVOID FUTURE JONESTOWNS?<\/p>\n

A: WELL I OBVIOUSLY DON’T THINK THAT THE JONESTOWN CULT WAS TYPICAL IN ANY WAY OF AMERICA. I THINK THESE WERE PEOPLE WHO BECAME OBSESSED WITH A PARTICULAR LEADER’S PHILOSOPHY, THEY WERE OBVIOUSLY MISLED, A TRAGEDY RESULTED, IT DID NOT TAKE PLACE IN OUR OWN COUNTRY. IN RETROSPECT ALL OF US CAN DEPLORE WHAT DID OCCUR. IT’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF OUR COUNTRY TO INVESTIGATE OR TO ISSUE LAWS AGAINST ANY GROUP NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY MIGHT DEPART FROM NORMAL CUSTOM WHICH IS BASED ON RELIGIOUS BELIEF. THE ONLY EXCEPTION IS WHEN THERE IS SOME SUBSTANTIVE ALLEGATION THAT THE ACTIVITIES <\/p>\n

UNCLASSIFIED
\nUNCLASSIFIED
\nPAGE 03 STATE 303865<\/p>\n

OF THOSE RELIGIOUS GROUPS DIRECTLY VIOLATE A FEDERAL LAW. I MIGHT POINT OUT THAT CONGRESSMAN RYAN AND OTHER CONGRESSMEN DID GO TO THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SEVERAL WEEKS OR MONTHS AGO TO GO INTO THE SO-CALLED BRAINWASHING ASPECTS OF A FEW RELIGIOUS CULTS AROUND THE COUNTRY. MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THE SO-CALLED PEOPLE’S TEMPLE WAS NOT ONE OF THOSE THOUGHT BY THEM AT THAT TIME TO BE INDULGING IN BRAINWASHING. IT WAS A RECENT, LATE DEVELOPMENT THAT NO ONE SO FAR AS I KNOW WAS ABLE TO ANTICIPATE OR TO ASSESS ADEQUATELY SO I DON’T THINK THAT WE OUGHT TO HAVE AN OVER REACTION BECAUSE OF THE JONESTOWN TRAGEDY BY INJECTING THE GOVERNMENT INTO TRYING TO CONTROL PEOPLES’ RELIGIOUS BELIEFS; AND I BELIEVE THAT WE ALSO DON’T NEED TO DEPLORE ON A NATIONWIDE BASIS THE FACT THAT THE JONESTOWN CULT, SO CALLED, WAS TYPICAL OF AMERICA, BECAUSE IT IS NOT. END TEXT <\/p>\n

VANCE [CYRUS VANCE, SECRETARY OF STATE]<\/p>\n

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

[Editor\u2019s note: This document was released both as a State Department cable as part of its 1981 FOIA release, and as Serial 676 of the FBI\u2019s RYMUR release. [The text for this document was released in 2014 by Wikileaks. It is also available through the Internet Archive.] UNCLASSIFIED PAGE 01 STATE 303865 ORIGIN ARA-15 INFO […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":96250,"menu_order":104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-96479","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96479","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=96479"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136485,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96479\/revisions\/136485"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}