C h apt er F o ur

Chapter Four

GUYANA

Born in Crete, Indiana, in 1931, Jim Jones was a self-anointed minister who created his first following at twenty-three years old. Having grown up an outcast and an underdog, he was fixated on belonging to something greater and being recognized as someone greater. Eventually, that desire spun into an obsession with controlling a flock of worshippers. He started his proselytizing outside a storefront church in Indianapolis, and by 1955 had formed the Wings of Deliverance church. Although he had no formal training as a minister and no affiliation with any organized religion, his high-octane enthusiasm and open-armed policy attracted a diverse range of followers. His church quickly grew and as one of the first mixed-race churches in Indiana played a part in bringing together a highly segregated Indianapolis. His original ministries emphasized the plight of marginalized individuals, and his early congregation was largely African-American. The church was a model of religious progression, an anomaly in that part of the country. He used his charismatic ministries to preach his "social gospel," stating his noble intention to raise up all those who had been left on the margins of society. He attracted devotees by promoting the creation of a society in which everyone would be treated the same: a

community that did not discriminate or take into account race, background, and previous circumstances.

Over the course of a decade, his congregation moved, accrued members, and changed names several times before settling on Peoples Temple around 1964. That growing community landed in Redwood Valley in Northern California. Beyond the progressive climate of the West Coast, Jones chose a remote hamlet near Ukiah, believing it was one of a few places in the country that could survive a nuclear holocaust. Always preaching promises of salvation from behind his characteristic dim glasses and slicked, dark hair, Jones insisted he was creating a heaven on Earth, and he cast himself in the role of God. Much of his manipulative behavior was overlooked. Even as he began taking property, paychecks, and social security from his members, his impassioned messages and lengthy sermons spoke persuasively of creating love and equality. Join him, he assured his followers, and they would be given healthcare, education, and a family who would never mistreat them.

Around 1972, after almost a decade of intensive development, Jones moved the Temple's headquarters to San Francisco. The city's reputation for welcoming the dispossessed made it the ideal urban base for Jones and his disciples. Based in his three-story building on Geary Street, the headquarters had two sets of locked doors, with guards patrolling the aisles during services and a policy of barring passersby from dropping in unannounced on Sunday mornings--despite Jones's supposed proclamation of inclusion. The tumult of the late sixties and seventies had left masses of people searching for a greater sense of security and for guidance. Though driven by the kind of underlying insecurity that so often fuels tyrants, Jones appeared to offer hope, redemption, and an idealistic new life for his members. He answered those who were seeking

meaning, regardless of their race, age, or history, and bellowed back with a vision for their salvation. Should they have any doubt of his intentions, they could look to the vibrant community of believers who echoed his sentiments and treated his words as gospel.

His church was applauded for its social programs, and Jones's promises to feed the poor and take on segregation found receptive ears with San Francisco's progressive politicians. He became active in local politics, giving money, running food programs, and busing Temple members to rallies and precincts to get out the vote for favored candidates who were running for office. He and the Peoples Temple arguably played a huge role in electing Mayor George Moscone in 1975, then again in defeating a recall attempt in 1977. Several politicians praised Jones, none more effusively than Supervisor Harvey Milk, who went as far as writing a letter to President Jimmy Carter extoling Jones's work. After the 1975 election, Mayor Moscone appointed Jones chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission, even as questions had started swirling about where, or from whom, Jones was getting his money.

By 1977, the Peoples Temple began losing members, and those ex-devotees shared stories about the darker side of the Temple and its haranguing chief. Those stories led to inquiries that would support an expos? on Jones's methods, written by Marshall Kilduff and Phil Tracy of New West Magazine and planned for publication in the summer of 1977. The article dissected Jones's rise, revealing his practices of manipulation, public humiliation, and fake healings. The article also clearly called out the corrupt financial structure and included ex-members' testimonies of sexual assault and brutal beatings by Jones's hand or his command. Before going to print, the editor of the magazine, Rosalie Wright, who held some esteem for Jones, felt compelled to call him, read him the article, and tell him it was going to press. While still on the phone listening to

the allegations that would soon be released to the public, Jones scribbled a note to the Temple

members who were in the room with him: We leave tonight. Notify Georgetown (Guyana).

Before the New West issue had even hit the stands, Jones and hundreds of his followers had left

San Francisco for their promised land in Guyana, on the North Atlantic coast of South America.

Many were eager to be a part of Jones's vision for their remote heaven, while Jones convinced

the more hesitant among them by claiming that America was facing an imminent and devastating

threat from abroad. Jones and his flock of believers settled amid the dense, isolated jungle

terrain, carving out a compound that their self-proclaimed messiah quickly dubbed Jonestown.

***

Before our congressional delegation was set to depart, Congressman Ryan sent the following

telegram, which I helped draft.

November 1, 1978 Reverend Jim Jones Peoples Temple Box 893 Mission Village (Guyana) South America

Dear Rev. Jones, In recent months my office has been visited by constituents who are relatives of

members of your church and who expressed anxiety about mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters who have elected to assist you in the development of your church in Guyana. I have listened to others who have told me that such concerns are exaggerated. They have been supportive of your church and your work. Your effort, involving so many Americans from a single United States geographic location, is unique. In an effort to be responsive to these constituents with differing perspectives and to learn more about your church and its work, I intend to visit Guyana and talk with appropriate government officials. I do so as a part of my assigned responsibilities as a member of the House

Committee on International Relations. Congressman Ed Derwinski (Republican, Illinois), also a member of the committee, and staff members of the committee will be accompanying me. While we are in Guyana, I have asked our ambassador, John Burke, to make arrangements for transportation to visit your church and agricultural station at Jonestown. It goes without saying that I am most interested in a visit to Jonestown, and would appreciate whatever courtesies you can extend to our congressional delegation. Please consider this letter to be an open and honest request to you for information about your work which has been the center of your life and purpose for so many years. In the interest of simplifying communications, it will only be necessary for you to respond to Ambassador John R. Burke at the American Embassy in Georgetown. Since the details of our trip are still being arranged, I am sure the ambassador and his staff will be able to keep you informed. I look forward to talking with you either in Jonestown or Georgetown.

Sincerely yours, LEO J. RYAN Member of Congress

We left Washington on November 14, 1978. When we landed in Georgetown, Guyana's

capital, we were met by dense heat and stifling humidity, made all the more oppressive by the

palpable tension surrounding us. Everybody in the embassy had been made aware that a

congressional delegation was coming to assess the situation, which put them all on edge. The

mood was contagious, a tinderbox of raw nerves that made us all apprehensive. We stayed at the

Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown. There was a little reception, which was terribly uncomfortable, in

part because there were so many of us, but more clearly because everybody knew that we were

unwanted guests who hadn't even received an invitation to Jonestown yet.

The morning after our arrival, Congressman Ryan, Jim Schollaert, and I attended a

closed-door briefing by Ambassador John Burke and his staff at the US Embassy. Dick Dwyer,

an embassy official, showed us a slideshow of his visit to Jonestown from the previous May.

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