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Jim Jones | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 13, 1931 Crete, Indiana, United States |
| Died | November 18, 1978 Jonestown, Guyana |
| Cause of death | Gunshot (alleged) |
| Nationality | Statesian |
| Political orientation | Anti-racism (claimed) |
James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was a Statesian mass murderer and leader of the Peoples Temple cult. He told a journalist that, "all my thoughts are coming from the CIA."[1]
Early life[edit | edit source]
Jones was born in 1931 and grew up in Lynn, Indiana. His mother, Lynette, was a prison guard, and his father, James Sr., was a war veteran and KKK supporter. James Jr. graduated from Richmond High School in 1949 and studied law at Butler University.[1]
Peoples Temple[edit | edit source]
Indiana[edit | edit source]
As a teenager, Jones was influenced by a Pentecostal evangelist who promoted faith healing. He began preaching in a Black neighborhood in Richmond and claimed to be able to cure diseases and resurrect the dead. In 1955, he created the Wings of Deliverance church in Indianapolis. He staged false KKK attacks against his church in order to portray himself as a supporter of civil rights. The church, renamed the Peoples Temple, provided social programs to poor people in Indianapolis and served 100 meals a day.[1]
California[edit | edit source]
In July 1965, Jones moved the Peoples Temple to Ukiah, California. In order to gain support from revolutionaries, he criticized the CIA and protested against the Vietnam War. Jones relocated to San Francisco in 1971. He kidnapped Black children from Oakland and sent them to Temple-run foster homes and forced his followers to fight each other in boxing matches. He also raped many of his followers, both men and women. The FBI ignored reports of Jones's crimes.[1]
Jones became friends with many politicians, including Harvey Milk, Governor Jerry Brown, State House Speaker Willie Brown, Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally, and Mayor George Moscone. Moscone appointed Jones to the San Francisco Housing Authority and Human Rights Commission. In 1976, Jones helped organize the turnout for Jimmy Carter's rally in San Francisco and met with future vice president Walter Mondale on his campaign plane.[1]
Guyana[edit | edit source]
See main article: Peoples Temple Agricultural Project
In the mid-1970s, the Peoples Temple bought and cleared land in the jungle of Guyana. In 1978, it relocated to the settlement and named it Jonestown.[1]
Jonestown massacre[edit | edit source]
On 18 November 1918, Jones killed 913 of his followers with cyanide. An audio tape from during the massacre recorded Jones saying, "Get Dwyer out of here before something happens to him."[1]
Disappearance[edit | edit source]
After the Jonestown massacre, Jones sent an uncoded radio message to British Special Forces agent Phil Blakey, telling him to sail his boat from Port of Spain, Trinidad to the mouth of the Waini River, where he was supposed to pick up Jones. Authorities caught Blakey and searched his boat but did not find Jones. Venezuelan border patrol agents saw 30 to 40 people cross the land border into Venezuela shortly after the massacre.[1]
Investigators found a body that they claimed was Jones. It had a gunshot wound in the left side of the head, but the murder weapon was about 60 meters away. The body was missing Jones's tattoos, and its face was unrecognizable due to decay.[1]
Political activity[edit | edit source]
Jones claimed that there was an impending nuclear war and race war and that Black people would be put into concentration camps. In 1960, Jones visited Cuba to recruit African Cubans to his cult. In 1961, he blamed the clergy for the rise of Guyanese Marxist leader Cheddi Jagan, who was fighting for independent against the British. Jones used the Temple to send money to terrorists who started race riots against Jagan's government in February 1962. His CIA overseer Richard Welch introduced him to future Guyanese leader Forbes Burnham, who took power in 1964. In 1975, Jones was seen throwing tear gas at anti-Burnham protestors.[1]
See also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]