Jonestown

The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project was established by the San Francisco-based cult under the leadership of Jim Jones. The settlement became internationally known when, on November 18, 1978, a total of 918 people died at the settlement, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and at a Temple-run building in Georgetown. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations. In total, 909 individuals died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning. Four other Temple members committed murder–suicide in Georgetown at Jones’ command.

About Jonestown in brief

The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project was established by the San Francisco-based cult under the leadership of Jim Jones. The settlement became internationally known when, on November 18, 1978, a total of 918 people died at the settlement, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and at a Temple-run building in Georgetown. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations. In total, 909 individuals died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning. Four other Temple members committed murder–suicide in Georgetown at Jones’ command. The massacre at JonestOWN represented the largest loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until September 11, 2001. The Peoples Temple was formed in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1955. In the early 1960s, Jones visited Guyana – then a British colony – while on his way to establishing a short-lived Temple mission in Brazil. In October 1973, the directors of the Temple passed a resolution to establish an agricultural mission there. The Temple chose Guyana, in part, because of the country’s own socialist politics, which were moving further to the left during the selection process. Former Temple member Tim Carter stated that the group’s view of U.S. politics, and Guyana’s English-speaking government, meshed with Jones’ idea of setting up a commune. Jones thought that Guyana was small, poor, and independent enough for him to obtain official protection and influence for his idea of socialism.

Later, Forbes Burnham stated that Jones may have wanted to use the commune as the basis for the establishment of socialism, and maybe even the use of cooperatives as the way to do it. Jones was a member of the U.N. Security Council and served as Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee of the United Nations. He was also the chairman of the National Council of Churches of America. Jones enjoyed public support and contact with some of the highest level politicians in the United States. He met with vice presidential candidate Walter Mondale and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. He also met with California Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally, and California Assemblyman Willie Brown, among others. Jones and Temple attorney Tim Stoen prepared an ‘immediate action’ contingency plan for responding to a police or media crackdown. The plan listed various options, including fleeing to Canada or to a \”Caribbean missionary post’ such as Barbados or Trinidad. The group’s participation proved instrumental in the mayoral election victory of George Moscone in 1975, and Jones was appointed Jones as the Chairman of The San Francisco Housing Authority Commission. Jones also served as the chair of the Board of Supervisors of the City of San Francisco in the 1970s. He died in a car crash in 1989, and was buried in a plot of land in San Francisco that he had built with Temple members. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son-in-law.

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