Peoples Temple Totally Explained

Everything about Peoples Temple totally explained

Peoples Temple was a cult founded in 1955 by Reverend James Warren Jones (Jim Jones). Peoples Temple is best known for the mass murder/suicide of over 900 of its members that occurred in Jonestown, Guyana, on November 18, 1978. That event also resulted in the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan, the first and only murder of a Congressman in the line of duty in United States history.

Philosophy of the Peoples Temple

The Peoples Temple purported to practice what it called "apostolic socialism." In doing so, the Temple openly preached to established members that "religion is an opiate of the people." Accordingly, "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment -- socialism." In that regard, Jones also openly stated that he "took the church and used the church to bring people to atheism." Jones often mixed those concepts, such as preaching that "If you're born in this church, this socialist revolution, you're not born in sin. If you're born in capitalist America, racist America, fascist America, then you're born in sin. But if you're born in socialism, you're not born in sin."

History before mid-1970s

Jones established what became the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis, Indiana during the 1950s. The church was initially incorporated as the Wings Of Deliverance in 1954. In 1960 the organization affiliated itself with the Protestant denomination, Disciples of Christ. This affiliation was a successful attempt to both raise the dwindling membership and restore the reputation of the group. Beginning in 1967, Jones and his congregation moved to Redwood Valley, California. The Redwood Valley church officially opened in 1969. After Jones began a series of recruiting drives in San Francisco and Los Angeles the membership in the Peoples Temple increased from approximately 700 in 1970 to 2,200 in 1972. Despite exaggerated claims by the Temple, its greatest actual membership was around 3,000.
Jones and his church earned a reputation for aiding the cities' poorest citizens, especially racial minorities, drug addicts, and the homeless. Soup kitchens, daycare centers, and medical clinics for elderly people were set up, along with counseling programs for prostitutes and drug addicts who wanted to change their lives. The Peoples Temple made strong connections to the California state welfare system. During the 1970s, the Peoples Temple owned and ran at least nine residential care homes for the elderly, six homes for foster children, and a state-licensed 40 acre ranch for developmentally disabled persons. They had a college tuition and dormitory program at Santa Rosa Junior College. The Temple elites handled members' insurance claims and legal problems, effectively acting as a client-advocacy group. For these reasons, sociologist John Hall described Peoples Temple as a "charismatic bureaucracy", oriented toward Jones as a charismatic leader, but functioning as a bureaucratic social service organization.
Although some descriptions of Peoples Temple emphasize Jones’ autocratic control over his followers, in actuality it had a complex leadership structure with decision-making power unevenly dispersed among its members. At its core, the Peoples Temple was ruled by Jones and his inner circle, but members of the Planning Commission also had much of the power. The Planning Commission, including approximately 120 members, were responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Temple, including key decision-making, financial and legal planning, and oversight of the organization.

Controversy

In the mid-1970s journalists, law enforcement, and politicians were showing interest in the Peoples Temple. Jones reacted with frequent long and angry speeches to his followers, claiming that the defectors were lying, and the outside world was trying to destroy them. At the same time, an increasing number of former members revealed abuses within the Peoples Temple.
At the same time, unlike most other figures deemed as cult leaders, Peoples Temple leader Jones enjoyed public support and contact with some of the highest level politicians in the United States. For example, in the heat of the 1976 Presidential Campaign, Jones met with Vice Presidential Candidate Walter Mondale on his campaign plane. Likewise, First Lady Rosalynn Carter personally met Jones for a private dinner at the Stanford Court Hotel. Mrs. Carter later called Jones personally. In the 1976 grand opening of the San Francisco Democratic Party Headquarters, Jones packed the audience with Temple members and garnered louder applause when he spoke than Mrs. Carter. Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Govenor Mervyn Dymally and Assemblyman Willie Brown, among others, attended a large testimonial dinner in Jim Jones' honor in September of 1976.

San Francisco Housing Commission And Bay Area political support

In 1975, Willie Brown helped to bring together George Moscone and the Peoples Temple. Thereafter, Moscone held a meeting with Jones and Peoples Temple member Mike Prokes requesting Peoples Temple volunteers for campaign work. After work by the Peoples Temple and votes by Temple members were instrumental in delivering a close victory for Moscone, Moscone appointed Jones as Chairman of the San Francisco Housing Commission.
   In September of 1976, Willie Brown served as master of ceremonies at a large testimonial dinner for Jones, also attended by Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Govenor Mervyn Dymally, among others.
   Willie Brown had visited the Temple perhaps a dozen times, some by invitation and some on his own. Harvey Milk also spoke at political rallies of the Peoples Temple. Willie Brown also interviewed Jim Jones for a television show about the Peoples Temple and stated "You've managed to make the many peoples associated with the Peoples Temple a part of a family. If you're in need of health care, you GET health care. If you're in need of legal assistance of some sort, you get that. If you're in need of transportation, you get that."
   In August of 1977, after Jones had fled to Guyana following an article alleging criminal wrongdoing, numerous politicians attended a rally at the Peoples Temple, including Willie Brown, Harvey Milk and Art Agnos. Moscone's office issued a press release stating "The Mayor's Office doesn't and won't conduct any investigation" because the article was "a series of allegations with absolutely no hard evidence that the Rev. Jones has violated any laws, either local, state or federal." After Congressman Leo Ryan announced that he'd investigate Jonestown after the November 1978 elections, Willie Brown was still planning a fundraising dinner for the Temple that was to be held on December 2, 1978.

Jonestown, Guyana

In 1974, the Peoples Temple signed a lease to rent land in Guyana. Former Temple member Tim Carter describes the reason for this move as "in seventy four (1974), what we saw in the United States was creeping fascism." Carter explained, "It was apparent that corporations, or the multinationals, were getting much larger, their influence was growing within the government, and the United States is a racist place." Carter said the Temple concluded that Guyana was "a place in a black country where our black members could live in peace", "it was a socialist government" and it was "the only English speaking country in South America."
   The town created on this property, Jonestown, had as few as 50 residents in early 1977.
   Increasing media scrutiny based upon allegations by former members placed further pressure on Jones in 1977. In particular, an article by Marshall Kilduff in New West Magazine. Just before publication of the New West Magazine piece, editor Rosalie Wright telephoned Jones to read him the article. Wright explained that she was only doing so before publication because of "all the support letters we received on your behalf, from the Governor of California (Jerry Brown)" and others. While still on the phone listening to the allegations contained in the article, Jones wrote a note to Temple members in the room with him that said "We leave tonight. Notify Georgetown (Guyana)."
   After Jim Jones left for Guyana, he encouraged Temple members to follow him there. The population grew to over 900 people by the end of 1978. Those who moved there were promised a tropical paradise, free from the supposed wickedness of the outside world.
   On November 17, 1978, the group was visited at Jonestown by Leo Ryan, a United States Congressman from San Francisco, California, who was investigating claims of abuse within the Peoples Temple. During this visit, a number of Temple members expressed a desire to leave with the Congressman, and on the afternoon of November 18, these members accompanied Ryan to the local airstrip at Port Kaituma. There they were intercepted by Temple security guards who opened fire on the group, killing Congressman Ryan, three journalists, and one of the Temple defectors. A few seconds of gunfire from the incident were captured on video by Bob Brown, one of the journalists killed in the attack.
   On the evening of November 18, in Jonestown, Jones ordered his congregation to drink cyanide-laced Flavor Aid. Jones was found to have died from a gunshot, with a contact wound in a location and angle consistent with being self-inflicted. His body was also found to contain high doses of drugs. In all, 913 people died, including over 270 children.

Aftermath

Eleven years after the mass suicide at Jonestown, the building housing the Peoples Temple in San Francisco (at 1849 Geary Boulevard in the city's Western Addition neighborhood) sustained structural damage in the Loma Prieta earthquake. Since the owner was unwilling to reinforce the structure, the building was demolished, and the property remained undeveloped until the United States Postal Service opened a post office at the site in the late 1990s.

Similar names

The Peoples Temple isn't to be confused with The Temple of the People, a theosophically-oriented religious organization headquartered at Halcyon, California, or the Peoples Church, an independent church affiliated with the Assemblies of God in Fresno, California.

Quote

"When you meet the friendliest people you've ever known, who introduce you to the most loving group of people you've ever encountered, and you find the leader to be the most inspired, caring, compassionate and understanding person you've ever met, and then you learn the cause of the group is something you never dared hope could be accomplished, and all of this sounds too good to be true-it probably is too good to be true! Don't give up your education, your hopes and ambitions to follow a rainbow." by Jeannie Mills who was an early defector from the Peoples Temple.

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