![]() ![]() In October 1973, the directors of the Temple passed a resolution to establish an agricultural mission there. For its Caribbean missionary post, the Temple quickly chose Guyana, conducting research on its economy and extradition treaties with the U.S. The plan listed various options, including fleeing to Canada or to a "Caribbean missionary post" such as Barbados or Trinidad. In the fall of 1973, after critical newspaper articles by Lester Kinsolving and the defection of eight Temple members, Jones and Temple attorney Tim Stoen prepared an "immediate action" contingency plan for responding to a police or media crackdown. Jonestown established Selection and establishment of Guyanese land Guests at a large 1976 testimonial dinner for Jones included Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally, and California Assemblyman Willie Brown, among others. Increasing public support in California gave Jones access to several high-ranking political figures, including vice presidential candidate Walter Mondale and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. After the group's participation proved instrumental in the mayoral election victory of George Moscone in 1975, Moscone appointed Jones as the Chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission. With the move to San Francisco came increasing political involvement by the Temple and the high levels of approval they received from the local government. In the early 1970s, the Temple opened other branches in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and would eventually move its headquarters to San Francisco. Jim Jones, founder of the Peoples Temple.Īfter Jones received considerable criticism in Indiana for his integrationist views, the Temple moved to Redwood Valley, California, in 1965. Guards armed with guns and crossbows had been ordered to shoot anyone who attempted to flee the settlement as Jones lobbied for suicide. Seventy or more individuals at Jonestown were injected with poison, and a third of the victims (304) were minors. In contrast, most sources today refer to the deaths with terms such as mass murder-suicide, a massacre, or simply mass murder. Many contemporary media accounts after the events called the deaths a mass suicide. Terms used to describe the deaths in Jonestown and Georgetown have evolved over time. Four other Temple members committed murder-suicide in Georgetown at Jones' command. The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others by Temple members at Port Kaituma, including Congressman Leo Ryan, an act that Jones ordered. In total, 918 individuals died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, a significant number of whom were injected against their will, in an event termed "revolutionary suicide" by Jones and some Peoples Temple members on an audio tape of the event, and in prior recorded discussions. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations. Jonestown became internationally infamous when, on November 18, 1978, a total of 909 people died at the settlement, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and at a Temple-run building in Georgetown, Guyana's capital city. The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name " Jonestown", was a remote settlement in Guyana established by the Peoples Temple, a U.S.-based cult under the leadership of Jim Jones. ![]() Class=notpageimage| The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project's places of interest in Guyana ![]()
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