disability. No doubt these ‘miracles’ had been fixed in advance by Jim Jones, but they had the desired effect and more people came.
A C LAIM T OO FAR
But things got out of hand. Perhaps encouraged by Jones, the followers at The People’s Temple began to make claims that not only was their reverend curing the sick, but that he had actually brought no less than 40 of the faithful back from the dead. This attracted the unwanted attentions of the State Board of Psychology. Sensing the urgency and possible danger of this situation, Jim Jones gathered his followers together and fled for the Redwood Valley near Ukiah, California. It was a wise decision. As it was the mid-’60s and a haven for hippies and drop-outs, Jim Jones and The People’s Temple slipped in unnoticed and were left entirely to their own affairs.
C HARITY W ORK
Wisened by the brush he had with the authorities and the negative reports he had been subjected to in the media however, Jim Jones decided to safeguard himself against the possibility of such damaging press occurring again. He ingratiated himself with the local community by telling his congregation to take unpaid charity work, and to offer their homes up to foster children. Jones himself turned his attention to influential politicians and before long had been proclaimed foreman of the County Grand Jury. His only aim in acquiring this political power, he declared, was to use it to enforce greater social equality. In order to help him, citizens were asked to make donations to The People’s Temple, which consequently became a state-registered, tax-exempt religious body.
As Jones’s finances grew, he was able to establish a new church in San Francisco for his now 7,500-strong congregation. He never failed to impress as officials and the press watched on to see him distributing food and care for the poor and disadvantaged on a daily basis.
As more and more people handed over their income and life savings to The People’s Temple, not only did Jones’s finances grow, but his name spread far and wide too. His attentions now turned to South America, and to the starving children he believed he could ‘help’ out there. In particular, he wanted to spread his aid to Guyana. He was supported in this endeavour not only by his own followers, but now by the politicians and civic leaders who looked to this exemplary missionary and praised his ceaseless fight for the poor and underprivileged of the world.
T HE R OAD TO ‘ J ONESTOWN’
Perhaps carried away by his own phenomenal success however, Jim Jones began to get more and more extreme and puritanical in his views and preachings. He gave lengthy sermons about the evils of sex, and was beginning to encourage some of the married couples in the church to divorce so that he could choose more suitable partners for them from the Temple. As leader, he claimed he had the right to have sex with any of the female members he chose and forced them into many sexual acts against their will. He abused them sexually, and enjoyed watching them suffer physical abuse too. He would arrange fights, partnering children against adults to see the young ones knocked out. Some kids were tortured with cattle prods.
Yet he was still the golden boy in the eyes of the press. He kept the journalists away from some of the more sinister goings-on in the Temple by diverting their attention with the Temple Awards, huge financial rewards for reporters who had made ‘outstanding journalistic contributions to peace and public enlightenment’. The police department was also on his side, as grateful as they were for the charitable contributions he was making to the families of police officers who had lost their husbands, sons and fathers in the line of duty.
The bubble was about to burst though. News of Jim Jones’s remarkable, altruistic mission was spreading far and wide and it came to the attention of the White House that perhaps a little more
A C LAIM T OO FAR
But things got out of hand. Perhaps encouraged by Jones, the followers at The People’s Temple began to make claims that not only was their reverend curing the sick, but that he had actually brought no less than 40 of the faithful back from the dead. This attracted the unwanted attentions of the State Board of Psychology. Sensing the urgency and possible danger of this situation, Jim Jones gathered his followers together and fled for the Redwood Valley near Ukiah, California. It was a wise decision. As it was the mid-’60s and a haven for hippies and drop-outs, Jim Jones and The People’s Temple slipped in unnoticed and were left entirely to their own affairs.
C HARITY W ORK
Wisened by the brush he had with the authorities and the negative reports he had been subjected to in the media however, Jim Jones decided to safeguard himself against the possibility of such damaging press occurring again. He ingratiated himself with the local community by telling his congregation to take unpaid charity work, and to offer their homes up to foster children. Jones himself turned his attention to influential politicians and before long had been proclaimed foreman of the County Grand Jury. His only aim in acquiring this political power, he declared, was to use it to enforce greater social equality. In order to help him, citizens were asked to make donations to The People’s Temple, which consequently became a state-registered, tax-exempt religious body.
As Jones’s finances grew, he was able to establish a new church in San Francisco for his now 7,500-strong congregation. He never failed to impress as officials and the press watched on to see him distributing food and care for the poor and disadvantaged on a daily basis.
As more and more people handed over their income and life savings to The People’s Temple, not only did Jones’s finances grow, but his name spread far and wide too. His attentions now turned to South America, and to the starving children he believed he could ‘help’ out there. In particular, he wanted to spread his aid to Guyana. He was supported in this endeavour not only by his own followers, but now by the politicians and civic leaders who looked to this exemplary missionary and praised his ceaseless fight for the poor and underprivileged of the world.
T HE R OAD TO ‘ J ONESTOWN’
Perhaps carried away by his own phenomenal success however, Jim Jones began to get more and more extreme and puritanical in his views and preachings. He gave lengthy sermons about the evils of sex, and was beginning to encourage some of the married couples in the church to divorce so that he could choose more suitable partners for them from the Temple. As leader, he claimed he had the right to have sex with any of the female members he chose and forced them into many sexual acts against their will. He abused them sexually, and enjoyed watching them suffer physical abuse too. He would arrange fights, partnering children against adults to see the young ones knocked out. Some kids were tortured with cattle prods.
Yet he was still the golden boy in the eyes of the press. He kept the journalists away from some of the more sinister goings-on in the Temple by diverting their attention with the Temple Awards, huge financial rewards for reporters who had made ‘outstanding journalistic contributions to peace and public enlightenment’. The police department was also on his side, as grateful as they were for the charitable contributions he was making to the families of police officers who had lost their husbands, sons and fathers in the line of duty.
The bubble was about to burst though. News of Jim Jones’s remarkable, altruistic mission was spreading far and wide and it came to the attention of the White House that perhaps a little more
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