Historical Figure
Jim Jones
1931–1978
American cult leader and mass murderer (1931–1978)
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Biography
James Warren Jones was an American cult leader, preacher, and mass murderer who founded and led the Peoples Temple between 1955 and 1978. Jones and the members of his inner circle planned and orchestrated a mass murder–suicide that resulted in the deaths of over 900 people including 304 children, which he described as "revolutionary suicide", a term coined by Huey P. Newton, in his remote jungle commune at Jonestown, Guyana on November 18, 1978, including the assassination of U.S. congressman Leo Ryan. Jonestown had a defining influence on society's perception of cults.
In Their Own Words (5)
You've seen three people drop dead and you saw them resurrected. Their attitudes were prejudiced and they would drop dead, but I resurrected them. And I've done it sixty-three times in eleven months this year in a public meeting.
Speaking to his followers, quoted in Walliss 2004, p. 49, Chidester 1988, p. 58 , 2004
I have failed [...] I live for my people because they need me. But whenever they leave, they tell lies about the place.
Talking to his attorney Charles Garry after the Leo Ryan visit, quoted in Walliss 2004, p. 71 , 2004
My whole life I have suffered from poverty and have faced many disappointments and pain, like a man is used to. That is why I want to make other people happy and want them to feel at home.
(1978). Translated back from Dutch to English, indirectly sourced, Messiahs: The vision and prophecies for the Second coming by John Hogue , 1978
The young preacher once threw his Bible to the floor and yelled at his associates, "Too many people are looking at this instead of looking at me!"
Quoted in "Messiah from the Midwest" Time (December 4, 1978) , 1978
Our government does not love its people.
1974 sermon, quoted in Walliss 2004, p. 50 , 1974
Timeline
The story of Jim Jones, told in moments.
Founded the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis. Drew followers with a racially integrated congregation, radical for 1950s Indiana. Claimed faith healing powers.
Moved 900 followers to a jungle compound in Guyana he called Jonestown, fleeing media investigations into abuse at the San Francisco church.
Ordered the mass murder-suicide at Jonestown. 909 people died, including 304 children, from cyanide-laced punch. Congressman Leo Ryan was murdered on the airstrip hours earlier. Jones died from a gunshot.
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