There is an election scheduled to take place tomorrow along the San Francisco peninsula. Most of the state won’t take notice and the outcome of the race does not appear to be in doubt. The special election is the result of the passing of Rep. Tom Lantos who was the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress.
But the person who will replace Lantos is also a survivor. Her name is Jackie Speier and her expected victory on Tuesday will the end point of a remarkable journey that started in Washington 30 years ago and nearly ended in the jungles of north- coastal South America.
In 1978 Speier was working in Washington D.C. as an aide for bay area congressman Leo Ryan. Then just 26 years old the young staffer accompanied Ryan on a fact finding trip to Guyana. Ryan had gone to investigate a commune that had been built in by a charismatic San Francisco cult leader named Jim Jones. Jones had brought his “People’s Temple” commune to San Francisco years earlier and had developed relationships with political leaders in the city. Mayor George Moscone had appointed him to the city parks commission (People’s Temple members were often used to help fill auditoriums for political events. I experienced that first hand when as a college student I helped “advance” an event for Vice President Walter Mondale in the Hall of Flowers at Golden Gate Park. PT members were used to “pack the house”.)
Under investigation for tax fraud Jones decided to move his cult to a place where “his people could live in peace.” Eventually he convinced over 900 of his followers to leave their bay area homes to “Jonestown”, an isolated commune in the middle of the jungle of northern Guyana. Slowly word started to spread back in the Bay Area that members of the cult were being mistreated and were being kept against their will.
Rep. Ryan and a young Ms. Spiere decided to investigate. There were a total of 18 in the party that visited the commune including a crew and correspondent from NBC News.
By the time the visit was over Leo Ryan would be dead along with NBC News correspondent Don Harris and photographer Bob Brown. Jackie Speier was shot and left for dead on the tarmac of a small jungle landing strip. The attackers, who had been sent by Jim Jones returned to the commune where over 900 people, including several hundred children, would either be murdered or commit suicide. It may have happened a continent away but to this day Jonestown haunts San Francisco.. as it does Jackie Speier. This week, 30 later she will finally be replacing her murdered boss in Congress.
The Wikipedia entry appears to be an accurate rendition of the events of November 18, 1978. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown
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