Jim Jones

James Warren "Jim" Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American communist and cult leader. Ordained as a Disciples of Christ pastor, Jones founded and led the radical leftist Peoples Temple, often described as having cult-like qualities. In 1978, media reports of human rights abuses in Peoples Temple's Jonestown surfaced. Democratic Congressman Leo Ryan led an investigation into the commune and was murdered while boarding a return flight with defectors. Jones subsequently committed a mass murder-suicide of 918 of his followers in Jonestown, Guyana. Nearly three hundred children were murdered, almost all of them by cyanide poisoning via a Flavor Aid mix. This historical episode gave rise to the ubiquitous American-English expression "drinking the Kool-Aid". Jones was born in Indiana, was influenced by communism as a child, as well as ideas of racial equality, and started the People's Temple in Indiana 1950s. He later moved the Temple to California in the mid-1960s, and gained notoriety with its activities in San Francisco in the early 1970s. A number of high-profile progressive politicians were associated with Jim Jones prior to his murder of Leo Ryan and the Guyana mass murder incident, including future California governor Jerry Brow