Jim Jones Remains Sane

Jim Jones before he became a mad cult leader was actually a civil rights and social justice advocate and a respected clergyman who was given a position in San Francisco's city government. So what if he had remained sane and became a sort of a white Jesse Jackson drawing the ire of conservatives but still in the mainstream?
 
hmm, I dunno if he was ever not insane, it's just that the more power he got the further into his own delusions he fell much like hitler(I do not buy into the "stalingrad breakdown" theory). You may need a personality change to him that prevents him from being the charismatic leader he was OTL. I'm not an expert on this though.
 
hmm, I dunno if he was ever not insane, it's just that the more power he got the further into his own delusions he fell much like hitler(I do not buy into the "stalingrad breakdown" theory). You may need a personality change to him that prevents him from being the charismatic leader he was OTL. I'm not an expert on this though.

Indeed. He was morbid as a child. Supposedly (according to the wiki) he was holding funerals for and even killing animals. That's highly indicative of a pathology. He came from a strained (at best) family background, so an early, early POD would be needed - something well before SF. Maybe if his father hadn't been gassed in WWI?
 
Leo Ryan

1. If Jim Jones stays sane, how does that affect Leo Ryan since he wouldn't have been shot? What would his political future be?

2. The phrase "Drink the Kool Aid" wouldn't exist".
 
Thing is, all indications are he always was a little unhinged, and it only really became obviously so when he'd spent a long time as leader of his cult. The only thing you really could do would be to have him keep a lid on it.

I guess an obvious POD is there being no Jonestown. Having to live in the US rather than in his own little self-made community in Guyana may sufficiently dampen Jones's megalomaniacal tendencies.
 

The Vulture

Banned
Jones was heavily influenced by Father Divine and even claimed to be his reincarnation. Perhaps if Father Divine's ministry is more popular Jones would simply become a rank and file member rather than the head of his own cult and therefore remain controllable?
 
Also, if Jones' ministry gets tied more closely to the government/civil rights movement/mainstream society, if he gets offered the opportunity to become a more prominent political figure, then he would have more incentive to channel his crazy side into a more socially acceptible form of megalomania.
 
1. If Jim Jones stays sane, how does that affect Leo Ryan since he wouldn't have been shot? What would his political future be?

He seems to have been pretty liberal so he might have been a Barney Frank type figure in Congress but he was also investigative of destructive cults which might result in a strange alliance with Evangelical Christians.

As for Jim Jones he seems to have had a lot of political connections: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones

The move of Peoples Temple headquarters to San Francisco in 1975 invigorated Jones' political career. After the Temple served an important role in the mayoral election victory of George Moscone in 1975, Moscone appointed Jones as the Chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission.[41]
Unlike most other figures deemed as cult leaders, Jones was able to gain public support and contact with prominent local and national United States politicians. For example, Jones and Moscone met privately with vice presidential candidate Walter Mondale on his campaign plane days before the 1976 election and Mondale publicly praised the Temple.[42][43] First Lady Rosalynn Carter also personally met with Jones on multiple occasions, corresponded with him about Cuba, and spoke with him at the grand opening of the San Francisco Democratic Party Headquarters where Jones garnered louder applause than Mrs. Carter.[42][44][45]
In September 1976, Willie Brown served as master of ceremonies at a large testimonial dinner for Jones attended by Governor Jerry Brown and Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally and other political figures.[46] At that dinner, while introducing Jones, Willie Brown stated "Let me present to you what you should see every day when you look in the mirror in the early morning hours ... Let me present to you a combination of Martin King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein ... Chairman Mao."[47] Harvey Milk, who spoke at political rallies at the Temple,[48] and wrote to Jones after a visit to the Temple: "Rev Jim, It may take me many a day to come back down from the high that I reach today. I found something dear today. I found a sense of being that makes up for all the hours and energy placed in a fight. I found what you wanted me to find. I shall be back. For I can never leave."[49][50]
In his San Francisco Temple apartment, Jones regularly hosted San Francisco radical political figures such as Angela Davis for discussions.[51] He spoke with friend and San Francisco Sun-Reporter publisher Dr. Carlton Goodlett about Jones' remorse regarding not being able to travel to socialist countries such as China and the Soviet Union, speculating that he could be Chief Dairyman of the Soviet Union.[52] After his criticisms caused increased tensions with the Nation of Islam, Jones spoke at a huge rally healing the rift between the two groups in the Los Angeles Convention center attended by many of Jones' closest political acquaintances.[53]
While Jones forged media alliances with key columnists and others at the San Francisco Chronicle and other media outlets,[54] the move to San Francisco also brought increasing media scrutiny. After Chronicle reporter Marshall Kilduff encountered resistance to publishing an expose, he brought his story to New West Magazine.[55] In the summer of 1977, Jones and several hundred Temple members moved to the Temple's "Agricultural Project" in Guyana after they learned of the contents of Kilduff's article to be published in which former Temple members claimed they were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused.[45][56] Jones named the settlement Jonestown after himself.
 
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