May 13, 1931 - Jim Jones
What distinguished Jones from other authoritarian religious leaders was the completeness of the control he achieved — over finances, families, and ultimately life itself — within a community that had drawn in thousands of genuine believers seeking racial equality and social justice. His trajectory from Pentecostal faith healer to the architect of one of the largest mass deaths in American history unfolded over decades, with warning signs visible at each stage. The Jonestown massacre of 1978, in which more than 900 people died — over a third of them children — remains the defining event of his legacy.
From Wikipedia
James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) 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.
As a child, Jones developed an affinity for Pentecostalism and a desire to preach. He was ordained as a Christian minister in the Independent Assemblies of God, attracting his first group of followers while participating in the Pentecostal Latter Rain movement and the Healing Revival during the 1950s. Jones's initial popularity arose from his joint campaign appearances with the movement's prominent leaders William Branham and Joseph Mattsson-Boze, and their endorsement of his ministry. Jones founded the organization that became the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis in 1955. In 1956, he began to be influenced by Father Divine and the Peace Mission movement.
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