Augustana College - Rockety I Yearbook (Rock Island, IL)

Page 13 text:

A Promise for Peace On September 5, 1978. lsraeli Prime Minister Menae chem Begin, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and United States President Jimmy Carter gathered in the moun- tains of Maryland for the Camp David Summit Confer- ence. The goal of the thirteen day meeting was to develop a framework for further negotiations towards a compre hensive peace in the Middle East. Sadat wanted Begin to accept a United Nations resolu- tion as a basis for peace. The resolution stated. essentiai- 1y. that there should be an Israeli withdrawal from the terretories occupied since the War of 1967, Begin was willing to pull out of the Sinai, but said that lsraeii nationat security depended on the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Sadat felt that the Palestinians had the right to self-determination and their own state if they so chose. Begin stated that there would never be a Pales- tinian state. There was a news blackout during the summit confer- ence. Carter announced to a joint session of Congress on September 17 that two agreements had been signed that day: A West Bank agreement and a Sinai agreement. Talks to work out the details of the Camp David agree- ments began on October 12. Carter persuaded Israeli and Egyptian officials to hold the talks in Washington because he wanted to be close at hand to help with any difficulties which might arise. Carter began a round of shuttle diplomacy on March 7. traveling between Cairo and Jerusalem, By March 13, the deadlock was broken. Both Sadat and Begin agreed to an American proposal. The terms of the treaty stated that Israel was to with; draw from the Sinai and that full diplomatic and economic relations were to be established. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank were expected to gain self-rule after the election of an administrative council. Plans called for the United States to guarantee Israeli oil supplies for fifteen years. The United States was also to be responsi- ble for maintaining the momentum of the negotiations concerning the future of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. March 26 was the date of the signing of this treaty. A memorandum agreement was signed by Israel and the United States which guaranteed US. backing of Isra- el. Egypt and Israel were to receive about $5 billion in economic and military aid. The news media reported that President Carter felt there was much to gain through the signing of this treaty. It was believed that if the attempt to sign a treaty were not successful. Egypt would return to the radical Arab point of view. This could have resulted in a fifth Arab- lsraeli war. Failure could also have meant a shift of the strategic balance of power toward the Soviet Union. Suc- cess, it was hoped. would give the United States a chance to build a new security system in the Middle East. introduction 9

Page 12 text:

8 Introduction Peoples Temple His mother. it is said. dreamt she would give birth to a messiah. But cult leader Reverend Jim Jones led over nine hundred members of his Peoples Temple, not to salvation. but to mass suicide in the steamy jungles of South American Guyana, Among the dead was United States Congressman Leo Ryan. whose fact-finding visit to Jonestown, the cult's colony, precipitated the gisley disaster. The son of a friend of Ryan's had been killed. perhaps murdered, the day after he told his father of his intentions to leave the Peoples Temple. Ryan's subsequent investigation yielded accusations by friends and relatives of cult members that the inhabitants of Jonestown were being held prisoner and subjected to physical and psychological torture. YQt the beginnings of the Peoples Temple in Indianapo- lis. Indiana, twenty years earlier. had boded well. Jones. the pastor of a Methodist church, was persecuted for his liberal bent, for his championship of intergration. Disen- chanted. Jones left the Methodists to form his own church based upon equality and love. The Peoples Tem- ple provided needed charitable services; a soup kitchen, aid in finding employment. a nursing home. It was not long, however. before disturbing signs showed that the fruits o! Jone's vision were beginning to sour. Like many cult leaders, Jones began to make profit- able tax-exempt investments. Following the example of the famous black cult leader Father Divine, Jones began to demand great personal ioyalty of his followers: he even set up a committee to interrogate those he suspected of dissent. Jones held his flock together through terror, preying on the cultists' fears of nebulous forces of evil e the Ku Klux Klan, the CIA. He forced members, both male and female. into intimate sexual relationships with him. The horrors oi the Peoples Temple went largely over- looked until 1975, when Jones demonstrated in the San Francisco mayoral election that he could wield consider- able political clout. The press began to take interest in this conspicuously powerful figure. When the New West magazine began a probe potentiat- Iy fatal to the Temple, Jones made tracks for the newly built colony of JOI'IEStOWn. He was followed by about 800 devoted cultists. At Jonestowm the cultists found themselves in a virtual prison camp, with Jones exercising a malignant dictator- ship. The cult's leader strictly regulated all aspects of life in the commune; the disobedient, including naughty chil- dren, were punished by harsh physical and psychological torment. A seventeen year old boy who attempted to escape was beaten unconcious. The inhabitants were se- verely undernourished, and they were not allowed to communicate with their families. Most disturbing of all, Jones began to hold White Nights w drills for mass suicide. The visit of Ryan and his party of nineteen newsmen and relatives of cultists threatened to undermine the ab- solute authority that was so necessary to Jones. The cult leader tried and failed to prevent the visit. Then he had no choice but to mask the horrible reality of Jonestown behind an attractive fiction. Ryan and his party found the communards going about their daily routine, children swinging. women baking bread. Jim Jones' flock appeared to be content. But as the reporters began to explore the commune and ask probing questions, the facade began to crack. Jones be- came increasingly hostile when Ryan and the reporters told him of communards who were begging the party to help them escape. Jones felt cornered, with the world he had ruled beginning to crumble. As Ryan and his party. which now included the six members of the detecting Parks family, were boarding their planes at the nearby Port Kaituma airstrip, cultists opened fire with machine guns, killing Ryan. 56. Mrs. Parks, and three of the newsmen: photographer Greg Robinson of the San Francisco Examiner. and investiga- tive reporter Don Harris and cameraman Robert Brown of NBC's Today show. Meanwhile the inhabitants of Jonestown were carrying out the plan they had practiced in Jones' White Nights. drinking from vats of lemonade laced with drugs and cyanide The leader had such a hold over his flock that many cultists drank the potion willingly; those who did not had it forced down their throats. The Reverend Jim Jones took his own life with a bullet in the head. The troops that arrived the next morning found a camp strewn with corpses already rotting in the tropical heat. The grisly event has led to serious questioning in the United States about other flourishing cults.

Page 14 text:

10 Introduction Wn-w-uv . mv-w-wnx-exwk' ..,. A t - , Nelson Rockefeller There were but few times Nelson Rockefeller was not able to achieve what he wanted. The presidency seemed the only goal beyond his reach. Born on July 8. 1908. son of John D. Rocketeiler Jr., he was an heir to both one of history's greatest fortunes and to one of the 20th century's great philanthropic traditions. In his first try for public office, Rockefeller scored a poiitical upset in 1958 to become governor of New York e an office he would hold for 15 years. Prior to the governorship, he served under Franklin Delano Roosevelt as coordinator of inter- American affairs during World War It. and also as assistant secretary of state. He was undersecretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in 1953-54, speciaI assistant to the president in 1954-55, and chairman of the president's committee on government organization in 1953-58. Rockefeller was considered a possible contender in the 1960 Republican Conventionr but backed away from a show-down fight with Nixon, the party leaders' choice. who lost a narrow decision to a young and charismatic John F Kennedy. Four years later, in 1964, he challenged Senator Barry Goldwater for the Repubiican Presidential nomination. However, the victorious Goldwater was a'Il-too-soon swamped by Lyndon B. Johnson's election bid. In Memoriam After falling short of his goal in 1964. Rockefeller deciared that he would never seek the presidency again. We had my chance, he said. Let others try now. Although seemingly sincere at the time, he was to make but one more try in 1968. Once again, the Oval Office evaded him. Even though he had fought one of the toughest battles of his political career, he had waited too long to enter the race, and Richard Nixon eventually received not only the Republican nomination but also the Presidency. In 1974. the Watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign from office. Ieav'lng the Republican party in shambIes. With the ascension of Gerald Ford to the Oval Office to finish Nixon's term, the nation was in need of a vice-presidential nominee. At the request ot President Ford, and after scrutinizing Congressional inquiries. the steadfast governor of New York was sworn in as vice- president on December 19, 1974, and served until the Republicans were ousted by the Democrats in 1976. Having retired from his life in public office. Rockefeller concentrated his energy on his considerable art Collection. He died on January 29, 1979. having never been given the opportunity to serve his nation in the office he so desperately sought. Even 50. Nelson Rockefeller had left his mark on American politics.