Hello friends and welcome back to our series on the 1970s, Mayhem.

If any year lives up to that name, it is 1978.

And today we're going to explore three headline-making stories about a religious leader, a presidential would-be peacemaker,

and a politician central to the early LGBTQ-plus rights movement. All three of these men share

two important elements, power and a commitment to bring their vision to fruition. But before we begin, I want to offer a quick content warning that we are covering events

involving things like physical violence, drug use, death by suicide, and murder today.

So you may want to listen on your own before allowing young children to hear this episode.

I'm Sharon McMahon, and this is the preamble podcast.

During the 1930s and 40s in a small Indiana town whose main industry was coffin making,

a young, unwanted, and woefully neglected boy grew up in dire poverty. His father was disabled after having

been harmed by mustard gas in World War I. His mother had no interest in children, including

her own. So the boy left to his own devices engaged in some childhood play, you know,

sneaking into the coffin manufacturer and daring other kids to climb into coffins to play dead.

He held funerals for roadkill, and insects, and anything else he could find.

The boy's name was Jim Jones, and his childhood was anything but typical.

Often banished from his own home when his mother was working, Jim was a regular

fixture around their neighborhood. He was a kid for whom other adults had pity and other families

regularly fed him. Jim was always careful to praise their cooking and thank them profusely for

their meals, claiming it was the best he had ever eaten.

Polite, yes, but also Jim quickly figured out, as do many people who grew up in unstable

families, so that certain behaviors helped them get their needs met.

If, say, little Jim raved about Mrs. Thompson's Meatloaf, then maybe the next time she made it

...