Essay On The Jonestown Massacre

Essential Question #3: What was Jonestown Massacre’s impact on American History? Tragedy hit the United States all around, families were mourning their loved ones lost to this mass suicide and the government mourning the death of congressman Ryan and crew. This was one of the largest death counts to affect America in this time period. Over 900 American lives were lost to a cause that seemed out of reach. In addition to the many negative effects this unfortunate event had on America, positive effects came about. Both positive and negative, the Jonestown Massacre will forever leave its impact on American history.
With all major events come life lessons. America was given a lesson on how to deal with cults in the future due to this horrific event. According to Lori Curran, Religious theory examiner, “What we learned from the events leading to the mass murder in
Specifically a cult that was located in Waco, Texas. David Koresh, the leader of this cult, has been compared to Jim Jones many times. They have similar views and actions upon their influences with their followers. Los Angeles Times staff writer, Tim Reiterman, explains, “Though separated by nearly 15 years and thousands of miles, Jonestown, guyana, and Waco, Texas were the tragic culminations of hauntingly similar events shaped by two eccentric preachers who pretended to be more than mortal”(Reiterman). The similarities between these two events are not able to be missed. As Jonestown was the first of its kind to affect Americans, this event sparked the future tragedies to appear. Religious cults that were similar to Jonestown could have modelled and conformed after the horrific events. As Jonestown ended with over 900 american lives lost, Waco only had a death count of 78, which is very tragic but not as large. The Jonestown Massacre continues to affect American history and has made its large longstanding