An above-average piece, Mr. Hitchens. But when you talk about the "candidate who followed the 'Rev' Jim Jones to a Kool-Aid Resort...this really happened," are you talking about Rep. Leo Ryan (D-CA), the only member of the U.S. House of Representatives to die in the line of duty? He wasn't joining the cult, he was investigating it.

Hear, hear! I apologize that I did not scroll through the posts prior to mine so I could properly join your thread, Mr Gorenfeld. I cannot imagine whom else Hitchens could have been alluding to, and as you note -- he is grotesquely, ironically far from the mark on this one.

He was not referring to Ryan, but to Mervyn Dymally

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Then Hitchens shouldn't have been cryptic about it. I had never heard of Mervyn Dymally before today, and I consider myself reasonably well informed regarding the People's Temple history. I thought he meant Leo Ryan, too.

But thanks for the link. I'm always interested in learning something new.