And not only was she shot 5 times, she didn't receive medical care for nearly a day.

Literally in machine gun fire and escaped from the landing strip. Something like that wasn't it? She was young and an assistant or something? Can't remember the story. Hair raising nonetheless.

https://www.rollcall.com/news/jonestown-murders-jackie-speier-37-years

Rep. Jackie Speier knows exactly how it feels to be left for dead.

On Nov. 18, 1978, she was shot five times on a remote airstrip in Guyana, South America. Her boss, Rep. Leo J. Ryan and four others lay dead nearby, killed by gunfire as they tried to escape Jonestown, the commune built by cult leader Jim Jones.

Nearly 40 years later, Speier still remembers why she decided to get on a plane to go down on the ill-fated congressional trip.


“Back in 1978, there were not many women in high-ranking positions in Congress," said Speier, who was legislative counsel for Ryan at the time. "I felt if I didn’t go, it would be a step back for women holding these high positions. I thought, 'I can’t not go.'”

So she went, accompanying Ryan and 23 other people to Guyana, on the northeastern coast of South America, attempting to visit Jim Jones and nearly 1,000 followers he’d amassed.

laying on the tarmac. Grisly.

I won't forget Jonestown

The radical Christian extremists want the world to drink the kool-aid and bring on their "rapture". Pence is one of them.

lexicon after Jonestown.

The horror etched it in the memory of anyone who heard, read, or watched the tv coverage. The phrase has been diluted (no pun intended) over time, but it's stuck in the lexicon, I think.

After her recent book was published. What an amazing and horrifying story.

You’re right! I completely forgot about that. Democratic women! Look out MF45...you have no idea what’s waiting for you.

I am so glad you reminded me of her bravery and courage (not to mention her determination)

Thank you, malaise

She lived through unimaginable horror. Riddled with bullets and left for dead for 22 hours before her rescue. To this day I am still astonished that she lived. She is one tough woman.

...hard to say since it's been redistricted several times since the 1970s.

that even after pretending to be dead she was laying on a fire-ant hill but she wasn't complaining. She said that compared to being shot it was nothing.

Thanks!

Not just Jonestown.

I admire her so much.

Responding to Christopher Smith, R, NJ:

Rep. SPEIER: I had a procedure at 17 weeks, pregnant with a child that had moved from the vagina into the cervix. And that procedure that you just talked about was a procedure that I endured. I lost a baby. But for you to stand on this floor and to suggest as you have that somehow this is a procedure that is either welcomed or done cavalierly or done without any thought is preposterous.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=134232655

Didn't know.

What a kick-ass candidate she would be!

https://www.c-span.org/video/?454232-1/qa-representative-jackie-speier



Q&A with Representative Jackie Speier

"Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA) talked about her memoir Undaunted: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back. In 1978, Representative Speier was a congressional staffer working for Representative Leo Ryan (D-CA) who traveled to Jonestown, Guyana, to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by religious cult leader Jim Jones and some of his People’s Temple followers. The investigative team was ambushed by People’s Temple members while boarding a plane to leave, and she was shot five times. Representative Ryan was killed and several others were killed or injured in the attack"

Thanks for sharing. What an amazing woman.

a few years ago, GGU in San Francisco. Her story was eloquent and riveting. I instantly knew who she was. I was in tears before she finished, it was quite moving and inspiring. Yes, pretty sure he doesn’t faze her.

She is proof that we can move on from horrible moments in life - an important message for post-Con USA.

Thank you for posting this. I have always been impressed by Congresswoman Spier

to my dvr. I need a bunch of hours to watch it all, though.

I remember when it happened.

That one stuck

Jackie Speier is badass.

https://www.thetrace.org/2015/11/jackie-speier-politician-shot-jonestown/

USA will survive the Con

Agree 10000% about her miraculous survival at Jonestown.

I remember one where she said the evening before (when she, Ryan and journalists) were listening to music they made and watching them dancing and having dinner with them, that they were still a vibrant community, and she could not have conceived that within 24 hours they would all be dead.

I remember being delighted when she first won a seat in the State Assembly, and later the State Senate, and delighted when she entered Congress. She is the embodiment of a strong women and dedicated public servant. My only regret is that she comes from a huge State, California, which had too few opportunities for her to advance further. With California's population, it should have at least 6 Senators.

That's for sure

I always wondered how people could be so damned gullible...trump proves that kind of crazy still exists today

better than most of us.

Amazing!