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40 Years After Jonestown, Moscone and Milk

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San Francisco Housing Commissioner Jim Jones at an anti-eviction rally at the I-Hotel at 848 Kearny Street in Manilatown, Sunday, January 16, 1977. Jones was the leader of the People's Temple and 900 members of the church perished after Jones ordered them to drink cyanide-laced punch.  (Nancy Wong/Wikimedia)

In November 1978, the city of San Francisco was struck by back-to-back tragedies. First, a local religious group became an international story when its leader ordered nearly a thousand of his followers to commit suicide at Jonestown. Then, just nine days later, Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were gunned down in City Hall. On the 40th anniversary of this time of overwhelming grief in San Francisco, we look back on the impact the assassinations had on the city, and we hear the story of one man determined to trace his personal connection back to Jonestown.

Click the play button above to listen to a KQED News special.

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