Congresswoman Jackie Speier: Undaunted

In Deep with Angie Coiro: Interviews

Show #226 | Guest: Jackie Speier | Show Summary: Congresswoman Jackie Speier, national hero and survivor of the Jonestown tragedy, reflects on over 40 years of public service. As a young congressional staffer, Jackie Speier’s incredible courage became evident during the Jonestown Massacre of 1978. Jackie was one of two people who prepared a will in anticipation of that trip to save cult defectors in Guyana, after rumors of abuse in the People’s Temple compound. On the day that Jim Jones’ group attacked then-Congressman Leo Ryan’s staff on an airport tarmac in South America, Jackie survived five separate gunshot wounds and a 22-hour wait for rescue, only to undergo two months of treatment and 10 surgeries in the aftermath. Five died, and nine were injured and left to die on that tarmac; mere miles away, another 900 perished in the murder-suicide that would be one of the largest mass deaths in history. Jackie refused to be merely a survivor of that incident. Unbowed, she campaigned her way onto the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, the California State Assembly, the State Senate and, in 2008, the United States Congress. Through tragedies personal and national in scope, this lionheart chose consistently to build the world around her rather than grieve it. As an advocate, she fights for consumer protection, child safety, women’s rights, financial privacy, justice, and human rights. Jackie’s memoir, Undaunted, tells that complete story for the first time.