Bare-Faced Messiah, FBI Archives Letter from FBI

From the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.

3 - orig & 2
   - yellows
1 - Boardman
1 - Belmont
1 - Huelskamp

April 5, 1957

THE HUBBARD ASSOCIATION OF SCIENTOLOGISTS INTERNATIONAL

[BLACKED OUT] A check of our records reflects the following information
concerning captioned organization and its founder L. (Lafayette) Ron
Hubbard.

L. Ron Hubbard was the founder and president of the Hubbard Dianetic
Research Foundation, Inc. (HDRF), which was incorporated in New Jersey
during April, 1950/ (62-94080)

The December 5, 1950, issue of "Look" magazine contained an article
entitled "Dianetics - Science or Hoax?" which reflected that L. Ron
Hubbard was an obscure writer of pseudoscientific pulp fiction prior to
the publishing of his book entitled "Dianetics."  Hubbard's book asserts
that "the creation of dianetics is a milestone for Man comparable to his
discovery of fire and superior to his invention of the wheel and the
arch...the intelligent layman can successfully and invariably treat all
psychosomatic ills and inorganic aberrations," according to Hubbard.
"These psychosomatic ills, uniformly cured by dianetic therapy, include
such varied maladies as eye trouble, bursitis, ulcers, some heart
difficulties, migraine headaches and the common cold."  According to the
article, Hubbard's book has "outraged scores of psychiatrists,
biochemists, psychologists, physicians and just-plain-ordinary
scientists, who look upon the astounding claims and the growing
commercial success of this strange new phenomenon with awe, fear and a
deep disgust...Hubbard's greatest attraction to the troubled is that his
ersatz psychiatry is available to all.  It's cheap.  It's accessible.
It's a public festival to be played at clubs and parties."  (62-94080)

During March, 1951, the Board of Medical Examiners, State of New Jersey,
had a case against the HDRF scheduled for trial on the grounds that the
organization was conducting a school, teaching a branch of medicine and
surgery, without a license.  (62-94080)

1 [BLACKED OUT]
1 - Foreign Liaison Unit

NOTE ON SECOND PAGE

BLH:awj (10)

62-94080

[page 2]

In 1951 the HDRF established national headquarters at Wichita, Kansas,
and sponsored the Allied Scientists of the World, which organization had
as its avowed purpose "to construct and stock a library ... in an atomic
proof area where the culture and technology of the United States could
be stored in a state of use by science and preserve it in case of attack."
(62-95972)

The April, 24, 1951, issue of the "Times Herald," Washington, D.C.,
reflected that Hubbard's wife charged in a divorce suit that "competent
medical advisors recommended that Hubbard be committed to a private
sanitarium for psychiatric observation and treatment of a mental ailment
known as paranoid schizophrenia."  (62-94080)

Allegedly during 1952, Hubbard formed the Hubbard Association of
Scientologists, an Arizona corporation, and reverted "dianetics" back to
its original name, "scientology."  Thereafter, offices were opened in
New Jersey and London, England.  (62-94080)

During the early part of 1956, HDRF, Silver Spring, Maryland, was
circulating a pamphlet entitled "Brain-Washing, A Synthesis of the
Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics."  According to the book,
psychopolitics is the "art and science of asserting and maintaining
dominion over the thoughts and loyalties of individuals, officers,
bureaus, and masses, and the effecting of the conquest of enemy nations
through mental health.'"

NOTE:

Bufiles reflect that Hubbard appeared at the Bureau and was interviewed
on March 1, 1951.  Hubbard furnished information regarding alleged
communist infiltration into his organization.  Thereafter, he
corresponded with the Bureau re individuals in his organization whom he
believed to be communists.  Attached to Hubbard's July 11, 1955, letter
is a notation [BLACKED OUT] This letter and subsequent letters were not
acknowledged. Bufiles also reflect numerous inquiries made of the Bureau
and by the Bureau concerning Hubbard's activities.  (62-94080)