Bare-Faced Messiah, FBI Archives SAC, Anchorage

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

SAC, Anchorage

June 16, 1959

[BLACKED OUT]

On June 12, 1959, the above-captioned individual, accompanied by his son,
stopped at the Bureau and inquired if any information could be furnished
him concerning the Academy of Scientology, 1812 19th Street, Northwest,
Washington, D.C., or its founder L. Ron Hubbard. [BLACKED OUT] explained
considerable literature about the Academy is being disseminated in Alaska
and said inquiries have been made of the State Police regarding the
Academy.  He explained a member of the Metropolitan Police Department,
[BLACKED OUT] told him the Academy is one of the worst legal frauds that
Department has ever encountered.  No information was promised to [BLACKED
OUT] however, he was advised if any data could be furnished him it would
be supplied through your office. [BLACKED OUT] were conducted on a special
tour of the Bureau, for which they were most appreciative.

Bufiles show we have conducted no investigation regarding Hubbard or the
Academy of Scientology, however, contain public source data which is set
out below.  You should furnish this information confidentially either to
[BLACKED OUT] or one of his superior officers.  For your information,
[BLACKED OUT] [illegible word] he will return to Anchorage in about two
weeks.

L. Ron Hubbard was the founder and president of the Hubbard Dianetics
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 [illegible] to his inventions of the wheel and the
arch...the intelligent layman can successfully and invariably treat all
psychosomatic ills and inorganic aberra[illegible], according to
Hubbard. "These psychosomatic ills, uniformly [illegible][illegible]

NOTE: See Jones to DeLoach memo dated 6-15-59, captioned [BLACKED OUT]
DWB:cr.
DWB:cr
(4)

[page 2]

Letter to Anchorage
Re: [BLACKED OUT]

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 disgusts...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)

In 1951 the HDRF established national headquarters at Wichita, Kansas,
and sponsored the Allied Scientists of the World, which organization has as
its avowed purpose "to construct and stock a library ... in an atomc
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.'"

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