FROM THE FILES OF THE FBI #10
February 28, 1957
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL [last word crossed out]
Honorable Styles Bridges
United States Senate
Washington, D.C.
Dear Styles:
Your letter of February 22, 1957, with enclosure, has been
referred to me by Mr. Nichols, and I appreciate your interest
in bringing this matter to our attention. For your personal
information, the FBI has received numerous inquiries concerning
Lafayette Ron Hubbard and the system of "dianetics" which he
apparently originated, but no allegation of a violation within the
jurisdiction of this Bureau has been received and, consequently,
no investigation of this matter has been conducted by the FBI.
Corporation records for the State of New Jersey show that the
Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation, Inc., was incorporated on
June 1, 1950, for the alleged purpose of furthering the work of
Hubbard, whose book entitled "Dianetics" had been published in
1948. The Foundation has reportedly encountered difficulty with
police authorities in New Jersey, Michigan and Washington, D.C.,
for allegedly conducting schools in those areas, in which a branch
of medicine and surgery was taught without a license.
"The Washington Times Herald" for April 24, 1951, carried an
article captioned "Wife Accuses Mental' Expert of Torturing Her."
According to this article, Mrs. Sara Northrup Hubbard, age
twenty-five, filed a suit for divorce against L. Ron Hubbard in
which
NOTE: See Jones to Nichols memorandum dated February 27, 1957,
captioned "Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation, Lafayette Ron
Hubbard, Request for Information by Senator Styles Bridges, "
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[page 2]
Honorable Styles Bridges
she claimed he had subjected her to "scientific torture
experiments." She claimed that he had tortured her through denial
of sleep, beatings, strangulations and suggestions that she kill
herself. As a consequence, she stated that she considered Hubbard,
then forty years of age, "hopelessly insane." According to the
article, "Competent medical advisers recommended that Hubbard be
committed to a private sanitarium for psychiatric observation and
treatment of a mental ailment known as paranoid schizophrenia." It
was also alleged that the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation,
which dealt with the "modern science of mental health, " did more
than one million dollar business in 1950.
I am returning [BLACKED OUT] letter which you enclosed since you
may have further use for it, and I hope the above will be of some
assistance to you in this connection.
Sincerely,
Edgar
Enclosure
