FROM THE FILES OF THE FBI 274
1 - Mrs. Larson
February 22, 1974
HUBBARD ASSOCIATION OF SCIENTOLOGISTS INTERNATIONAL
Also Known As: Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation
In response to your name check request, you are advised that although the
captioned organization has not been the subject of an investigation
conducted by the FBI our files reveal the following information concerning
the captioned organization and its founder, Lafayette Ron Hubbard.
L. Ron Hubbard was the founder and president of the Hubbard Dianetic
Research Foundation (HDRF), which was incorporated in New Jersey during
April, 1950.
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 pseudescientific [sic] 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 inventions 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 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."
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.
Original and 1 - NSA
Request received 2/12/74.
PJL:ysc
This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusion of the FBI.
It is the property of the FBI, and is loaned to your agency; it and its
contents are not to be distributed outside your agency. This reply is
result of a check of FBI investigative files. To check arrest records,
request must be submitted to FBI Identification Division. Fingerprints
are necessary for positive check.
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Hubbard Association of Scientologists International
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.
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." Mrs. Hubbard claimed he was "hopelessly
insane."
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.
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.' "
In January, 1963, the Food and Drug Administration directed a raid against
the Academy of Scientology in Washington, D.C., in which machines used by
the Academy in the practice of scientology were seized. It was alleged
that these machines, known as "Hubbard Electrometers," were falsely
advertized as being effective in treating various types of illnesses.
In the past, Hubbard has corresponded with this Bureau and Department of
Justice on several occasions for various reasons, including complaints
about his wife and about alleged communists. In one lengthy letter in
May, 1951, it is perhaps noteworthy that Hubbard stated that while he was
in his apartment on February 23, 1951, about two or three o'clock in the
morning, his apartment was entered. He was knocked out. A needle was
thrust into his heart to produce a coronary
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Hubbard Association of Scientologists International
thrombosis and he was given an electric shock. He said his recollection
of this incident was now very blurred, that he had no witnesses and that
the only other person who had a key to the apartment was his wife.
(62-94080)
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