FROM THE FILES OF THE FBI #35
August 5, 1959
[ADDRESS BLOCK BLACKED OUT]
Dear Mrs. [BLACKED OUT]
Your letter of July 28, 1959, has been received, and I am having
a representative of our San Francisco Office contact you in the
immediate future.
I was indeed sorry to learn of the passing of your husband, and
my associates join me in extending to you our expressions of
deepest sympathy.
Sincerely yours,
[stamped] J. Edgar Hoover
2 - San Francisco - Enclosures (2)
ATTENTION SAC: An Agent of your office should call on Mrs.
[BLACKED OUT] in the very near future and inform her that the FBI
has not investigated the Hubbard Foundation. At the time of his
contact, he can call her attention to the December 5, 1950, issue
of "Look" magazine which contains an article entitled "Dianetics -
Science or Hoax?", identifying L. Ron Hubbard as 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 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 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
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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."
The April 24, 1951, issue of the "Times Herald," Washington,
D.C., revealed 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."
Sulet when action completed under caption, "Mrs. [BLACKED OUT]
Research (Crime Reco to reach the Bureau no later than 8-12-59.
NOTE: Correspondent's husband has served on the [BLACKED OUT]
as Mrs. [BLACKED OUT] indicates, and there has been prior cordial
correspondence with him. He was sent a letter on 12-7-45 thanking
him for assistance offered the FBI during World War II, and he was
always complimentary toward the Director and the FBI. Mr. Closson
was given an autographed copy of "Masters of Deceit" in May, 1958
(94-1-3595-66, 62-94080, 66-9330-50 and 66-16274-639) The Hubbard
Dianetic Auditors School, Elizabeth, New Jersey, is subject of
Bufile 62-94080, and frequent citizen inquiries are received
concerning its activities. It is also known as the Hubbard Dianetic
Research Foundation
