Copyright and Miscellanea Text is © Jon Atack 1990 For legal reasons, it is advised that this work not be distributed in the United Kingdom. The images in this electronic version come from three sources: • Bare-Faced Messiah: the true story of L. Ron Hubbard (Russell Miller, 1987) • Religion, Inc.: the Church of Scientology (Stewart Lamont, 1986) • "Secret Lives: L. Ron Hubbard" (Channel 4 Television, 1997) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Atack, Jon. A piece of blue sky: Scientology, Dianetics, and L. Ron Hubbard exposed / by Jon Atack. p. cm. "A Lyle Stuart book." Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8184-0499-X : $19.95 1. Scientology - Controversial literature. 2. Dianetics - Controversial literature. 3. Hubbard, L. Ron (La Fayette Ron), 1911- 4. Church of Scientology - History. I. Title. BP605.S2A83 1990 299'.936'092-dc20 89-77666 CIP Jon Atack has not been involved in the production or distribution of this unauthorized electronic version. It is based on a scanned copy originally produced by the former FACTnet with a "card catalog" entry of E:\PCB\GEN\FILES\BOOKS\JON.TXT. This file has been available on the Internet for several years from the websites of FACTnet and other individuals. Because of the injunction against it in England and Wales (see under Related Documents), it is advised that it not be distributed in those countries. This work has been produced on behalf of the ARSCC (Alt.Religion.Scientology Central Committee (which does not exist)) as part of the "Xenu's Bookshelf" project. The ARSCC is part of a secret global conspiracy against Scientology involving Internet users, psychiatrists, the Bank of England and SMERSH. Allegedly. Xenu will prevail! ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jon Atack was involved in Scientology from 1974 to 1983, and has since taken a lead role in ongoing investigations of L. Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology. He has consulted on three other books relating to this subject, as well as with various British newspapers, The Los Angeles Times, Forbes, CBS, CBC and The British Medical Association. He lives near Nottingham, England. CONTENTS It was 1950, in the early, heady days of Dianetics, soon after L. Ron Hubbard opened the doors of his first organization to the clamoring crowd. Up until then, Hubbard was known only to readers of pulp fiction, but now he had an instant best-seller with a book that promised to solve every problem of the human mind, and the cash was pouring in. Hubbard found it easy to create schemes to part his new following from their money. One of the first tasks was to arrange "grades" of membership, offering supposedly greater rewards, at increasingly higher prices. Over thirty years later. an associate wryly remembered Hubbard turning to him and confiding, no doubt with a smile, "Let's sell these people a piece of blue sky." Acknowledgments Preface - by Russell Miller What Is Scientology? PART 1: INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY 1974-1983 1. My Beginnings 2. Saint Hill 3. On to OT 4. The Seeds of Dissent PART 2: BEFORE DIANETICS 1911-1949 1. Hubbard's Beginnings 2. Hubbard in the East 3. Hubbard the Explorer 4. Hubbard As Hero 5. His Miraculous Recovery 6. His Magickal Career PART 3: THE BRIDGE TO TOTAL FREEDOM 1949-1966 1. Building the Bridge 2. The Dianetic Foundations 3. Wichita 4. Knowing How to Know 5. The Religion Angle 6. The Lord of the Manor 7. The World's First Real Clear PART 4: THE SEA ORGANIZATION 1966-1976 1. Scientology at Sea 2. Heavy Ethics 3. The Empire Strikes Back 4. The Death of Susan Meister 5. Hubbard's Travels 6. The Flag Land Base PART 5: THE GUARDIAN'S OFFICE 1974-1980 1. The Guardian Unguarded 2. Infiltration 3. Operation Meisner PART 6: THE COMMODORE'S MESSENGERS 1977-1982 1. Making Movies 2. The Rise of the Messengers 3. The Young Rulers 4. The Clearwater Hearings 5. The Religious Technology Center and the International Finance Police PART 7: THE INDEPENDENTS 1982-1984 1. The Mission Holders' Conference 2. The Scientology War 3. Splintering 4. Stamp Out the Squirrels! PART 8: JUDGMENTS 1984-1990 1. Scientology at Law 2. The Child Custody Case 3. Signing the Pledge 4. Dropping the Body 5. After Hubbard PART 9: SUMMING UP 1. The Founder 2. The Scientologist 3. Fair Game, Ethics and the Scriptures Epilogue Bibliography List of Abbreviations ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My particular thanks are due to my three good friends Mitch Beedie, Lawrence Kristiansen and George Shaw. Mitch Beedie has been a constant source of encouragement, support and editorial insight throughout six years of research and writing. Lawrence Kristiansen has proved to be an invaluable resource, sharing freely his knowledge and understanding of Scientology. His meticulous research, and his painstaking editing, helped me to focus ever more closely on the subject matter. George Shaw also signed up as an unpaid (and exceptional) researcher, gave me the benefit of his considerable knowledge of Scientology, and provided fascinating perspectives on Hubbard's character and motives. This book is based upon statements made by over 150 individuals whether in interviews, correspondence, taped talks, published accounts, affidavits or sworn testimony. Those of my sources whose statements were made publicly, and those who have given permission, are named in the reference summary. I am grateful to them all and to the many people who have asked to remain anonymous, for reasons which the book should make clear. In return for access to my manuscript and my collaboration as a consultant, Russell Miller made his interview notes available to me, and for this and our friendly working relationship I am most grateful. l also wish to express my thanks to Dave Waiters and the staff of the Montana Historical Society; to Ron Neuman for access to his collection of Hubbard letters and first editions; and to Brenda Yates and Carol Kanda for ensuring that I received the 28 volumes of the transcript of the Armstrong case. Without Brenda these vital documents would not have become available in the first place. Gratitude is also due to those authors whose work made my own less daunting: the late Joseph Winter, Martin Gardner, the late Helen O'Brien, George Malko, Paulette Cooper, Cyril Vosper, Bob Kaufman, the late Christopher Evans, C.H. Rolph, John Forte and most especially Roy Wallis for The Road to Total Freedom. I am also in debt to the St. Petersburg Times and the Clearwater Sun for their excellent coverage of Scientology. I am grateful to the many friends who have revived my sometimes flagging spirits on the long road to publication. Gratitude is due especially to: Robyn, Joy, Fiona, Joyce, Marcia, Sam, Gall, Hana, Gay, John, Greg, Sarge, Marcus, Lew, Chris, Callan, Otto, my parents, my brother Andrew, and my wife, Noella. The litigious nature of the Scientologists has frightened most publishers into silence. Lyle Stuart and Steven Schragis were not intimidated, and I am extremely grateful to them. Finally, my thanks to our attorney, Mel Wulf, for his patient attention to detail; to my editor Bob Smith; and to all at Carol Publishing Group for making this book a published reality. PREFACE Several years ago, when I began making inquiries into the life and times of L. Ron Hubbard, almost the first name that was mentioned to me was that of Jon Atack. Subsequently it was a name that would crop up time and time again. Almost anyone who knew anything about Hubbard invariably suggested that I should talk to Jon Atack. Of course by then I had talked to Jon and discovered him to be one of the world's foremost unofficial archivists of the Church of Scientology. In the loft of his house in East Grinstead, he had collected literally thousands of documents, letters, pamphlets, books and pictures, all of it indexed and cross-referenced on computer. For anyone interested in the history and development of Scientology, it is a treasure trove of reliable information on a subject positively riddied with deeply unreliable information. At some time in the future, the Atack archive will be lodged with an academic institution in order that it will be forever available to future researchers. Jon was extremely generous with his time, knowledge and help while I was working on my biography of Hubbard and I am therefore delighted to write this brief preface to his own much more comprehensive and wide-ranging book. It is, in essence, a distillation of his extraordinary attic archive and thus provides the reader with a dispassionate, thoroughly documented account of how Scientology was created and nourished by a struggling science-fiction writer, how it grew into a worldwide organization and how it has managed to dominate (and damage) so many thousands of lives. Because this book recounts the stark truth about Scientology, it is certain to provoke the ferocious hostility of practicing Scientologists around the world. Anyone who dares to publicly criticize the Church of Scientology or its founder is liable to be viiifled and hounded through the courts, as I can personally testify. (Although it is a mystery to me that Scientologists continue to believe that their founder was a man with the highest regard for the truth, whereas the records consistently indicate that he was a charlatan and a congenital liar.) Jon Atack is a former member of the Church of Scientology and I have no doubt that he will be attacked as a turncoat and traitor seeking to cause damage to his former church. All I can say is that over the months and years of our association I never doubted that his motives were decent and honest; I never felt for a moment that he was spurred by malice or any unworthy desire to settle old scores.