Wikipedia
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13 1911 – January 24 1986), better known as L. Ron Hubbard, was a prolific United States American author and the controversial founder of Dianetics and Scientology. In addition to Scientological tracts and self-help books, he wrote fiction in several genres, business management texts, essays and poetry.
Biographical outline - The Church of Scientology has produced lronhubbard.org - numerous biographical publications that make extraordinary claims about his life and career; many of which are disputed by journalists and critics. However, there is general agreement about the basic facts of Hubbard's life.
Family - L. Ron Hubbard was born in 1911 in Tilden, Nebraska, to Harry Ross Hubbard (1886 - 1975) and Ledora May Waterbury, whom Harry had married in 1909. Harry was born "Henry August Wilson" in Fayette, Iowa but was orphaned as an infant and adopted by the Hubbards, a farming family of Fredericksburg, Iowa. Harry joined the United States Navy in 1904, leaving the service in 1908, then reenlisting in 1917 when the US World War Ideclared war on Germany. He served in the Navy until 1946, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander in 1934. May was a feminist who had trained to become a high school teacher. Her father, Lafayette O. Waterbury (born 1864), was a veterinarian turned coal merchant. Her mother, Ida Corinne DeWolfe, was the daughter of affluent banker John DeWolfe. Her paternal grandfather Abram Waterbury was from the Catskill Mountains of New York and later headed West, employed as a veterinarian.
Education, pulp fiction and military service - During the 1920s, L. Ron Hubbard traveled twice to the Far East to visit his parents during his father's posting to the United States Navy base on Guam. He attended the School of Engineering and Applied Science at The George Washington University in Washington, DC between 1930–1932. In 1931, he was placed on academic probation and did not complete the program lermanet.com.Hubbard instead pursued writing, publishing many stories and novellas in pulp magazines during the 1930s literary.lronhubbard.org. He became a well-known author in the science fiction and fantasy fictionfantasy genres, and also published westerns and adventure stories. Critics often cite "Final Blackout", set in a war-ravaged future Europe, and "Fear", a psychological horror story, as the best examples of Hubbard's pulp fiction.Hubbard married Margaret "Polly" Grubb in 1933, with whom he fathered two children, L. Ron, Jr. (1934–1991) and Katherine May (born 1936). They lived in Bremerton, Washington during the late 1930s.In June 1941, with war looming, Hubbard joined the United States Navy as a lieutenant junior grade. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was posted to Australia but was returned home, possibly after quarrelling with the US Naval Attaché, who rated him "unsatisfactory for any assignment". Subsequently, he was given command of the harbor protection vessel USS YP-422USS ''YP-422'', based in Boston, Massachusetts. Again, he fell out with his superior officer, who rated him "not temperamentally fitted for independent command." Hubbard was relieved of command and transferred to a naval school in Florida where he was trained in anti-submarine warfare. On graduating, he was given command of the newly built subchaser USS PC-815USS ''PC-815'' (based in Astoria, Oregon). Shortly after taking the ''PC-815'' on her maiden voyage from Astoria to San Diego, California, his crew detected what he believed to be two Japanese submarines near the mouth of the Columbia River. They spent the next three days bombarding the area with depth charges, after which Hubbard claimed at least one Japanese submarine had been sunk. A subsequent investigation by the US Navy concluded Hubbard's vessel had in fact been attacking a "known magnetic deposit" on the seabed, and postwar casualty assessments found no Japanese submarines had been anywhere near the Columbia River at the time. Shortly after reaching San Diego, Hubbard ordered his crew to practice their gunnery by shelling a Mexican island off Baja California in the belief it was uninhabited and belonged to the United States. Neither assumption was correct. The Mexican government complained and following a brief investigation, Hubbard was relieved of command with a sharp letter of admonition. Most of Hubbard's wartime service was spent ashore in the continental United States. He was mustered out of the active service list in late 1945, received a promotion to Lieutenant Commander in June 1947 (a promotion Hubbard never received and hence never accepted, and his subsequent (honest) biographical material refers to his final rank as Lieutenant), and resigned his commission in 1950. In later years, Hubbard made a number of claims about his military record that are difficult to reconcile with the govenment's documentation of his service years. For example, Hubbard claimed he had sustained wounds "in combat on the island of Java (island)Java" ronthephilosopher.org, but his service record offers no indication he came anywhere near Java. He also claimed to have received 21 medals and awards, including two Purple Hearts and a "Unit Citation". The Church of Scientology has circulated a US Navy notice of separation (a form numbered DD214, completed on leaving active duty) as evidence of Hubbard's wartime service. However, the US Navy's copy of Hubbard's DD214 is very different, listing a much more modest record. The Scientology version shows Hubbard being awarded medals that do not exist, boasts academic qualifications Hubbard did not earn, and places Hubbard in command of vessels not in the service of the US Navy. The Navy has noted "several inconsistencies exist between Mr. Hubbard's purported DD214 and the available facts." holysmoke.org
The debut of Dianetics - In May 1950, Hubbard published a book describing the self-improvement technique of ''Dianetics,'' touted as "The Modern Science of Mental Health." With ''Dianetics,'' Hubbard introduced the concept of "Scientology beliefs and practices#Auditingauditing," a two-person question-and-answer therapy reviewing painful memories. According to Hubbard, auditing could eliminate emotional problems, cure physical illnesses, and increase intelligence. In his introduction to the book, Hubbard declared "the creation of dianetics is a milestone for man comparable to his discovery of fire and superior to his inventions of the wheel and arch." Unable to elicit interest from mainstream publishers or medical professionals, Hubbard turned to the legendary science fiction editor John W. Campbell, who had for years published Hubbard's science fiction stories. Beginning in late 1949, Campbell publicized Dianetics in the pages of Astounding Science Fiction. The science fiction community was divided about the merits. Campbell's star author Isaac Asimov criticised Dianetics' unscientific aspects, and veteran author Jack Williamson described Dianetics as "a lunatic revision of Freudian psychology" that "had the look of a wonderfully rewarding scam." But Campbell and novelist A. E. van Vogt enthusiastically embraced Dianetics: Campbell became Hubbard's treasurer, and van Vogt—convinced his wife's health had been transformed for the better by auditing—interrupted his writing career to run the first Los Angeles Dianetics center, a position which would pay a healthy profit.''Dianetics'' was a hit, selling 150,000 copies within a year of publication. The Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation was incorporated in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and branch offices were opened in five other US cities before the end of 1950 (though most folded within a year and Hubbard soon abandoned the Foundation, denouncing a number of his former associates as communismcommunists). With success, Dianetics became a subject of critical scrutiny by the medical establishment and press. In September 1950, ''The New York Times'' published a cautionary statement on the topic by the American Psychological Association, which read in part, "the association calls attention to the fact that these claims are not supported by empirical evidence," and went on to recommend against use of "the techniques peculiar to Dianetics" until such time it had been validated by scientific testing. ''Consumer Reports,'' in an August 1951 assessment of Dianetics xenutv.com, dryly noted "one looks in vain in ''Dianetics'' for the modesty usually associated with announcement of a medical or scientific discovery" and stated the book had become "the basis for a new cult." The article observed "in a study of L. Ron Hubbard's text, one is impressed from the very beginning by a tendency to generalization and authoritative declarations unsupported by evidence or facts." ''Consumer Reports'' warned its readers against the "possibility of serious harm resulting from the abuse of intimacies and confidences associated with the relationship between auditor and patient," an especially serious risk, they concluded, "in a cult without professional traditions."Hubbard's private behavior became the subject of unflattering headlines when Sara filed for divorce in late 1950, citing that Hubbard was, unknown to her, still married to his first wife at the time he married Sara. Her divorce papers also accused Hubbard of kidnapping their baby daughter Alexis, and of conducting "systematic torture, beatings, strangulations and scientific torture experiments."
Scientology - In mid-1952, Hubbard expanded Dianetics into a secular philosophy which he called Scientology. Hubbard also married his third wife that year, Mary Sue Whipp, to whom he remained married for the rest of his life. With Mary Sue, Hubbard fathered four more children — Diana, Quentin, Suzette and Arthur — over the next six years.In December 1953, Hubbard declared Scientology a religion and the first Church of Scientology was founded in Camden, New Jersey. He moved to England at about the same time, and during the remainder of the 1950s he supervised the growing organization from an office in London. In 1959, he bought Saint Hill Manor near the Sussex, EnglandSussex town of East Grinstead, a Georgian architectureGeorgian manor house owned by the Maharajah of Jaipur. This became the world headquarters of Scientology.Hubbard claimed to have conducted years of intensive research into the nature of human existence; to describe his findings, he developed an elaborate vocabulary with many newly coined terms scientology.org. He codified a set of axioms scientology.org and an "applied religious philosophy" that promised to improve the condition of the human spirit, which he called the "Thetan." The bulk of Scientology focuses on the "rehabilitation" of the thetan.Hubbard's followers believed his "technology" gave them access to their past lives, the traumas of which led to failures in the present unless they were audited. By this time, Hubbard had introduced a biofeedback device to the auditing process, which he called a "Hubbard Electropsychometer" or "E-meter." It was invented in the 1940s by a chiropractor and Dianetics enthusiast named Volney Mathison. This machine, related to the electronic lie detectors of the time, is used by Scientologists in auditing to evaluate "mental masses" surrounding the thetan. These "masses" are claimed to impede the thetan from realizing its full potential.Hubbard claimed physical disease was psychosomatic, and one who, like himself, had attained the enlightened state of "clear" and become an "Operating Thetan" would be disease free. According to biographers, Hubbard went to great lengths to suppress his recourse to modern medicine , attributing symptoms to attacks by malicious forces, both spiritual and earthly. Hubbard insisted humanity was imperiled by such forces, which were the result of negative memories (or "engrams") stored in the unconscious or "reactive" mind, some carried by the immortal thetans for billions of years. Thus, Hubbard claimed, the only possibility for spiritual salvation was a concerted effort to "clear the planet," that is, to bring the benefits of Scientology to all people everywhere, and attack all forces, social and spiritual, hostile to the interests of the movement.Church members were expected to pay fixed donation rates for courses, auditing, books and E-meters, all of which proved very lucrative for the church, which paid emoluments directly to Hubbard and his family.
Legal difficulties and life on the high seas - Scientology became a focus of controversy across the English-speaking world during the mid-1960s, with United KingdomBritain, New Zealand, South Africa, the Australian state of Victoria (Australia)Victoria and the CanadaCanadian province of Ontario all holding public inquiries into Scientology's activities. ? whyaretheydead.net Hubbard left this unwanted attention behind in 1966, when he moved to Rhodesia, following Ian Smith's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (Rhodesia)Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Attempting to ingratiate himself with the white minority government, he offered to invest large sums in Rhodesia's economy, then hit by UN sanctions, but was asked to leave the country. In 1967, Hubbard further distanced himself from the controversy attached to Scientology by resigning as executive director of the church and appointing himself "Commodore (rank)Commodore" of a small fleet of Scientologist-crewed ships that spent the next eight years cruising the Mediterranean Sea. Here, Hubbard formed the para-military group known as the "Sea Organization," or "Church of Scientology#Sea_OrgSea Org." With titles and uniforms of Hubbard's design, the Sea Org subsequently became the controlling group within Hubbard's Scientology empire. He returned to the United States in the mid-1970s and lived for a while in Florida.In 1977, Scientology offices on both coasts of the United States were raided by FBI agents seeking evidence of a suspected Church-run espionage network. Hubbard's wife Mary Sue HubbardMary Sue and a dozen other senior Scientology officials were convicted in 1979 of conspiracy against the United States Government, while Hubbard himself was named by Federal prosecutors as an "unindicted co-conspirator." Facing intense media interest and many subpoenas, he secretly retired to a ranch in tiny Creston, California, north of San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaSan Luis Obispo.
Later life - During the 1980s, Hubbard returned to science fiction, publishing ''Battlefield Earth'' and ''Mission Earth (novel)Mission Earth'', the latter being an enormous book, published as a ten volume series. He also wrote an unpublished screenplay called ''xenuRevolt in the Stars'' which dramatizes Scientology's "Advanced Level" teachings. Hubbard's later science fiction sold well and received mixed reviews and press reports describing how sales of Hubbard's books were artificially inflated by Scientologists purchasing large numbers of copies in order to manipulate the bestseller charts lermanet2.com. While claiming to be entirely divorced from the Scientology management, Hubbard continued to draw an enormous income from the Scientology enterprises; ''Forbes'' magazine estimated his 1982 Scientology-related income exceeded US $40 million.Hubbard died at his ranch on January 24, 1986, reportedly due to a stroke. He had not been seen in public for the previous five years. Scientology attorneys arrived to claim his body, which they sought to have cremated immediately. They were blocked by the San Luis Obispo County medical examiner, who, according to critics, conducted an autopsy revealing high levels of a psychotropic drug called Hydroxyzine Vistaril. The Church of Scientology announced Hubbard had deliberately "discarded the body" to do "higher level spiritual research," unencumbered by mortal confines. Following Hubbard's death, David Miscavige, one of Hubbard's former personal assistants, took over the leadership of Scientology, via his position as Chairman of the Religious Technology Center, a non-profit corporation set up in 1982 to safeguard Hubbard's copyrighted works.
Controversial episodes - L. Ron Hubbard's life is embroiled in controversy, as is the history of Scientology (see Scientology controversy). His son, L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. claimed in 1983 "99% of what my father ever wrote or said about himself is totally untrue." members.cox.netSome documents written by Hubbard himself suggest he regarded Scientology as a business, not a religion. In one letter dated April 10, 1953, he says calling Scientology a religion solves "a problem of practical business", and status as a religion achieves something "more equitable...with what we've got to sell". In a 1962 official policy letter, he said "Scientology 1970 is being planned on a religious organization basis throughout the world. This will not upset in any way the usual activities of any organization. It is entirely a matter for accountants and solicitors." ezlink.com. A Reader's Digest article of May 1980 quoted Hubbard as saying in the 1940s "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion." skeptictank.orgIn a 1983 interview, L. Ron, Jr. said "according to him and my mother" he was the result of a failed abortion and recalls at six years old seeing his father performing an abortion on his mother with a coat hanger. In the same interview, he said "Scientology is a !power-and-money-and-intelligen ce-gathering? game" and described his father as "only interested in money, sex, booze, and drugs". lermanet.comOne controversial aspect of Hubbard's early life revolves around his association with Jack Parsons, an aeronautics professor at Caltech and an associate of the Great BritainBritish occultist Aleister Crowley. Hubbard and Parsons were allegedly engaged in the practice of ritual magick in 1946, including an extended set of sex magick rituals called the Babalon Working, intended to summon a goddess or "moonchild." (Among occultists today, it is widely accepted Hubbard derived a large part of 'Dianetics' from Hermetic Order of the Golden DawnGolden Dawn occult ideas such as the Holy Guardian Angel.) The Church insists Hubbard was a US government intelligence agent on a mission to end Parsons' magickal activities and to "rescue" a girl Parsons was "using" for magickal purposes. Critics dismiss these claims as after-the-fact rationalizations. Crowley recorded in his notes that he considered Hubbard a "lout" who made off with Parsons' money and girlfriend in an "ordinary confidence trick." Discussions of these events can be found in the critical biographies ? clambake.org - ''Bare-Faced Messiah'', cs.cmu.edu - ''A Piece of Blue Sky'' and in uni-marburg.de - ''The Marburg Journal of Religion''.Hubbard later married the girl he claimed to have rescued, Sara Northrup. This marriage was an act of bigamy, as Hubbard had abandoned, but not divorced, his first wife and children as soon as he left the Navy (he divorced his first wife more than a year after he had remarried). Both women allege Hubbard domestic violencephysically abused them. He is also alleged to have once kidnapped Sara's infant, Alexis, taking her to Cuba. Later, he disowned Alexis, claiming she was actually Jack Parsons' child. Hubbard has been interpreted as both a savior (Scientologists refer to him as "The Friend of Mankind") and a con-artist. These sharply contrasting views have been a source of hostility between Hubbard supporters and critics. A California court judgement in 1984 involving Gerald Armstrong, who had been assigned the task of writing Hubbard's biography, highlights the extreme opposition of the two sides::"In addition to violating and abusing its own members' civil rights, the organization Scientology over the years with its "Fair Game (Scientology)Fair Game" doctrine has harassed and abused those persons not in the Church whom it perceives as enemies. The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and the bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder LRH L. - Ron Hubbard. The evidence portrays a man who has been virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history, background, and achievements. The writings and documents in evidence additionally reflect his egoism, greed, avarice, lust for power, and vindictiveness and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile. At the same time it appears that he is charismatic and highly capable of motivating, organizing, controlling, manipulating, and inspiring his adherents." -- Superior Court Judge Paul Breckinridge, ''Church of Scientology of California vs. Gerald Armstrong,'' June 20 1984. planetkc.com"Fair Game" was introduced by Hubbard, and incites Scientologists to use criminal behavior, deception and exploitation of the legal system to resist "Suppressive Persons", i.e. people or groups that "actively seeks to suppress or damage Scientology or a Scientologist by Suppressive Acts". He defined it "Fair Game" asENEMY — SP Order. Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.''Conflicting interpretations of Hubbard's life are presented in the online version of Russell Miller's biography of Hubbard, spaink.net - ''Bare Faced Messiah''; this largely critical version includes links to Scientology's official accounts of Hubbard's past, embedded within Miller's description of the same history.Several issues surrounding Hubbard's death and disposition of his estate are also subjects of controversy — a swift cremation with no autopsy; the destruction of coroner's photographs; coroner's evidence of the drug HydroxyzineVistaril present in Hubbard's blood; questions about the whereabouts of Dr. Eugene Denk (Hubbard's physician) during Hubbard's death, and the changing of wills and trust documents the day before his death, resulting in the bulk of Hubbard's estate being transferred not to his family, but to Scientology.
Bibliography - Main article: L. Ron Hubbard bibliographyHubbard was an unusually prolific author. Because the majority of Hubbard's writings of the 1950s through the 1970s were aimed exclusively at Scientologists, the organization founded its own companies to publish his work, Bridge Publications (http://www.bridgepub.com/) for the US market and New Era Publications !(http://www.newerapublications .com/nep/index.htm),? based in Denmark, for the rest of the world. New volumes of his transcribed lectures continue to be produced; that series alone will ultimately total a projected 110 large volumes. An extensive series of audio recordings of Hubbard's lectures are also published by Bridge/New Era. A selection of Hubbard's best-known titles are below; L. Ron Hubbard bibliographyan extensive bibliography of Hubbard's work is available in a separate article.On November 1, 2005 Guinness World Records officially recognized L. Ron Hubbard as the world’s most translated author. The new world record, officially verified as 65 languages, exceeds the previous record of 51 languages set in 1997 by American author Sidney Sheldon. It also tops the unofficial count of 63 for “Harry Potter” novelist J. K. Rowling and the 64 languages translated for “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Dutch teenager Anne Frank.
Fiction - ''Buckskin Brigades (1937)'' ''Final Blackout (1940)'' ''Fear (1951)'' ''Typewriter in the Sky (1951)'' ''Battlefield Earth (1982)''''Mission Earth (novel)Mission Earth (1986)''
Dianetics and Scientology - ''Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health,'' New York 1950 ISBN 088404632X''Child Dianetics. Dianetic Processing for Children,'' Wichita, Kansas 1951 ''Scientology 8-80,'' Phoenix, Arizona 1952 ''Dianetics 55!,'' Phoenix, Arizona 1954 ''Dianetics: the Evolution of a Science,'' Phoenix, Arizona 1955 ''Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought'' Washington, DC 1956 ''The Problems of Work'' Washington, DC 1956 ''Have You Lived Before This Life?,'' East Grinstead, Sussex 1960 ''Scientology: A New Slant on Life,'' East Grinstead, Sussex 1965 ''The Volunteer Minister's Handbook,'' Los Angeles 1976 ''Research and Discovery Series,'' a chronological series collecting Hubbard's lectures. Vol 1, Copenhagen 1980''The Way to Happiness,'' Los Angeles 1981
Unofficial biographies (online) - clambake.org - ''L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?'' by Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard Jr.clambake.org - ''A Piece of Blue Sky'' by Jon Atackspaink.net - ''Bare Faced Messiah'' by Russell Miller''xs4all.nl - Ron the War Hero'' by Chris Owen, a critical review of Hubbard's World War II Navy record
External links -
Official sites - lronhubbard.org - Official L. Ron Hubbard biography site, from the Church of Scientologylronhubbardprofile.org - ''The Ron Series'' published by the Church of Scientology scientology.org - Scientology.org's Hubbard pageauthorservicesinc.com - Author Services Inc., L. Ron Hubbard's literary agency
Critical sites - thesmokinggun.com - FBI Files from The Smoking Gun (in which Hubbard asks for protection from communists) Operation Clambake (a comprehensive archive of critical material on Hubbard and Scientology ) conspiracyarchive.com - Factnet Report: Hubbard and the Occultrotten.com - L. Ron Hubbard - The Rotten Library 545/000026467name=L. Ron Hubbard ezlink.com - A glossary of Scientology terms as used on the newsgroup alt.religion.scientologyslate.msn.com - "L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology's esteemed founder," by Michael Crowley (''Slate'' magazine, July 15, 2005) pot.tv - L. Ron Hubbard videopresentation describing the life of L. Ron Hubbard, about 90 min
Neutral sites - uni-marburg.de - Annotated bibliography of literature by and about L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, by Marco Frenschkowskiamazon.com - Negative: Summary of Hubbard's writing career, hosted on Amazon.comamazon.com - Positive: Hubbard's writings, hosted on Amazon0399196name=L. Ron Hubbard L._Ron_Hubbardname=L. Ron Hubbard egnet.co.uk - East Grinstead Hall of Famethebookstandard.com - Guinness World Records: L.Ron Hubbard Is the Most Translated Author
Directories - dmoz.org - Websites about L. Ron Hubbard (from the Open Directory)Category:1911 birthsHubbard, L. RonCategory:1986 deathsHubbard, L. RonCategory:American writersHubbard, L. RonCategory:Fantasy writersHubbard, L. RonCategory:L. Ron Hubbard*L. Ron HubbardCategory:Science fiction writersHubbard, L. !RonCategory:ScientologistsHubbard, L. RonCategory:ScientologyHubbard, L. RonCategory:Western writersHubbard, L. Roncategory:charismatic religious leadersHubbard, L. Ronbg:Л. Рон Хабърдda:L. Ron Hubbardde:L. Ron Hubbardes:L. Ron Hubbardfr:L. Ron. Hubbardit:Ron Hubbardhe:רון האבארדlt:Lafayette Ronald Hubbardhu:L. Ron Hubbardnl:L. Ron !Hubbardja:L・ロン・ハバ ドpt:L.? Ron Hubbardru:Хаббард, Лафайет Рональдsv:L. Ron !Hubbardzh:罗恩·贺伯特 DEBUG REDIRECT (l. ron hubbard)
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