Going Clear

by Lawrence Wright

  Although the Church of Scientology was not a willing partner in the effort to write this book, I want to thank the spokespeople I worked with—Tommy Davis, Jessica Feshbach, and Karin Pouw—for responding to what must have seemed an endless stream of queries from me and the fact-checkers. I have no doubt that they will quarrel with the results, but the book is more accurate because of their participation, however reluctant that might have been. Initially, Davis permitted me to speak with several active members of the church, but the door closed on that opportunity. I was never allowed to talk to David Miscavige or any of the upper-tier executives I requested. (As I would learn, many of them were sequestered and not available in any case.) A reporter can only talk to people who are willing to talk to him; whatever complaints the church may have about my reporting, many limitations can be attributed to its decision to restrict my interactions with people who might have provided more favorable testimony.

  Robert Jay Lifton did me the honor of reading this book in manuscript and providing his insights, especially on the issue of thought reform. R. Scott Appleby helped me place Scientology in the context of other world religions. My friend Stephen Harrigan also commented on an early draft, as he has done on many occasions. A writer depends on such willing friends.

  My editor at Knopf, Ann Close, has been through five books with me—a marvelous relationship that has now spanned a quarter of a century. For this book, the Knopf team labored under a stressful deadline, and I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of Anke Steinecke, legal counsel; Katherine Hourigan, the managing editor; Paul Bogaards, the director of publicity; Kim Thornton, the publicist for this book; Kevin Bourke, the production editor; Claire Bradley Ong, the production manager; and Cassandra Pappas, the designer. I also thank my agent, Andrew Wylie, for his sage counsel.

  When I began writing the book, I hired two young and talented fact-checkers, Axel Gerdau and Lauren Wolf. They were both interested in long-form journalism, and I thought I might be able to teach them something about that; so, one evening a week, I held a class for them, in which the text was the unwritten book we were working on. Axel and Lauren were immediately plunged into the recondite world of Scientology, but they adroitly managed to negotiate the language and the thinking. After Axel went on to other pursuits, Lauren remained as my research assistant. The book has gained immeasurably from her curiosity and doggedness, as well as her natural human sympathy—qualities that will certainly ensure her future career and reward those who have the good fortune to enjoy her company.

  As usual, I owe special thanks to my wife, Roberta, who has once again set aside many anxieties to support my work.

  Notes

  INTRODUCTION

  1 8 million members: Interview with Tommy Davis, the former chief spokesperson for the Church of Scientology International. He explains the difficulty in getting exact numbers: “There’s no process of conversion, there is no baptism.” Becoming a Scientologist is a simple decision: “Either you are or you aren’t.”

  2 welcomes 4.4 million: “What Is Scientology?” YouTube video, posted by Church of Scientology, January 2, 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcb_4L8T8gg.

  3 about 30,000 members: Interview with Mike Rinder. Rinder is the former head of Scientology’s Office of Special Affairs and functioned as the church’s chief spokesperson from 1991 through 2007.

  4 $1 billion in liquid assets: Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun. Rathbun is the former Inspector General for Ethics for the church. Tony Ortega, “Scientology in Turmoil: Debbie Cook’s E-mail, Annotated,” Runnin’ Scared (blog), The Village Voice, Jan. 6, 2012. According to the distinguished religious historian R. Scott Appleby at the University of Notre Dame, even the Roman Catholic Church is unlikely to have $1 billion in cash on hand. R. Scott Appleby, personal communication.

  5 12 million square feet of property: Church of Scientology International, “Scientology: Unparalleled Growth Since 2004,” www.scientologynews.org/stats.html.

  6 The most recent addition: Kevin Roderick, “Scientology Reveals Plans for Sunset Boulevard Studio,” LA Observed, July 12, 2012.

  7 apartment buildings, hotels: Pinellas County Property Appraiser, 2012 tax roll.

  8 5,000, 6,000, or 10,000 members: Church of Scientology International, What Is Scientology?, p. 324; interview with Tommy Davis; personal communication from Karin Pouw.

  9 between 3,000 and 5,000: Claire Headley and Mike Rinder, personal communication. Rinder, who offers the higher number, places about 2,000 Sea Org members at Flag, 1,500 in LA, 500 at Gold Base and Int Base, 200 in the UK, 300 in Denmark, 150 in Australia, 200 on the Freewinds, and the rest scattered around Africa, Italy, Canada, and Mexico.

  1. THE CONVERT

  1 “You have a mind”: Interview with Jim Logan.

  2 “What is true”: According to Haggis, the passage came from the Hubbard Qualified Scientologist course. It was later published in Hubbard’s book The Way to Happiness. Hubbard, The Way to Happiness, p. 48.

  3 “find the ruin”: Peter F. Gillham, Tell It Like It Is: A Course in Scientology Dissemination (Los Angeles: Red Baron Publishing, 1972), p. 37.

  4 “Once the person”: Hubbard, “Dissemination Drill,” Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letter, Oct. 23, 1965.

  5 “Speed City”: Interview with Herman Goodden.

  6 “You walked in one day”: Hubbard, “Clearing Congress Lectures,” Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC, July 4, 1958.

  7 “A civilization without insanity”: What Is Scientology?, p. xiii.

  8 “Scientology works 100 percent”: Ibid., p. 215.

  9 Most of them were white: Harriet Whitehead, “Reasonably Fantastic: Some Perspectives on Scientology, Science Fiction, and Occultism,” in Zaretsky and Leone, Religious Movements in Contemporary America, p. 549.

  10 “After drugs”: Interview with Jim Dincalci.

  11 superhuman powers: Interview with Skip Press.

  12 The device measures: Hubbard, Electropsychometric Auditing Operators Manual, 1952.

  13 “It gives Man his”: What Is Scientology?, p. 175.

  14 “Our most spectacular feat”: James Phelan, “Have You Ever Been a Boo-Hoo?,” Saturday Evening Post, March 21, 1964, pp. 81–85.

  15 The E-Meter is presumed: Response of the Church of Scientology to queries.

  16 “The needle just idles”: Hubbard, E Meter Essentials 1961—Clearing Series, vol. 1, p. 18.

  17 “Be three feet back”: Hubbard, Philadelphia Doctorate Course Transcripts.

  18 Free of the limitations: Ibid.

  19 The ultimate goal: Whitehead, Renunciation and Reformulation, p. 176.

  20 The goal of Scientology: Vosper, The Mind Benders, p. 31.

  21 Among other qualities: Hubbard, Dianetics, pp. 170–73.

  22 “The dianetic clear is”: Ibid., p. xv.

  23 “Operating Thetan”: What Is Scientology?, p. 167.

  24 “neither Buddha nor Jesus”: Ability, unsigned, undated (probably 1958), issue 81, reprint of an editorial from Certainty, vol. 5, no. 10.

  25 “Note several large”: WikiLeaks, “Church of Scientology Collected Operating Thetan Documents,” March 24, 2008, wikileaks.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology_collected_​Operating_Thetan_documents; Revised Declaration of Hana Whitfield, Church of Scientology vs. Steven Fishman and Uwe Geertz, US District Court, Central District of California, April 4, 1994.

  26 “Laughter comes from the rear”: WikiLeaks, “Church of Scientology Collected Operating Thetan Documents,” March 24, 2008, wikileaks.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology_​collected_Operating_Thetan_documents.

  27 “The material involved”: Hubbard, “Ron’s Journal ’67,” taped lecture.

  28 “parlor tricks”: Interview with Jefferson Hawkins.

  29 “OT Phenomena”: Advance!, no. 33, p. 8.

  30 “A theta being is”: Hubbard, Scientology: A History of Man, pp. 71–72.

  31 “How do you answer”: Hubbard, “State of OT,” lecture, May 23, 1963.


  32 “Telephone rings, it springs”: Hubbard, “An OT’s Basic Problem,” adapted from a lecture of Dec. 2, 1952, quoted in Advance!, no. 38, p. 14.

  2. SOURCE

  1 two bordellos: www.helenahistory.org/family_theatre_reeves.htm.

  2 Lafayette Waterbury: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, pp. 8–15.

  3 “I was riding broncs”: Hubbard, handwritten memo dated “10 Mar 74.”

  4 “devouring shelves of classics”: The Humanitarian: Education, The Ron magazines, 1996, p. 9.

  5 Hubbard’s family was Methodist: Karin Pouw, personal communication.

  6 “Many members of my”: Hubbard, “Case Analysis: Rock Hunting” question and answer period, Aug. 4, 1958.

  7 “I learned long ago”: The Old Tom Madfeathers story is related by Hubbard’s official biographer, Dan Sherman, at the L. Ron Hubbard Centennial Celebration, March 13, 2011; Hubbard’s quote was a voice-over. A spokesperson for the Blackfoot Nation says that blood-brotherhood is not a part of their tradition.

  8 “Snake” Thompson: Thompson’s existence has been called into question. Russell Miller says, “He cannot be identified from US Navy records, nor can his relationships with Freud be established” (Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 25). Since Miller’s book, however, there have been a number of new Snake Thompson discoveries, which add substance to this extraordinary man. Among other enterprises, he helped found the Zoological Society of San Diego, served as the vice president of the Washington Psychoanalytic Association, and was director of the Siamese Cat Society. Thompson’s activities as a spy are chronicled in an eccentric memoir by Rhoda Low Seoane, Uttermost East and the Longest War (New York: Vantage Press, 1968).

  The Church of Scientology provided a passenger manifest for the transport ship, USS Grant, in November 1923, which lists Commander J. C. Thompson, along with the Hubbard family.

  9 “a very careless man”: Hubbard, “The Story of Dianetics and Scientology,” lecture, Oct. 18, 1958.

  10 “I was just a kid”: Hubbard, “Dianetics: The Modern Miracle,” lecture, Feb. 6, 1952.

  11 “Man has two fundamental”: Commander J. C. Thompson, “Psychoanalytic Literature,” United States Naval Medical Bulletin 19, no. 3 (Sept. 1923): 281–85.

  12 “I never knew what to believe”: “Barbara Kaye,” quoted in Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, pp. 168–69.

  13 “He braved typhoons”: Adventurer/Explorer: Daring Deeds and Unknown Realms, The Ron magazines, 1996, p. 6.

  14 “for weeks on end”: What Is Scientology?, p. 31.

  15 “ ‘Why?’ Why so much”: Ibid., p. 32.

  16 “The very nature of the Chinaman”: Details of Hubbard’s trip to China are to be found in the testimony of Gerald Armstrong in Church of Scientology, California vs. Armstrong, 1984, and in his handwritten journals of the period, which were provided as exhibits in the trial. Some points were confirmed by the Church of Scientology responses to queries. A redacted account from Hubbard’s diary is in Letters and Journals: Early Years of Adventure, The Ron magazines, 1997, pp. 46–50.

  The church maintains that there were other travels during this period, saying that Hubbard roamed through Asia for fourteen months, without his parents, returning to China and stopping in India and Singapore, among other places. There is no evidence of those trips in his journals, although he makes references to such experiences in later lectures.

  The church provided a 1929 news article from the Helena (MT) Independent, to substantiate Hubbard’s extensive travel claims, but the article speaks only of a “trip to the orient last summer with his parents” on their way to Guam. Other records of Hubbard’s Asian travels, Tommy Davis told me, had been destroyed because until the Second World War they were being held in Hiroshima.

  17 gliding license was #385: Adventurer/Explorer: Daring Deeds and Unknown Realms, The Ron magazines, 1996, p. 53. Hubbard listed his age on the license as twenty-six, although he was nineteen at the time.

  18 “We carefully wrapped”: Hubbard, “Tailwind Willies,” republished in Adventurer/Explorer: Daring Deeds and Unknown Realms, The Ron magazines, 1996, pp. 44–50.

  19 “Restless young men”: Adventurer/Explorer: Daring Deeds and Unknown Realms, The Ron magazines, 1996, p. 10.

  20 “collect whatever one collects”: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 52.

  21 That was almost the end: “Seekers of Pirate Haunts Finally Go,” Baltimore Morning Sun, June 25, 1932.

  22 It soon became evident: James Free letter to Robert H. Burgess, June 21, 1986; James Stillman Free oral history, National Press Club, Mar. 25, 1992.

  23 seven or eight hundred dollars: James Stillman Free oral history, National Press Club, Mar. 25, 1992.

  24 “I tied a hangman’s noose”: Doris Hamlin “Daily Record,” 1932, in Library of Congress collection.

  25 “the worst and most unpleasant”: “Doris Hamlin, Jinx Ship, Reaches Port,” Baltimore Evening Sun, Sept. 7, 1932.

  26 “glorious adventure”: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 56.

  27 To fill the usual: Gruber, The Pulp Jungle, pp. 20–24.

  28 a hundred thousand words: What Is Scientology?, p. 581. Hubbard’s eldest son, L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., claimed that his father exaggerated his output. “Through the early fifties, he used to tell everybody that he had written seven million words of fiction. But, in fact, it probably never exceeded a million words.” Testimony of L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., City of Clearwater Commission Hearings Re: The Church of Scientology. May 5, 1982. Of course, that’s still an extraordinary output.

  29 a roll of butcher paper: Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth, DVD, directed by Erik Nelson, 1982.

  30 It was a physical act: Russell Hays tape with Barbara Hays Duke, June 30, 1984.

  31 “First draft, last draft”: Interview with anonymous former Sea Org member.

  32 Ron fashioned an incubator: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, pp. 64–65.

  33 “the prettiest place”: Hubbard letter to Russell Hays, Sept. 14, 1936.

  34 “vague offers”: Ibid. Aug. 18, 1936.

  35 “I have discarded Hollywood”: Ibid., Sept. 14, 1936.

  36 But in the spring: Ibid., Mar. 7, 1936.

  37 He later claimed: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 69.

  38 “dumb Jew producers”: Hubbard letter to Russell Hays, July 21, 1937.

  39 “Never write about”: Ibid., Dec. 4, 1937, quoted in Letters and Journals: Literary Correspondence, The Ron magazines, 1997, pp. 55–58.

  40 “While under the influence”: Hubbard letter, Jan. 1, 1938, quoted in The Philosopher: The Rediscovery of the Human Soul, The Ron magazines, 1996, p. 9.

  41 The nurse looked startled: Forrest Ackerman interview, “Secret Lives—L. Ron Hubbard,” Channel 4, UK, 1997; Arthur J. Cox, “Deus Ex Machina: A Study of A. E. van Vogt,” Science-Fiction Advertiser, July 1952. Cox’s account varies in that he reports Hubbard as saying that the incident took place “during an operation being performed upon him for certain injuries received in the service.”

  42 “Don’t let him know!”: Church of Scientology International, “Port Orchard Washington, January 1, 1938,” 2012, www.ronthephilosopher.org/phlspher/page08.htm.

  43 “Once upon a time”: The Philosopher: The Rediscovery of the Human Soul, The Ron magazines, 1996, pp. 11–12.

  44 “I have high hopes”: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 81.

  45 Hubbard explained to his agent: Ibid., p. 79. Gerald Armstrong testified that Hubbard “stated that seven people originally read it and a couple of them jumped out of windows and another two went insane.” Church of Scientology California vs. Gerald Armstrong.

  46 The last time he showed Excalibur: Forrest Ackerman interview, “Secret Lives—L. Ron Hubbard,” Channel 4, UK, 1997.

  47 “worthless”: Hubbard letter to Russell Hays, Oct. 20, 1938. (Also quoted and mistakenly dated as Dec. 31, 1937, in Letters and Journals: Literary Correspondence, The Ron magazines, 1997, pp. 59–61.)

  48 “a tall, large man”: Asimov, I. Asimov, p. 7
2.

  49 “A deviant figure of”: Amis, New Maps of Hell, p. 84.

  50 Fanzines and sci-fi clubs: I was aided in this insight by Steven Weinberg, who recalled for me the science-fiction club at Bronx High, which he attended in the 1940s; he and his classmate Sheldon Glashow, who was also in the club, went on to share the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979.

  51 “Science fiction, particularly”: Hubbard, introduction to Battlefield Earth, p. xix.

  52 “I had, myself, somewhat”: Ibid., p. xvi.

  53 “In his late twenties”: L. Sprague de Camp, “El-Ron of the City of Brass,” from “Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers,” Fantastic, August 1975.

  54 “Because of her coldness”: “The Admissions of L. Ron Hubbard,” www.gerryarmstrong.org/50grand/writings/ars/ars-2000–03–11.html. The church disputes the authenticity of this document, claiming that it is a forgery.

  55 “I loved her and she me”: Ibid.

  56 Polly had discovered: Russell Miller interview with Robert MacDonald Ford, “The Bare-Faced Messiah Interviews,” Sept. 1, 1986, www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/​miller/interviews/robford.htm.

  57 “two-fold, one to win”: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, p. 89.

  58 While he was stranded: Ibid., pp. 90–91.

  59 “Throughout all this”: Church of Scientology International, “1939–1944, Explorer and Master Mariner,” 2005, www.hubbard.org/pg007.html.

  60 he failed the entrance examination: Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, pp. 45–46.

  61 “I do not have the time”: Hubbard request to US Marine Corps, July 18, 1931.

  62 “a well-known writer”: Warren G. Magnuson letter to “The President,” April 8, 1941; L. Ron Hubbard military records, National Personnel Records Center.