L Ron Hubbard
 Lafayette
Ronald Hubbard (13 March 1911 – 24 January 1986), better known as L Ron
Hubbard, was an American pulp fiction and science fiction writer and founder
of Scientology and Dianetics. In 2006 Guinness World Records declared Hubbard
the world's most published and most translated author.
A controversial public figure, many details of Hubbard's life are contentious.
The Church of Scientology has produced many official biographies that present
Hubbard's character and multi-faceted accomplishments in an exalted light.
Biographies of Hubbard by independent journalists and accounts by former
Scientologists paint a much less flattering picture of Hubbard and in many cases
contradict the material presented by the Church.
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. In his youth,
Hubbard was an Eagle Scout.
His father 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 re-enlisting in 1917 when the United States declared war on Germany. He
served in the Navy until 1946, reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Commander in
1934.
His mother 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. May's paternal grandfather, Abram Waterbury, was from the Catskill
Mountains, and later headed West, employed as a veterinarian.
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.
After graduating from Woodward School for Boys in 1930, L Ron Hubbard enrolled at The
George Washington University, where he took a course in civil engineering. His
grades, however, were consistently poor and university records show that he
attended for only two years, was on academic probation, failed in physics, and
dropped out in 1931 without a degree. One of his classes was on "atomic and
molecular phenomena"; on the basis of this, he later claimed to have been a
"nuclear physicist", though his records showed that he scored an F in this
course.
In later years, L Ron Hubbard claimed to have been awarded a Ph.D. by Sequoia
University in California. This non-accredited body was, however, later
investigated by the Californian state authorities on the grounds of being a
mail-order "degree mill" and Hubbard later publicly "resigned" his degree after
it had become the subject of comment in the press.
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-422,
based in Boston, Massachusetts. Again, he fell out with his superior officer,
who rated him "not temperamentally fitted for independent command." These
statements are in stark contrast with official Scientologist literature, which
often portrays Hubbard as a brave and heroic figure during the war.
L Ron 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 sub chaser USS 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 L Ron 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. Hubbard accused Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher of covering up
his battle with the "Japanese submarine," which drew an official admonition.
Hubbard's accusation revolved around Fletcher's supposed embarrassment of losing
a carrier under his command (the lost carrier in question was USS Yorktown, the
only American capital ship lost at the celebrated Battle of Midway less than a
year previous.)
Shortly after reaching San Diego, L Ron Hubbard ordered his crew to practice
their gunnery by shelling one of the Coronado Islands, a small Mexican
archipelago off the northwest coast of 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 (where it
was additionally found that Hubbard had anchored for the night, ignoring orders
to return to San Diego at the end of each day), 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 and
continued to draw disability pay for arthritis, bursitis, and conjunctivitis for
years afterwards, long after he claimed to have discovered the secret of how to
cure these ailments. In June 1947 the Navy attempted to promote him to
Lieutenant Commander, but Hubbard appears not to have learned of this and so
never accepted it; consequently he remained a Lieutenant. He resigned his
commission in 1950.
In later years, L Ron Hubbard made a number of claims about his military record that
are difficult to reconcile with the government's documentation of his service
years. For example, L Ron Hubbard claimed he had sustained wounds "in combat on
the island of Java", but his service record offers no indication he came
anywhere near Java, and places him in New York on the day (7 December, 1941, the
day of the attack on Pearl Harbor) he was supposedly landed on Java by a naval
destroyer.
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, signed by a nonexistent Lt. Cmdr. Howard D.
Thompson, shows L Ron 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 DD214 [the Scientology version] and the available
facts".
Pseudonyms: Frederick Engelhardt , Kurt von Rachen , Rene LaFayete ,
Rene La Fayette , René Lafayette
Selected Bibliography
Complete
Bibliography
Series
- Mission Earth
- 1 The Invaders Plan (1985)
- 2 Black Genesis (1986)
- 3 The Enemy Within (1986)
- 4 An Alien Affair (1986)
- 5 Fortune of Fear (1986)
- 6 Death Quest (1987)
- 7 Voyage of Vengeance (1987)
- 8 Disaster (1988)
- 9 Villainy Victorious (1987)
- 10 The Doomed Planet (1987)
- Ole Doc Methuselah
- Ole Doc Methuselah (1970)
- Slaves of Sleep
- Slaves of Sleep and The Masters of Sleep (2005)
- 1 Slaves of Sleep (1939)
- 2 The Masters of Sleep (1950)
- Magazine/Anthology Appearances:
- The Masters of Sleep (Complete Novel) (1950)
Collections
- The Kingslayer (collection) (1949)
- Variant Title: Seven Steps to the Arbiter (1975)
- Triton and Battle of Wizards (1949)
- Science-Fantasy Quintet (1953) with Ed Earl Repp
- From Death to the Stars (1953)
Omnibus
- Typewriter in the Sky and Fear (1951)
Nongenre
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