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deluged with letters and phone calls about the new "science" of
Dianetics. Letters were coming in at the rate of 1000 per week. By the
end of the year, over 150,000 copies of the Dianetics book had been
sold. In a glowing article in the New
York Times, a reviewer stated dramatically that "history has become
a race between Dianetics and catastrophe," (5)
echoing an idea often stated by Hubbard.
By August, there were more than 100 students enrolled for the one
month Dianetic auditing course taught at the Foundation by Hubbard. The
cost for the training: $500. In addition, one could receive personal
auditing, or counseling, at the Foundation for the fee of $25 per hour.
Money was pouring into the Foundation. However, because of the
extravagant spending habits of Hubbard, it seemed to be disappearing
just as quickly. Because of the lack of any formalized accounting or
administrative procedures in the Foundation, much of the money went
straight into Hubbard's pockets. In the first year, it was estimated by
one staff member that the Foundation had taken in as much as $90,000, of
which only about $20,000 was accounted for. (6)
By December of 1950, five new Foundations were established in
Chicago, Honolulu, New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. As many
as 500 small and independent Dianetic counseling groups had sprung up
all over the country.
Hubbard had promised that the state of "Clear" was attainable to
anyone who successfully completed enough Dianetic auditing to eradicate
the troublesome "reactive mind." In August of 1950, Hubbard organized a
rally at the famed Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, at which he
promised to reveal to his enthusiastic followers the world's very first
Clear.
There was an air of hushed excitement in the packed auditorium.
Hubbard, the consummate showman, first demonstrated some Dianetic
techniques to the audience, saving his surprise revelation until the end
of the program.
Finally, a shy and obviously nervous young woman appeared with
Hubbard on stage and was introduced as the world's first Clear. She
could, Hubbard claimed, remember every moment of her life.
The audience began to ask her questions. What did you have for
breakfast on October 3, 1942? What's on page 122 of the Dianetics book?
Embarrassingly, she didn't know. At one point, when Hubbard had his back
turned to her, she was asked what color tie he had on. She couldn't
answer. A physics major in school, she was asked to name some simple
physics formulae but was unable to remember them.
There were disgusted catcalls from the audience. One by one, people
started to leave. The evening was a disaster. Yet, amazingly, money
continued to pour into the Hubbard organizations. The Shrine Auditorium
debacle did little to stem the tidal wave of interest in this supposed
new science of the mind.
Toward the end of the year, however, the initial enthusiasm over
Dianetics was beginning to ebb. The American Psychological Association
published a report critical of Dianetics, stating that there was a need
for more testing, that Dianetics lacked empirical evidence.
The flow of money into the Foundations tapered off as the novelty of
Dianetics began to subside. Several early associates of Hubbard in New
Jersey resigned after encounters with the darker side of Hubbard's
personality -- a very definite tendency toward paranoia, which would in
time sabotage almost every significant relationship in his life.
Hubbard's personal problems also began to interfere with the
Dianetics movement. Hubbard, while still married to his first wife,
bigamously married another woman. This produced a public and
embarrassing divorce scandal which was carried in newspapers across the
country.
Hubbard was spending money faster than the Foundations could make
it. Funding his grandiose schemes and unrealistic ideas was
bankrupting his organizations despite the best efforts of several
dedicated followers to save them.
Also, Hubbard was encouraging the exploration of past lives in
auditing. This, and the lack of the promised scientific testing and
validation of Dianetics, alienated many of the professionals who were
involved in the early Dianetics movement.
As the members of the original Foundation in New Jersey began to
defect, including John Campbell, the editor of Astounding Science
Fiction and Hubbard's first supporter and benefactor, Hubbard's
reaction was swift. He denounced each of the defectors as Communists to
the F.B.I., a dangerous action given the climate of McCarthyism at the
time.
In the spring of 1951, the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation in
New Jersey was sued by the New Jersey Medical Association for teaching
medicine without a license. With the resignations of Campbell and most
of the other charter members of the Foundation, the New Jersey
Foundation soon declared bankruptcy.
Hubbard produced a second book, called Science of Survival,
but the book in its first printing sold only a disappointing 1250
copies. After his meteoric rise the year before, Hubbard was now facing