Part 2 of 6
MR. HATCHETT: The reason I ask you all these questions: It would appear to me there's a father and son rift, you know, a real falling-out. And may this not be just a vendetta against Dad?
MR. DeWOLFE:, No, no.
MR. HATCHETT: Why should I believe you?
MR. DeWOLFE: Well, first, there've been, like, twenty-three years under the bridge. You must realize one thing about me is I'm the same person now as I was then, except it's like I lived two different lives. Then I loved what I did and I also now love what I do, which is I have my wife and I have my children. That's what's become the most important thing to me.
And it was -- to put it in oversimplification -- it was a science fiction world, and I've come to appreciate reality and truth a great deal. In those days, we treated the constitution and the laws around like they were toilet paper. And I've learned to appreciate those a lot more recently.
And another thing, too, is that the truth and facts about Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard are slowly and surely being brought out by other people also. In my own personal opinion, I am even a superfluous being right here, right now, because you have enough witnesses, you have enough affidavits, you have enough documentation -- so does the federal government, so does the state government -- to certainly see that the facts and truth of Scientology, Dianetics, and the life of L. Ron Hubbard come out.
And this is going to sound like kind of a mealy-mouthed, hollow statement, but it's really quite true because I do have the facts and truth in being able to stand up and tell what I know. But as an example on the life of L. Ron Hubbard, it's easily documented, not through what I say but what other people say, by bits and pieces of his past, the papers, the documentation. So, vendetta? No.
I've also learned another thing, which is that I was all very emotional about it in the early days after I left and I began to hate and what have you. But I've learned that hate only does one thing, which is consume the person doing the hating. And so I've absolutely refused to hate him. And people can't understand this man who has done all this stuff, how can his son not hate him? I refuse to hate, because if I hate him, then, this gives my children the right to hate me, or other people the right to hate me kind of thing.
So those are all these heavy, negative emotions and feelings I've been able to cut out.
MR. HATCHETT: My last question -- thank you. Do you know for a fact whether your father is still living?
MR. DeWOLFE: No, I haven't seen his dead body in a coffin. But over the years, we have written back and forth. He has kept a secret address down in Los Angeles that non-Scientology types and family would write to. I have it, if you wish it; I don't think I have it with me, but it's a post office box number. But over the years, all of a sudden, about -- I would say somewhere between 1979 -- 1975 to 1979 -- and even more recently, some of the letters I've received, there's a complete change in syntax. He has a very special way of stringing words together, which, after reading umpteen million of them ever since I've been a kid, I can recognize. And just bits and pieces and that sort of thing leads me to believe that he just possibly might be, but I don't know.
MR. HATCHETT: Thank you very much.
MR. LeCHER: Mr. Shoemaker, do you have any questions?
MR. SHOEMAKER: Mr. DeWolfe, apparently, from what you've indicated, many of the procedures which are currently used were actually created in the time that you were still with your father, and in here did it classify as Dianetics or else for the Church of Scientology?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes, that's correct.
MR. SHOEMAKER: Did you -- were you --
MR. DeWOLFE: There's been little or no change in the actual basis.
MR. SHOEMAKER: Could you briefly explain what the purpose of auditing is, for example, how you came up with --not necessarily you, but your father or whoever came up with the idea of auditing?
MR. DeWOLFE: As I said, auditing is a term used in accounting to -- you have to go back to the basic theory of Dianetics as it was set up: any and all man's ills are mentally caused, based. And it's based in what is called an engram, that is, moments of pain in unconsciousness. So, auditing would be the eradication of moments of pain in unconsciousness and discomfort and et cetera in one's past and subconsciousness. I'm talking about Dianetically at the moment.
MR. SHOEMAKER: Yes.
MR. DeWOLFE: Dianetics. So that is the basic modus operandi of it, the basics of what auditing is. Auditing, physically, is basically -- in the old days of Dianetics -- laying down on the auditing couch, somewhat similar to the psychiatrist's couch, and you would sit there and return people into the past and get very much involved in, for instance, pre-natal experiences, birth, and other areas of trauma. As I said, it was a do-it-yourself psychoanalysis or psychotherapy.
MR. SHOEMAKER: Mr. DeWolfe, do you personally, do you have firsthand knowledge of how the material that was obtained for the auditing process was used?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes of course, everybody was told that the files were confidential, that they were treated as if they were files of, say, a doctor or a priest or an attorney. And they were, in the main, by most people, but it was quite inviolate. But of course, Dad and I had complete access to it.
And one thing I ought to mention is that -- it's kind of embarrassing to mention -- I'm the one who originated the bugging of auditing rooms in the Hubbard Guidance Center in Washington, D.C. so we could pick up on what was going on in an auditing session. And what I told everybody at the time was that most of the people that worked in the Hubbard Guidance Center -- the Hubbard Guidance Center was the auditing department; it was where people got their auditing, but most of the people there were students of mine -- so, I put the microphones in and the speakers, et cetera, and the tape recorders so that I could monitor their progress as students. That's what they were told. But their files were used, as I said, for pressure, blackmail, and all these other -- some of those bits and pieces back in -- yesterday.
MR. SHOEMAKER: How was the Fair Game Policy created? Where was the origin? What --
MR. DeWOLFE: The origin simply was that if anybody gave us any problem, any trouble, why, we'd just attack them. We were pretty successful at it.
And if you're talking about power and what have you, that was a lot of fun to take on the FBI, take on the IRS, take on the government, take on anybody and whip it out. And as I said, I'm in the early twenties, and we're stomping the hell out of people and getting away with it. But the point is that's pretty heady stuff.
What the Fair Game was is that again, it falls back to the same basic idea, which is total destruction: do whatever was necessary to get the job done.
MR. SHOEMAKER: You had mentioned before that you had actually created what was called at that point the grind policy.
MR. DeWOLFE: Yeah.
MR. SHOEMAKER: What was the purpose of that policy where the students were required to work long, extended periods of time?
MR. DeWOLFE: Well, we had a lot to teach them, plus it was a very good control mechanism. Very tired people are very receptive.
MR. SHOEMAKER: I see. So, it's a control mechanism?
MR. DeWOLFE: You see, we were controlling the body. If I had a walking microphone and you had the time, I'd demonstrate it for you. By the way, as a matter of example, anything I talk about, I'm more than happy to demonstrate.
MR. SHOEMAKER: The other one, Mr. DeWolfe, I wanted to ask about here: In the -- and I know you've seen the outline -- in the outline, there is an item referred to as "November 1968, racket exposed relating to the listing of thirteen people" personally declared Fair Game by Mr. Hubbard.
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes.
MR. SHOEMAKER: Would you explain that a little bit, what was involved in that and what that meant?
MR. DeWOLFE: That meant exactly what it said. Well, it wasn't written up, and I wasn't in Scientology at this particular time in '63, having left in '59. This is the same sort of thing that we would write out. The Fair Game Policy in the fifty's was something which was very verbal. Maybe a point I'd like to make here very quickly is that there are two concurrent lives of L. Ron Hubbard going on at the same time. You have the super-secret hidden, private life of L. Ron Hubbard, which very few people knew, and which is now, probably, as we go along through time here, will be discovered more of, because now that I talked, maybe other people will feel it's safe to talk. So all of this was all verbal. And, of course, he didn't have the power base he had in the fifties that he had later. So it was kind of a secret thing. But this is precisely, as you read it. It's exactly what was meant. It was not done as an empty, hollow threat. And this means you were cut off from all people. If we could do something to you, we did.
MR. SHOEMAKER: Mr. DeWolfe -- and this will be my last question -- I know this is a difficult one to try to answer, but I think it should be asked. Obviously, you're under a great deal of duress to come here and to testify at this --
MR. DeWOLFE: No, I'm not under duress, sir.
MR. SHOEMAKER: Well, I didn't -- that's the wrong word. I mean, you had to have had a lot of trauma --
MR. DeWOLFE: I would have walked here on my hands and knees.
MR. SHOEMAKER: I guess my question is why? That's what I'm getting down to.
MR. DeWOLFE: As I said, I happened to have acquired a rather strong like for constitutionality, laws, truth, and fact over the years. It's a very funny thing; I don't know how to explain the mechanism. Maybe somebody else can. But I spent years having no real, honest, commonly understood ethics or legality. And the laws were something to be used. They were a weapon. A court or anything else was used as a sledgehammer. I didn't have any of those. They didn't mean anything to me. Life didn't mean anything to me. It wasn't something to be loved and cherished and nurtured. People were robots to me. People were nothing but raw meat. And over the years, I've suddenly started getting my head sorted out. It wasn't until late 1978, that the last vestiges of all of the Scientology-nonsense and Hubbard nonsense got out of my skull. But there's nothing worse than, say, a sinner who has become a preacher, because he knows every in and out of the whole thing. He believe in these things, and he -- everybody, like you -- so many people like you, they take the constitution simply for granted because, as kids, it was just there. And too many people take too much for granted. But, as I said, I don't take any of that for granted, and that's why I'm here. I think -- and again, I think I'm considering myself personally -- my being here not all that totally necessary. And so that's why I'm here, just to help it out. I've always tried to be one of the things my father taught me. I still follow some of these rules which is try to be effective and efficient. And so, this is a good forum to say all these things that I haven't been able to get out. And I've tried for years to try to say things to people to try to tell them, and they laughed at me a great deal because they think that some of the things I say are as a far out as my father's science fiction.
MR. SHOEMAKER: Mr. DeWolfe, just one other question: At the time you were in the Church of Scientology, did they have the Guardian's Office?
MR. DeWOLFE: No.
MR. SHOEMAKER: Did they have any --
MR. DeWOLFE: It was a do-it-yourself organization. I mean, we didn't have a complete department called the Guardian's Office. It was done by L. Ron Hubbard, by Mary Sue. It wasn't, as I said, it wasn't something that was hung up there on the org board.
MR. SHOEMAKER: When you say "it," what do you mean by it?
MR. DeWOLFE: The Guardian's Office. We, you know --
MR. SHOEMAKER: Yes, sir. But what was done by Mr. Hubbard and Mrs. Hubbard that the Guardian's Office does now?
MR. DeWOLFE: The same things. So you mean, specific Incidents?
MR. SHOEMAKER: No, I accept that. What was being done then that you can relate to what is being done now by the Guardian's Office?
MR. DeWOLFE: Well, there's something referred to earlier, just rapid expose -- the attacking of any enemies of Scientology, the pumping out of this information, the Guardian's protection of Scientology, the protection of the organization itself.
MR. SHOEMAKER: I want to ask --
MR. DeWOLFE: Any Scientology organization to me is called organization.
MR. SHOEMAKER: I don't mean to put words into your mouth, but are you saying that these are the same types of practices, whether legal or illegal, that were done then --
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes.
MR. SHOEMAKER: -- to protect the organization?
MR. DeWOLFE: That's correct.
MR. SHOEMAKER: Thank you.
MR. LeCHER: Two quick ones: You have said that your entire youth was spent in Scientology in the planning stage: formulating, writing, plotting, along with your father who was the Founder, with all this study and all this planning and all this effort, has it left you with any marketable skills at age forty-eight?
MR. DeWOLFE: Marketable skills?
MR. LeCHER: Has it prepared you for a job after Scientology?
MR. DeWOLFE: No. I didn't know what to do. I've held probably a couple of dozen jobs at least over the years. I didn't have any skills that you would call marketable skills, so I had to learn them. I had to learn how to work. It's incredibly difficult in the very beginning like that to try and get back into some kind of routine and work nine to five. I wasn't used to receiving a paycheck or even how to earn a paycheck. But it took me quite a number of years. After all, you know, with six children, you better get something or you're passed.
MR. LECHER: Thank you. One other question: Can you tell me something about radiation?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes. I find this kind of funny -- I know that many people don't, but I happen to have a thirty-two-year view of the thing -- there's a book called "All About Radiation" that came out in the mid-fifties. And at the same time, we sold a product which was vitamins and minerals called Dianazene. And the Dianazene had huge amounts of niacin in it, nicotinic acid.
The processes and accompanying the book, "All About Radiation," and the Dianazene -- its stated purpose to the membership and to the public was, "We now have the ability to eradicate or" -- in Scientology terms -- "run out all of your old tracks or past-track radiation experiences." That means that all of the space-opera wars you were into where they set off H-bombs seventy-four trillion years ago and all that, that these processes have this product called Dianazene, which was, simply, as I said, vitamins and minerals with huge amounts of niacin in it, which would produce these wild flushes.
Now if you take a great deal of niacin, you get these incredible flushes, like a rash. You get hot, your body would turn red in spots or over the whole thing. And this was proof that you were running out or eradicating all of your entire space-opera, old-track radiation. And the Dianazene and following the directions in the book guaranteed you proof against any radiation. That means, if somebody dropped an H-bomb today and you followed all of that, that you were proofed against radiation; it wouldn't hurt you. And so that is, I think, one of the major frauds in the mid-fifties concerning Scientology is about the radiation. All it was was niacin.
MR. LeCHER: I have two quick ones the attorney would like me to ask. How was the money carried out of the country? And in the organization, was it Hubbard's policy to have all the writings bear his name?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes. He was Source. That must have been repeated fifty million times. "L. Ron Hubbard is Source. L. Ron Hubbard is Founder. L. Ron Hubbard is Creator." It is his game. "It is my game," he would say. "This is mine; it belongs to me." And everything that was written by anybody else -- and there are many little bits and pieces that were written by other people, and many of the processes and training drills, et cetera that were written and invented and created by other people -- but at all times it was L. Ron Hubbard. That was the only name attached to it. Even if we wrote policy letters and he would review them and then put his name on it. So that was one of his first, basic, standard orders at that time.
MR. LECHER: How was the money taken out of the country?
MR. DeWOLFE: There were several ways of doing it. The very first one that I know of was in late 1952, when he went to London where Diane was born. On September 24th he opened up, through permission of the Bank of England, what is called in England a Dollar Account. That means that it was a special account that you could put in and take out dollars.
MR. LECHER: Was that carried out in a shoebox or --
MR. DeWOLFE: Yeah. Well, they were carried out in checks. They were carried out in shoeboxes. I took a valise over one time, as I said, full of money that went into the account.
Now while other people may have been signatories and directors of other U.S. corporations, the only one that could sign on the Dollar Account was L. Ron Hubbard. So this was a way in the early fifties for the money to be siphoned out of the various organizations in the United States to England. And once it was there, he had absolute and total freedom to use it because of the nature of the account and the fact that he was the signatory on it.
MR. LECHER: Thank you. Mr. Calderbank, do you have some questions?
MR. CALDERBANK: Yes. Mr. DeWolfe, during the time that you were with your father from '48 up until '59, would you describe yourself as probably his closest person? Or were you, as his son and as a, would you say, co-founder in the various Dianetics and Scientology teachings --
MR. DeWOLFE: I would say I was very close, but I was not a co-founder. There is only one Founder. But as far as being close is concerned, yes. It was not from '48, though. It would have to be from the summer of 1952 is when it was incredibly close. Of course --
MR. CALDERBANK: You were his right-hand man and knew your father probably better than anyone else?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes, me and Mary Sue. We were probably the closest workwise and even, as I said, living together in many different areas of the country.
MR. CALDERBANK: You said you weren't co-founder, but all during your testimony you said that --
MR. DeWOLFE:. Well, that's a very special term.
MR. CALDERBANK: Correct. But many of the --
MR. DeWOLFE: I did a lot of the things, but as I said, just answering your questions, the name of L. Ron Hubbard is on it.
MR. CALDERBANK: Right. But why, if many of the policies and ideas were yours and you came up with them, why are they all copyrighted to L. Ron Hubbard?
MR. DeWOLFE: Because he owns them. What I mean is there's only one Source, one Founder. He always insisted on that, regardless of whatever was done was him. And it really didn't make an awful lot of difference to me. If you look at it within the context of the time, it was rather immaterial to me.
MR. CALDERBANK: During the era of Dianetics, prior to it becoming the Church of Scientology, was auditing then a major money producer?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes.
MR. CALDERBANK: And --
MR. DeWOLFE: That and Dianetic courses.
MR. CALDERBANK: Then, in 1953, it was changed to Scientology, and you went from Dianetic auditing to Scientology auditing?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes.
MR. CALDERBANK: What was the --
MR. DeWOLFE: Well, actually, Scientology auditing started or occurred, as I said, in the summer of 1952 when he could no longer do anything with Dianetics again. That's where it started to become Scientology. It would be the summer of 1952 in Phoenix, Arizona.
MR. CALDERBANK: And my question is: The Dianetics auditing was guaranteed? It was scientific research, et cetera, et cetera?
MR. DeWOLFE: That's correct.
MR. CALDERBANK: What was the difference between Scientology auditing and Dianetic auditing?
MR. DeWOLFE: Nothing at all --
MR. CALDERBANK: In the beginning?
MR. DeWOLFE: -- except I would say the greater increasing emphasis on space opera.
MR. CALDERBANK: Back in the Dianetics era, was your father using the confidential information to have people pay up for their courses?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes. If people didn't pay, that was a fairly actionable offense, according to Dad.
MR. CALDERBANK: And he told them then, also, that it was in confidence that the auditing was taken?
MR. DeWOLFE: Oh, yes.
MR. CALDERBANK: And he utilized it?
MR. DeWOLFE: If you had a copy of the Auditor's Code, that Auditor's Code is virtually the same.
MR. CALDERBANK: I guess the main reason that I see for you coming here is: We've heard testimony that many of the -- or, at least, one person spent up to $35- or $40,000.00 in the belief that your father was a nuclear physicist, et cetera. On what do you base your knowledge that he was none of these?
MR. DeWOLFE: By conversations with him and by conversations with my grandfather, my mother, my grandmother, other family members. Actually, our family, if you wanted to spread it out a little bit, is pretty well all over the United States. Plus, I have seen a variety of documents over the years, both his and others obtained. For instance, not being a nuclear physicist -- I've seen his transcript a long time ago, many years ago.
MR. CALDERBANK: And in addition to auditing, when it was used as a Dianetics procedure, what guarantees were given then? The same that are given now? In Scientology, it was guaranteed as a science to relieve and cure various cancers, various ailments?
MR. DeWOLFE: That's correct. Of course, some of the terminology changed, but I'm talking about actual -- de facto.
MR. CALDERBANK: During this time, did auditing or Dianetics ever pay taxes in the fifties when this was being used?
MR. DeWOLFE: If we did, we should have fought it. No, I don't think so.
MR. CALDERBAINK: And a statement recently in the media, I believe Reverend Wilhere said that your father, again, spent years and years of research in this auditing, and it's based on case histories and years of research. Just to sum it up, you're saying that none of this research existed? There's no data, no case histories? And as the person that knew your father the best during the evolution of Dianetics and Scientology, are sitting here and saying that what he's printed in books and what has brought many people to pay for it into Clearwater is untrue?
MR. DeWOLFE: That's correct.
MR. CALDERBANK: No more questions.
MR. LeCHER: Mr. Berfield.
MR. BERFIELD: Mr. DeWolfe, if I understood your testimony yesterday, the allegations or statements as to your father's education, you answered "No" to most of those. Is that correct?
MR. DeWOLFE: I'm sorry, sir, I can't hear you.
MR. BERFIELD: Yesterday, a list of schools and studies that your father had undertaken, you answered "No" to them. And if I could read for you a book called "Dianetics," on page 138 it refers to your father having studied science and mathematics at George Washington University, graduating from Columbia College, attending Princeton University, and attaining a degree as Doctor of Philosophy from Sequoia University. Your answer was "No" to each of those. Is that correct?
MR. DeWOLFE: It was "No" to the point of Sequoia University. As I explained yesterday, Sequoia University was a diploma mill and you just wrote to them.
MR. BERFIELD: And Mr. Calderbank just got through asking you about another one, "All About Radiation." On the flyleaf of it, it makes reference to "L. Ron Hubbard, one of America's first nuclear physicists." What --
MR. DeWOLFE: That's not true.
MR. BERFIELD: All of these would be lying with the exception of Doctor of Philosophy?
MR. DeWOLFE: That's correct.
MR. BERFIELD: So, if I relied upon his ability to render service to me based upon this, that would be a falsehood. Is that correct?
MR. DeWOLFE: Correct.
MR. BERFIELD: In other words, it would be more or less a fraud upon the public. Is that correct?
MR. DeWOLFE: Correct.
MR. BERFIELD: Let me ask you a few other questions here. Now, like Mr. Hatchett said, your story here sounds so interesting it sounds almost like Howard Hughes.
MR. DeWOLFE: That's a very close analogy there, believe me.
MR. BERFIELD: Have you ever testified before any other groups, any governmental agencies or groups similar to this, legislative groups?
MR. DeWOLFE: No, I haven't, sir. I just testified for the IRS in the sixties. I don't have the date, but it was --
MR. BERFIELD: I was trying to find it here, and I cannot confront you with it, but somewhere that you had given or sworn an oath or testimony and then reneged on it. Is that correct?
MR. DeWOLFE: That's correct. Yes, that's correct. I was talking about 1971, 1972. That's where I had signed a statement which, at the time, I did not believe. But anyhow, that was that. I didn't feel, in my own mind, I didn't feel that I was able to recant something I had put under oath without the recant itself being equal under the law, and it wasn't equal under the law, as far as I was concerned -- the recant.
MR. BERFIELD: All right. What I'm trying to get in my mind is: If you testified under oath before, what assurance do we have that you're not going to recant on this? Was there some undue pressure --
MR. DeWOLFE: I'm not going --
MR. BERFIELD: -- put on you or something?
MR. DeWOLFE: Huh?
MR. BERFIELD: Was there undue pressure put on you or something that caused you to recant that?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes.
MR. BERFIELD: Can you tell us about it?
MR. DeWOLFE: Well, I was trying, as I said, to explain that earlier, just before the break. But the testimony that I supposedly recanted, or the recant statement that I made, was a very generalized statement, as I remember.
The testimony that I gave in the IRS case, in general, was pretty well confined to a very limited space in time of the organization, insofar as its financial dealings were concerned, and like, for instance, how much money I had received and how much money during a certain time period, that I knew the Church had received. So, that's about what I remember of it.
MR. BERFIELD: I guess it's still not clear in my mind. Was there any pressure put on you to rescind or recant or withdraw --
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes. At the time, as I said, in 1971, 1972, it was a very traumatic experience. I was not really in a position to defend myself at that time. Scientology was very, very strong and, also, my children were very small. One of the reasons I'm here today is that five of my six children are up and on their own, and they're very well able to take care of themselves. There is enough of what I have said already available to the press and to government and other kinds of people, so that it would be absolutely useless to try to do anything against me or force me to try to say something different or recant.
MR. BERFIELD: Let me go a step further. Are you saying that there was duress or some undue influence that they put upon you at that time?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes.
MR. BERFIELD: Is that, basically, just the children that you were talking about earlier?
MR. DeWOLFE: Well, I was worried about myself and my wife, too.
MR. BERFIELD: What, other than the photograph, did they do to --
MR. DeWOLFE: Phone calls in the night. I would actually have to sit down and remember all of it. It was really quite a confused mess at the time. And you really have a proper question there: Will I recant in the future? I'd have to say, absolutely not.
MR. BERFIELD: All right. Thus far, you've been talking about the period up to '59, early '60, and you did testify based upon firsthand experience. But since that period of time, have you had any contact with Scientologists?
MR. DeWOLFE: I've had off and on contact with people that had been in Scientology or in and around the whole subject matter. But insofar as this direct observation within the organization or anything else, of course not, no.
MR. BERFIELD: So you really couldn't say whether the criminal activities or some of these other training activities were continuing. Is that correct?
MR. DeWOLFE: As to direct, personal knowledge, no.
MR. BERFIELD: There are a couple of other things here that I'm not too sure about. I believe you testified that you were using drugs or high on drugs when you wrote, I can't remember, one of the books, whether it was Beginning of Man or whether it was one of them. Do you use drugs?
MR. DeWOLFE: Do I use drugs?
MR. BERFIELD: Yes.
MR. DeWOLFE: No. I use, of course, prescription stuff. But no, I quit all. of that when I left.
MR. BERFIELD: At the time you were in the Church, you said that your father was totally in charge.
MR. DeWOLFE: I'm sorry, I didn't hear the --
MR. BERFIELD: During the period of time that you were associated with Scientologists, you said that your father was totally in charge.
MR. DeWOLFE: That's correct.
MR. 13ERFIELD: Could you testify, to the best of your opinion, whether he still is in complete control of the Church or Scientology?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes, assuming he's alive.
MR. BERFIELD: Why do you say that?
MR. DeWOLFE: Well, I really don't know. In the many, many years and experiences of being around him, he said that he resigned in 1966, but that was a paper shuffle. He was so focused on being in absolute and full control at all times that I just cannot see him ever changing that.
MR. BERFIELD: Now, I also understand you to say that this book here was really was not your father's possession at all times, is that correct? That someone else had copyrights or something to it? It's Dianetics.
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes. That was the Dianetic Research Foundation, Don G. Purcell, correct.
MR. BERFIELD: A personal question --
MR. DeWOLFE: Oh, not that particular book, I'm sorry. Is it Dianetics: Evolution of Science? Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health is the one I'm referring to.
MR. BERFIELD: From your own personal knowledge, has Scientology ever helped you with any of your illnesses or sicknesses?
MR. DeWOLFE: No. I learned I had to wear glasses since I was twelve. And during Scientology, he wouldn't let me wear them, so I had migraine headaches. But after I learned that they wouldn't handle that, I wore them.
MR. BERFIELD: I believe this question's been asked earlier but are you aware of anybody that has been cured by Scientology?
MR. DeWOLFE: No.
MR. BERFIELD: As a layman, and this is very hard for you to do, but take yourself out and just go into Scientology to begin with, would you believe the information that's in this book?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes.
MR. BERFIELD: Knowing what you do know about Scientology and what has been alleged about Mr. Hubbard and what he can do for you, would you believe what's in this book?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes.
MR. BERFIELD: You would believe what's in this book?
MR. DeWOLFE: If I was from the outside --
MR. BERFIELD: No, no. Excuse me. I'll repeat the question. Knowing what you now know about Scientology --
MR. DeWOLFE: Oh, sorry. No.
MR. BERFIELD: -- would you believe that they could cure your illnesses and --
MR. DeWOLFE: Knowing what I know?
MR. BERFIELD: Knowing what you know.
MR. DeWOLFE: No, they couldn't.
MR. BERFIELD: One other thing -- and I may be on touchy ground here but -- during the period of the fifties when there was so much conversation about the E-Meter, why the vacillation back and forth about using the E-Meter? It either was important or it wasn't important.
MR. DeWOLFE: It was very important, but it was a matter of ownership. Bob Mathieson and my father couldn't come to terms as to the continued use of the E-Meter in 1951 and '52. And then, my father, since he could not control totally the E-Meter or come to terms, quit using it and invented processes which didn't require the E-Meter until later on, as I mentioned earlier, Don Green and Joe Wallace created one in Washington, D.C. in the mid-fifties.
But that's the vacillation. Simply, it was based on ownership and control.
MR. BERFIELD: Just two last questions here and I'm not trying to put words in your mouth but if I understood you correctly, it is your testimony that your father still sets corporate policy for Scientology?
MR. DeWOLFE: I would have to say yes, just simply because of the long term, having experience with him.
MR. BERFIELD: This question really may have been said, too, but this one follows along that line. In your estimation, if somebody violated that corporate policy, would there be any punishment?
MR. DeWOLFE: I would say yes. He would control things, yes.
MR. BERFIELD: Then, I come back to put the last nail in the coffin: This book or any other book -- this one on "All About Radiation" -- how would you describe that as far as the public is concerned?
MR. DeWOLFE: I don't know quite what you mean.
MR. BERFIELD: Would you say that it's a factual book that they could rely upon or fraud or what?
MR. DeWOLFE: No. It's a complete fraud. There's not a thing in there that is workable.
MR. BERFIELD: If this book was being sold in Clearwater, if I understand your testimony, this is something that would be a fraud upon the people of Clearwater. Is that correct?
MR. DeWOLFE: Well, yes. It is guaranteeing that it's going to rid you of radiation or make you radiation proof, and that's a scientific impossibility as we know it today.
MR. LeCHER: Thank you. Mrs. Garvey, would you like to ask some questions?
MRS. GARVEY: Just some clarification on the use of the E-Meter: The Dianetic Research Institute was set up as a scientific research institute? The Dianetic Research Institute was what? Was it a scientific research institute?
MR. DeWOLFE: No. The Dianetic Research Foundation was set up ostensibly for research, but it was more or less a place where people could come to train to be an auditor. It's the same as a mission today or what we called them, centers, where you were trained and you received auditing.
MRS. GARVEY: But it was not intended to be a religious institute at all?
MR. DeWOLFE: None whatsoever.
MRS. GARVEY: There was no religion attached to it. But the exact same E-Meter and auditor is now being used by a religious institute?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes. Of course, there are different models over the years.
MRS. GARVEY: Right. But it's the same basic concept?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes, correct.
MRS. GARVEY: One of the things that Mr. Walters told us earlier is the reason people are joining or going in with Scientology is because of the fantastic background of Mr. Hubbard, you know, he's a nuclear Physicist, you know, all the really great things that he has done. Why did the people join in 1950 or '51, '52, '53?
MR. DeWOLFE: The same basic reasons. The same self-created mystique. The same biographical data created by him. Plus you must realize that there's that old thing of being able to do anything, being completely free, having total and complete power over yourself. And you have that promise to be what you want to be, fly through space, and be completely free of your subconscious mind.
MRS. GARVEY: So, what you're saying is when he wrote the first book, Dianetics, he used that background then?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes.
MRS. GARVEY: Before you left, were there any of these policies that you talked about that weren't written. Were any of those written by the time you left in '59, or were they still unwritten policies?
MR. DeWOLFE: Well, on that aspect, I can't recall if --
MRS. GARVEY: Okay.
MR. DeWOLFE: They may have been written in different forms and slightly different words. I would really have to review it. Please keep in mind that I've heard enough, I guess, during the fifties to pack into ten or twenty lifetimes. And so, you're dealing, also, with, you know, maybe a few hundred million words.
MRS. GARVEY: You just can't remember whether or not there was anything written?
MR. DeWOLFE: Anything really specific about it.
MRS. GARVEY: Thank you.
MR. DeWOLFE: I mean as it was described in books.
MRS. GARVEY: Oh, one last thing: Hubbard supposedly claims that the Church is owing him millions of dollars because of all the research that he has done for Scientology. Is that true? Is that what he --
MR. DeWOLFE: He did that as a business ploy and as a tax ploy, that he was owed all of this money and he never made anything, quote, unquote, was the public type of statement that he made about that.
MRS. GARVEY: But obviously, if he didn't do any research --
MA. DeWOLFE: That kept increasing to where he'd walk in and say, "Well, the Church owes me $100,000.00." But it got up to thirteen million. It started out as one or two million.
MRS. GARVEY: But what you're saying is that he, in fact, did not do any research, so nothing is owed to him?
MR. DeWOLFE: That's correct.
MR. LeCHER: If you had to sum up your testimony given to us today, what message would you like to leave with this Commission?
MR. DeWOLFE: Wow. I think the message I would leave with you is to stay the hell out of hell.
MR. LeCHER: Stay the hell out of hell. Thank you.
MR. FLYNN: Mayor, I now have some documents that I'd like to introduce.
MR. LeCHER: I'd like the witness to stay here. He may be able to help us with the documents or if we want to question him about any of the documents. Then, we'll get on to the next witness.
MR. FLYNN: I believe we're up to Exhibit 20; is that correct?
MRS. WILLIAMS: Correct.
MR. FLYNN: Exhibit 20 -- if we could place it on the projector -- is a transcript of the grades of Lafayette Ronald Hubbard from the George Washington University. (A copy of a transcript from George Washington University was marked as Exhibit No. 20, as of this date.)
MR. GREENE: This exhibit shows that Mr. Hubbard completed three semesters at George Washington University. I'd like to direct your attention to --
MR. LeCHER: Can you get it off the ceiling?
MR. SHOEMAKER: Oh, I'm sorry.
MR. GREENE: I might direct your attention to the last entry in the left-hand column: In Nuclear and Atomic Physics, Hubbard received an F. The faculty took action, which is indicated in the lower right-hand corner of the exhibit, if you could move it up on the screen. Mr. Hubbard was on probation when he returned in September of 1931.
Again, directing your attention to the left-hand column, in Mathematics/Calculus, Hubbard received an F.
MR. CALDERBANK: Was there any Physics or any other complex science on the document? Did he take any courses --
MR. GREENE: The document speaks for itself, Mr. Calderbank. It appears that I pointed out physics courses, that course that he took, that he received an F in. He had a mathematics course above that that he received an F in.
MR. FLYNN: May the record reflect that the exhibit indicates that there were two Ds, three Fs. And three semesters would be a year and-a-half. The next exhibit, number 21, is a Navy biographical outline of Mr. Hubbard's naval career. (A copy of a biographical outline from the U.S. Navy was marked as Exhibit No. 21, as of this date.)
MR. FLYNN: Mr. Greene will indicate relevant portions of it.
MR. GREENE: This was an Information Request submitted to the Department of the Navy. It indicates on page one his ships and station in the lower left-hand corner of the page, that station being in Washington, D.C. And if you trace through on page two of the exhibit, the ships and station, you'll see Mr. Hubbard spent approximately sixteen weeks in Melbourne, Australia. That appears at the third entry down from the top of the page. Aside from that foreign duty, his entire involvement with the Navy, he was stationed, as station or a ship, here in the United States: New York, Oregon, California, New Jersey. On the lower part of that page, you'll see that he attended the Naval Training School at Princeton, New Jersey. Just below that, you'll see an entry for the Naval Hospital, Oak Knoll, California for a period of time: September '45 through December '45, December 4, '45.
MR. CALDERBANK: To sum up the document, how much time does this document show that he actually spent in active duty/combat during the World War II time span?
MR. FLYNN: The document indicates that he didn't spend any time in any combat and, in fact, he never received any war wounds in any type of combat. The next document is a Ship's Log of a ship that Mr. Hubbard served on, which is going to be marked as Exhibit No. 22. (A copy of a Ship's Log was marked as Exhibit No. 22, as of this date.)
MR. GREENE: This is a confidential log. You'll see it appears at the top of the left-hand corner of the page. The ship's name was the ALGOL, A-L-G-O-L. I'd like to direct your attention to the entry at 16:30, the left-hand column toward the bottom of the page, that last paragraph, which reads as follows: "The navigating officer reported to the OOD that an attempt at sabotage had been made sometime between 15:30 through 16:00. A coke bottle filled with gasoline with a cloth wick inserted had been concealed along cargo. It was to be hoisted aboard and stowed in Number One Hold. It was discovered before being taken aboard. ONI, FDI, NSD authorities reported on the scene and investigations were started." In the lower right-hand corner of the page appears Mr. Hubbard's signature as the navigator, the navigating officer. Page two of that exhibit -- if you raise that exhibit*, you'll see it in the lower right-hand corner of the page. If you look, you'll see Mr. Hubbard's signature there as the navigator. Page two of that exhibit, could we have that placed on the overhead projector? There'll be the date in the upper right-hand corner, Thursday, September 28th, 1944. It's the following day, and I'd like to direct your attention to the entry 16:20, last paragraph on the page. "Orders before 16:35 pursuant to DuPers dispatch dated 27 September at 22:144. Lieutenant Lafayette Ron Hubbard D/BS, USNR 113392 was this date detached from duties aboard this vessel. He transferred from present duty under instruction to the University of Princeton, New Jersey. "19:40: 32nd unit U.S. Naval Construction Batallion returned aboard to resume loading."
MR. LeCHER: Why is it significant about the coke bottle, the wick, and the return to Princeton?
MR. FLYNN: Mr. Hubbard -- the ALGOL sailed into combat approximately three days after this event, and it received its orders to go into combat sometime before that, which Mr. Hubbard was aware of. And Mr. Hubbard is the one who found the coke bottle and, just before the ship went into combat, he was relieved of duty.
MR. LeCHER: All right. Thank you.
MR. FLYNN: And as the record will indicate, shortly after that, he went to the Oak Knoll Military Hospital.
MR. LeCHER: Yes, sir.
MR. BERFIELD: Just one question: Do you have anything there to validate that the two are connected?
MR. FLYNN: We don't have any evidence to validate who placed the coke bottle. We have evidence to validate that the ship went into combat. We have evidence, as you've just seen, to validate that Mr. Hubbard was relieved from duty within twenty-four hours after the coke bottle was found by him, as you have just seen. The next exhibit, number 23, is a letter of October 16th from Mr. Hubbard to the Veteran's Administration. (A copy of a letter to the Veteran's Administration was marked as Exhibit No. 23, as of this date.)
MR. GREENE: This letter is dated October 16, 1947 from Lafayette Ronald Hubbard: "Gentlemen" directed to the Veteran's Administration --"This is a request for treatment. My residence is north of Hollywood, but I attend school at Drama Theater Workshop, Fairfax and Wilshire, Los Angeles. It would be appreciated if any out physician selected would be located near my school, as I have a vacant hour and a half from one to two-thirty four days each week at school. I work at night six days per week. I was placed on a certain medication back East and have continued it at my own expense. After trying and failing for two years to regain my equilibrium in civil life, I am utterly unable to approach anything like my own competence. My last physician informed me that it might be very helpful if I were to be examined and, perhaps, treated psychiatrically or even by a psychoanalyst. Toward the end of my service, I avoided out of pride any mental examinations, hoping that time would balance a mind, which I had every reason to suppose was seriously affected. I cannot account for nor rise above long periods of moroseness and suicidal inclinations, and have nearly come to realize that I must first triumph above this before I can hope to rehabilitate myself at all. I cannot leave school or what little work I am doing for hospitalization due to many obligations, but I feel I might be treated outside possibly with success. I cannot myself afford such treatment. Would you please help me? Sincerely, L. Ron Hubbard."
MRS. GARVEY: The date on this is?
MR. GREM: October 16, 1947 appears on the upper right-hand corner of this letter.
MRS. GARVEY: And Dianetics came out in 1950? The first Dianetic book came out when?
MR. DeWOLFE: 1950.
MR. BERFIELD: Counsel, I have a question: Through any testimony -- and this appears to be a court document-- was it ever established that was his signature or do --
MR. FLYNN: That's a document that was -- that has appeared in a number of court proceedings. And Mr. Hubbard here could authenticate the signature, if necessary, and the document was seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
MR. BERFIELD: Would you put that back up there again, please? Would you look at that document, Mr. DeWolfe, and say for sure whether that is your father's signature?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes. I've seen it many thousands of times. His signature, I mean. I don't mean this --
MR. LeCHER: How did you get these documents in your possession, Mr. Flynn?
MR. FLYNN: The documents have been available to the public for one period of time, during a nine-month sealing period in the United States, Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. During that period of time, we obtained possession of many of them. We have also obtained possession of many of them through various court proceedings.
The documents are now on file and were placed on file with this city and before this Commission back in September. And they have all been a matter of public record since last September within this city. The next exhibit, number 24, is a xeroxed copy of the biographical outline of Mr. Hubbard from the book, Dianetics: The Original Thesis, which Mr. Berfield and Mr. Calderbank were referring to earlier. (A copy of the biographical outline from Dianetics: The Original ThesiE was marked as Exhibit No. 24, as of this date.)
MR. FLYNN- And rather than place the book into evidence, we are going to put a xeroxed copy of it into evidence. And Mr. Greene will read from a portion of that biography.
MR. GREENE: Again, this is from Exhibit 24, page 158: "L. Ron Hubbard. Scientology was developed by L. Ron Hubbard, a writer and philosopher. It was completed after thirty-five years of research. Hubbard was born in Tilden, Nebraska on March 13, 1911. Much of Hubbard's early youth was spent in the American West, and he traveled extensively in Asia as a young man.
"He studied science and mathematics at George Washington University, graduating from Columbian College." Columbian College, as you may know, is the undergraduate Arts and Science Program at George Washington University.
"He attended Princeton University and obtained a degree as Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D., from Sequoia University.
"Before World War II, he was well known in exploration-circles and is to this day a member of the Explorers Club. He wrote and published over fifteen million words of articles and novels of all kinds before World War II. During that war, he served as Commander of Corps Vettes and was extensively decorated. Crippled and blind at the end of the war, he resumed his studies in philosophy and by his discoveries recovered so fully that he was reclassified in 1949 for full combat duty.
"It is a matter of medical record that he has twice been pronounced dead, and in 1950 he was given a perfect score on mental and physical fitness reports. Revolted by war and man's inhumanity to man, he resigned his commission rather than assist the government-research projects."
Dropping-down some paragraphs: "Unlike any other philosopher at any age, Hubbard has led a very full and adventurous life. He has been the hero in numerous novels and even of a famous motion picture. Probably no philosopher of modern times.has had the popularity and appeal of Hubbard or such startling successes in his own lifetime."
MR. LeCHER: What famous motion picture does he appear as the hero in?
MR. DeWOLFE: None. I think that the motion picture that he may be referring to is Mister Roberts; that was a rumor that he spread around. But he had no connection with the movie, nor the play, nor the character Mister Roberts.
MRS. GARVEY: It says there that he was given a perfect score on mental and physical fitness reports. Is he currently getting-disability checks from the federal government?
MR. FLYNN: If you know.
MR. DeWOLFE: I don't know. I do know that he continued to receive them throughout the early fifties. I remember in '54 and '55 'in Washington, D.C., he got one every month. I don't believe -- it was somewhere between $80 and $140.00 a month.
MRS. GARVEY: So, if he was receiving disability checks, he can't, obviously, be in perfect mental and physical shape.
MR. DeWOLFE: Correct.
MRS. GARVEY: That's unusual.
MR. CALDERBANK: Mr. DeWolfe, so that people don't misinterpret your testimony and what is being presented here as a personal attack on L. Ron Hubbard, do you personally know of thousands of dollars, both in Dianetics
and Scientology, that was paid based on the information in the books, his biography, and his background, his research; is that right?
MR. DeWOLFE: Right.
MR. CALDERBANK: And you understand the weight of your testimony is that -- because, if many people are spending thousands of dollars daily here in Clearwater, based on his background, based solely just on the representations made in books, published and written articles, in verbal communication and you're now saying that each of these is false?
MR. DeWOLFE: Correct.
MR. BERFIELD: Along that same line, Mr. DeWolfe, his comments that he was blind and had total recovery, did he ever address that subject to you?
MR. DeWOLFE: He's never been blind, to my knowledge, during the -- are you talking about being blind?
MR. BERFIELD: Yes, sir, wounded or -
MRS. GARVEY: You never questioned him about that?
MR. DeWOLFE: I'm sorry, what?
MRS. GARVEY: You never questioned him about that, that part of his biography?
MR. DeWOLFE: There were times during the fifties that were periods that he had been away from me - And
because of his incredible charisma - what did I know if he said he had been blinded and now he could see? But this, to my knowledge, he's never been blinded and always had pretty decent eyesight.
MR. BERFIELD: I have a question to the counselor: Do you have copies of his medical records?
MR. FLYNN: No, we don't. However, we do have copies of the outline of his naval career, which has been introduced into evidence, which we just went through. And it may be helpful if the Commission took that exhibit and each one of you scrutinize it so- that you can see precisely where he was at various times. In addition to that, we have some evidence of the discharge from the Oak Knoll Military Hospital, which we will be introducing, which shows that he suffered from a duodenal ulcer.
MR. CALDERBANK: You've never ever seen any records or case histories, a compiling of data, that your father did to verify any of the claims that he's made in Dianetics or auditing?
MR. DeWOLFE: No. I knew he had an ulcer.
MR. HATCHETT: Pardon me. You did say he had an ulcer? I didn't hear you.
MR. DeWOLFE: Huh?
MR. HATCHETT: Yes, he had an ulcer?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes, he had an ulcer.
MR. HATCHETT: I didn't hear you. Thank you.
MR. DeWOLFE: He drank copious amounts of that milky, chalky stuff that the Navy -
MR. LeCHER: Like Maalox?
MR. DeWOLFE: Yes. But it was far more unpleasant than that.
MR. LeCHER: Can we get to the next document?
MR. FLYNN:, Yes. To speed things up here a little bit, what I will do is I'll mark two more biographical sketches of similar type as exhibits. The top one will be Exhibit 25 and the next one will be Exhibit 26.
(A copy of a biographical sketch was marked as Exhibit No. 25, as of this date;
A copy of a biographical sketch was marked as Exhibit No. 26, as of this date.)
MR. FLYNN: And then, we'll mark the cover of the book, All About Radiation.
(The cover of the book, All About Radiation, was marked as Exhibit No. 27, as of this date.)
MR. FLYNN: As you can see in another biographical sketch, it basically says the same thing: he is a graduate of George Washington University, Columbian College, which is the undergraduate school, and he gives hi's - - he represents himself to be a student at Princeton. Well, in fact, as I indicated to you at the outset, the only training he had at Princeton, and as Mr. DeWolfe testified, was connected with his naval training during-World War II,- which -- he was at no point a part of Princeton University as an undergraduate student.
And the cover of the book, if we could put that on so that everyone can see the representations right on the cover of the book, All About Radiation, it states that it is by a nuclear physicist and a medical doctor. It doesn't really appear that well on the projector, but, as you can see, that representation is held out right on the cover of the book.
And, in fact, if you open the book, there is no name of any-doctor in the book. Under the the book is divided into two
sections, Book I and Book II. Book I is apparently written by a medical doctor as has been held out to be on the
cover, and at the bottom of the page the only thing that appears is "By Medicus," which is a Latin term that means
medical. But there's no name of any medical doctor in this book who supposedly co- authored the book. But the
inference is clear on the front that it was written by a medical doctor and a nuclear physicist.
And Mr. Hubbard would like -- wants to testify as to who wrote-the entire book.
MR. LeCHER: Who wrote the entire book, sir, about radiation?
MR. DeWOLFE: L. Ron Hubbard.
MR. LeCHER: L. Ron Hubbard. And he is not a medical doctor?
MR. FLYNN: You might want to answer that: Is your father a medical doctor?
MR. DeWOLFE: Is my father a medical doctor? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.
MR. LeCHER: Is your father a medical doctor?
MR. DeWOLFE: No, nor is he a nuclear physicist.
MR. LeCHER: Has he ever been to any medical school in a foreign land? Has he ever been to a medical school in a foreign land like Mexico, England.
MR. DeWOLFE: No, never.
MR. LeCHER: Okay. Thank you. These hearings are really not appear to being a personal attack on your father. We're trying to get to the bottom of this to understand why he is so credible to so many people. Apparently, he has no background to back up his opinion of himself. I'm glad you were able to come to speak to us today and yesterday, sir.
Is there anything you'd like to