Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

Chapter 10
Commies, Kidnaps and Chaos
'The United States Government at this time [1950] attempted to monopolize all his researches and
force him to work on a project "to make man more suggestible" and when he was unwilling, tried to
blackmail him by ordering him back to active duty to perform this function. Having made many
friends he was able to instantly resign from the Navy and escape this trap. The Government never
forgave him for this and soon began vicious, covert international attacks upon his work, all of which
were proven false and baseless.' (What is Scientology?, 1978)
• • • • •
California, ever enchanted by fads and facile philosophies, was the natural habitat of Dianetics and
it was to California that Hubbard returned in triumph at the beginning of August 1950, to be feted by
joyful Dianeticists waiting to meet him at Los Angeles airport. Two years earlier, he had left as a
penniless pulp fiction author; now he was back as a celebrity with a book firmly lodgedat the top of
every bestseller list and a growing legion of followers who truly believed him to be a genius.
He had a busy schedule ahead: apart from personal appearances and interviews, he was to
lecture at the newly-formed Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation of California, all the big
bookstores wanted him for signing sessions and, most important of all, he was to attend a rally on
Thursday 10 August at the Shrine Auditorium. It promised to be Dianetics' finest hour, for on that
evening the identity of the world's first 'clear' was to be announced.
The Shrine was a vast, mosque-like building with white stucco castellated walls and a dome in
each corner, unforgettably characterized by the music critic of the LA Times as being of the 'neopenal
Bagdad' school of architecture. Built in 1925 by the Al Malaikah Temple, it was the largest
auditorium in Los Angeles and could seat nearly 6500 people under a swooping ceiling designed
to resemble the roof of a tent. When the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation booked it for the
meeting on 10 August, few people expected more than half the seats to be filled.
Arthur Jean Cox, the young teletype operator who had met Hubbard at the Los Angeles Science
Fantasy Society, left early for the meeting by streetcar and was surprised how crowded it was. 'More
and more people got on at every stop,' he said. 'I couldn't believe that everyone was going to the
meeting but when we arrived at the Shrine on Royal Street, everyone got off. I was absolutely
amazed. By the time I got inside there were only a few seats left.'[1]
The audience was predominantly young, noisy and good-humoured. Many people carried wellthumbed
copies of 'The Book', in the hope of getting them signed by Hubbard, and there was much
speculation about 'the world's first clear' and what he or she would be able to do. Dozens of
newspapers and magazines, including Life, had sent reporters and photographers to cover the
event and those cynics who had predicted a sea of empty seats looked on in astonishment as even
the aisles began to fill.
When L. Ron Hubbard walked on to the stage, followed by A. E. van Vogt, whom he had recently
recruited, and other directors of the Foundation, there was a spontaneous roar from the audience,
followed by applause and cheering that continued for several minutes. Hubbard, totally assured
and relaxed, smiled broadly as he looked around the packed auditorium and finally held up his