Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

ecame enthused, temporarily, by an extraordinary enterprise straight from the pages of his own
science fiction and smacking faintly of world domination. His idea was to establish an alliance of
leading international scientists and to store all the latest scientific research on microfilm in an
atom-bomb-proof archive somewhere in Arizona. In this way, he argued somewhat obscurely,
individual nations would be denied the technical capacity to wage a nuclear war. Hubbard called
the project 'Allied Scientists of the World' [the name of an organisation that had featured in his novel
'The End Is Not Yet'] and chose Perry Chapdelaine to supervise its inauguration.
'Ron telephoned me at three o'clock in the morning and said he needed me real bad,' Chapdelaine
recalled. 'I got dressed and went over to his house and we sat in the front room where he told me
all about his plan for Allied Scientists of the World. His stated goal was to stop war in the world. He
thought with Allied Scientists he could control war and in that way control the world. That was what
he wanted, no question.'
Chapdelaine was despatched in great secrecy - 'Hubbard told me to make sure no one knew he
was behind it, I've no idea why' - to Denver, Colorado, where the headquarters of Allied Scientists of
the World was to be established. His orders were to organize a mass mailing of scientists and
technicians who would be informed that they had been awarded fellowships in Allied Scientists of
the World in recognition of their scientific achievements and invited to send in annual dues of $25.
The timing could not have been worse. 'Thousands of leaflets went out,' said Chapdelaine, 'but only
one or two came back.' Instead, the FBI was deluged with requests from recipients of the mail-shot
to investigate the organization as a possible Communist front organization - such was the power of
McCarthyism. The FBI soon established that L. Ron Hubbard was behind Allied Scientists: inter-
Bureau memoranda now contained the information that 'several individuals' alleged he was
'mentally incompetent' and a report from the Kansas City office noted that he had 'delusions of
grandeur'.[16]
When Post Office inspectors began an investigation of Allied Scientists for possible violation of
mail fraud statutes, Hubbard beat a rapid retreat and abandoned the venture. But he was, as
always, untroubled by trouble. At the Foundation's New Year party, which was held in a Wichita
hotel and featured a live orchestra and a floor show, he was the life and soul of the festivities. 'He
danced a great deal,' said Helen O'Brien, 'with a light and exact rhythm that was completely without
grace. There was something attention-arresting in the way he handled himself. Many almost
worshipped him in those days, but there were other individuals who looked at him askance, with
something close to fear.'
For Don Purcell, the Allied Scientists fiasco was almost, but not quite, the last straw. According to
Chapdelaine, Purcell was 'frantic, almost hysterical' over the ill-starred enterprise. 'He was scared
to death that it would reflect on him,' said Chapdelaine. 'He was afraid of what Hubbard might do
next.'
With the relationship between the two men at its lowest ebb, it full to lawyers to deliver the final
blow. Ever since Hubbard's arrival in Wichita, Purcell had been fending off creditors who had been
left in the lurch as, one after another, the original Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundations closed
their doors. At one point he had had to lodge an $11,000 bond with the district court to prevent the
Wichita Foundation being placed in State receivership.
'During this time,' he noted, 'I was negotiating with attorneys trying to effect a settlement of the State
receivership. I purchased all of the accounts involved in the deal and heaved a sigh of relief. The
mess was cleaned up.'[17]