Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology (62 page)

During 1980 Defendant Armstrong remained convinced of
Hubbard’s honesty and integrity and believed that the representations he had
made about himself in various publications were truthful. Defendant Armstrong
was devoted to Hubbard and was convinced that any information which he
discovered to be unflattering of Hubbard or contradictory to what Hubbard has
said about himself was a lie being spread by Hubbard’s enemies. Even when
Defendant Armstrong located documents in Hubbard’s Archives which indicated
that representations made by Hubbard and the Organization were untrue; Defendant
Armstrong would find some means to “explain away” the contradictory
information.

Slowly, however, throughout 1981, Defendant Armstrong
began to see that Hubbard and the Organization had continuously lied about
Hubbard’s past, his credentials, and his accomplishments.

Armstrong began a campaign to correct the numerous
misrepresentations, but met with considerable resistance. In November 1981, he
was ordered back to Gilman from Los Angeles. He was told by senior Church
official Norman Starkey that he was to be Security-checked. There was no desire
to correct Hubbard’s biography. To this day, Scientology Orgs sell books which
contain the very biographies which Armstrong had proved false: Hubbard’s
Mission
into Time
is the worst example of many.

On November 25, 1981, Armstrong wrote to Commodore’s Messenger
Cirrus Slevin:

If we present inaccuracies, hyperbole or downright lies as
fact or truth, it doesn’t matter what slant we give them, if disproved the man
will look, to outsiders at least, like a charlatan. This is what I’m trying to
prevent and what I’ve been working on the past year and a half.

A few weeks later, Armstrong decided to leave the Church.
Before leaving, he worked desperately hard to ensure that Garrison had all of
the documents necessary for an honest biography. After leaving, he maintained
contact with the Biography Project, even helping to find documents in the
Archives when the new Archivist was unable to do so for two months following
his departure. Judge Breckenridge’s opinion continues:

On February 18, 1982, the Church of Scientology
International issued a “Suppressive Person Declare Gerry Armstrong,” which is
an official Scientology document issued against individuals who are considered
enemies of the Organization...

Defendant Armstrong was unaware of said Suppressive
Person Declare until April of 1982. At that time a revised Declare was issued
on April 22, 1982. Said Declare charged Defendant Armstrong with 18 different
“Crimes and High Crimes and Suppressive Acts against the Church.” The charges
included theft, juggling accounts, obtaining loans on [sic] money under false pretenses,
promulgating false information about the Church, its founder, and members, and
other untruthful allegations designed to make Defendant Armstrong an
appropriate subject of the Scientology “Fair Game Doctrine.” Said Doctrine
allows any suppressive person to be “tricked, cheated, lied to, sued, or
destroyed.”

...from his extensive knowledge of the covert and
intelligence operations carried out by the Church of Scientology of California
against its enemies (suppressive persons), Defendant Armstrong became terrified
and feared that his life and the life of his wife were in danger, and he also
feared he would be the target of costly and harassing lawsuits. In addition,
Mr. Garrison became afraid for the security of the documents and believed that
the intelligence network of the Church of Scientology would break and enter his
home to retrieve them. Thus Defendant Armstrong made copies of certain
documents for Mr. Garrison and maintained them in a separate location.

Armstrong, with Garrison’s permission, made copies of about
10,000 pages of these documents, and deposited them with attorneys for safe
keeping. Michael Flynn was one of these attorneys.

On August 2, 1982, the Church of Scientology of California
filed suit against Gerald Armstrong for Conversion (a form of theft); breach of
fiduciary duty (breach of trust); and breach of confidence. Mary Sue Hubbard
joined the suit against Armstrong as an “intervenor,” and added a charge of
“Invasion of Privacy” to the suit. Judge Breckenridge’s opinion continues:

After the within suit was filed ... Defendant Armstrong was
the subject of harassment, including being followed and surveilled by
individuals who admitted employment by Plaintiff; being assaulted by one of
these individuals; being struck bodily by a car driven by one of these individuals;
having two attempts made by said individuals apparently to involve Defendant
Armstrong in a freeway automobile accident; having said individuals come onto
Defendant Armstrong’s property, spy in his windows, create disturbances, and
upset his neighbors. During trial when it appeared that Howard Schomer (a
former Scientologist) might be called as a defense witness, the Church engaged
in a somewhat sophisticated effort to suppress his testimony.

After hearing four weeks of testimony, and deliberating for
two weeks, Judge Breckenridge ruled that Gerald Armstrong was entitled to
judgment and costs. The preceding quotations come from a 15-page appendix to
the opinion. The main body of the decision is one of the most forceful
statements ever made against the Church of Scientology. Of the Founder and his
Church, Judge Breckenridge wrote:

In addition to violating and abusing its own members
civil rights, the organization over the years with its “Fair Game” doctrine has
harassed and abused those persons not in the Church whom it perceives as enemies.
The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre
combination seems to be a reflection of its founder LRH. The evidence portrays
a man who has been virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history,
background, and achievements. The writings and documents in evidence additionally
reflect his egoism, greed, avarice, lust for power, and vindictiveness and
aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile. At
the same time it appears that he is charismatic and highly capable of
motivating, organizing, controlling, manipulating, and inspiring his adherents.
He has been referred to during the trial as a “genius,” a “revered person,” a
man who was “viewed by his followers in awe.” Obviously, he is and has been a
very complex person, and that complexity is further reflected in his alter ego,
the Church of Scientology. Notwithstanding protestations to the contrary, this
court is satisfied that LRH runs the Church in all ways through the Sea
Organization, his role of Commodore, and the Commodore’s Messengers. He has, of
course, chosen to go into “seclusion,” but he maintains contact and control
through the top messengers. Seclusion has its light and dark side too. It adds
to his mystique, and yet shields him from accountability and subpoena or
service of summons.

LRH’s wife, Mary Sue Hubbard is also a plaintiff
herein. On the one hand she certainly appeared to be a pathetic individual. She
was forced from her post as Controller, convicted and imprisoned as a felon,
and deserted by her husband. On the other hand her credibility leaves much to
be desired. She struck the familiar pose of not seeing, hearing, or knowing any
evil. Yet she was the head of the Guardian Office for years and among other
things, authored the infamous order “GO [Guardian’s Order] 121669” which
directed culling of supposedly confidential P.C. [Preclear] files/folders for
the purposes of internal security. In her testimony she expressed the feelings
that defendant by delivering the documents, writings, letters to his attorneys,
subjected her to mental rape ... The court is satisfied that he [Armstrong] did
not unreasonably intrude upon Mrs. Hubbard’s privacy under the circumstances
... It is, of course, rather ironic that the person who authorized G.O. order
121669 should complain about an invasion of privacy. The practice of culling
supposedly confidential “P.C. folders or files” to obtain information for purposes
of intimidation and/or harassment is repugnant and outrageous. The Guardian’s
Office, which plaintiff headed, was no respecter of anyone’s civil rights,
particularly that of privacy.

The documents involved in the case were extensive. They
included copies of letters from Hubbard to his father, to his first two wives,
and to the children of his first marriage. They also included Hubbard’s teenage
diaries, his Boy Scout records, poems, and the manuscript of an unpublished
book called
Positive Mental Therapy
. Also included were Hubbard’s
letters to Mary Sue Hubbard over the years, where he said exactly what he was
doing while researching the “Technology” of Scientology. For example, there are
letters sent from North Africa in late 1966, to Mary Sue at Saint Hill, which
give details of the drugs Hubbard was taking to “research” the most secret of
Scientology’s levels, OT3.
⁸

During the course of the trial the judge heard testimony
from Armstrong, his wife Jocelyn; Laurel Sullivan who had been Armstrong’s
senior on the Biography Project; the proposed author Omar Garrison; Hubbard’s
nurse Kima Douglas (who left Hubbard in January); and former Author Services
Incorporated Treasury Secretary Howard Schomer.

Omar Garrison, who had been commissioned to write the
biography, had this to say of the documentation Armstrong provided:

The inconsistencies were implicit in various documents which
Mr. Armstrong provided me with respect to Mr. Hubbard’s curriculum vitae, with
respect to his Navy career, with respect to almost every aspect of his life.
These undeniable and documented facts did not coincide with the official
published biography that the church had promulgated.

Garrison intended to complete the biography, and continued
with this work through 1982. In June 1983, he agreed to a settlement with the
Church. The Church wanted to be absolutely sure that the manuscript wasn’t made
public. Garrison reluctantly agreed. He too was followed by private detectives,
“bumper to bumper.”
⁹

Jocelyn Armstrong testified that she had worked on a project
where Mission Holders were to sign backdated contracts, Board minutes and
resignations.

Kima Douglas was Hubbard’s personal Medical Officer from
1975 until her departure on January 16, 1980. From 1977 she was with Hubbard on
a daily basis. She was also the head of no less than
fourteen
Scientology corporations, and had written undated resignations from each.
Amongst these was the Religious Research Foundation, which was used to channel
monies from the Flagship and later the Flag Land Base into non-Church accounts
controlled by Hubbard.

Douglas testified that she was with Hubbard when he approved
Armstrong’s request to collect material for a biography. She had also been
present when Hubbard had ordered that supposedly confidential counseling
folders should be “culled” for admissions of crimes, and anti-social or immoral
actions, for future use. Douglas admitted that she had seen Hubbard display
“irrational and abusive” behavior, to the extent of striking someone. She also
revealed the extent of Hubbard’s ill health throughout the years she served
him.

The myth of L. Ron Hubbard was badly fractured. It seemed
that his mesmeric hold over Scientologists, whether Church members or Independents,
was slipping. The trance could only be maintained through a stubborn refusal to
consider the material now available.

The Judgment in the Armstrong case was filed on June 22,
1984, just as Justice Latey, was preparing to hear a child custody case in
London.

1.
   
p.7, 1973 edition.

2.
   
Technical Bulletins, vol.2, p.151.

3.
   
East Grinstead Courier 12 August 1983.

4.
   
The Times
, 4 September 1973.

5.
   
Evening News
, 5 June 1973.

6.
   
Church of Scientology of California v Gerald Armstrong, Superior Court,
Los Angeles County, case no. 420153.

7.
   
Memorandum of intended decision, filed 22 June 1984.

8.
   
Drugs – author interviews with Gerry Armstrong and Virginia
Downsborough. Armstrong cited references to “pinks and grays” in Hubbard’s
letter. Downsborough was shocked at the shelf-full of drugs in Hubbard’s room
when she rescued him from Gran Canaria. Hubbard’s Veteran’s Administration file
shows that he had been given phenobarbital and amphojel for his purported ulcer
during his time in the US Navy. In a taped lecture, Hubbard admitted having
been a “guinea pig” in an experiment to withdraw from addiction to the
barbiturate phenobarbital (Research & Discovery volume 1, p.124, first
edition). See also a newspaper report of a prescription written in East
Grinstead for the barbiturate, Nembutal, signed “Dr. L. Ron Hubbard” (
Daily
Mail
, 3 August 1968). Hubbard had a pre-signed prescription pad when aboard
ship during the Sea Org days.

9.
   
Letter to the author from Omar Garrison, 18 Aug 85.

Chapter Thirty-Six

“What can we do to refute what is stated
in Scientology’s own documents?”

—Counsel
for the Scientologist father in the custody case

In Spring 1984, I learned of a child custody case in which
Scientology was at issue. The father, a Church Scientologist, was seeking to retain
custody of his two young children. The mother and stepfather had left
Scientology.

Prior to the hearing, the stepfather called me. He launched
into a speech, saying he did not want to blacken Scientology, only to gain custody
of the children. His caution was unnecessary; I had no desire to conceal the
facts about either Hubbard or Scientology. Although prepared to help the
Independents defend themselves, I no longer considered myself a Scientologist.
We began to work together on a daily basis.