Marty’s latest attempt to whitewash L. Ron Hubbard talks about David Miscavige’s “suppression” of LRH’s family. The truth about LRH’s family is actually too broad a topic to cover in one blog entry – entire books have been written about it – so today I’d like to focus on LRH and Mary Sue Hubbard, who Marty portrays as a pair of star cross’d lovers separated by David Miscavige.
LRH met Mary Sue Whipp in 1952 when he was 41 and she was 19. Ron had just divorced his second wife, a marriage he denies in this television interview. (He also lies about how many children he had; he says four, but he actually had seven). Within a few weeks of meeting, Ron and Mary Sue – now MSH – were married.
MSH went on to become one of the most powerful people in Scientology, heading up the dreaded Guardian’s Office, the predecessor of the Office of Special Affairs (OSA). OSA is the department organizing the harassment of Marty Rathbun, and it used to be headed up by Marty’s good buddy and former Church spokesliar Mike Rinder. By all accounts, David Miscavige had nothing on Mary Sue; under her supervision, the Guardian’s Office engaged in some of the Church’s most heinous and illegal activities, including terrorizing and framing Church critic Paulette Cooper (Operation Freakout) and breaking into government agencies to steal documents (Operation Snow White), actions that would eventually send Mary Sue Hubbard and several of her cohorts to jail. Although the Church to this day attempts to distance L. Ron Hubbard from the GO’s illegal activities, there is ample evidence – the latest being Marty’s reference in this very blog entry to MSH as LRH’s “long-time confidante” – that LRH knew full well what Mary Sue and the GO were doing. He may have directed their activities and he most likely approved them.
But let’s get back to our tale: Marty says that towards the end of LRH’s life, he (LRH) and MSH were kept from communicating with each other by David Miscavige. This one just doesn’t pass the truth detector. LRH was the revered leader of Scientology. There is ample evidence that he got everything he wanted, from a $250,000 Bluebird Wanderlodge motorhome to psychotropic drugs (Hubbard’s dead body reportedly contained traces of Vistaril, a drug prescribed for allergies, anxiety and as a tranquilizer). He had a group of Scientologists attending to him and could easily summon anyone he wanted to see. Surely, LRH could have seen his wife if he wanted to. Apparently, he did not want to.
In fact, Mary Sue Hubbard did not see her husband at all for the last six years of his life. MSH may have been evil, but she was loyal; even when she was tried, convicted, and jailed as a felon for the illegal acts she committed as head of the Guardian’s Office, she stood by her man, never betraying her husband (who was an un-indicted co-conspirator in the same case).
When she was released from prison a year later, she stayed active with the Church, but her husband never made any attempt to see her. LRH and MSH would not be reunited until 2002, when Mary Sue’s ashes were scattered in the same location as the husband who had turned his back on her.
So what happened? Did DM really keep them separated? Unlikely. The probability is that L. Ron Hubbard decided Mary Sue was an enemy – a suppressive person – an applied his own version of the “Disconnection” policy he authored.
This was par for the course for Hubbard. His first marriage, to Margaret “Polly” Grubb, ended in 1947 after 13 years with his wife suing for divorce on the grounds of abandonment and non-support. (She also claims that Hubbard was physically abusive. Perhaps DM’s beating of his staff is also LRH tech?) Polly apparently did not know that Hubbard had committed bigamy, having married Sara Northrop in 1946.
That marriage also ended in divorce, with Sara accusing LRH of cruelty and torture. Ron responded by kidnapping their daughter Alexis and fleeing to Cuba. He eventually agreed to return Alexis and grant Sara a divorce provided she signed a statement retracting the accusations she made against him, acknowledging his greatness, and admitting responsibility for potentially harming Dianetics, “which,” she wrote, “in my studied opinion may be the only hope of sanity in future generations.” (Hubbard later incorporated this tactic into Church policy; to this day, both Church members and defeated enemies are required to partake in this same sort of ritual humiliation. The Co$ has posted one such document allegedly written by Marty Rathbun himself. You can read it here.)
So that’s the story of Ron the Husband. Marty Rathbun would have you believe that David Miscavige broke up this loving couple, but when you look at the facts, you’ll see that ain’t necessarily so.
ML,
Caliwog
Read Marty’s original blog entry: Supression of family starting with L. Ron Hubbard’s family
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