THE FASCINATING STORY OF THE TECH
Issue 4
“Synergetically Yours”
(THE TRUE STORY OF DON PURCELL)
by Art Coulter
(An article appeared on “The Aberree” in November 1961 )
T
HE PURPOSE of this article is to tell the true
story of Don Purcell and his valiant effort to
place Dianetics on an ethical, responsible
basis. Much of the story is known to "old-
timers", but the full story is known to few - and since his
death, Don has been subjected to a resumption of the un-
fair and unkind attacks that characterized the period
1952-1954. Don and I became very close friends during
this period, and he confided to me many things that were
never made public, so I was acutely aware of the unjust
treatment he received.
Nowadays, Scientologists are full of talk about
"overts", "withholds", and "confrontations". Their words
and actions would be more credible if it were not for the
many overts and withholds that were committed against
Don Purcell - and which have recently been resumed. In
the face of so monstrous an injustice, they stand
convicted of rank hypocrisy.
Don's outstanding trait, to me, was his sincerity. He
was deeply devoted to the betterment of man, and
Dianetics was to him a cause to which he gave freely and
without stint. His motivation in working for Dianetics
was deeply idealistic and altruistic. When he first went
into Dianetics he was a moderately wealthy man; to it he
gave most of that wealth in an effort to keep Dianetics
going. When these efforts met only vituperation and
abuse, and he realized that unity could not otherwise be
achieved, he gave the Dianetic Foundation back to its
founder, with no strings attached.
But let us tell the story from the beginning.
The Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation, after an
auspicious start, ran into serious trouble in late 1950 and
1951. Perhaps owing to over-enthusiasm, the Foundation
found itself deeply in debt - I believe in excess of
$100,000. These were business obligations - bills due for
goods and services rendered - not a diabolical plot by
criminals and Communists. Then, on April 24,1951, the
United Press broke the story of Sara Hubbard's divorce
action, in which she charged that "competent medical
advisers" had found her husband "hopelessly insane",
and in need of psychiatric observation. These charges
were not true, but the bad publicity was a damaging
blow to the Dianetic cause - nor was it helped by the fact
that previously there had been a rumor to the effect that
Sara was a "clear". Added to this was a considerable
amount of internal dissension, culminating in the
withdrawal of five of the seven original members of the
Board of Directors. These included John W. Campbell
Jr., and Dr. J. A. Winter, whose enthusiastic
indorsements had played a major role in the great
interest Dianetics attracted.
Don Purcell was at his best when the going was
tough; and he proved it on this occasion. In a letter sent
to friends dated May 21, 1952, he tells of it in his own
words:
"We have received a great many letters lately
requesting us to answer the accusations that have been
made by L. Ron Hubbard and James Elliott against
myself and the rest of the Foundation personnel. This
letter is an answer to these accusations.
"In July of 1950, I took the professional course in
Elizabeth, N. J. By the time I had finished the course, I
knew that Dianetics offered a greater understanding of
mind than any other field of investigation in existence.
Mind had been a subject of prime interest and study to
me for about 20 years.
"While at Elizabeth, I determined to do all I could to
assist the advance of Dianetics. This was a strong
postulate. Just before I left Elizabeth I asked Ron how I
could best serve Dianetics ... He told me to go home to
Kansas for the time being and develop as much local
interest as possible....
"When things got rough within the Foundation late in
1950, we offered assistance. Our offer was accepted and
the Foundation moved to Wichita (in the Spring of
1951.--A.C.).
"Ron was in Havana, Cuba, at the time. He was in
bad physical condition and quite sure that he didn't have
a friend in the world except me. He had left Los Angeles
and gone to Havana because he had been told that
psychiatrists had been hired who would examine him
and adjudge him insane and have him committed to an
institution.
 "I finally convinced Ron that I could protect him as a
guest in our home until June. He arrived here on April
14. We gave Ron good present-time and helped restore
his confidence in people. Ron, Margaret (Mrs. Purcell),
and I would sit up until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning,
discussing Dianetics. When Ron's mind is working on
this subject, he has no equal.
"As Ron's self-confidence returned, he began to
develop more and more ambitious schemes to rapidly
advance Dianetics. In fact, he wanted to advance it more
rapidly than the society would accept it. I was chided
when I tried to inject conservatism in these plans.
"The old creditors -from New Jersey were hounding
us with lawsuits.... I suggested we put the old
Foundation in bankruptcy so we would have an
opportunity to rebuild without the pressure of litigation.
Ron would not agree to such strategy. He preferred to
have me pay these creditors off as the occasion arose.
"Finally I arrived at the conclusion that we just had
to adjust our spending to our income. My available cash
surplus was about gone. After informing Ron of this fact,
things were not the same between us. He apparently did
not believe there was an end to my cash and that I was
just plowing his schemes under by refusing to finance
them.
"Ron decided acute measures were called for to raise
cash and initiated his Allied Scientists of the World
scheme.
"It was a money raising scheme launched
independently by Ron from Denver, Colo. Ron solicited
funds thru the mails from many scientists. including
scientists working on secret Government projects. The
Department of Justice became very much interested in
his activities and took a dim view of the whole thing.
Ardent work on the part of the Foundation staff and
particularly on the part of Jean Moore finally got the
mess straightened out.
"Our creditors were still pressing hard and finally
threatened a liquidating receivership for the Foundation.
To escape this litigation, Ron quit the Foundation. He
released all his interest in the Foundation, implied and
contractual, gave all his stock back to the Foundation,
and resigned. Ron did this to set up a screen between
himself and the creditors. From his subsequent actions,
it seems that his reasons were more deeply seated than
he would have us believe.
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"We prepared to file in bankruptcy and Jean Moore
sent Ron immediate notice of the fact ... I received a
telegram from Ron informing me that he was suing me
for one million dollars ...
"I am not trying to destroy Dianetics or Ron
Hubbard. I am not prepared to spend $500,000 for this
purpose. All my liquid assets have already been spent
during the past year trying to build the Foundation, in
spite of Ron Hubbard's talent for spending money on
wild schemes. I paid the court approximately $6,000 for
the Foundation and all its assets, copyrights, etc., in
order to protect the investment of cash and work that
had been previously put into these things. I did not
receive $500,000 from the American Medical
Association to put the Foundation into bankruptcy as
Ron claims I did. None of the other accusations made by
Ron or Jim Elliott are true. Ron told me in a recent
telephone conversation he made these accusations only
for the purpose of enlisting public opinion on his side
......
For the next two years, Don worked long and hard on
behalf of the Foundation, supporting its activities at a
loss, doing everything he could to build it up into a
reputable and socially acceptable institution. On advice
of his lawyers, he filed countersuit against Mr. Hubbard;
but this was purely defensive and he several times
assured me he would gladly have dropped his suit had
Mr. Hubbard done the same. Again and again he tried to
persuade Mr. Hubbard to rejoin the Foundation.
One can question Don's judgment in this matter, and
I, for one, did. on several occasions I suggested that he
try to terminate the struggle and let Mr. Hubbard have
the Foundation back again. But Don believed in
Dianetics, and he continued to hope that some day he
could induce Mr. Hubbard to return.
As time went on, it became increasingly clear that
this was not going to happen. Finally, in August. 1954,
Don gave the Foundation and all its assets back to Mr.
Hubbard after having spent over $100,000 on its behalf.
Don died of cancer in June, 1959. In Hubbard's
REALITY (December, 1959), there appeared a
statement, alleging: "A millionaire in the U.S. once tried
to seize all of Dianetics, but the effort failed. And, sad to
tell, the millionaire died the other day."
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