I have come to the conclusion that L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. was used as one of Hubbard's guinea pigs to test this premise of blows and obedience; that many of the lessons Hubbard learned from his experiments on his son were further implemented on the ship. Ron Jr. was, in essence, a life-long "prisoner of war"; a prisoner of Hubbard and his organization's machinations. Hubbard trained his troops to find a person's breaking point, in order to bend him or her to his will. He had done this with his own son, early and continuously. While Ron Jr. was not physically struck by his father, his weaknesses were exploited. When he virtually fled the organization in 1959, according to his account, he was hounded. Although he was out of the organization, his father retained the ability to manipulate him, even into changing his name. It is obvious to anyone who knows Ron Jr. that he spent his whole life attempting to escape from the mental "prison" that his father had created for him.

While Ron Jr. may never have questioned his father and the mushrooming cult of Scientology, a growing uneasiness began to take hold of him. In 1953 he married Henrietta, whom he never allowed to join the church. They were to have six children --Deborah, Leif, Esther, Eric, Harry and Alex, age twelve, who suffers from Down's Syndrome-- plus six grandchildren, none or whom were ever members of Scientology. The importance of family life, especially in contrast to his own up-bringing, caused Ron Jr. to question his life as a member of Scientology, albeit privately. Other factors also caused Ron Jr. to think about breaking away from the cult that was dominating his life. His father's autocratic and arbitrary control of Scientology often led to violence, and the young Hubbard began to be disturbed by his own participation. Certain questionable transactions involving drug dealing and the transfer of large sums of money abroad by his father was another troubling factor. But, he says, the breaking point came over his father's involvement with the Russians. Finally, in 1959, when his father was in Australia, Ron, his wife, and two children fled the Church of Scientology.

Fighting these activists for Scientology's riches is Hubbard's estranged son, Ronald DeWolf, 48, who changed his name in 1972 in an effort, he says, to escape harassment by Scientologists. DeWolf has asked a California superior court to appoint a trustee to protect his father's estate from the new leaders. In his court petition, DeWolf contends that his father, who he says has long suffered from "severe mental illness and physical disease," is either dead or "incompetent." DeWolf also charges that his father used "criminal means" to acquire "wealth, fame and power." [...]

His name has been changed from L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., to Ron deWolf, and he’s the firstborn son of the former science fiction writer who founded the Church of Scientology. It’s been 23 years since he’s seen his father, and he suspects that the founder of what many people call a destructive cult may, in truth, be dead.

"To be perfectly frank, my life’s been pretty much of a disaster and a miserable mess because of Scientology — and you can quote me on that." he told the News-Herald recently in an exclusive interview.

9. My father has always held out Scientology and auditing to be based purely on science and not on religious "belief or faith. We regularly promised and distributed publications with "scientific guarantees". This was and has always been common practice. My father and I created a "religious front" only for tax purposes and legal protection 'from fraud Claims'. We almost always told nearly everyone that Scientology was really science, not a religion, but that the religious front was created to deal with the government.