This is a timeline of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology.
Early life 1910s 1911 March 13, 1911, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard born in Tilden, Nebraska.Hall, Timothy L. American religious leaders, p. 175. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2003.
1920s 1922 18 Feb 1922 - Harry Ross Hubbard visit to Helena recorded in local paper as USS Oklahoma undergoes repairs.The Independent-Record (Helena, Montana) 18 Feb 1922, Sat Page 6 12 Mar 1922 - Harry Ross Hubbard assigned "assistant to disbursing" aboard USS Oklahoma.The Washington Post (Washington, District of Columbia) 12 Mar 1922, Sun Page 8 16 Jul 1922 - Ron and mother leave Montana.The Independent-Record (Helena, Montana) 16 Jul 1922, Sun Page 10
1923 July 5 - Hubbard advances to First Class Scout in Tacoma, Washington Boy Scout Troop 31. October 20 - Hubbard's father detached from USS Oklahoma. November 1 - Hubbard and family travel depart San Francisco aboard USS U.S. Grant, traveling through the Panama Canal. December 11 - Awarded merit badges by Boy Scout Troop 10 of Washington DC.
1924 March 28: Awarded Eagle Scout badge, was one of forty boys presented to President Calvin Coolidge. Hubbard enrolled at Union High School, Bremerton.
1926 1926-27: studied at Queen Anne High School in Seattle. June 12, 1926 - Approval of relief for $942.25 for Harry Ross Hubbard.Chap. 575. - An Act For the relief of Harry Ross Hubbard. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the Comptroller General of the United States is authorized and directed to credit the accounts of Harry Ross Hubbard, lieutenant (junior grade), United States Navy, with the sum of $942.25, disallowed in item 5 of statement of differences, certificate number N-1379-E dated May 7, 1922. Approved, June 12, 1926.
1927 April - leaves Queen Anne. April 5: Hubbard's father sails for Guam; Weeks later, Hubbard and mother traveled to Guam aboard the President Madison and USS Gold Star via Hawaii, China, and the Philippines. Hubbard spent about six weeks on the island before returning to the United States. June 6: Hubbard arrives in Guam aboard USS Gold Star. July 16: Hubbard departs Guam aboard USS Nitro, while his parents remain behind. August 6: Hubbard arrives in Bremerton, Washington. September 6: Enrolled at Helena High School, Helena, Montana. October 1927: Hubbard joined Montana Army National Guard at 16, falsely stating he was 18. Enlisting at the State Armory in Helena, he served as a private in the Headquarters Company of 163rd Infantry.
1928
May 1928 - Abandoned school and went back west to stay with his aunt and uncle in Seattle. June 31: Departed San Diego for Guam aboard USS Henderson. July 25: Hubbard arrives in Guam. October 6: Hubbard family departs for China. October to December 1928: Hubbard and parents visit China via the Philippines aboard the USS Gold Star.
1929 07 Jun 1929 - Harry Ross Hubbard detached from receiving ship at San Francisco and assigned to Washington Navy Yard.Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia) 07 Jun 1929, Fri 18 Sep 1929 - Helena paper reports family statement that Harry Ross Hubbard has been placed in charge of "the supply and disbursing department at the naval hospital in Washington".The Independent-Record (Helena, Montana) 18 Sep 1929, Wed Page 10
1930s 1930 February 1930 - enrolled at Woodward School for Boys in Washington, D.C. to earn credits for admission to George Washington University, thereby avoiding the university's entrance examination. June 1930 - Graduated from Woodward. September 1930 - entered George Washington University. October 5, 1930 - An article titled "What has Senator Walsh Done for Montana? Here is the Answer", lists a bill which "relieved Harry Hubbard from liability on account of the loss of money in his hands as an officer of the navy"The Montana Standard (Butte, Montana) 05 Oct 1930, Sun
1931 Enlisted as a Private in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, stating his age as 21 and listing his profession as "photographer". He was promoted to First Sergeant only six weeks later, a development that Jon Atack attributes to the fact that the unit he joined – the 20th Marine Corps Reserve – was actually a training unit connected with George Washington University. His character was rated "excellent". September 1931 - placed on academic probation.Wallis, p. 21 September 4, 1931 - Michigan newspaper reports Hubbard staying with local aviator Phillip W. Browning and attempting to revive two local glider clubs.The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan) 04 Sep 1931, Fri Page 1 September 8, 1931 - Michigan newspaper reports Hubbard injured in hit-and-run.The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan) 08 Sep 1931, Tue Page 5 Wrote for the George Washington University student newspaper, The University Hatchet, as a reporter for a few months in 1931. October 22: discharged from Marine Corps Reserve with the notation, "Not to be re-enlisted".
1932 April 10, 1932 - Hubbard reportedly elected president of student chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers at GWU.Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia) 10 Apr 1932, Sun Spring 1932 - Completed first year at GWU where he received a D average grade, earning an A for physical education, B for English, C for mechanical engineering, D for general chemistry and Fs for German and calculus. During his second year, he enrolled in a class on atomic and molecular physics – the "nuclear physics" course cited in his official biographies – but earned an F grade. His other grades were also poor, ranging from a B for English to D in calculus and electrical and magnetic physics. May 1932 - Hubbard announced the "Caribbean Motion Picture Expedition" in The University Hatchet aboard the schooner Doris Hamlin to explore and film the pirate "strongholds and bivouacs of the Spanish Main" and to "collect whatever one collects for exhibits in museums". June 23, 1932 - Hubbard and classmates depart from Baltimore. The ship was blown far off course, making an unplanned first landfall at Bermuda, before the ship sailed on to its intended first port of call, Martinique. As the expedition was critically short of money, the ship's owners ordered it to return to Baltimore, August 11, 1932 - Papers report the students have become stranded. Lt. Hubbard tells press he cabled $300 but his son would not accept the funds.The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio) 11 Aug 1932, Thu August 25-29, 1932 - Hubbard travels from San Juan Puerto Rico to New York aboard SS Caomo. He lists his address as that of the US Naval Hospital in D.C. Fall 1932 - Hubbard refuses to return to university. November 4: Hubbard arrived in Puerto Rico aboard USS Kittery.
1933 February 16: A letter describes Hubbard as field representative for Washington D.C. firm "West Indies Minerals" who had accompanied the letter's author on a survey of a small property near the town of Luquillo, Puerto Rico. March 30: Harry Ross Hubbard reassigned from "naval hospital, Washington" to Destroy division.Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Hawaii) 30 Mar 1933, Thu Page 29 April 13: Hubbard married Margaret "Polly" Grubb. August 18: Hubbard featured in the Washington Daily News, described as having "left here last year for Antilles, West Indies, in search of gold so that he might return and marry the girl he met shortly before his departure". Hubbard turned to full-time fiction writing to support himself and his new wife; six of his pieces were published commercially during 1932 to 1933
1934 1934 - Hubbard's first story, “The Green God”, appeared in Thrilling Adventures. May 7: Birth of Hubbard's first child, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, Jr. ("Nibs").
1936 January 15: Hubbard's second child, Katherine May, born. The Hubbards lived for a while in Laytonsville, Maryland. Spring 1936 - Hubbard family moves to Bremerton, Washington to live with Hubbard's aunts and grandmother, later settling in nearby South Colby. Hubbard spent an increasing amount of time in New York City, working out of a hotel room where his wife suspected him of carrying on affairs.
1938 1938 - Hubbard authors a manuscript called "Excalibur" which contains ideas that were later incorporated into Scientology.
1939 1939 - According to Barbara Klowden, Hubbard told her: "In 1939, I was very much in love with a girl. She felt that way too. When I knew she had a boyfriend coming up, I waited on the stairway with a gun, just for a moment. Then I said they are flies. I realized who and what I was and left. I told her I would leave her free to marry a sharpie with a cigar in his mouth from Muncie, Indiana."
1940s 1940 February 1940, Hubbard joined The Explorers Club and carried its flag on an "Alaskan Radio-Experimental Expedition". consisting of himself and his wife aboard his ketch Magician. July 1940, Magician's engine broke down only two days after setting off. August 30, 1940, the Hubbards reached Ketchikan after many delays following repeated engine breakdowns. The Ketchikan Chronicle reported that Hubbard's purpose in coming to Alaska "was two-fold, one to win a bet and another to gather material for a novel of Alaskan salmon fishing". Having underestimated the cost of the trip, he did not have enough money to repair the broken engine. He raised money by writing stories and contributing to the local radio station and eventually earned enough to fix the engine. Hubbard told The Seattle Star in a November 1940 letter that the expedition was plagued by problems and did not get any further than Ketchikan near the southern end of the Alaska Panhandle, far from the Aleutian Islands. December 27, 1940 Hubbards make it back to Puget Sound.
Military career 1941–1945 1941 March: Hubbard applied to US Navy. July 19: Hubbard was commissioned as a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the U.S. Naval Reserve. November: Hubbard entered permanent active duty. December 18: Hubbard sent to the Philippines via Australia.
1942 January 11: Hubbard put ashore in Brisbane February 14: U.S. Naval Attaché to Australia on Hubbard: "By assuming unauthorized authority and attempting to perform duties for which he has no qualifications, he became the source of much trouble. ... This officer is not satisfactory for independent duty assignment. He is garrulous and tries to give impressions of his importance. He also seems to think that he has unusual ability in most lines. These characteristics indicate that he will require close supervision for satisfactory performance of any intelligence duty." February: He was ordered back to the United States aboard the transport vessel USS Chaumont the following month at the instigation of the US Naval Attaché to Australia, who cabled Washington to complain about him. March 9, 1942 - Hubbard boards MV Pennant bound for US. March, returning to the US at the end of March 1942, Hubbard was posted to the Office of the Cable Censor in New York City. June: Hubbard was sent instead to the shipyard of George Lawley & Sons of Neponset, Massachusetts, where the fishing trawler MV Mist was being converted for military use as a naval yard patrol (YP) vessel. July 28: USS YP-422 commissioned. August: The YP-422 put to sea from the Boston Navy Yard to carry out a 27-hour training exercise. Hubbard fell out with a senior officer at the shipyard and sent a critical memorandum to the Vice-Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO) in Washington, D.C.. September 25: The Commandant of the Navy Yard writes Hubbard is "not temperamentally fitted for independent command" and requesting that Hubbard be removed and ordered to "other duty under immediate supervision of a more senior officer." October 1: Hubbard loses command, ordered to New York. November: Hubbard sent to the Submarine Chaser Training Center in Florida.
1943