# Ron believes "they" are after him,
May 1951

L. Ron Hubbard's paranoia reached a fever pitch by mid-1951, with his Dianetics Foundation beset by creditors, criticised by the media and medical profession for its "quackery" and under scrutiny for being a "psycho-sexual racket" (sic). He believed that a sinister Communist conspiracy was behind his troubles. At the time, he was having a sporadically passionate affair with a pretty 20-year-old Dianeticist, Barbara Kaye, with whom he was planning to elope. She soon realised that Ron was, in her own words, "disturbed". In a 1986 interview, she said:

> He was highly paranoid and would be rushing along the street with me and I would say, "Why are you walking so fast?" He'd look over his shoulder and say, "Don't you know what it's like to be a target?"

> At all times he thought the American Psychological Association and the AMA and CIA had hit men after him... he thought everyone was after him. This was long before the IRS was after him. No one was after him at that time, but he certainly had delusions.

The following telegram vividly illustrates Ron's mental state:

Last updated 3 Feb 1997