Astounding
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He had considered presenting Sara Corydon, Messiah or Madman?, 308.
“full and perfect recall” Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, 166.
“Well, Forry” Ibid., 167.
“When Ron wants to” JWC to RAH, December 29, 1950.
a Lincoln dealership Corydon, Messiah or Madman?, 307.
“Funds received by the foundation” LRH to foundation staff, November 22, 1950, reprinted in LRH, Dianetics: Letters & Journals, 89.
“cold and uncordial” Letter from “Andy” to “Charlie,” July 8, 1950, reprinted in LRH, Dianetics: Letters & Journals, 85.
they were departing from orthodox techniques JWC to RAH, November 20, 1951.
“a dismal, expensive failure” Winter, A Doctor’s Report on Dianetics, 190.
the American Medical Association Atack, A Piece of Blue Sky, 125.
“You don’t know what it’s like” Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, 167–68.
“stiff and polite . . . I have proved to be” Bedford, Aldous Huxley, 498–99.
“when the group decided” JWC to RAH, March 6, 1951.
“a simple process of getting all the gripes I could” Ibid.
“desk-prying [and] wastebasket studying” Ibid.
“The thing blew sky-high” Ibid.
“Many clubs have been formed” “Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation, Incorporated, Internal Security,” FBI office memorandum, SAC (Newark) to Director (FBI), March 21, 1951.
“What’s magic about the instant of birth?” JWC to RAH, July 26, 1949.
the board voted to discourage such research LRH, Science of Survival, 85.
a volunteer to run past lives LRH, memo to foundation, December 30, 1950, reprinted in LRH, Dianetics: Letters & Journals, 97.
Hubbard had forced her to take the medication Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, 185.
the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners JWC called the move “legal, but not just.” JWC to RAH, December 29, 1950.
Countess Motorboat Telegram to foundation, February 5, 1951, reprinted in LRH, Dianetics: Letters & Journals, 94.
“Don’t sleep” Corydon, Messiah or Madman?, 306.
“If you really loved me, you would kill yourself” “Author Sued for Divorce,” Wichita Beacon, May 4, 1951.
“He said that he had cut [Alexis] into little pieces” Wright, Going Clear, 89.
Campbell later claimed JWC to James F. Pinkham, July 2, 1951.
no indication that he was planning to leave JWC may have tempered his enthusiasm toward LRH, but he still believed in dianetics. A few months earlier, Peedee had broken her leg while playing with her sister on the ice. After an auditing session that lasted for two hours, JWC allegedly discharged the pain. JWC to RAH, December 29, 1950.
watching the girls two days a week JWC to RAH, May 27, 1951.
seeing patients in New York JWC to R. Kelman, February 15, 1951.
“Joe [Winter] had been spreading rumors” JWC to Marge Winter, October 18, 1955.
“Privately, for your close-held information” JWC to RAH, March 6, 1951.
“I wish to thank you” J. Edgar Hoover to LRH, March 9, 1951.
“a mental case” FBI airgram to legal attaché, Havana, Cuba, April 27, 1951.
a crib covered in chicken wire Wright, Going Clear, 90.
“The story about Ron and another man” RAH to JWC, August 15, 1951.
the result of hypnosis Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, 184.
“systematic torture” “Dianetics Author Crazy, Wife Charges,” Los Angeles Mirror, April 23, 1951.
“a scientist in the field” LRH to Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, May 14, 1951.
“The original group” JWC to Harry B. Moore, May 25, 1951.
“I can tell you, Bob” JWC to RAH, May 27, 1951.
“I wasn’t yet competent for the job” JWC to Art Coulter, August 28, 1953.
“extreme mismanagement” JWC to T. Scott, February 15, 1965.
“I departed from Hubbard’s ideas” JWC to David Palter, May 12, 1971.
his sinusitis was back Gardner, Fads and Fallacies, 280.
“Peg and I have advanced” JWC to RAH, March 6, 1951.
“I knew Campbell and I knew Hubbard” Asimov, In Memory Yet Green, 625.
“I wish to lead a quiet and orderly existence” Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, 193.
“You’re going to get on that plane” Wright, Going Clear, 94.
PART V: THE LAST EVOLUTION (1951–1971)
“The average [science fiction] author” Jack Williamson, interview with Larry McCaffery, Science Fiction Studies, July 1991.
CHAPTER 13: A FUNDAMENTAL ATTACK ON THE PROBLEM (1951–1960)
“Man molded the machine” JWC, as “Arthur McCann,” letter to ASF, April 1938, 151.
three teenage hitchhikers JWC to RAH, May 27, 1951.
the rights to “Who Goes There?” JWC to RAH, March 9, 1950.
Van Vogt had hoped to write the script A. E. van Vogt to JWC, March 29, 1950.
one of the worst movies ever made Asimov, “The Father of Science Fiction,” in Harrison, Astounding, xi.
“I think they may be right” JWC to Nelson S. Bond, May 25, 1951.
“I have an impression” JWC to P. Schuyler Miller, June 28, 1951.
“It helps spread science fiction” Asimov, Before the Golden Age, 912n.
“utmost desire to drive Peg away from me” JWC to Laura Krieg, October 8, 1953.
1457 Orchard Road JWC to RAH, October 5, 1951.
embroidery supplies by mail JWC to George O. Smith, May 10, 1965.
Peg’s first husband “Everett Kearney is Heart Victim: Prominent Business Man Dies Wednesday,” Ironwood Daily Globe (Michigan), October 4, 1951.
“accepted me completely” JWC to RAH, October 5, 1951.
Joe suffered from asthma JWC to Joseph Winter, June 21, 1953.
political science Entry for Joseph Kearney in Williams College yearbook, 1955, 41.
an act of revolt JWC to Gib Hocking, April 10, 1955.
an independent dianetics newsletter in Florida The newsletter was The ARC Light, published by William and Dorothy Swygard. JWC to James F. Pinkham and R. M. Stevens, July 2, 1951.
“much less than Hubbard believed it to be” JWC, “Evaluation of Dianetics,” ASF, October 1951, 6, 169.
“He’s now operating” JWC to RAH, November 20, 1951.
“Peg’s cordially hated Ron” JWC to Joseph Winter, October 12, 1953.
Hubbard had used hypnosis Ibid. Van Vogt described this visit in “My Life Was My Best Science Fiction Story,” in Greenberg, Fantastic Lives, 195–96.
“But the deep self-understanding” JWC, “Evaluation of Dianetics,” ASF, October 1951, 168.
“a kind of suicide pact” JWC to James H. Schmitz, February 20, 1970.
ten pages of typewritten notes The author has reviewed summaries of their session notes, which ultimately amounted to 1,800 stapled pages in sixty-four folders, dating primarily from October 1951 to November 1953, with a smaller amount of material from 1954 to 1956. Jim Gilbert, e-mail to author, January 30, 2018.
Peg stitched at her embroidery Author interview with Leslyn Randazzo, July 29, 2016.
twenty milligrams of Benzedrine JWC to Raymond F. Jones, October 28, 1954.
“mentally twanging” JWC to Asimov, September 21, 1957.
“the velvet glove” Asimov, Asimov on Science Fiction, 199–200.
“How do you think?” JWC to “Mrs. Curtis,” December 13, 1952.
“with bright and gladdened face” JWC to RAH, March 6, 1951.
The term “psionics” Jack Williamson, “The Greatest Invention,” ASF, July 1951, 56–96. The word was retroactively described as a portmanteau of “psychic electronics,” but Williamson originally derived it from “psion,” a unit of mental energy. Williamson, Wonder’s Child, 189.
the editor’s interest in telepathy JWC had written in the second issue of Unknown: “Is it so strange a thing that this unknown mass should
have some unguessed power by which to feel and see beyond, directly, meeting mind to mind in telepathy, sensing direct the truth of things by clairvoyance?” JWC, as “Don A. Stuart,” “Strange Worlds,” Unknown, April 1939, 162.
The dianetics group had taken them seriously “Exhaustive tests were made on telepathy and ESP and in every case an explanation was found which did not need to go into mind reading or radar sight.” LRH, Dianetics, 320.
“I know the general concept” JWC to Eric Frank Russell, October 1, 1952.
“He could not move his arms” JWC to Gotthard Gunther, June 5, 1954.
“various authors and key fans” JWC to John W. Campbell, Sr., May 18, 1953.
he mentioned the term for the first time JWC, “Unwise Knowledge,” ASF, October 1953, 6–7, 160–62.
“Until I can demonstrate the phenomena myself” JWC to Eric Frank Russell, October 1, 1952.
partially paralyzing him JWC to Laura Krieg, May 5, 1953.
“I’m in this for blood” JWC to John W. Campbell, Sr., May 18, 1953.
Serendipity Inc. JWC to Gib Hocking, July 21, 1954.
he told him about a man named Welsford Parker JWC to Arthur Z. Gray, May 25, 1954.
the treasure hunter Mel Chappell Finnan, Oak Island Secrets, 71.
“condensers, vacuum tubes” JWC to Arthur Z. Gray, May 25, 1954.
“Parker is not a fool” Ibid.
$150,000 into various avenues JWC to John W. Campbell, Sr., June 24, 1954.
Campbell invested as well Arthur Z. Gray to JWC, July 7, 1954.
sixteen thousand dollars a year JWC to John W. Campbell, Sr., May 18, 1953.
“[A] larger-scale crackpot” JWC to Laura Krieg, November 11, 1954.
“for the express purpose” RAH to G. Harry Stine, July 18, 1954.
“I don’t know your methods” RAH to JWC, December 4, 1952.
“He said I had no right to say” JWC to Gotthard Gunther, June 5, 1954.
“in about five minutes” JWC to Raymond F. Jones, June 15, 1954.
“I didn’t say that” Ibid.
Campbell tapped Heinlein on the chest RAH to JWC, January 6, 1955.
“I got preached at” RAH to G. Harry Stine, July 18, 1954.
“After four hours of bullyragging” RAH to G. Harry Stine, July 27, 1954, quoted in Patterson, The Man Who Learned Better, 118.
“In the course of the evening” JWC to Gotthard Gunther, June 5, 1954.
“mashing Bob’s face in” JWC to G. Harry Stine, September 7, 1954.
“I wish John would just let it be” RAH to G. Harry Stine, July 18, 1954.
“As for space flight” RAH to G. Harry Stine, July 27, 1954, quoted in Patterson, The Man Who Learned Better, 118.
The Living Brain JWC to Dr. W. Grey Walter, unsent, May 1, 1953. Several years later, the same book inspired William S. Burroughs, Ian Somerville, and Brion Gysin to construct a similar device known as the Dream Machine. Burroughs, Rub Out the Words, 46–48.
“I will judge Mother” JWC to Dorothy Middleton, October 9, 1954.
drove her to the hospital JWC to John W. Campbell, Sr., November 2, 1954.
“The trigger that caused her death” JWC to Theodore Sturgeon, September 7, 1956.
Laura had converted to Christianity Walter Hooper, in Lewis, Collected Letters, 602n.
“a deist” JWC to “Pease,” February 10, 1953.
“You have found The Light” JWC to Laura Krieg, August 10, 1954.
“Christianity has failed” Ibid.
“He must be a corker of a boy” C. S. Lewis to Philinda (Laura) Krieg, June 6, 1955, quoted in Lewis, Collected Letters, 602–3.
Joseph Winter The details of Winter’s death are taken from letters from JWC to Gib Hocking, June 8, 1955; Asimov, April 6, 1958; and Joseph Goodavage, January 23, 1965.
“There are men dead” LRH, Manual of Justice, 8.
Frank Kelly Freas JWC to Frank Kelly and Polly Freas, June 10, 1955.
Joe Kearney Information about Joe Kearney’s accident is taken from JWC, “Design Flaw,” ASF, October 1955, 85–94, and letters from JWC to Gib Hocking, June 17, 1955; John W. Campbell, Sr., June 18, 1955; G. Harry Stine, June 19, 1955; Dwight Wayne Batteau, June 20, 1955; and Gotthard Gunter, June 20, 1955.
“a very charming and intelligent young man” Asimov to JWC, January 10, 1953.
“It was a very good thing” JWC to Gib Hocking, June 8, 1955.
“You’ve really had it, kid” JWC to Gotthard Gunther, June 21, 1955.
“It lets you consider the problem” JWC to G. Harry Stine, June 19, 1955.
“It didn’t make Peg sleepy” JWC to Gotthard Gunther, June 21, 1955.
“It threw Peg” JWC to Gotthard Gunther, June 28, 1955.
“The experience ran through” Ibid.
While packing the night before JWC, “Design Flaw,” ASF, October 1955, 88.
Joe had been killed by highway hypnosis JWC’s first reference to highway hypnosis appeared the day after Joe’s death, in a letter to John W. Campbell, Sr., June 18, 1955. The term’s earliest appearance in print was in Griffith W. Williams, “Highway Hypnosis: Our Newest Hazard,” Parade, August 21, 1949.
“I could have warned Joe” JWC to Gotthard Gunther, June 28, 1955.
“I am, as you see, seeking vengeance” JWC to John W. Campbell, Sr., August 1, 1955.
“Joe Kearney was sacrificed” JWC to Asimov, January 20, 1956.
“I’m trying to rally the tribe” JWC to Gotthard Gunther, June 21, 1955.
He reached out for help JWC to Gotthard Gunther, June 21, 1955; Gib Hocking and Bernard I. Kahn, June 22, 1955; Capt. Singleton Shearer, June 27, 1955; and John W. Campbell, Sr., July 26, 1955.
“Design Flaw” The article shared its title with a story by G. Harry Stine, writing as Lee Correy, in the February 1955 issue of ASF. JWC came up with the plot—in which the flicker of a guidance panel causes a series of airplane accidents—after reading The Living Brain, and he gave it to Stine in a letter dated April 10, 1954. After the accident, JWC wrote to Stine on June 19, 1955: “Joe Kearney, my stepson, was killed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike; he lived out the essential mechanism of ‘Design Flaw.’ ”
the most powerful piece Asimov, Asimov on Science Fiction, 200.
“the Good Joes” JWC, “Design Flaw,” ASF, October 1955, 94.
“No real solution to the problem” Ibid.
“The pragmatic, trial-and-error approach” JWC, Brass Tacks, ASF, February 1956, 152.
“I’ve sort of slowed down” JWC to Dwight Wayne Batteau, July 27, 1955.
“Define ‘reality’ ” Ibid.
a source of objective data on the brain “We must study psi, because it is the only objectively observable set of phenomena stemming from subjective forces. . . . The psi phenomena represent subjective phenomena that can be observed objectively.” JWC, “We Must Study Psi,” ASF, January 1959, 162.
a second trip to Belleville JWC to Welsford Parker, November 1, 1954.
Colonel Henry Gross JWC to Galen Hieronymus, June 19, 1956.
“You stroke this plastic gimmick here” JWC, “Psionic Machine—Type One,” ASF, June 1956, 106–7.
the two men cooked up another test JWC to Poul Anderson, March 18, 1968.
“I got shown” Ibid.
ceased to work during nuclear tests JWC to Claude Shannon, May 22, 1957.
“I have a Campbell Machine” JWC to “Dr. Frey,” May 26, 1956.
“I no longer trusted” Asimov, In Joy Still Felt, 53.
“Mr. Campbell, the plate feels slippery” Ibid.
“The articles we run” JWC, “The Problem of Psionics,” ASF, June 1956, 5.
the Campbell Machine JWC, “Unprovable Speculation,” ASF, February 1957, 54–70.
“I am not compelled to defend my hunches” Ibid., 70.
whether the Hieronymus Machine was a hoax Robin Johnson, in Bangsund, JWC: An Australian Tribute, 10.
Bell Aircraft and the RAND Corporation JWC to Galen Hieronymus,
February 4, 1957.
Claude Shannon offered to test it JWC to G. Harry Stine, July 31, 1957.
“a tinker’s damn” Hieronymus, The Story of Eloptic Energy, 123–24.
Bell Labs, the Harvard Computer Lab, and MIT “I’m welcome at Bell Labs, the G.E. labs, DuPont, Upjohn, Lederle, Brookhaven, MIT, etc.” JWC to Helen Campbell, unsent, May 11, 1953. He frequently visited Cambridge, and his regular correspondents included John Arnold of MIT, who taught an undergraduate course on creativity; Mike Mihalakis, an inventor and former wrestler; and Dwight Wayne Batteau of Harvard and Tufts, a brilliant experimenter who died tragically in 1967.
he continued to give ideas to writers Works from this period based on JWC’s ideas included “Noise Level” by Raymond F. Jones and They’d Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley. The novel Empire by Clifford Simak was a reworking of one of the editor’s early unsold stories: “Empire was essentially a rewrite of John’s plot. I may have taken a few of the ideas and action, but I didn’t use any of his words. And I certainly tried to humanize his characters.” Simak, quoted in Currey, Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors, 446–47.
“You gypped me” JWC to Tom Godwin, October 29, 1953. At the time that the story was submitted, JWC had become interested in “the Demeaned Viewpoint technique,” which involved coming up with a justification for a point of view that seemed indefensible. “The Cold Equations” was designed to undermine the premise that human sacrifice was unacceptable: “So we deliberately, knowingly and painfully sacrifice a young, pretty girl . . . and make the reader accept that it is valid!” JWC to Dwight Wayne Batteau, August 13, 1954.
The Moon Is Hell The novel was published, with minimal revision, by Lloyd Eshbach’s Fantasy Press in 1951.
“The Idealists” The anthology was Raymond J. Healy’s 9 Tales of Space and Time, New York: Henry Holt, 1954. JWC’s story had no discernible impact on readers, although he viewed it as a reinvention of the genre comparable to his work as Don A. Stuart: “I was learning new basic factors of philosophy up to the last day before I wrote the yarn.” JWC to Raymond J. Healy, October 10, 1953.