John McMaster, a dedicated $cientologist in the 1960s, was proclaimed by founder L. Ron Hubbard to be the "world's first real Clear." He was a charismatic promoter and lecturer, and as a key aide to Hubbard contributed greatly to his early financial success. He was the chosen ambassador of $cientology, lending to it his personal image of competence, gentleness and love. Among his accomplishments for Hubbard was the creation of the Power Processes - Grade 7 on the $cientology grade chart. Hubbard promoted him to "Pope" in 1966, a title not to endure. And though Hubbard's income soared, McMaster received none of it.
Under Hubbard, McMaster had no real power. He slowly became disillusioned as he saw $cientology organizations turn authoritarian and brutally punitive, far different from how he had portrayed them. He witnessed the imprisonment of a terrified 4-year-old in the Sea Org's dark, filthy, rat- infested chain locker for the "Ethics offense" of chewing one of Hubbard's papers. Such imprisonment became a common form of staff punishment. "Overboarding" was instituted, with "out-ethics" staff being forcibly thrown into the ocean. McMaster was overboarded several times, the last time being left struggling in the water with a broken collarbone for 3 hours. According to McMaster, in some orgs with no chain locker or overboarding facilities, the offender's head is shoved into a toilet bowl, which is then flushed.
McMaster fell from grace in 1968 when he challenged Hubbard for chain-lockering a little deaf-mute girl for a week. He was subject to hard labor, sleep deprivation and other hardships. "Hubbard wanted to break me," he states. In 1969 McMaster resigned from $cientology, and was declared "suppressive" by Hubbard.
McMaster stated in an interview: "I was so excited about the function of auditing ($cientology counseling) that I was willing to overlook Hubbard's faults - . That was up to a point of course, the final point being my realization that his intentions were entirely self-serving. I saw that he was in it for the money and personal power, and his actual intentions were not as stated. The basic function of auditing is a wonderful thing, but Hubbard perverted it."
Sad to say, John McMaster, Clear #1, was interviewed 2 years before his death in a Manchester England transient hotel (flop house). In a tiny room filled with dead flowers, he told of being tormented and taunted by Hubbard for being gay. He died of cirrosis of the liver due to a long bout of alcoholism - ONE MORE $CIENTOLOGY "SUCCESS STORY."
References: A PIECE OF BLUE SKY by Jon Atack; L. RON HUBBARD: MESSIAH OR MADMAN? by Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard Jr
