Several anecdotes of Dr. Linebarger and his father:
On his
deathbed, Linebarger (the elder) motioned his son over to him and said "Paul, I don't
think I've left any
illegitimate children, but if any come forth, be generous to them..."
PMAL, the younger, once declared himself a Communist. (It was the Thirties, this was common.) Elder PMAL said, OK, let's send you to Russia, I've got a couple of business deals with the Soviets. Six months later, he returned, convinced they didn't have the answer. Interesting....
Also, PMAL (the younger) once remarked to his daughter, Leslie: "I must confess, the night you were conceived, I felt something quite more than the ordinary."
Pretty fly for a man talking to his 12-year-old daughter in the mid-1950's.
The credo of the Instrumentality, the shadow government of his stories: "Watch but do not govern, stop war, but do not wage it, protect, but do not control, and first, survive!" Kind of makes you wonder whether he wasn't thinking about work...
It's also worth noting that at least one of his stories refers to the use of psychedelic drugs, at a time when they were solely the province of research scientists -- this may point to an involvement with MK-ULTRA. Be that as it may, he was considered one of the leading lights in tactics of conversion, persuasion, and, I daresay, he could probably get people to feel like talking....coercion or no.