Ted Patrick

Theodore Roosevelt Patrick, Jr. (born 1930), known as Ted Patrick, is widely considered to be the "father of deprogramming."

Ted Patrick was born in what he calls "a red-light district" of Chattanooga, Tennessee, in which he was surrounded by "thieves, prostitutes, murderers [and] pimps. From his earliest recollections, Patrick says [he] saw people being killed, shot up, cut up, beat up. The place was so bad, even the police didn't want to come there."

Patrick had a speech impediment, which set him apart from the other children. Until he was sixteen, no one could understand what he said, which made him feel "shy and backwards and miserable and embarrassed" for most of his childhood.

According to Patrick, after being taken to countless faith healers, witch doctors and voodoo practitioners, the final straw was an embarrassing spin the bottle game, during which the bottle pointed at him, but the girl wouldn't kiss him. He then decided to take his problem into his own hands.

His speech improved, and with it his confidence and interpersonal skills. He dropped out of high school in tenth grade to help support his family. After working in a variety of jobs, he saved enough to open a nightclub called the Cadillac Club, with his cousin.

The venture was successful, and eventually he sold his share of the business to his cousin. Patrick was the co-chairman of the Nineteenth Ward in Chattanooga. He planned on opening a restaurant and cocktail lounge; however, according to Patrick, his political enemies obstructed this.

At the age of twenty-five, Patrick left his wife and infant son in Tennessee, and went with a friend to San Diego, California. There, he started the Chollas Democratic Club,!to assert the rights of the black community.

Perhaps their main accomplishment was picketing supermarkets and other stores to get them to employ blacks. After Patrick had saved enough money, he brought his wife and children to San Diego. Other organizations he started in San Diego include the Logan Heights Businessmen’s Association, the Junior Government of Southeast San Dieg, and the Volunteer Parents Organization (VPO.) During the Watts Riots in 1965 the VPO was instrumental in keeping the violence from reaching San Diego. For his efforts in the Watts Riots Patrick was awarded the Freedom Foundation Award, which ultimately led to his job as the Special Assistant for Community Affairs, under then-Governor Ronald Reagan.

Despite a lack of formal education and professional training, Patrick was hired by hundreds of parents and family members to "deprogram" their loved ones. A high school dropout, Patrick based his techniques and practices on his own life experience. According to Ted Patrick himself in a TV debate with members of the Hare Krishna group (May, 1979), "How I got into deprogramming was through my own son. All outdoor boy, couldn't nothing keep him in the house. Then one day, he was psychologic... psychological(ly) kidnap(ped) by a cult".

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