Open Confrontation: 1962 to 1966
After talking with both officers involved in the sighting, there is no doubt in my mind that they definitely saw some unusual object or phenomenon.
I think there may be substance in some of these reports and because
I believe the American people are entitled to a more thorough explanation
than has been given them by the air force to date.
When the enemy starts to collapse, you must pursue him without letting the chance go. If you fail to take advantage of your enemy’s collapse, they may recover.
OVERVIEW
The 1960s was a decade of confrontation. The war in Vietnam opened a permanent cultural chasm and estrangement among Americans. Civil rights, black power, feminism, gay rights, and the generation gap distinguished the era. It was a decade of assassinations: the Kennedy brothers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr., to name the most prominent. Riots became widespread, many of them inflicting permanent damage on the cities where they occurred: Watts never recovered from 1965, and it would be a long time until Chicago again hosted a national political convention. Intellectuals challenged old assumptions about America’s place in the world, and revolution was in the air. That this revolution ultimately failed did not make it any less dramatic for those who lived through it. For a while during the sixties, everything was up for grabs.
The struggle to end UFO secrecy partook of the general upheaval. But here, as in most matters, the decade started quietly. Sightings of unidentified craft were at a low ebb and received little publicity. The air force’s heavy-handed management of the problem was messy at times, but effective enough. Undesirable leaks and statements continued to occur, but only within a context of official dismissal and ridicule which impeded forward motion. In near total media isolation, NICAP’s struggle for congressional hearings met with failure year after year. Hillenkoetter’s departure from the scene went unremarked. Keyhoe was no longer writing books and seemed to be slowing down. NICAP did publish a remarkable collection of its UFO evidence, which it sent to members of Congress, but even this work achieved only a modest distribution. To the public, the UFO question appeared to be settled, with the air force getting the final word.
Then, almost all at once, everything changed. By the end of 1964, UFOs began appearing in large numbers and continued on a steady rise through 1966. The intensity of the wave equaled the Great Wave of 1952, and surpassed it in duration. By now, Blue Book had long ceased investigating most reports first-hand; only rarely did it send a man to the scene of a reported sighting. Instead, the Blue Book goal was
The actions of Blue Book had become too transparent, however. By 1966, the impossible had happened: UFOs were a matter of public concern, and members of Congress had even brought the matter to the floor. Suddenly, NICAP’s goal of open UFO hearings, independent of air force control, seemed attainable. Then, in October 1966, the air force announced that it had awarded a contract to the University of Colorado to conduct a scientific study of UFOs. It would be independent and serious and led by a physicist of world renown. For the moment, all sides of the UFO debate were satisfied that someone was
THE LAS VEGAS UFO CRASH
On April 18, 1962, an unidentified, red, glowing object was seen moving west very rapidly over Oneida, New York. Was it a meteor? If so, it was quite unusual. In the first place, it was tracked on radar, which, while possible, is exceedingly rare. Second, as it passed across the country, Air Defense Command alerted all bases along its path, and at least two air force bases—Luke AFB near Phoenix and Nellis AFB in Nevada—sent jet interceptors after it. Why pursue a meteor? Finally, the entire sighting—from New York to Nevada—lasted thirty-two minutes. This gives an average speed of 4,500 mph, well below the slowest speed ever recorded for a meteor. 1
