A few words about Donald Keyhoe are in order. There is no question that Keyhoe was the most important UFO researcher, ever. Only James McDonald came close, but even McDonald’s impact fell short when compared to that of the Major. It is not simply that Keyhoe wrote five books, along with various articles, about flying saucers and cover-ups. It is not simply that he was the driving force behind the world’s most important civilian UFO organization. It is that Keyhoe, nearly by himself, opened up the field of UFO research and made it possible for others to follow. Consider the situation of the 1950s had there been no Donald Keyhoe. In 1949, his article in True magazine not only brought the issue of flying saucers into the public domain but introduced the idea of a military cover-up. His books in 1950, 1953, 1955, 1960, and 1973 provided an enormous amount of information, much of which was either leaked or even declassified solely for his use. In 1952, the year that UFOs seemingly engulfed America, Keyhoe was there, writing about events and forcing out information. He described the outlines of the Robertson Panel within months of its occurrence.
When Edward Ruppelt produced what some think is the best book ever on UFOs in 1956, much of what he wrote followed the path that Keyhoe had laid out. It is hard to imagine Ruppelt even writing his book at all, had not Keyhoe already written
Considering his importance to the field of UFO research, it is remarkable that Keyhoe has become, in the years since his death, almost a forgotten entity. His books are long out of print, so the general public knows nothing of him. Even UFO researchers, while giving him lip service as an important figure, almost never footnote his books, which indicates that they probably do not read them. Indeed, several writers have criticized, and therefore dismissed, Keyhoe as sensationalistic or gullible. As I mentioned at various points in this book, part of that had to do with Keyhoe’s style as a writer. The tone of his books made it appear that the tension around the UFO problem was such that the walls could come down at any moment. But this is a forgivable fault, especially considering the culture of 1950s America, fraught with real cold war fears, and a legitimate concern about UFOs. It is the content of his books, however, that make him so important. It is not possible to do justice to the UFO problem of the 1950s and 1960s without a detailed study of Keyhoe, and yet this is what the vast majority of UFO writers have failed to do. The day will come when Keyhoe’s reputation is reestablished for what it ought to be: as the man who pried open the UFO problem for the public and ended the military monopoly.
Despite Keyhoe, of course, it is within the national security apparatus, and not among civilians, where most of the pieces to this puzzle exist. UFOs have national security implications, if for no other reason than that they have involved the military personnel of many nations. The subject is therefore subject to secrecy protocols, a situation that has existed for over fifty years, and is unlikely to end any time soon. During the period under review in this volume, the military struggled to submerge its involvement with the UFO problem. The existence of Project Blue Book until 1969, however, had prevented this from being complete, and NICAP used Blue Book, with some success, as a kind of wedge to obtain more information. That wedge was gone after 1969, but for a period of about ten years (1975 to 1985), the Freedom of Information Act also provided an effective tool to get at the UFO problem. Unfortunately, changes during the Reagan era have since limited its usefulness, and the military dimension to the UFO problem remains locked away within the classified world.
