Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects
What this is
Who gave oral statements and who submitted prepared papers, with each person's affiliation as the volume itself records it, and the printed page each begins on.
That Hynek spoke first; that George Miller was chairman of the full committee and disclaimed criticism of the Air Force; that Rumsfeld introduced Hynek as a son of Illinois and as his own constituent.
That McDonald placed himself and Hynek on the same trajectory toward taking UFO reports seriously.
That McDonald rebutted Menzel's meteorological-optics explanations and rejected Klass's atmospheric-plasma explanation, and did so stating his own standing in atmospheric physics.
That Sagan testified, and in what capacity.
Where McDonald's section of the record begins, and, for the third time in this volume, that his two affiliations are one dual appointment rather than a conflict.
That a statement by Hillenkoetter on the importance of the UFO question, dated by McDonald to about 1960, was placed before the committee.
That the origin of the quoted statement is a NICAP newsletter of May 1960, not a government document, and that NICAP described him as an Advisory Board member at that date.
That Sagan sat on the USAF Scientific Advisory Board's ad hoc committee reviewing Project Blue Book.
That the official explanation of the July 1952 Washington radar-visual sightings rested on a low-level temperature inversion and anomalous radar propagation, and that McDonald, having interviewed five of the CAA personnel involved, rejected it.
10 passages read · 238 pages held · the rest is not described
Open the document at govinfo.gov →10 passages read
“STATEMENTS. Dr. J. Allen Hynek, head, Department of Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. 3; Prof. James E. McDonald, Department of Meteorology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz. 18; Dr. Carl Sagan, associate professor of astronomy, Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University 86; Dr. Robert L. Hall, head, Department of Sociology, University of Illinois, Chicago, Ill. 100; Dr. James A. Harder, associate professor of civil engineering, University of California 113; Dr. Robert M. L. Baker, Jr., senior scientist, System Sciences Corp., 650 North Sepulveda Boulevard, El Segundo, Calif. 126. PREPARED PAPERS. Dr. Donald H. Menzel, Harvard College Observatory 198; Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, Division of Counseling and Testing, University of Wyoming 206; Dr. Garry C. Henderson, senior research scientist, Space Sciences, General Dynamics 210; Dr. Stanton T. Friedman, Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory 213; Dr. Roger N. Shepard, Department of Psychology, Stanford University 223; Dr. Frank B. Salisbury, head, Plant Science Department, Utah State University 235.”
Guardrail 7 checked: Robert L. Hall here is the sociologist, not Richard Hall of NICAP and not Rep. Durward Hall.
“Gentlemen, we welcome your presentations. We ask you to speak first, Dr. Hynek, followed by Dr. McDonald, and then Dr. Sagan. ... Chairman MILLER. I want to join in welcoming you here. ... I want you to know that we are in no way trying to go into the field that is theirs by law, and thus we are not critical of what the Air Force is doing. ... I just want to point out we are not here to criticize the actions of the Air Force. ... Mr. RUMSFELD. ... It is a pleasure to welcome all the members of this distinguished panel, and particularly to welcome Dr. Allen Hynek, who is a son of Illinois ... As his Congressman I am delighted he has been invited to appear on this panel. ... Mr. ROUSH. Dr. Hynek, the floor is yours.”
This page gives McDonald and Baker affiliations differing from the contents page. For McDonald that is a dual appointment, settled on printed 32. For Baker it is two different companies and remains open.
“There is a certain parallel between Dr. Hynek's slow recognition of the problem and my slow recognition of the problem. ... About 2 years ago I became more than casually curious ... I visited Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, saw their very impressive and surprising UFO files, the pattern of which is entirely different from what I had imagined.”
The Wright-Patterson sentence is NOT applied to any link here. It says Wright-Patterson, not Blue Book, and says he saw the files rather than worked from them. Held for the operator.
“Dr. D. H. Menzel, former director of Harvard Observatory, in two books on UFOs (Ref. 24, 25), has leaned very heavily on atmospheric physics and particularly meteorological optics in attempting to account for UFO reports. More recently, Mr. Philip J. Klass, Senior Avionics Editor of Aviation Week, has written a book (Ref. 36) purporting to show that most of the really interesting UFO reports are a result of unusual atmospheric plasmas similar to ball lightning. ... As a scientist primarily concerned with the field of atmospheric physics, these suggestions have received a great deal of my attention. ... we cannot explain-away UFOs on either meteorological or astronomical grounds.”
References 24 and 25 resolve correctly against the list on printed 84 (Menzel 1953; Menzel and Boyd 1963). Ref. 36 does not: printed 85 numbers Klass at 39, and 36 is McDonald's own Montreal paper. Recorded, not corrected.
“STATEMENT OF DR. CARL SAGAN, DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, N.Y.”
That Sagan testified, and in what capacity.
“(The biography of Dr. McDonald follows:) DR. JAMES E. MCDONALD ... Professional Career: ... Professor, Dept. of Meteorology, and Senior Physicist, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, 1958 to present.”
visual, rendered at 170 dpi
IMAGE BLOCKED. This page prints a private home address in the biography. Text-quotable only; the page image is never to be published. Same rule already applied to section-10 printed 111 and chrg-89hhrg50066o printed 6016.
“We share the view of Vice Adm. R. H. Hillenkoetter, former CIA Director, who said eight years ago, ‘It is imperative that we learn where the UFOs come from and what their purpose is (Ref. 1)’”
It does NOT support the claim that Hillenkoetter criticised the Air Force's handling of reports. That is a different assertion and this page does not make it. Also on this page: the header of McDonald's prepared statement, giving his dual appointment in full.
“1. NICAP Special Bulletin, May, 1960: Admiral Hillenkoeter was a NICAP Advisory Board member at the time of making the quoted statement.”
The record spells the name "Hillenkoeter" here, with one t, and "Hillenkoetter" on printed 32. The volume is inconsistent with itself. NOT CORRECTED. Note also that link 165 on this map says "board of governors" where this page says "Advisory Board" - two different body names. Not merged, not resolved.
“DR. CARL SAGAN. Dr. Carl Sagan is Associate Professor of Astronomy in the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. ... He was a member of the Committee to review Project Blue Book for the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.”
It does NOT say the committee recommended anything, and it never mentions Condon or Colorado. That causal step is carried separately by link 1022 (SAB ad hoc committee -> Condon), which is bound to the 1966 House Armed Services hearing. Link 1254 was asserting both hops at once and could only source one.
“4. Case 38. Washington, D.C., July 19, 1952. By far the most famous single radar-visual sighting on record ... The official explanation centered around atmospheric effects on radar and light-propagation. ... The official suggestion that the same weak (1.7 deg C) low-level ‘inversion’ that was blamed for the radar ducting could produce miraging effects was quantitatively absurd ... In fact, CAA senior controller Harry G. Barnes, who told me that the scope returns from the unknowns ‘were not diffuse, shapeless blobs such as one gets from ground returns under anomalous propagation’ but were strong, bright pips, said that ‘anomalous propagation never entered our heads as an explanation.’”
The page says "the official explanation" and "the official suggestion". It does NOT name Project Blue Book. Link 524 has been reworded to match the page. Also named here and not yet on the map: Harry G. Barnes, Howard S. Conklin, Joseph Zacko, James M. Ritchey. The degree symbol in the printed text is transcribed as "deg" for guardrail 8.
Where no sheet is shown, the quote was still read off the page, rendered from the file we hold. A page image has not been prepared for the web for that page yet.
What this document is used for, page by page
Every claim on this map that rests on this document, and every claim tested against it and deliberately not used — in the order you would meet them reading the file itself. Where the check was written down, our wording is followed by the document’s own sentence, so you can hold the two side by side. 21 of 26 name a page.