Documents / Hearing transcript

Symposium on unidentified flying objects: hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, second session, July 29, 1968.

U.S. House of Representatives · 1968-07-29 · 256 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is the printed record of a July 29, 1968 symposium on unidentified flying objects held by the Committee on Science and Astronautics of the U.S. House of Representatives, chaired by Rep. J. Edward Roush. The committee heard statements from six scientists: J. Allen Hynek, James E. McDonald, Carl Sagan, Robert L. Hall, James A. Harder and Robert M. L. Baker. It also printed papers from Donald Menzel, Stanton Friedman, Frank Salisbury and others. Hynek argued that puzzling UFO reports from competent witnesses deserve serious scientific study.

  • p. 12 …in a peasant society whose eyes were never turned toward the skies. Can we afford not…
  • p. 13 …for a proper and definitive study will never develop. I recall an encounter I had sometime…
  • p. 16 …A very character- istic statement by those making the reports is: "I have never seen anything…
  • p. 18 …They also usually request anonymity which is always granted. (4) UFO's are never seen at…
  • p. 19 …Other misconceptions are that UFO's are never reported by scien- tifically trained people, are never…
  • p. 20 …it has never been considered worthwhile to improve the data -gathering process because the whole subject…
  • p. 27 …he is looking at something he has never seen before. I like Dr. Hynek's phrase…
  • p. 37 …at the Ontario Hydro Commission plant has never been identified, but initially thetentative suspicion was centered…
  • p. 39 …cover- ing innumerable intriguing cases I had never before heard of, and (above all) after the…
  • p. 43 …diminish in sig- nificance, though they can never be overlooked. A frequent objection to serious consideration…
  • p. 45 …out- of-the-way rural areas but never over large cities? Why don't large groups…
  • p. 48 …Smith emphasized that they were never certain of sizes and distances, but that they had the…
  • p. 53 …is deceased), I believe that there has never been any dispute as to the observed facts…
  • p. 59 …Many other sources could be cited to show that the intimation that UFOs are never seen…
  • p. 65 …After the 'official "explanation" was publicized, he decided he'd never report another one. I predict…
  • p. 68 …In the ensuing two decades, he has never again seen anything like it. Clearly, the probability…
  • p. 69 …Moore never got a sufficiently clear view to identify any finer details if any were present…
  • p. 75 …the past twenty years, cases that ought never have been so labelled, had the evaluators kept…
  • p. 76 …Ground radar stations never detected the unknown that was seen visually and contacted by airborne radar…
  • p. 77 …strong, bright pips, said that "anomalous propagation never entered our heads as an explanation." Howard S…
  • p. 78 …7) but could never close with the unknown as its continued on its north- bound course…
  • p. 80 …All three said they had never before seen anything like it. Munger decided to phone his…
  • p. 81 …The photos were shortly taken by Base military authorities and were never seen again by the…
  • p. 87 …referred to repeatedly in Menzel's writings, never with any quantitative discussion of precisely what he…
  • p. 100 …visual observations of classical UFO's have never been made by profes- sional astronomers. For example…
  • p. 101 …how the promised political or social intervention never materializes. Psychological Factors. The psychologist Carl Jung pointed…
  • p. 125 …Oh, heavens, I never suggested that, I hope. Mr. BOONE. Well, let me say, science fiction…
  • p. 159 …He has not ever been exposed to any toxic substances, has never had to take any…
  • p. 168 …He said he had never had the experience of deja-vu episodes or of performing acts…
  • p. 171 …It never occurred to him to call anyone else's attention to the light (probably because…
  • p. 172 …He had never seen anything like it before and in fact had never previously had the…
  • p. 173 …He has taken only two sick days in the entire five years and is never late…
  • p. 174 …He never has fantasied actively taking his own life, however, and feels it would be very…
  • p. 175 …He never was one to participate in extracurricular activities, but always maintained a part-time job…
  • p. 176 …Prior to seeing that light, he apparently never experienced a deja vu, or any illusory or…
  • p. 194 …If the observer being studied is truly sociopathic and has never de- veloped a super -ego…
  • p. 203 197 This data, which most people have never seen or even heard of, is published in…
  • p. 206 …They never have had enough sCientists in the project. They have failed to follow up certain…
  • p. 221 …Isn't it true that UFOs have never been sighted on radar? No, it is not…
  • p. 243 …make such an all- inclusive negative statement. Never- theless, many of the arguments are highly compelling…
  • p. 244 …A balloon reported as a UFO was never out of sight of its launchers. A perplexing…
  • p. 247 …al- though he apologizes because he has never had the time to make a thorough search…
  • p. 249 …two leads appeared, but other witnesses could never be located), but his ap- parent sincerity was…
197
This
data,
which
most
people
have
never
seen
or
even heard
of,
is
published in
a
document
entitled
"Project
Blue
Book
Special
Report,
Number
14"
which
was
completed
in
1955
and
has
never been
made
readily
available.
The
low
percentage
of
Unknowns
since
that
time
is
the
direct result
of
deception
on
the
part
of
the
U.S.
Air
Force
whose
entire
approach
since
that
time
has
been based
upon
the
assumption
that everything
can be
identified.
The
usual
arguments
made
against
"visitations"
are
based
upon
false
assump-
tions,
wrong
(unanswerable)
questions
and
faulty
knowledge.
"Things
cannot
go
that
fast
in
the
atmosphere—spaceflight
is
impossible—trips
to
the
stars
are
impossible,
if
they
were
here they
would
talk
to
us
.
.
.
etc."
The
typical
educated
non
-believer
focuses
on
the
irrelevant
IFO's
and
poor
sightings
by
incompetent
observers
and
carefully neglects
the
UNKNOWNS
seen
by
corn-,
petent
observers.
The
great
probability
that
there
are
civilizations
thousands,
perhaps
millions
of
years,
ahead
of
us
and
possessing
technology
about
which
we
are
probably
totally
ignorant
is
neglected.
The
distressing
thought
that
we,
the
inhabitants
of
this
planet,
might
not
be worth
talking
to
is
pushed
aside.
The
most
effective
filter
between
the
facts
as
they are
and
the widespread
distri-
bution
of
those
facts
has
been
ridicule.
Fewer
than
1%
of the
sightings
that
have
occurred
have
been
investigated
or
reported.
Documents
containing
solid
data
about
UFO's
rather
than
IFO's have
been
privately
published
so
that
most
people
have
never
seen the
data
that
they
contain.
An
entire
mythology
of
false
information
has
been widely
distributed
instead.
Now
is
the
time
to
break
through
the "laughter
curtain."
Studies
done
six
years
ago
at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory
showed
that
trips
to
the
stars
in
reasonable
times are
feasible
withthe
knowledge
we
have
today
using staged
fission
or
fusion propulsion
systems
both of
which
are
under
development.
A
tremendously
large
body
of
data
con-
nected
with
magnetoaerodynamics even
suggests
we
might
be
able
to
build
some-
thing
very
much
like
the
reported
UFO's—and
also solve
many
of
the
problems
of
high speed
flight
and
produce the
electromagnetic
effects
so
frequently
asso-
ciated
with
UFO
sightings.
"It's
impossible"
is
said instead
of
"We
don't
know
how."
Literally
hundreds
of
reports
from
all
over the
world
also
testify
to
the
existence
of
humanoid
creatures
associated
with
UFO's
on
the ground.
Once
again
ridicule
has
kept
the
facts
from
being
known. More
than
200
landings
have
been
documented
for
1954
alone.
There
are
good
pictures
of
UFO's
from
all
over the
world—most
of
which
have
also
not
received
the
publicity
that they
deserve.
A
good
example
of the
ridiculousness
of the
professional
skeptics'
attitude
is
the statement that
"life
as
we
know
it
cannot
exist
on
any
other
body
in
the
solar
system."
It
sounds
sensible until
we
note that
we
expect
to
send
men
to
the
moon
and
to
Mars.
The
primary
attribute
of
an
advanced
intelligent civilization
is
its
ability
to create
its
own
environment almost everywhere such as
the
bottomof the ocean,
in outer space,
and on
the
surface
of
airless,
waterless bodies
such
as
the
moon
and
Mars.
For
those
who
believe
that the
Mariner
IV
pictures
of
Mars
proved that there
isn't life
there,
it
should be
pointed
out
that of 10,000
Pictures
taken of the earth
from
a
satellite
with
cameras
of the
same
resolving
power as
those
used
on
Mariner
IV,
only
1
(one)
gave
any
indication
of
life
on
earth.
Max
Plank
once
said
that
new
truths
come
to
be
accepted
not because
their
opponents
come
to
believe
in
them
but because
their
opponents
die
and a
new
generation
grows up
that
is
accustomed
to
them. Perhaps
this is
what
will
happen
with
UFO's.
Mr.
Rousll.
Dr. Baker, and Dr.
Hall,
Dr. McDonald, Dr. Harder,
Dr. Hynek, and Dr. Sagan,
I
believe
that
you
people
have
made
a
real
contribution here,
and
I
think the time
will
come when
certain
people
will
look back
and
read
what has been
done
here today
and
realize
that
we
have
pioneered in
a
field
insofar as the Congress of
the United
States
is
concerned.
They
will
be very mindful
that
something worthwhile
was done
here today.
As
a
personal note,
I
would
like
to say
this
has been one of the most
unusual and most
interesting
days.I have spent since
I
have been in
the Congress of the United
States.
Thank
you.
I
thank each of you.

Cases discussed

About this file

Hearing transcript, from the govinfo collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 256 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.