Donald Keyhoe

Donald Edward Keyhoe (June 20, 1897 - November 29, 1988) was an American Marine Corps officer and writer best remembered for his many books and articles about unidentified flying objects.

Until his gradual disappearance from public view in the late 1960s, Keyhoe was arguably the leading American ufologist. Jerome Clark writes that "To mainstream ufologists--who rejected the claims of George Adamski and other contactees but were otherwise sympathetic to the possibility of interplanetary visitation--Keyhoe was widely regarded as the leader in the field."

Keyhoe was born and raised in Ottumwa, Iowa. He attended the Naval Preparatory Academy, where he earned a B.S. degree in 1919. Not long afterwards he was commissioned as a Marine Corps Lieutenant.

In 1922, his arm was injured during an airplane crash in Guam. During his long convalescense, Keyhoe began writing as a hobby. He eventually returned to active duty, but the injury gave Keyhoe persistent trouble, and as a result, he retired from the Marines in 1923. He then worked for the Geodetic Survey and U.S. Department of Commerce.

In 1927, Keyhoe managed a very popular coast-to-coast tour by Charles Lindbergh. This led to Keyhoe's first book, 1928's Flying With Lindbergh. The book was a quick success, and led to a freelance writing career, with many of Keyhoe's articles and fictional stories (mostly related to aviation) appearing in a variety of leading publications.

Following Kenneth Arnold's report of odd, fast-moving aerial objects in the summer of 1947, interest in "flying disks" and "flying saucers" was widespread, and Keyhoe followed the subject with some interest, though he was initially skeptical of any extraordinary answer to the UFO question. For some time, True (a popular American men's magazine) had been inquiring of officials as to the flying saucer question, with little to show for their efforts. In 1951, editor Ken Purdy turned to Keyhoe, who had written for the magazine, but who also, importantly, had many friends and contacts in the military.

After some investigation, Keyhoe became convinced that the flying saucers must be the products of unearthly intelligences, and that the U.S. government was suppressing the truth about the subject. This conclusion was based in part on the response Keyhoe found when he quizzed various officials about flying saucers; Keyhoe interpreted their reticence to speak on the record as evidence of a cover up.

Others have disagreed with Keyhoe's assessments. Edward J. Ruppelt wrote, "the Air Force wasn't trying to cover up. It was just that they didn't want Keyhoe or any other saucer fans in their hair. They couldn't be bothered."

Keyhoe's article "Flying Saucers Are Real" appeared in the February, 1950 issue of True and caused a sensation. Though such figures are always difficult to verify, Ruppelt reported that "It is rumored among magazine publishers that Don Keyhoe's article in True was one of the most widely read and widely discussed magazine articles in history."

Capitalizing on the interest, Keyhoe expanded the article into a book, The Flying Saucers Are Real, (1950), which would sell over half a million copies in paperback. He argued that the Air Force knew that flying saucers were extraterrestrial, but downplayed the reports to avoid public panic. In Keyhoe's view, the aliens--wherever their origins or intentions--did not seem hostile, and had likely been surveilling the earth for two hundred years or more, though Keyhoe wrote that their "observation suddenly increased in 1947, following the series of A-bomb explosions in 1945." Dr. Michael D. Swords characterized the book as "a rather sensational but accurate account of the matter." (Swords, p. 100)

Keyhoe wrote several more books about UFOs. Flying Saucers From Outer Space (1953) is perhaps the most impressive, being largely based on interviews and official reports vetted by the Air Force. The book included a blurb by Albert M. Chop, the Air Force's press secretary in the Pentagon, who characterized Keyhoe as a "responsible, accurate reporter" and further expressed guarded approval for Keyhoe's arguments in favor of the extraterrestrial hypothesis. Such endorsements only cemented the belief, held by some observers, that the Air Force's mixed messages about UFOs were due to a cover up.

Ruppelt's book indicates that Ruppelt held some dim views of Keyhoe and his early writings; Ruppelt noted that while Keyhoe generally had his facts straight, his interpretation of the facts was another question entirely. He thought Keyhoe often sensationalized material and accused Keyhoe of "mind reading" what he and other officers were thinking. Yet Keyhoe cites conversations with Ruppelt in later books, suggesting that Ruppelt may have occasionally advised Keyhoe.

In 1956, Keyhoe cofounded the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). He was one of several prominent professional, military or scientific figures on the board of directors, which lent the group a degree of legitimacy many of the other contemporary "flying saucer clubs" sorely lacked.

NICAP founder Thomas Townsend Brown was ousted as director in early 1957 after facing repeated charges of financial ineptitude. Keyhoe replaced him; though he was only slightly better at managing NICAP's finances.

With Keyhoe in the lead, NICAP pressed hard for Congressional hearings and investigation into UFOs. They scored some attention from the mass media, and the general public (NICAP's membership peaked at about 15,000 during the early and mid 1960s) but only very limited interest from government officials.

However, there was increasing criticism of the Air Force's Project Blue Book. Following a widely publicized wave of UFO reports in 1966, NICAP was among the chorus which called for an independent scientific investigation of UFOs. The Condon Committee was formed with this goal in mind, though it quickly became enmired in infighting and, later, controversy. Keyhoe publicized the so-called "Trick Memo", an embarrassing memorandum written by a Condon Committee coordinator which seemed to suggest that the ostensibly objective and neutral Committee had determined to persue a debunking operation well before even beginning their studies.NICAPs membership plummeted in the late 1960s, and Keyhoe faced charges of incompetence and authoritarianism. NICAP's board of directors expelled Keyhoe in 1969. There were several persons with CIA ties in NICAP, and there was speculation that the CIA engeneered Keyhoe's ouster.

Keyhoe wrote one more UFO book, 1973's Aliens From Space. It promotes Operation Lure, a scheme to entice extraterrestrials to land.

Beyond this book, Keyhoe had little contact with ufology as he settled into retirement. (He did, however, speak at a few UFO conferences after his ouster from NICAP). He joined MUFON's board of directors in 1981, but his membership was essentially in name only, and he had little to do with the organization.

Some of Keyhoe's Books include:

The Flying Saucers Are Real (1950) - Flying Saucers From Outer Space (1953) - Flying Saucer Conspiracy (1955) - Aliens From Space (1973)

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