Summary

Marine Corps Major and aviation writer who co-founded NICAP in 1956 and served as its director until 1969, making him the most influential figure in organized civilian UFO investigation during the Cold War era. Keyhoe's 1950 book 'The Flying Saucers Are Real' was among the first serious arguments that UFOs were interplanetary craft requiring government accountability - it sold half a million copies and shaped the entire subsequent public discourse on government secrecy. Under his leadership, NICAP became the largest and most credible civilian UFO organization in American history, with 14,000 members, documented congressional contacts, and a methodology of evidence-based case documentation that anticipated the modern disclosure movement by 60 years.

Roles

• -Major, United States Marine Corps (Retired)
• -Aviation Writer and Journalist
• -Director, National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), 1957-1969
• -Author - The Flying Saucers Are Real (1950)

Organizations

Education

• -U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis (graduated 1919)

Early Career

• -Commissioned as Second Lieutenant, USMC, upon graduation from the Naval Academy in 1919
• -Served in aviation roles; was personal aide to Charles Lindbergh during his 1927 national tour following the transatlantic flight
• -Medically retired from active duty in 1923; continued association with military aviation community
• -Became a prolific aviation journalist and author throughout the 1930s and 1940s
• -Published 'Flying with Lindbergh' (1928) based on his time as Lindbergh's aide

Related Documented Cases

Related Primary Documents