Interesting 1950 Memo on UFOs from Irish Diplomat in Washington

........The Department is, no doubt, aware of the many published reports in regard to flying objects which have been named as flying saucers....the conclusions of the author are that the objects are propelled from another planet...........

We don’t hear much from the Irish Government on UFOs. But there is a neat Documents on Irish Foreign Policy Twitter feed which gives interesting snippets of Irish government document releases.




Last year a collection of Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs diplomatic papers were released along with an interesting one from the Irish Embassy in Washington DC dated June 15th 1950. It was sent to the Irish Department of External Affairs in Dublin.. This was just a few years into the “flying saucer age”.

Unfortunately this document is not available as a pdf download as yet.

However we can just about make out the words on it from the twitter image released.

It discusses the popularity of Donald Keyhoe’s “Flying Saucers are Real” book in the United States ( a copy of which was sent to Dublin with the letter).

The Department is, no doubt, aware of the many published reports in regard to flying objects which have been named as flying saucers....the conclusions of the author are that the objects are propelled from another planet.

This was, I assume, based on Keyhoe’s assertions that:

*Earth had been under observation from other planets for at least two centuries
*Interest had increased rapidly after the exploding of nuclear weapons.
*Observation from these ‘others’ would continue.


The letter continues :

.. My newspaper friends tell that the book is completely factual and that the references given in it are well authenticated.....

The author then tells of a UFO that was not seen on radar but circled an American Airlines aircraft landing at Washington Airport just a week before (early June 1950). The story seemed to have been given credence in newspaper first editions but for some reason was not followed up in later editions.




The document concludes:

...it has been said here that the publication of the book…was inspired by the U.S. authorities so that the people here might be accustomed to the idea that there is a possibility of the inhabitants of another planet visiting this one.

All slightly conspiratorial talk and hinting that Keyhoe was actually part of a program to gradually accustom us all to the existence of beings on other planets. However the letter distances the Irish diplomat from that point of view in the memo by saying (just before those claims):

…the Department will understand that I do not in any sense commit myself to believe in any of the views expressed in regard to these “flying saucers”‘.

I haven’t read Keyhoe’s book since the 1980s but this seems to hint he was actually one of the first in a line of people who were controlling public perceptions regarding the UFO topic.

Maybe he was the first bird in the aviary to tweet?


Sources :

DIFP Original Tweet

Donald Kehoe - Flying Saucers Are Real (free pdf)

Thejournal.ie

The real question is, why would the government want us to believe in ET? Is it really so we think classified aircraft are UFOs? Or some other reason?

Somehow I don't quite buy that theory. Today, UFOs aren't a very popular topic, and few people actually believe aliens are visiting. If the Government was trying to convince us of something they never did a very good job.

a reply to: thesearchfortruth

Back in the 1950s there was a very real problem facing our existence. The threat of nuclear war. Perhaps the idea of aliens was meant as a a smokescreen to make the Soviets believe that the top secret spy planes and aircraft were not of this earth?

The UFO age blinked out with the Phoenix lights not long after the Cold War ended.

Maybe there's a link. Anyway I'm signing out for the night now as it's late here in Blighty.

a reply to: mirageman

Your threads are well-researched and put together, and certainly the topics interest many on here.

However I recall in one of our last discussions you said you are one of those types who need to see mass media/governmental recognition of the ET-UFO link before you accept the ongoing ET interaction with earth yourself; of course you are entitled to your opinion and I'm not here to judge, but wasn't that the crux of it?

If so why go to all the bother of writing these threads if you don't accept the ET-UFO or crop circle or cattle mutilation or abduction connection?

All these things are occurring, yet if it is not ET related, but say related to some hidden earth society or earth time-travelers or cold war disinformation (which I personally consider less likely), then it is interesting, but much less interesting and much less significant than an ongoing interaction with another or other ET races.

a reply to: mirageman

I wonder about Donald Keyhoe , I'm undecided as to whether he was unwittingly used as a disinformation tool by the military or whether he was just a cleaver author , I'm leaning to the former.

I have a feeling that Keyhoe was used by agencies within the military to convey a message they wanted heard , not because it was true but because it suited their purpose ...maybe.

a reply to: mirageman

Ah, yes, Keyhoe. As a high schooler,I remember well tuning to a TV program where Keyhoe was going to discuss the secret of UFOs for the American public. A very few minutes into the program, he went off script and said that he was really going to tell us the truth about the UFOs and in seconds he was cut off. I think that was on the Armstrong circle theater. The TV went blank and they simply played music to finish out the half an hour.

One problem that I always had with Keyhoe's books is that he could, supposedly, recount exact verbal discussions that he had with various individuals about UFOs. All of the discussions had the same plain, matter-of-fact style of Keyhoe's writing. He may have been an agent, I'm sure of it, but he did give up decent views on the phenomena and report sightings that otherwise would have gone unreported.

It has always been a show folks, but there is no Bugs Bunny at the end sayying, "That's all folks!" Another saying fits better, "The show must go on," because of the eventual truth, and as Jack Nicholson said, "You can't (so TPTB believe) can't handle the truth!"

a reply to: PlanetXisHERE

.....
why go to all the bother of writing these threads if you don't accept the ET-UFO or crop circle or cattle mutilation or abduction connection? All these things are occurring, yet if it is not ET related, but say related to some hidden earth society or earth time-travelers or cold war disinformation (which I personally consider less likely), then it is interesting, but much less interesting and much less significant than an ongoing interaction with another or other ET races.

Basically I write the UFO threads to lay out the evidence, learn something myself and, hopefully, get closer to the truth. Wherever that may take us.

I come from the point of view - can we solve this mystery? As opposed to - let's make out aliens were involved just because that's probably what people want to hear. If that helps clear some of the chaff then so be it. Because it seems that a number of classic UFO cases are not as robust as it once seemed when you look into them in detail. There is ample evidence that the waters have been poisoned (certainly in the US) when it comes to UFO lore by certain people involved in the letter agencies. Other cases, seem to be genuine mistakes as to what witnesses saw and some still remain interesting (I'm currently wanting to know more about Westall 1966, but I also find the Bob Taylor, Livingston Incident 1979 and even the Phantom Choppers over the UK in 1973/74 interesting).

Which brings me neatly round to what this thread is about.

Donald Keyhoe was a science fiction writer for pulp magazines before he became a leading UFO researcher in the 1950s and early 1960s. He had many contacts in the military. The inference in this Irish diplomatic document is that either Kehoe was purposely promoting the ET angle on behalf of the military or that he was being manipulated to do so. Which if true would make him just one of a line of people polluting Ufology.

I happen to find the political and military shenanigans of the Cold War era as interesting as the UFO topic. I appreciate that you and others may not and may want a more pro-ET angle. If I was writing UFO books or speaking at conferences and knew many of my audience were of the same persuasions as you then perhaps I'd change that stance in exchange for your pounds, euros or dollars. But I think to do that would be somewhat disingenuous.

I may want to believe in ET as much as you already do. However like I pointed out in another thread. There may be plenty of anecdotal stories and even circumstantial physical evidence. Even prominent people like Presidents and Prime Ministers have gone on record on the subject. Yet almost the same type of evidence also applies to the existence of spirits of the dead/ghosts. So do you believe ghosts exist and are spirits of the dead?

I actually think scientists will find alien life now before ufology. But it doesn't stop me wanting to dissect UFO cases and solve what are still genuine mysteries. Even if that upsets people who want every case to be aliens and the evidence starts to suggest it may not have been.

But you never know do you?

Something one day may well turn up and I'll be celebrating alongside you in cyberspace with a virtual beer.

a reply to: gortex

I have a feeling that Keyhoe was used by agencies within the military to convey a message they wanted heard , not because it was true but because it suited their purpose ...maybe.

I read his book a long, long, long time ago and even though it was already 30 years old by then it did fascinate me.



In this interview he's either a great actor or very sincere. I just don't know on this one.

Ridiculous! Or so we are told.

a reply to: The GUT

Top a da' mornin' t'ya GUT!

Haven't crossed paths with you for a long while. Hope you are working on something really interesting!.

As for this it's just a low key little story from the Emerald Isle that could well mean something or absolutely nothing.

- Now where did I put me Guinness down

It's funny how folks at the time so easily concluded that "other planets" were involved. We can look at the same data now and pretty clearly see that there is really not a shred of evidence to suggest that any UFOs had any connection at all with other planets. Just the illogical thinking of a lot of people who grew up watching Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon and reading pulp science fiction.

That old argument that "we couldn't identify it, and there is nothing on Earth like it, so it must be aliens," just doesn't fly anymore.

originally posted by: mirageman
a reply to: thesearchfortruth

Back in the 1950s there was a very real problem facing our existence. The threat of nuclear war. Perhaps the idea of aliens was meant as a a smokescreen to make the Soviets believe that the top secret spy planes and aircraft were not of this earth?

The UFO age blinked out with the Phoenix lights not long after the Cold War ended.

Maybe there's a link. Anyway I'm signing out for the night now as it's late here in Blighty.

Yeah. There seemed to be a period when a high volume of these sightings were being reported by airline pilots and also air force.
Pity mobile phones and the internet hadn`t been invented around that period.

a reply to: Blue Shift

Yes back then the aliens looked just like us, spoke perfect English and often preferred a chat with a random yokel from the backwaters of civilization whilst stealthily avoiding any one of any importance!

a reply to: lambros56

If you are interested I did look into those sightings from the post-war period not long ago thanks to some hints from a few of the other members.

UFOs & the Cold War: Project Palladium

It's a possibility that some Foo fighters, Flying Saucers and UFOs are actually the by-product of radar and electronic counter measure technology.

originally posted by: mirageman
a reply to: lambros56

If you are interested I did look into those sightings from the post-war period not long ago thanks to some hints from a few of the other members.

UFOs & the Cold War: Project Palladium

It's a possibility that some Foo fighters, Flying Saucers and UFOs are actually the by-product of radar and electronic counter measure technology.

Thanks for the link. Must have missed that thread.
I`ll check it out