Lew Rock, Jr.
Dayton Herald
July 8, 1947
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NOTE |
On June 25, 1947, Kenneth Arnold launched the modern UFO era when he claimed to see objects flying like skipped discs in Washington State. On July 8, 1947, Orville Wright, one of the famous Wright Brothers who inaugurated the aerial age, became the first known person to attribute flying saucer sightings to a government propaganda effort, what today conspiracy theorists call a "psy-op." This piece, from the Dayton Herald is also notable for the comments from local notables, including a psychiatrist who attributed flying saucer sightings to "mass hysteria." The article reproduced below has fallen into the public domain, as a copyright search did not turn up evidence of renewal as required by law at the time.
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Orville Wright Says: Flying Saucers “War Propaganda”
By LEW ROCK JR.
Herald Staff Writer
Herald Staff Writer
Orville Wright thinks the flying saucer craze is “propaganda started by the government to support the current state department campaign to get us in another war.”
The co-inventor of the airplane compared the saucer stories with the false rumors published in England in 1913 about German dirigibles flying over the British Isles.
“It is more propaganda for war, to stir up the people and excite them to believe a foreign power has designs on this nation,” the 75-year-old scientist said.
Mr. Wright criticized wide publicity given the saucer stories.
He believes there is no scientific basis for the existence of the phenomenon reportedly seen by hundreds of persons across the nation.
“You can get people to say anything,” he commented. “The American people have reached a pretty low level to be taken in by sheer propaganda.”
During the interview in his Broadway laboratory today, Mr. Wright recalled his visit to England in 1913 and a discussion with Lord Northcliffe, powerful British newspaper publisher.
“Lord Northcliffe admitted when I twitted him about the dirigible reports that he knew them to be false,” Mr. Wright said. “He told me the dispatches were published to influence the British government into recognizing the approach of war.”
Other Daytonians were baffled today.
Col. R. H. Curtis, executive officer for Air Technical Intelligence, Wright Field, said: “We don’t know anything about the mystery. We will let the public know more as soon as we can.”
Bro. Louis Saletal of the science department, University of Dayton, said: “We had a consultation last night four of us and we decided if the big-shots in the country didn’t know what the ‘saucers’ were, we didn’t either.”
Dr. Carroll Hochwalt, vice president of the Monsanto Chemical company, said: “I’m in the dark on the subject, won’t even make a conjecture on it. I have no explanation whatever.”
Dr. Richard S. Solomon, Dayton psychologist, would say only: “My guess isn’t any better than anyone else’s. I’m completely baffled.”
A well-known Dayton psychiatrist, who refused to be quoted, insisted that “the people who report having seen the saucers are not lying. They ‘see’ them. But the saucers are not there.”
Probably some persons have seen saucer-like objects in the air, said the psychiatrist. But the large number of people who have since reported seeing them have been stricken with a mild form of mass hysteria.
The co-inventor of the airplane compared the saucer stories with the false rumors published in England in 1913 about German dirigibles flying over the British Isles.
“It is more propaganda for war, to stir up the people and excite them to believe a foreign power has designs on this nation,” the 75-year-old scientist said.
Mr. Wright criticized wide publicity given the saucer stories.
He believes there is no scientific basis for the existence of the phenomenon reportedly seen by hundreds of persons across the nation.
“You can get people to say anything,” he commented. “The American people have reached a pretty low level to be taken in by sheer propaganda.”
During the interview in his Broadway laboratory today, Mr. Wright recalled his visit to England in 1913 and a discussion with Lord Northcliffe, powerful British newspaper publisher.
“Lord Northcliffe admitted when I twitted him about the dirigible reports that he knew them to be false,” Mr. Wright said. “He told me the dispatches were published to influence the British government into recognizing the approach of war.”
Other Daytonians were baffled today.
Col. R. H. Curtis, executive officer for Air Technical Intelligence, Wright Field, said: “We don’t know anything about the mystery. We will let the public know more as soon as we can.”
Bro. Louis Saletal of the science department, University of Dayton, said: “We had a consultation last night four of us and we decided if the big-shots in the country didn’t know what the ‘saucers’ were, we didn’t either.”
Dr. Carroll Hochwalt, vice president of the Monsanto Chemical company, said: “I’m in the dark on the subject, won’t even make a conjecture on it. I have no explanation whatever.”
Dr. Richard S. Solomon, Dayton psychologist, would say only: “My guess isn’t any better than anyone else’s. I’m completely baffled.”
A well-known Dayton psychiatrist, who refused to be quoted, insisted that “the people who report having seen the saucers are not lying. They ‘see’ them. But the saucers are not there.”
Probably some persons have seen saucer-like objects in the air, said the psychiatrist. But the large number of people who have since reported seeing them have been stricken with a mild form of mass hysteria.
