Key figures
The Marine officer and author who led NICAP and pushed for hearings in the 1950s and 60s. 13 events, newest first.
Select any year above to see what happened that year.
Open Donald Keyhoe as a timeline
Media29 Nov 1988
Donald Keyhoe, a retired Marine Corps officer whose 1950s books and articles argued that flying saucers were real and that the Air Force was withholding what it knew, died in Virginia at 91.
Photo: CBS, "The Mike Wallace Interview" 1958 March 8, Public domain
Media1973
Donald Keyhoe, a longtime critic of Air Force UFO secrecy, published 'Aliens from Space: The Real Story of Unidentified Flying Objects', restating his long-held case that the Air Force withheld UFO evidence, after Project Blue Book had closed.
Photo: CBS, "The Mike Wallace Interview" 1958 March 8, Public domain
Close encounters1969
After a stormy board meeting, Donald Keyhoe gave up the directorship of NICAP and moved to its board; accounts cite money troubles. Jack Acuff took over as the civilian group declined in the years after the Air Force closed Project Blue Book.
Photo: CBS, "The Mike Wallace Interview" 1958 March 8, Public domain
Government5 Aug 1960
Donald Keyhoe's NICAP told UPI that Senate leader Lyndon Johnson had the Preparedness subcommittee staff keep watch on UFO sightings; congressional sources confirmed it. NICAP kept pressing for open hearings, which a House panel declined in 1961.
Photo: US Senate, Public domain
GovernmentApr 1958
An April 1958 CIA memo answering letters from Leon Davidson and NICAP's Donald Keyhoe recommended sending them a declassified Robertson Panel report written in late 1957 that omitted any CIA tie. The CIA kept refusing to release the full report until 1975.
Media22 Jan 1958
During the live CBS program 'UFO: Enigma of the Skies', the network cut the audio while NICAP director Donald Keyhoe spoke about material before Congress. CBS said he had departed from the approved script and denied censorship; UFO groups long cited the moment as a cover-up.
Photo: CBS, "The Mike Wallace Interview" 1958 March 8, Public domain
Close encounters1957
After founding director T. Townsend Brown was removed at the end of 1956, retired Marine Major Donald Keyhoe took charge of the civilian group NICAP. Under him it pressed Congress to scrutinize Air Force secrecy about UFOs.
Photo: CBS, "The Mike Wallace Interview" 1958 March 8, Public domain
Close encounters24 Oct 1956
The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena was incorporated in Washington, D.C., organized by a group led by T. Townsend Brown. Donald Keyhoe became director in early 1957 and the group grew into a leading civilian UFO organization that pressed Congress for hearings.
Photo: Richard H. Hall / NICAP, Public domain
MediaJul 1956
Columbia released Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, a science fiction film with saucer effects by Ray Harryhausen. Its credits say it was suggested by Donald Keyhoe's book Flying Saucers from Outer Space.
Photo: american film trailer screenshot (Columbia Pictures), Public domain
Media5 Dec 1955
Retired Marine Maj. Donald Keyhoe's third UFO book, published by Henry Holt, charged that the Pentagon was keeping what it knew about UFOs from the public. Kirkus described it as his case for official secrecy, unexplained air crashes and sightings.
Photo: CBS, "The Mike Wallace Interview" 1958 March 8, Public domain
Media1953
Donald Keyhoe's second UFO book appeared, built on Air Force case reports released to the press and arguing for an extraterrestrial origin. It hit bestseller lists; a CIA review called it highly distorted, and Ruppelt said its sighting details were accurate but its interpretations were not.
Photo: CBS, "The Mike Wallace Interview" 1958 March 8, Public domain
MediaJan 1950
Retired Marine Maj. Donald Keyhoe argued in True magazine's January 1950 issue that flying saucers were interplanetary craft and disputed Air Force explanations. Radio and press amplified the claim, and Keyhoe expanded it into a 1950 book of the same name.
Photo: Donald Keyhoe, Public domain
Media1950
Fawcett Publications issued Donald Keyhoe's 'The Flying Saucers Are Real', a paperback expanding on his January 1950 True magazine article. Keyhoe argued the Air Force knew more about flying saucers than it admitted.
Photo: Donald Keyhoe, Public domain
