Boston Daily Globe, July 11, p. 2
Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, July 12, 1947, p. 5
Research-Development Group
Denies Knowledge of 'Discs'
By Thomas R. Henry
Science Editor, North American Newspaper Alliance
WASHINGTON, July 12. -- (NANA) -- "Flying discs" have no connection with any secret weapons now being developed by the army or navy, according to some of this country's leading physicists, who are almost certainly familiar with at least the general details of every major military scientific project now under way.It would be almost impossible for either the army or navy to carry on investigations requiring advanced application of physical data without some hint of its nature coming to these men -- they protest their ignorance with every evidence of sincerity.This is true, for example, of Dr. Vanevar [sic] Bush, president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who was in general charge of all the nation's scientific developments during the war with the exception of the atomic bomb. He has no idea, he says, of the meaning of these "flying saucers." The reported objects have no place in any physical research, secret or otherwise, with which he is familiar.The same view is held by Dr. Merle Tuve, director of the Carnegie Institution's department of terrestrial magnetism. The proximity fuse was developed during the war under Tuve's direction. He also played a considerable part in the development of the ramjet plane. Tuve believes he would know of anything under way which would involve "flying dishpans." He has no explanation.Both Bush and Tuve believe the disks are visual illusions of some sort.The same is true of the Smithsonian Institution and the U. S. Bureau of Standards.Admittedly these men might not be familiar with details, but they would have a general idea of any major developments. They might, of course, be held by such strict rules of secrecy that they could not drop the slightest hint of what they may know.Both Bush and Tuve insist that this not so, however. They may be sharers of world-shaking secrets -- but anything to do with flying discs is not among them.Springfield (Missouri) Leader-Press, July 9, 1947, p. 15
FACT OR FANCY? IT'S A HEADACHE
Congress Bothered, Too, By Those Flying Saucers
By KENNETH L. DIXON
International News Service Writer
WASHINGTON, July 9--Just how long it will last is anybody's guess, but right now the number one subject of conversation in the nation's capital is the ubiquitous "flying saucer" which seems to have cropped up everywhere in the country.
And, while there are as many opinions as there are conversations, it is pretty generally conceded that the mysterious now-you-see-it-now-you-don't missiles are direct descendants of the atomic bomb-either physically or psychologically.
And that is the point where the two schools of thought part company . . .
Out on Capital Hill, there's a lot of muttering in congressional beards these days, for a surprising number of the solons are (quite anonymously, of course, until they know something) taking the mystery with deadpanned seriousness.
They believe there definitely is something to the spreading stories and that the flying saucer is some sort of new secret weapon. Some believe that our Army, Navy or scientific experts know all about the mystery--and simply aren't letting Congress in on the secret yet. That's what hurts!
Others think it's some sort of Russian secret weapon and needless to say, that hurts much worse.
Science Unimpressed
The official Army and Navy attitude, of course, is quite definitely negative on the subject. And it may well be that in the upper echelons of military brass the boys are quite sure that they know nothing whatever about the spinning platters in the sky.
But the average Army or Navy officer you talk to is in the same boat as the average civilian. He doesn't know. At first, he smartcracks about the mystery and gives out with the hearty laugh. Then, when sure that no one will start kidding him, he begins to discuss the subject quite seriously.
The scientific response about town is as uniform as the official military attitude. Atomic experts and leading physicists say that the saucers certainly aren't an American secret weapon--as far as they know, and they think they would know if they were.
Dr. Vannevar Bush, president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who was in charge of all the nation's wartime scientific developments, says the saucers simply don't fit into any current scientific experiments. Therefore, he doesn't take them seriously and thinks they must be illusions.
Ditto Dr. Merle Tuve, director of the Carnegie Institution's department of terrestrial magnetism--the guy who had a lot to do with the development of America's jet plane.
John Public Skeptical
If any such scientific didos were going on, Dr. Tuve is quite sure he'd know something about it . . .
"But," says the wee, small voice of the non-scientific citizenry. "How do we know he'd tell us if he did know?"
Which is where the saucer becomes at least the psychological offspring of the atomic bomb.
Leading psychologists tell you that one of the greatest shocks ever handed the American people was the sudden realization that the terrifying atomic bomb was developed in almost perfect secrecy right here in our midst.
"Long after Hiroshima and Nagasaki--long after the war was over, in fact," one psychologist said recently in a public meeting, "the effectiveness of the secrecy continues to prey on the mass mind."
For that reason, he added, the average skeptical citizen today puts little if any credence in the official denial of Army, Navy and atomic experts. Such a frame of mind would make it a cinch of purely mythical secret weapon to excite and frighten millions of citizens who would feel that was almost no one to whom they could turn for the truth . . .
And in the midst of all the capital chatter and confusion on the subject, the jokesters still hold forth.
"This," said one in mock dismay, "is what we get for bouncing those light rays off the moon. We made somebody mad up there and now they're throwing things back at us!"
