Case file · Disclosure & CE-5
James McDonald briefs the United Nations
On 7 June 1967 atmospheric physicist James E. McDonald spoke about UFOs to the UN's Outer Space Affairs Group, at Secretary-General U Thant's invitation.
1967 CE · 40.75, -73.97 · status: account
The account
McDonald, of the University of Arizona's Institute of Atmospheric Physics, had begun lecturing on 'The Problem of UFOs' the year before and argued that the subject was being neglected by science. His UN talk was part of a personal campaign that also took him to Congress in 1968 and to the AAAS in 1969.
The sceptical view
McDonald's case rested on witness interviews; critics such as Philip Klass and Donald Menzel argued the cases had ordinary explanations.