James McAndrew

The year 1997 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Roswell incident, a UFO case that had become the touchstone for those who believed one or both of two things: that a UFO had crashed near the desert town of Roswell, New Mexico, and that the U.S. government was involved in a longstanding cover—up to keep the truth about UFOs hidden from the public.

The Roswell story started with an official report released by the Roswell Army Air Field information officer to the Roswell Record on July 8, 1947, stating that the base had recovered a flying saucer. The newspaper printed the brief report with the huge headline "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region." Later the same day, General Roger Ramey went on the radio and stated that the report had been in error, that what had...