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Strom Thurmond's foreword was a mix-up
The book's claims
Retired army intelligence officer Philip J. Corso released The Day After Roswell in 1997. It combined many existing and conflicting conspiracy theories with his own claims, including that he was shown a purportedly nonhuman body suspended in liquid inside a glass coffin, and that he helped oversee a project to reverse engineer crash debris.
Errors and doubts
The book contained many factual errors. It placed the 8th Army Air Force headquarters at Fort Bliss, Texas, while other Roswell books place it 500 miles away at its actual location, Fort Worth. Other ufologists doubted it, and Schmitt openly wondered whether Corso was part of the disinformation he believed was working to discredit ufology.
Thurmond's foreword
Without evidence, the book leaned on Corso's past work on the Foreign Technology Division and on a foreword from Thurmond, a US Senator and World War II veteran. Corso had misled Thurmond into believing he was writing a foreword for a different book. On discovering the contents, Thurmond demanded that the publisher remove his name and writing from future printings, and stated that he would not pen the foreword to a book suggesting the success of the United States in the Cold War was attributable to technology found on a crashed UFO.
Why does a famous foreword sell a book?
A foreword from a well-known figure signals that someone with a public reputation vouches for the author. Strom Thurmond served in the Senate from 1954 to 2003 and retired at 100, the longest tenure in the chamber at that time. He chaired the Armed Services Committee, which oversees the military. A book on military secrets carried added weight with his name attached.
Where was the Eighth Air Force based in 1947?
In 1947, the Eighth Air Force had its headquarters at Fort Worth Army Air Field in Texas, later renamed Carswell Air Force Base. General Roger Ramey commanded it. The 509th Bomb Group at Roswell, the unit that held the world's only atomic bombers, was assigned to the Eighth. That chain of command is why Ramey became the officer who announced the weather balloon explanation.
Why did Cold War flights spark UFO reports?
The Lockheed U-2 began flying in 1956 at altitudes above 60,000 feet, far higher than commercial airliners of the time. At sunrise or sunset its wings could catch light and glow when the ground below was dark. A 1997 CIA study by historian Gerald Haines concluded that more than half of UFO reports in the late 1950s and 1960s were explained by such secret reconnaissance flights. Pilots and observers had no way to know such aircraft existed.
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