Firestorm: Dr. James E. McDonald's Fight for UFO Science

625 Pages·2003·43.928 MB·English

by  Ann Druffel (author)

We often hear “why don’t scientists of renown take UFOs seriously?” Atmo-
spheric physicist James E. McDonald was just such a scientist — and he did take
UFOs seriously. And now for the first time we learn the inside story of his strug-
gles, failures and triumphs in this stirring biography, deftly researched and superb-
ly written by well-respected researcher Ann Druffel on the basis of complete
access to his private files. Whether the reader be a skeptic, an enthusiast, or simply
curious, Druffel’s riveting account of McDonald’s challenge to the government
and scientific communities is a significant chapter in the UFO debate that must not
be missed!
— Hal Puthoff, Ph.D.,
Director, Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin
As a scientist who knew and greatly admired Jim McDonald and who has
praised his outstanding ufological activities in hundreds of college lectures around
the world, I read this book with great interest and enthusiasm. Ann Druffel really
did her homework going through an enormous quantity of material. Jim was the
epitome of persistence, courage, comprehensiveness, and genius. His much too
early death deprived his family and the world of an outstanding contributor not
only to atmospheric physics, ufology, and the use of science for the benefit of
mankind. He was unselfish in his cooperation with others and was an inspiration
to those of us younger than he was. Ann has done a splendid job of documenting
his interactions with other much less courageous scientists such as J. Allen Hynek.
I was particularly impressed with the treatment of his suicide about which there
have been many false speculations. One can only wonder what Jim would have
thought about all the revelations of the government cover-up that have been pro-
vided by documents obtained under Freedom of Information and from various ar-
chives. The book is very well referenced. I would give it 5 stars. A must read.
—Stanton T. Friedman, nuclear physicist,
author of UFOs, The Real Story, Top Secret/Majic
Firestorm is an intensely compelling account of the efforts of one man to cre-
ate a climate where unorthodox thinking could safely flourish. Ann Druffel de-
serves high marks for pulling together a vast mass of hitherto disconnected
information about McDonald’s fight for an unbiased look at a taboo topic. She in-
terviewed family, friends and colleagues and sifted thru his private journals and
other personal papers to recreate in page-turning detail a little-known period in
American ufological history. It’s a bravura performance; don’t just buy a copy,
lobby your library to do likewise.
—UFO Magazine
Times New Roman Italic
…especially interesting reading, ...truly an outstanding job…. Firestorm is a
fascinating look into the mind, thoughts and actions of atmospheric physics pro-
Times New Roman Bold Italic
fessor James McDonald as he excelled at science while simultaneously becoming
the outstanding leader within the field of U.S. ufology before his tragic demise in
1971. The field of ufology owes a great debt to Ann for her diligence and persis-
tence in gathering together the whole story of McDonald's combined UFO and
science careers, and presenting it so interestingly. The book is also a repository
for in-depth descriptions of many of the classic UFO events of the 1950s and 60s.
— Dr. James Deardorff, retired atmospheric scientist,
Oregon State University
A riveting read! The book is great and shows how McDonald in the last anal-
ysis was brought down by his unflinching belief in the honesty of others which
reflected that of his own. Based upon personal journals, lectures and inputs from
friends and opponents, Druffel provides readers with a masterful biographical
legacy of McDonald’s brilliant contributions to science and his focused yet futile
attempts to obtain scientific recognition of the UFO phenomenon in the face of
dogmatism and government opposition. A job well done.
—Raymond Fowler, author of The Watchers series,
The Allagash Abductions
During a 1966 TV program on NBC-TV, NYC, with Betty and Barney Hill,
Dr. Carl Sagan, et al., I perceived Dr. Jim McDonald as intellectually brilliant,
buoyant, and verbally blunt in his comments to those of us who lacked his courage
to confront the “establishment” about UFO reports. Ann Druffel not only has de-
fined the man, but she also has described, in detail, his mission. Perhaps future
historians can use her monumental book to assess Dr. McDonald's work—and
life—as a megastep for the scientific investigation of the extraterrestrial presence.
— Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, pioneer UFO researcher,
psychologist, and author of Soul Samples
This book offers a treasure trove of information about one of the most fasci-
nating periods in UFO history and one of its leading figures, Dr. James E.
McDonald. Thoroughly researched and heavily documented…. Ultimately it is a
sad and tragic story. However, for those of us who lived it, the time was exciting
and McDonald was a knight in shining armor.
—Richard H. Hall, CUFOS, former member of NICAP
Firestorm
Dr. James E. McDonald’s
Fight For UFO Science
Ann Druffel
Wild Flower Press
P.O. Box 1429
Columbus, NC 28722
©2003 by Ann Druffel All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information and retrieval systems
without prior permission from the publisher in writing.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Druffel, Ann, 1926-
Firestorm : Dr. James E. McDonald’s fight for UFO science
/ Ann Druffel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-926524-58-5 (alk. paper)
1. McDonald, James E., 1920-1971---Contributions in unidentified flying objects.
2. Unidentified flying objects--Research--United States.
3. Unidentified flying objects--Biography.
4. Meteorologists--United States--Biography.
I. Title.
TL789.85.M35D78 2003
001.942’07’2--dc21 2003002524
Cover Artwork: This photograph is used with permission from The Arizona Republic.
The photograph was taken during the terrible forest fires of July 2002 in that state.
Cover design by Pamela Meyer Crissey.
Manuscript editor: Brian L. Crissey
Printed in the United States of America.
Address all inquiries to:
Wild Flower Press
an imprint of Granite Publishing
P.O. Box 1429
Columbus, NC 28722
Granite Publishing, LLC is committed to using environmentally responsible paper.
This book is dedicated by Ann and Charles Druffel
to their daughter, Charlotte Bridget Bressler.
The night started at sea and the fire brought crowding,
They say that her beauty was like music and love…
Like a gong that has rung, or a wonder told shyly,
And oh! she was the Sunday in every week.

—From an English translation of the Irish Gaelic ballad,
“AR EIRINN NI NEOSFAINN CÉ HÍ”

VII
Acknowledgments
This book has brought joy to me. The idea for it came as I archived Dr.
James E. McDonald’s voluminous UFO files, which his family had carefully
guarded in their Tucson home. The work was accomplished under a grant from
the Fund for UFO Research, and as they were deposited in the Personal Col-
lections section of the University of Arizona Library, Tucson, the idea of writ-
ing a biographical account of McDonald’s study of the UFO question occurred
to me, spurred on by a deep sense of McDonald’s influence on my own re-
search life.
McDonald’s early death indescribably affected his family, his academic
colleagues and his numerous friends. To us in the UFO field, it was so unex-
pected and tragic that many of us could not get over our grief. The field seemed
abruptly cut in half, never to mend. While working on this book, though, I
sensed the grief might end. This has indeed occurred, at least for me, for Jim
McDonald is now shared with the world—the man his academic colleagues
knew and loved, the scientist who interacted with the UFO field during those
magical years. Jim McDonald lives on in the transcendental realm but also
lives now in written history, incomplete though it may be.
I thank Betsy McDonald for her constant help and encouragement in the
archiving of the files, for numerous interviews and for helping to transcribe
four handwritten journals McDonald left behind. Thanks to my editor, Brian
Crissey, and to my agent John White, whose tenacity brought about the publi-
cation. Thank you, Dr. Jacques Vallée, for writing the “Foreword” and for con-
tributing information which serves as balance to certain controversies in UFO
research history. Thank you, all of McDonald’s academic colleagues at the In-
stitute of Atmospheric Physics and various Departments of the University of
Arizona at Tucson who granted me interviews or otherwise helped with docu-
mentation: Drs. Paul E. Damon, Benjamin Herman, Philip Krider, Richard
Kassander, Paul S. Martin, Al Mead, William Sellers, Dean Staley, Cornelius
“Corny” Steelink, Raymond M. Turner. Thanks to his colleagues in other uni-
versity and government settings who kindly gave interviews: Professor
Charles B. Moore, Margaret Sanderson-Rae, James Hughes, Ethel Carpenter.
I thank our colleagues in the UFO research field: Drs. Eugene Epstein, Eric
Kelson, Mark Rodeghier, Dave Saunders, Bert E. Schwarz, Robert M. Wood,
and to Ted Bloecher, David Branch, Paul Duich, George Earley, Idabel Epper-
son, Marilyn Epperson, Richard H. Hall, Rex E. Heflin, Henk Hinfelaar, Bren-
da Hinfelaar, Gordon Lore, Marty Lore, Bill Moore, Paul Norman, Roy
VIII FIRESTORM
Russell, Pearl Russell, James Westwood. Thanks also to Philip J. Klass, Jan
McDonald, Dr. Robert Nathan, Stephan A. Schwartz.
Thank you, my writing buddies, for your constant help: Dorothy Shapiro,
Alice Nordstrom, Helevi Nordstrom, Elton Boyer, Dr. Louise Ludwig. And a
special thanks to my sweet husband, Charles K. Druffel, a true UFO skeptic
who recognized in Jim McDonald a genuine manifestation of the reality of the
UFO phenomenon and who, a few months before his own passage into the
transcendental realm, accomplished a final edit, with his own red pencil, of the
voluminous manuscript. Thank you all, and joyful reading.
Author’s Note
Each chapter of this book is preceded by a few lines of Irish folk song
lyrics. Dr. James E. McDonald was deprived of his Irish heritage, due to cir-
cumstances beyond his control and never experienced “the joy of being
Irish.” In spite of this, he was like the Irish in temperament— humorous, per-
severing, fearless, deeply concerned for other human beings. Like most peo-
ple with Irish backgrounds he had a darker side, that which Oscar Wilde calls
“the brooding Gael”— a melancholy musing which surfaced at times. Many
Irish balance their two-sided natures with faith and facile emotions; Mc-
Donald could not do either, for reasons that will be made clear. It is hoped
that the Irish lyrics at the beginning of each chapter will bring a measure of
comfort to those who loved him. McDonald was more than a brilliant scien-
tist; he also had a poetic side. He read voraciously from world literature in
all its forms and collected lists of his favorite passages. Selections from these
quotes also precede each chapter, so that the reader can sense the heart of the
man and contemplate what might have been.
Table of Contents
Foreword xi
CHAPTER 1 The Man Who Was Afraid of Nothing 1
CHAPTER 2 Queries, Inquiries and Questions 18
CHAPTER 3 Confronting the Incompetents 40
CHAPTER 4 McDonald Enters the Ring 66
CHAPTER 5 Common Sense vs. Academic Pussyfooters 86
CHAPTER 6 Mazes and Monstrosities 109
CHAPTER 7 A Guy Made Out of Steel 134
CHAPTER 8 Forays Into Other Lands 157
CHAPTER 9 The First Attack 191
CHAPTER 10 Battering the Gateway… 221
CHAPTER 11 The Judas Kiss: Condon’s Betrayal 252
CHAPTER 12 The Pictures That Almost Proved It 287
CHAPTER 13 What’s Out There? 325
CHAPTER 14 Secrets Upon Secrets 361
CHAPTER 15 A Low Whistling Sound… 395
CHAPTER 16 Strange Happenings 421
CHAPTER 17 Predators in the Shadows 449
CHAPTER 18 The Black Spot of Our Inner Lives... 484
About the Author… 526