Editing Project Grudge

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{{Short description|U.S. Air Force investigation of UFOs (1949–51)}}
[[File:Project Blue Book, complete status reports.pdf|thumb|Reports from Project Grudge and Project Blue Book]]

'''Project Grudge''' was a short-lived project by the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]] (USAF) to investigate [[unidentified flying object]]s (UFOs). Grudge succeeded [[Project Sign]] in February, 1949, and was then followed by [[Project Blue Book]]. The project formally ended in December 1949, but continued in a minimal capacity until late 1999.

== History ==
{{See also|Investigation of UFO reports by the United States government}}
Project Grudge was intended to alleviate public anxiety over UFOs and persuade the public that UFOs constituted nothing unusual or extraordinary. UFO sightings were explained as balloons, conventional aircraft, planets, meteors, optical illusions, solar reflections, or even "large hailstones." Project officials recommended that the project be reduced in scope because the very existence of Air Force official interest encouraged people to believe in UFOs and contributed to a "war hysteria" atmosphere. On 27 December 1949, the Air Force announced the project's termination.<ref name="DTIC-Haines">{{cite journal |last1=Haines |first1=Gerald K. |title=CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90 |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA525986 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825020913/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA525986 |url-status=live |archive-date=August 25, 2021 |website=Defense Technical Information Center |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |access-date=25 August 2021 |location=Studies In Intelligence Vol. 01 No. 1, 1997}}</ref>

== Conclusions ==

Project Grudge issued its only formal report in August 1949. The report's conclusions included:

: ''A. There is no evidence that objects reported upon are the result of an advanced scientific foreign development; and, therefore they constitute no direct threat to the national security. In view of this, it is recommended that the investigation and study of reports of unidentified flying objects be reduced in scope.''
: ''B. All evidence and analyses indicate that reports of unidentified flying objects are the result of:''
:: ''1. Misinterpretation of various conventional objects.''
:: ''2. A mild form of mass-hysteria and war nerves. ''
:: ''3. Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or to seek publicity. ''
:: ''4. Psychopathological persons.''

The "Recommendations" section suggested that Air Force personnel receive basic instruction in astronomical phenomena.

== Response ==
An article by Sidney Shallet appeared in two consecutive issues of the ''[[Saturday Evening Post]]'' (April 30 and May 7, 1949) and supported Project Grudge's assessment that UFO reports could be explained by mundane phenomena, and that [[hoax]]es and [[wikt:crackpot|crackpot]]s played a prominent role in popularizing UFOs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shallet |first1=Sidney |title=What You Can Believe About Flying Saucers |url=https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/reprints/what-you-can-believe-about-flying-saucers/ |website=saturdayeveningpost.com |publisher=[[Saturday Evening Post]] |access-date=2021-08-24 |ref=The Saturday Evening Post}}</ref>

Astronomer and ufologist [[J. Allen Hynek]] criticized Project Grudge, claiming that the project was "less science and more of a public relations campaign". Project Grudge also received criticism from former intelligence officer [[Edward J. Ruppelt]], who was "convinced of the alien nature of UFOs and how he has seen the military and the U.S. government trying to discredit the extraterrestrial hypothesis". Both Hynek and Ruppelt claimed that Project Grudge was "as far from an objective, scientific examination of the phenomenon as one could get".<ref name="Barna William Donovan">{{cite book|author=Barna William Donovan|title=Conspiracy Films A Tour of Dark Places in the American Conscious|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJkhqU1IXHAC&pg=PA48|year=2014|publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8615-1|pages=48}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Edward J. Ruppelt]], [http://www.nicap.org/rufo/contents.htm ''The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects'']

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{{s-bef|before = [[Project Sign]] }}
{{s-ttl|title  = US military projects investigating the UFO phenomenon }}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Project Blue Book]] }}
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{{UFOs}}

[[Category:Government responses to UFOs]]
[[Category:Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]]
[[Category:Projects of the United States Air Force]]
[[Category:UFO culture in the United States]]