CONDON REPORT
University of Colorado, 1966-68. Air Force contract, Edward U. Condon. Robert Low memo on appearing objective leaks in Look. Book still holds unidentifieds. Summary used to close Blue Book in 1969.
105°16'00 W
1. Public Record
The Condon Report. University of Colorado, 1966-1968, Air Force contract, Edward U. Condon as principal investigator. The last official scientific dump of the Blue Book era. Staff argue in the building while the preface is already leaning toward "nothing of scientific value." Look magazine runs "Inside the Flying Saucer Riddle" and publishes a memo from Robert Low about the trick of the trade: appear objective, conclude empty. James McDonald and others call the study a funeral arranged in advance.
The published report is thick. Some case notes inside it are more honest than the summary. A few remain unidentified even on Condon's pages. The summary is what the Air Force needed to close Blue Book in 1969. The Low memo is what civilians remember. Colorado keeps the name. The contract keeps the smell.
A university. A memo about a trick. A summary that outran its own case files.
Appear objective, conclude empty.
2. Date of Incident
Contract 1966. Report 1968. Blue Book closed 1969.
3. Location
University of Colorado, Boulder. Approximate 40°00 N 105°16 W.
4. Official Narrative
No scientific justification for further official study. Official narrative uses the summary, not the more stubborn case notes, to end Blue Book.
5. Witness Layer
Condon. Robert Low. Staff who leaked and staff who stayed. McDonald as the loudest outside reader. Air Force contract officers.
Some case notes inside it are more honest than the summary.
Look magazine runs the memo.
6. Recovery Logistics
The printed report. The Low memo. Blue Book's shutdown paper.
7. Assessment
A preface that knows the ending is not a laboratory. Low's memo may be clumsier than a conspiracy and still be the tell. Unidentified cases inside a report that says nothing of value are the tell on the other side. Both belong on the page.
This folder files Condon as the funeral Blue Book hired a university to read. The thick volume is allowed to contain honest notes. The summary is allowed to be the product the contract actually bought. McDonald's anger is part of the weather, not a type specimen.
8. Materials & Remains
Condon Report. Low memo. Look article. Blue Book closure.
9. Key Personnel
Edward U. Condon : The name on the door.
Robert Low : The memo.
James McDonald : The dissent.
10. Aftermath
Blue Book ends. Civilian groups inherit the cases. Colorado's name stays on a report most people know only as a no.
11. Current Archive Status
Status: 1966-68. Contract study. Summary kills Blue Book.
Confidence: High that the study ran and that the summary was used to close Blue Book. High that the Low memo existed and leaked. Low that every case note inside matches the summary.
Filing note
A Boulder contract, a physicist whose preface knew the ending, a staff memo about looking objective, a magazine that printed the trick, a thick book with unidentifieds still living in the back, an Air Force that took the summary and turned out the lights.
Conclude empty. The two words the contract was willing to pay for.