In one of the more bizarre incidents of UFO history, a major CBS Television broadcast about UFOs, sponsored by a large corporation, was cut off the air when Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe, USMC (Ret.) departed from the script and started to ad lib.

The "Armstrong Circle Theater," sponsored by the Armstrong Cork Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was a popular program at that time. The UFO discussion, broadcast on Jan. 22, 1958, was titled UFOs: Enigma of the Skies. It had been carefully scripted under the strong influence of the Air Force.

Frustrated by the continued efforts of the Air Force to control what he wanted to say, Maj. Keyhoe started to announce that NICAP (the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, which he directed) had been working with a Senate committee to investigate UFO secrecy, when the sound level of the audio - very obviously -- was abruptly cut.

When CBS-TV was deluged with phone calls, letters, and telegrams protesting what appeared to be overt censorship, CBS justified the action by stating:

"This program had been carefully cleared for security reasons....public interest was served by the action taken by CBS."

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53 mins